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• This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
• New Xbox 360 reports a 'total fabrication' says EA
• LG LCD panel defect causes iPad 2 screen yellowing
• Bloodhound: we can inspire the UK's next engineers
• TechRadar Phone Awards: Vote for the mobile phone WTF of the year
• Brit Week: ARM: low power is in our DNA
• Hands on: Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini review
• Government gives Silicon Roundabout £1 million in funding
• Aspect ratio woes in John Carpenter's latest movie delay launch
• Intel's Tri-Gate transistors: everything you need to know
• Poll: 55% of TechRadar readers polled no longer trust Sony
• Week in Tech: British tech: the good, the bad and the ugly
• Brit Week: Video exclusive: Sir Richard Branson
• Sony CEO sorry for PSN hack, offers data theft insurance
• Review: Fujitsu LifeBook A530
• Exclusive: How BlackBerry will bring mobile payments to the UK
• Review: Acer Aspire Timeline X 3820TZ
• Review: Panasonic DMP-BD75
• Brit Week: Branson: British tech needs a bit of saving
• Samsung Galaxy S2 used to send world's highest tweet
• Review: Cambridge Audio Minx S325
• Brit Week: Silicon Roundabout is taking off, says key CEO
• This Week in Mac|Life

This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Posted: 07 May 2011 01:00 AM PDT This week saw the UK release of the latest dual-core smartphone - the Motorola Atrix - that can also act as a nettop computer when combined with a keyboard. We give you the full lowdown in our in-depth review. We also spent some time testing out the Panasonic Lumix TZ20, the follow up to the TZ10 - the most popular compact camera in 2010. We've also dispelled some myths about the new Beats by Dr, Dre Solo headphones. Read on for the most popular reviews on TechRadar this week Motorola Atrix review It's been out Stateside for a couple of moons already, but the Motorola Atrix has now arrived on British shores and it's unique. That's not a word we're able to use very often these days, but the Atrix has edged itself into a niche in the mobile phone world that didn't even exist until now. It's essentially a dual-core Android-powered smartphone that's also a home computer. Yep, carry it round in your pocket throughout the day and when you get home you can slot it into a keyboard-screen combo dock and it becomes a fully fledged laptop. Don't believe us? Read the review! Beats by Dr. Dre Solo review What do you get if you add a high-end audio company to a world renowned hip-hop producer, divided by a pair of £150 headphones? A missed opportunity, that's what. Dr. Dre has a big reputation to uphold, and the Beats by Dr. Dre headphones may be raking in the cash on the highstreet, they may look and feel sleek and stylish, but one thing's for sure – they sound horrible. Muddy midrange, blunted high end and hollow bass means Dr. Dre's claims to have produced studio-quality headphones are nothing but dust in the wind. Panasonic Lumix TZ20 review The Lumix TZ10 was by some distance the hottest compact of 2010. It dominated the sales charts thanks to its capabilities as a solid all rounder. Good sensor, excellent 12x zoom, great features. Super camera. The TZ20 has arrived to pick up where last year's model left off, and boasts new features including 16x zoom and a Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens which has an incredible reach of 24-384mm that effectively pins the cape on this super-zoom compact. It's the perfect family camera and produces punchy and sharp images that even seasoned photographers could be happy with. The one sticking point is that price… Samsung RC510 review Samsung's RC510 is a very powerful machine for the price. It isn't world-beating, and its graphical performance isn't as hefty as we'd hoped, but it's a solid machine with a clean, clever design. It's Intel's Core i3 that does the really hard work. It truly is a high-performance chip at a budget price. Panasonic Lumix FS18 review The Panasonic Lumix DMC FS18 is clearly aimed at those wanting quality results with a straightforward approach to their photography. The camera would be ideal for those looking to give young teenagers or older family members an introduction to digital photography. The FS18's lightweight, ultra-compact package produces very good images, is simple to use and provides an excellent overall package for those with a smaller budget. Other reviews: AV receivers Anthem MRX 700 review Onkyo TX-NR609 review Blu-ray players Panasonic DMP-BD75 review Compact cameras Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX77 review Graphics cards Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6670 review Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6570 review Laptops Dell XPS 17 review MSI Wind U160DX review Packard Bell Dot SE review Toshiba NB520-108 review Acer Aspire Timeline X 3820TZ review Fujitsu LifeBook A530 review HP G72-a10SA review Media streaming devices Toshiba Stor.E TV+ review Motherboards Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 review NAS drives LaCie Wireless Space review Network adapters Devolo dLAN 200 AV USB extender review Printers Epson Stylus Office BX625FWD review Canon Pixma MG5250 review Projector screens Screen Excellence RM2-T review Projectors JVC DLA-X7 review Software Peppermint OS Peppermint One review Ubuntu 11.04 review Fedora Fedora 14 review Novell openSUSE 11.4 review Trend Micro Online Guardian review OC Shield Encrypted Internet 2011 review Conseal Security Conseal USB review AppsMaker Data Rescue Pro review Speakers Veho Mimi Qube Wi-Fi review Altec Lansing InMotion AIR review Logitech Wireless Speaker Z515 review Cambridge Audio Minx S325 review Hands ons reviews: Mobile phones Hands on: BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 review Related Stories Brit Week: Video exclusive: Sir Richard Branson Week in Tech: British tech: the good, the bad and the ugly Government gives Silicon Roundabout £1 million in funding

New Xbox 360 reports a 'total fabrication' says EA Posted: 06 May 2011 04:46 PM PDT Games developer EA has moved quickly to dismiss reports on Friday suggesting it is already in possession of the next generation Microsoft Xbox console. A news item on Develop had claimed that the next generation console was already "on desks at EA" ahead of a surprise launch at E3 next month. "The new hardware, sent to EA last month, is a very early build with no casing – it is in fact being stored inside a PC shell," claimed the report. However, Electronic Arts spokesman Jeff Brown told IndustryGamers that "This story is a total fabrication – 100 per cent not true." Xbox 720? The launch of an Xbox 720, or whatever Microsoft decide to call the 360s successor, at E3 is highly unlikely, with most industry insiders predicting that it won't arrive until 2014. The biggest story from next month's expo in Los Angeles is likely to be the launch of Nintendo's Wii 2. There's been zero speculation of a new Mircosoft console up until this point. Related Stories Anonymous again denies PSN attack

LG LCD panel defect causes iPad 2 screen yellowing Posted: 06 May 2011 10:02 AM PDT An defect in the LCD panels LG made for the Apple iPad 2 has caused the company to give the majority of the manufacturing privileges to Samsung. Digitimes is reporting that the screen yellowing, which sees light leak from the edges of the display when darker objects are displayed, reported by some users is attributable to the panels made by LG. Samsung has shipped four million of the 9.7-inch panels, whereas LG reports shipped only 800,000 after being forced to halt production to address the issues. The report also claims that LG displays will make a return to the supply line in the second quarter, according to sources. Shortages Apple shifted 3.2m iPad units during the first three months of 2011, but massive backlogs have prevented the company achieving its full potential. COO Tim Cook called the shortages "the mother of all backlogs" during a recent earnings call.

Bloodhound: we can inspire the UK's next engineers Posted: 06 May 2011 10:00 AM PDT The Bloodhound project is one of the most exciting ever to hit the UK. So much that it's hard to believe that a car that can 1,000mph is being built in Bristol, but by 2013 the folks behind the Bloodhound SSC car hope to break the current land-speed record by a massive 31 per cent. Considering this is the same team that holds the current land-speed record, set by its vehicle the Thrust CC and driven by Royal Air Force Pilot Andy Green, it's a safe bet that when the Bloodhound SSC makes its speed attempt it will become a record breaker. To get an insight into what it's like to have the UK as a base for such a huge task, we spoke to James Painter, Engineering Lead – Vehicle Integration, about how they have found creating the Bloodhound SSC in Britain. TechRadar: Bloodhound is a high-profile project showcasing British engineering and design - do you feel that we have enough of these kind of projects happening in the UK? James Painter: We certainly need more showcase projects that open people's, and especially children's, eyes to what it means to be an engineer/designer/scientist. Projects with 'wow factor' that capture the imagination and inspire are in short supply. Hopefully Bloodhound can be a 'Concorde' or 'Apollo' type project and do just that. TR: A few very high profile people (like Sir James Dyson and Sir Richard Branson) have told TechRadar that we are not producing enough engineers or promoting innovation - do you think this is the case? What are the educational objectives of the Bloodhound SSC project? JP: The feedback that I hear from industry is there is a shortage of engineers and scientists across many fields, and that some companies out there are struggling to find people with the right skills set. I believe innovation and developing new technology will continue to becoming an increasingly important part of the UK's economy going forward; as a route to building new businesses, creating jobs and creating wealth. With this in mind the more we do to encourage and nurture innovation the better. The Bloodhound Project aims to inspire and encourage the next generation of engineers and scientists that among other things will hopefully help this country and the world deal with the challenges of a low carbon economy. Bloodhound is currently engaged with 4,500 Primary and Secondary schools across the UK and has fans in 207 countries worldwide. TR: Do you think that Britain has lost its touch in design and engineering, or do you think the potential is still there? JP: Britain still has a fantastic pedigree in many forms of high value added engineering, for example aerospace, motor sport and medical based engineering. However to enable us to compete with both established and emerging nations now and in the future we need to be continually pushing the scientific and technical base that exists within this country. We have a shortage of engineers and scientists now and this situation will only get worse if we don't address it.

TechRadar Phone Awards: Vote for the mobile phone WTF of the year Posted: 06 May 2011 09:00 AM PDT The mobile phone industry may be the most technologically innovative at the moment, but every year it throws up a few clangers. Here we look at the companies that tried but failed, the events that left us with our jaws dropped and the launches that went off not with a bang… well, sometimes they never actually launched at all. So check out our 10 WTFs of the year, and then head over to the Phone Awards 2011 site to cast your vote on which you think is the craziest mobile phone moment of the year… Apple launching the microSIM Showing yet again that it doesn't adhere to the norm, Apple released the iPhone in June last year and, with it, the microSIM. The SIM is 52 per cent smaller than your average SIM and 1,000 per cent more annoying. This is mainly because anyone who wanted to switch to an iPhone had to go through the rigmarole of getting all their details on to the smaller SIM. Yes, it meant that we could have a small, dinky phone but with it a whole load of hassle. Symbian: is the end in sight? With Nokia announcing a major partnership with Windows, which should bring to fruition a number of exciting new handsets, and Apple and Google offering mobile phone operating systems that the majority of the general public are lapping up, you have to feel a little sorry for Symbian. While Nokia has announced it will continue with Symbian as an OS, the recent news that it has outsourced the OS to Accenture means that the future for the OS looks a little bleak. It's lucky, then, that Symbian has some of the most passionate fans around who will be championing the OS until the very end. Burglary at Vodafone downs network Who'd have thought that a tea leaf could cause an entire phone network to go down? But that is just what happened with Vodafone back in February, where computer equipment was stolen from a depot in Basingstoke and caused mass panic in Voda's camp. The outage was played down at first and was said to affect just London, but it turned out most of the country had problems. We've heard of thieves stealing phones but it's pretty impressive a burglar stealing a phone network. Vote for your WTF moment here. Comes With Music sings its last tune It sounded too good to be true – all-you-can-eat music piped straight to your Nokia phone for FREE. Turns out it was, as in January this year Nokia decided that Comes With Music just wasn't sustainable in the UK, something the likes of Spotify are only just coming to terms with. You can still get it if you go to China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey or South Africa, though, which is of no benefit to us music-loving Brits whatsoever. HTC Desire OS upgrade The HTC Desire was definitely one of the best phones of the last year or so, showing Apple that Android was a real contender in the smartphone market. But, it all went a little bit wobbly when the Android 2.2 update arrived. Not that this was any fault of HTC, more the carriers who couldn't quite get themselves together and make sure the OS works properly on the device. First it was Vodafone who decide to fill phones with bloatware instead of upgrading Desire users to 2.2, then O2 borked its own update as well. Still, it didn't take the shine off what is still a great phone. Vote for your WTF moment here. iPhone 4 antenna-gate "There is no antenna-gate," said Steve Jobs about antenna-gate, shortly before offering up a load of bumpers to sort out a problem with the iPhone 4 he said didn't exist just seconds before. This was the bizarre situation Apple found itself in back in July last year, after problems with the iPhone's antenna were reported. There was even a press conference about the whole debacle, where Apple nearly managed to make us believe that nothing was wrong and all they were doing was giving out free bumpers for all. Tssk Apple, for thinking we believe everything you say – you'll be telling us next you're not tracking our phones without our knowledge but mapping the country's Wi-Fi hotspots… Nokia crashing HTC event with balloons This could have been a brilliant PR strategy to put the spotlight on to Nokia and away from HTC, but it completely backfired. Essentially, Nokia handed out balloons promoting its Ovi Maps app at a HTC event in London last September and alongside them HTC press conference survival kits. This was all done because Nokia and HTC decided to have a press event on the same day. Instead of promoting Nokia as the better phone brand it smelled a little of desperation. Our man on the ground also had to give one of the Nokia Maps people directions – which is never a good advert for a mapping service. Picture credit: Engadget London Underground mobile phone signal plans shelved The London Underground has always been a blackspot for phone and Wi-Fi signal but there was a glimmer of hope that Wi-Fi would be installed in the Tube by the time the Olympics hop, skipped and jumped into action in 2012. The four UK mobile phone networks (Everything Everywhere, O2, 3 and Vodafone) released a statement which can be surmised as: "Nope, not going to happen". Now, the Underground is horrible, cramped place at the best of time so the idea of having your face stuck in someone's armpit while they talk about stocks and shares isn't everyone's idea of heaven – but you can't go making promises that you just don't keep. Vote for your WTF moment here. Microsoft killing off the Kin In a move which created a billion 'Kin hell jokes, Microsoft decided to kill off its Kin line of mobile phones before they ever made it to the UK. TechRadar first got its hands on a Kin back in April 2010 and thought that the phones were "dinky" but decent to use. But it seemed that the pebble-shaped handset was never destined for the UK, with Microsoft saying that the Kin would be rolled into its new Windows Phone 7 project. In the end this actually looks to be a decent strategy, considering Windows Phone 7 has been warmly received by many people. Nokia CEO's open letter to employees "Nokia, our platform is burning." So said Stephen Elop about the company he is CEO of. This letter was sent to all Nokia employees and somehow it got leaked to the press. You can't help read the letter and admire Elop's gumption – he is trying to put right a company that has floundered in recent years. But the letter is primed for mocking, with its analogies to burning oil rigs and sounding like something Charlie Sheen would spout. But will the letter mean that Nokia will soon be winning? Only time will tell. Vote for your WTF moment here.

Brit Week: ARM: low power is in our DNA Posted: 06 May 2011 08:50 AM PDT As we're looking at British tech all this week on TechRadar, it makes sense to end the week with one of the biggest successes of recent years – ARM Holdings. It's responsible for licensing (not manufacturing) the processor tech behind almost all tablets and mobile phones including everything from the humblest 1998 Nokia to the Motorola Xoom and iPad 2 – as well as having involvement in oodles of other markets such as automotive. ARM's partners shipped a scarcely believable six billion processors. Now a PLC, ARM was formed in 1990 as Advanced RISC Machines, ARM was a joint partnership between Acorn Computer (of the Archimedes and BBC Micro fame), VLSI and some other company called Apple. ARM-POWERED: The iPad 2 runs the Apple A5 chip. It's made by Apple, but again based on the ARM architecture The RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) chips we use in our iPhones today are direct descendants of the work Acorn did with the BBC Micro and later Archimedes computers – VLSI produced the first ARM silicon in 1985 for the BBC Micro (ARM2). ARM chips then powered the Apple Newton and other handhelds and mobiles. Tablet growth We took a few minutes to talk to Ian Drew, executive vice president of marketing at ARM - he's been at the company since 2005 before which he worked for Intel. So is he pleased at the huge growth in tablets and other mobile devices using ARM-based silicon? "It's always nice when a strategy comes together," he says. "But there's a long way to go yet. There's a lot more we can do. I think this is a start rather than an end. It's very nice seeing TI, Nvidia and Qualcomm and everybody else in the market as we have been talking about it for a few years. "Low power is very important, and we've had that built into our DNA from day one and I think that's very important in consumer devices and embedded devices right through to TVs, etc. You're now seeing TVs that are ultrathin with no heatsink or anything." "The plethora of partners are doing about 6 billion [units] last year… that volume, that partnership, that model is really, really important to us." Over 200 companies license technology from ARM. We asked Drew about the close relationship between ARM and its partners and the fact that ARM is already working on processor designs that we won't see in devices until 2015. "It helps our partnership model because of all that…we're able to influence short, medium and long term. [Our partners] help us with our roadmaps as well. It's a two-way relationship, not just a one way thing." Competition from Intel We then asked Drew how he reacts to the competition ARM faces from Intel. "We're an IP company. We work with the OEMs and they do what they think is right. ARM doesn't compete with Intel anyway, it's the ARM partners. Intel has a vertical model, we have a horizontal model. We don't make silicon, Intel doesn't license IP as far as I know." We revisit the question, something that clearly irks Drew - after all, Intel has been clear in its aim to muscle in on ARM's mobile market while ARM is set to muscle in on Intel's traditional stronghold of Windows."We don't make chips and Intel does. Intel has a different business model to us. If you were really competing for a socket then it's the Nvdias, TIs and Qualcomms and everybody else that really competes with Intel. I know that they would like to say it's ARM but it's really our ecosystem that's the strength of ARM. It's a unifying force." WINDOWS ON ARM: Windows 8 is set to run on ARM-based systems "So it's really the ARM ecosystem partners and our licensees that compete with Intel. Where they take us… that's really up to them. The business model where you can have multiple licensees enables growth." So did ARM really think the tablet market was going to take off in the way it has? "We saw the explosion in internet everywhere. I spoke to TechRadar a couple of years ago when we talked about browsers being important and plug-ins being important and optimising around the Adobe announcement and what was happening with Mozilla and the Android activity. "We actually talked about smartbooks at the time – we thought that might take off and then one or two came out with tablets and that just exploded. I think in reality I don't think anybody quite forsaw the tablet explosion, but the internet everywhere was important. "I also think the diversification opportunities in our business model helped as well because you're allowed to try lots of different things along the spectrum of products. Could I stand there and say I thought about tablets five years ago? No, I don't think anybody did that." Beyond tablets But Drew does think that ARM's move into computing will go beyond the mobile and the tablet – and that we'll see plenty of 3G-enabled laptops – dubbed smartbooks - running operating systems such as Google's Chrome OS. "I think there will be ARM smartbooks, we've seen traction there. I hope there's growth there but again its consumer dependent and we're so far removed from consumers." Drew also thinks that future technology growth will be governed by connectivity - and that 'internet everywhere is the key unifier. "The 4G LTE stuff, the cables in homes, lots more people in emerging markets having access via mobiles and tablets than they ever did with PCs, there's a whole revolution going on. "If you look at the growth of the internet, the fastest growth is on smartphones and tablets and that's really important. "I think this thing is just starting rather than ending. The internet everywhere story is just beginning."

Hands on: Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini review Posted: 06 May 2011 07:17 AM PDT Sony Ericsson didn't have the best of years in 2010, but one of the few bright spots was the launch of the Xperia X10 Mini and its keyboarded sidekick, the Mini Pro. So it makes perfect sense that Sony Ericsson would choose to reboot the mini marvels this year, and it's done so to great effect. The Xperia Mini is essentially packed into the same size chassis as its predecessor, but with a three inch screen rather than the 2.55-inch version. The pixel count has been boosted to HVGA (320x480) which means it can now run a much higher percentage of applications from the Android Market. The increase in resolution really shows too - while we were big fans of the previous phone, the screen's sharpness was a little on the dull side. The Xperia Mini looked bright and crisp, further boosted in media terms thanks to the addition of the Bravia Engine. The latter feature is supposed to improve video playback on the device, and it certainly did look clear and crisp - but the size of the screen means that it's never going to be your primary media player. The chassis feels more premium too, with the front home button slightly segregated from the rest of the front... running your finger over it gives a solid feel, with a strong pressing action and easy holding in the hand. The main thing that really impressed us though was the sheer snappiness of the phone, with the 1GHz Scorpion processor powering through all tasks with veritable aplomb. Given we've been playing with the Samsung Galaxy S2 this week, it didn't feel dissimilar to the snappiness of the Xperia Mini. The interesting thing about the Xperia Mini and Mini Pro is the placement of ports - well, interesting if you're into that aspect of a phone. The Xperia Mini has the headphone port at the bottom, along with the USB slot, with the power/lock key at the top. The Mini Pro has all three on the top of the phone - whether the few millimetres difference in thickness between the phones makes a difference, we don't know. But it may make the phone feel a little weird when holding it to watch videos etc, so we'll have to check that out in our full Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini review. The Xperia Mini also sheds the front facing camera of its keyboarded brother - again, we're not sure whether it's a size thing or people with keyboards love to look at themselves. The back camera's been boosted to a 5MP offering with 720p video recording with the lovely addition of an LED light for flashing and suchlike. A few quick pics we took showed that the performance was passable - we'll need to give it a good going over to really see if it's just a handy addition or a decent snapper. We were big fans of the TimeScape overlay for the original X10 Mini and that's back in full force on the Xperia Mini. The smaller screen means Sony Ericsson had to condense it's media and social networking overlay down, and it managed this by clever corner icons to your favourite applications. The new addition here is the ability to have a few icons in on place - tap it and it opens out to let you select whichever one you want, or slide in the direction of the application and it will ping it open. It's a clever system and within easy reach for your digits, and thanks to the improved processor it zips along under your finger. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc was the first phone we saw with the improved Android overlay from Sony Ericsson, and one cool feature from that was the 'exploded widgets' view, accessed by pinching in on the screen. This allowed you to see all the important parts of the phone, but needed a big screen to work correctly. To get past the size limitations on the Xperia Mini, Sony Ericsson has made all the widgets float around each other, jostling for position in a cool animation. It's another fun feature, and it's good to see Sony Ericsson focusing on such interactions for the user. The keyboard was also surprisingly accurate in normal use - we were able to tap out whole sentences off the bat with minimal mistakes. You do need a little more focus as the screen is so much smaller, but given most will have happily made that sacrifice in buying the phone, it won't be a problem. The internet browser seemed oddly slow on the device we were using, with the TechRadar site actually taking longer to load than on the previous iteration. However, this is likely down to some slightly shonky Wi-Fi at the venue rather than the phone itself so we'll reserve judgement until our full Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini review. What was good to see is the buttons on offer in the browser menu (and throughout the phone) were nice and easy to hit - it would very easy to have them too small on a screen this size, but Sony Ericsson has kept everything nicely within limits. The last thing we'll touch on is the Facebook integration - the brand is making a big deal about how much deeper it's managed to shove the social networking aspect into the phone, and while it does work, we're not sure about all the features. The media side of things seems like it won't be used by a lot of people, being able to like songs from your phone, Spotify or YouTube. This means the 'like' will be posted to your main Facebook feed and will probably annoy most of your friends rather than encourage music discovery. However, we like the ability to look at what people are checking out on YouTube - an easy way to catch up on the latest memes. The Facebook photo integration is cool though - like on HTC Sense, your (and friends') photos from Facebook are available from the phone itself without diving into a seperate application, and even with the slightly wonky connection the photos still streamed quickly and in a slick manner, with the ability to like and comment on them directly from the handset. Overall, we're very impressed with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini handset - we were fans already and the new redesign with Android 2.3 at the heart is another feather in the cap of the brand that's desperately trying to gain some critical success. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini release date has been set for Q3 in the UK, so we're looking forward to getting our hands on the review units in the near future... so keep your eyes peeled for a big review of a teeny phone. Related Stories Android 2.3.4 rolling out across the UK Vodafone begins rolling out HTC Desire HD Android 2.3 update Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro revealed Exclusive: Sony Ericsson planning further Facebook integration Samsung Galaxy S2 used to send world's highest tweet

Government gives Silicon Roundabout £1 million in funding Posted: 06 May 2011 06:13 AM PDT Silicon Roundabout or Tech City or Old Street as it used to be called has been given a cash injection by the government, offering 10 tech companies £100,000 each if they impress with their pitches. The cash bounty was announced today at the Digital Shoreditch Festival by David Bott, the Technology Strategy Board's director of Innovation Programmes. Unique competition "This unique competition is designed to promote the community dynamic within the Tech City area, encourage cooperation and grow business in the area," said Bott. "We want to support this hotspot of digital and creative industries by enabling companies to go further and faster towards commercial success. "We are looking for projects that may be too risky for companies to go for alone, or that may take them into new areas." As part of Brit Week, 7digital CEO Ben Drury told TechRadar that he though the Silicon Roundabout was a good thing for the UK, saying: "It takes time for a community to build up but it is starting to happen. I am more positive now than any time before in London." Related Stories Brit Week: Video exclusive: Sir Richard Branson Week in Tech: British tech: the good, the bad and the ugly This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

Aspect ratio woes in John Carpenter's latest movie delay launch Posted: 06 May 2011 05:34 AM PDT The UK Blu-ray launch of John Carpenter's latest movie has been delayed and it is all down to Home Cinema Choice magazine. Anton van Beek, news editor of HCC – which is part of the TechRadar network – was the person who spotted that the aspect ratio of the Blu-ray review version of The Ward was framed at 1.78:1 but as any Carpenter fan knows, he favours the 2.35:1 ratio. Launch delayed Being the concerned AV nuts they are, Home Cinema Choice contacted Warner Bros about the problem and they received confirmation this week that Warner Home Video has decided to delay the launch of The Ward until 10 October – some five months after its original release date of 10 May. According to WHV: "The current Blu-ray and DVD configurations of The Ward are not in the preferred aspect ratio of Warner Home Video UK." If they were to release the Blu-ray in its current form, then it would have been marred by framing issued and awkward shots, so it's good the folks at HCC spotted it.

Intel's Tri-Gate transistors: everything you need to know Posted: 06 May 2011 05:20 AM PDT Intel has announced a major innovation in microprocessors this week: the world's first 3D transistors, called Tri-Gate, which will be used in the corporation's next generation of desktop, laptop and mobile chips. It means that - for the first time since the invention of silicon transistors over 50 years ago - transistors using a three-dimensional structure will be manufactured in volume, used inside Intel chips later this year. What is Tri-Gate? First invented by Intel research scientists in 2002, Tri-Gate is a new way of manufacturing transistors that the corporation will introduce with its move to 22nm logic technology late in 2011. And, what's more, they bring a whole new dimension to proceedings; the three-dimensional Tri-Gate transistors represent a fundamental departure from the two-dimensional planar transistor structure that has powered all consumer electronics devices to date. NOW: The 2D transistors we've been using for half a century. This shows 32nm transistors with the source, drain and channel (the latter covered by the gate) all in the same plane The Tri-Gate transistor is so named as the gate has three sides. The traditional 'flat' two-dimensional planar gate is replaced with an incredibly thin three-dimensional silicon fin that rises up vertically from the silicon substrate. THE FUTURE: This image shows the vertical fins of Intel's revolutionary tri-gate transistors passing through the gates Control of current is accomplished by implementing a gate on each of the three sides of the fin – two on each side and one across the top - rather than just one on top, as is the case with the 2D planar transistor. And since these fins are vertical, transistors can be packed closer together. Why is Tri-Gate needed? Without the new transistors, it would have been difficult for Intel to continue to uphold Moore's Law. This is the 1965 theory by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that the number of transistors in a given area would double every two years, with increased functionality and reduced cost. Intel says its scientists have long recognised the benefits of a 3D structure for sustaining the pace of Moore's Law as device dimensions become so small that physical laws become barriers to advancement – as process technology has got smaller, problems such as current leakage have needed to be dealt with. "For years we have seen limits to how small transistors can get," said Moore of Intel's latest innovation. "This change in the basic structure is a truly revolutionary approach, and one that should allow Moore's Law, and the historic pace of innovation, to continue." What are the benefits? Intel says there's a "dramatic performance gain at low operating voltage" – thanks to far reduced current leakage. Indeed this translates to a 37 per cent performance increase at low voltage versus Intel's 32nm planar transistors and under a 50 per cent power reduction with constant performance. Basically, the new transistors consume less than half the power when at the same performance as 2D planar transistors on 32nm chips. Better control over the transistor gate enables as much transistor current flowing as possible when the transistor is in the 'on' state for performance, and as close to zero as possible when it is in the 'off' state to reduce power. The new transistors will also have better ability to be turned on and off to save power when they're not needed. ILLUSTRATION: On the left side is the 32nm planar transistor in which the current (represented by the yellow dots) flows in a plane underneath the gate. On the right is the 22nm 3D Tri-Gate transistor with current flowing on three sides of a vertical fin When will Tri-Gate transistors be announced? We'll start to see 22nm processors appear later in the year – and the process will supecede the current Sandy Bridge processors in due course. This keeps on track Intel's plan to introduce a completely new processor generation every two years. Intel has already demonstrated a 22nm chip codenamed Ivy Bridge – the corporation has also said they will continue to use the Intel Core branding for desktop and laptop chips as well as Atom for handhelds and other mobile devices. Tri-Gate replaces the High-k Metal Gate transistors announced alongside the move to 45nm in 2007. Each 22nm processor will have somewhere in the region of 2.9 billion transistors on board. More than 6 million 22nm Tri-Gate transistors could fit into the space taken up by the full stop at the end of this sentence. What devices will 22nm be used in? As well as servers, desktops and laptops, Intel says 22nm is poised to take a hold in the mobile device market. "The low-voltage and low-power benefits far exceed what we typically see from one process generation to the next," says Intel Senior Fellow Mark Bohr. "It will give product designers the flexibility to make current devices smarter and wholly new ones possible. We believe this breakthrough will extend Intel's lead even further over the rest of the semiconductor industry." Will the new 22nm processors cost more? In its documentation Intel says the new manufacturing process costs around 2-3 per cent more, but we wouldn't expect this to mean anything by the time it gets inside your next PC, Mac or tablet. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Poll: 55% of TechRadar readers polled no longer trust Sony Posted: 06 May 2011 04:43 AM PDT TechRadar's readers have not been forgiving of Sony's hacking problems, with the majority of those voting telling us that they do not trust Sony any more. More than 2,000 voted in the TechRadar poll, and when asked if the Sony PSN data breach would put them off from buying future Sony consoles, a not-inconsiderable 55 per cent answered yes. Although the figure may well be skewed by fanboy voting, the figure nevertheless represents a worrying fact to Sony – that its reputation has been damaged at a critical time. Attention to the cloud With the world's attention turning to the cloud as the future, security in networks is of paramount importance to major companies, and although targeted attacks on major corporations are common and growing in popularity, Sony has been chastened by the events. An apology by Sir Howard Stringer is unlikely to be the last we hear about the matter, with Anonymous still chafing from the accusation that they were to blame. And the eventual arrival of the PlayStation 4 is likely to see a new round of questions as to what Sony are doing with our data now that they have been burned. Four per cent of people polled suggested they wouldn't hold off from buying a next-gen console, but simply wouldn't use the network, but 28 per cent suggested that the data breach could have happened to anyone. The remaining 10 per cent of people admitted that they wouldn't have gone for a PlayStation anyway.

Week in Tech: British tech: the good, the bad and the ugly Posted: 06 May 2011 04:30 AM PDT Rule Britannia! Ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum! While William and Kate's wedding packed the streets of London, we decided to celebrate something a bit more contemporary: Britain's love of tech. As Patrick Goss puts it: "There's no mistaking the fact that the UK is in love with technology. We are a nation of early adopters, enthusiasts and technophiles. We love playing with the latest kit, snooping out the biggest bargains and, thankfully for TechRadar, reading about it." We decided to have a Brit Week on Techradar because Britain has much to shout about. All those tablet PCs everyone's getting worked up about? Almost all of them are straight outta Cambridge, thanks to processor technology developed and licensed by ARM - check out our interview with those guys later today. The shiny nuggets of consumer joy that makes Apple's tills ker-ching were designed by a chap from Chingford. The World Wide Web? Londoner Tim Berners-Lee. And when it comes to silly-goggled headache generators, nobody does 3D TV like Sky. We're one of the world's most tech-savvy markets, as former iPlayer boss and current Microsoft UK consumer and online MD Ashley Highfield told us. "We are [Microsoft's] number two market and the understanding is that the British consumer is very tech savvy," he says. We're not just tech savvy, though: we're design savvy too. That's why Microsoft has decided to get sexy - or at least, to show off some nice laptops and Xboxes. "The UK loves technology and innovation so we will have to lead with devices like the Kinect and other things that push our innovation to the fore, rather the competing solely on price," Highfield says. "We're keen to play in the area of design aesthetics." Encouraging creativity Before we break out the Union Jacks again, the picture isn't entirely rosy: we've got the brains, it seems, but we're not always helping them achieve their full potential. Sir James Dyson is the poster boy for UK inventors, and he explained how the UK is falling behind in innovation. In short, we don't make enough stuff. "Recent GDP figures show that 76% of our economy is based on the service industry. If we don't turn ideas into exportable goods, we will lose our competitive edge," Sir James told us. Part of the problem is that we don't have enough people studying engineering. "In the UK, there are 37,000 engineering vacancies every year, but only 22,000 graduates... science and engineering will be our future. Holding these subjects in high esteem is a good way of creating interest among our young people who will come up with the ideas of the future." Encouraging creativity was a key theme of our Brit Week interviews, with legendary games developer Peter Molyneux praising the innovation in Xbox Live Arcade games and describing the results of his own firm's Creative Week, where everyone was allowed the time and freedom to push their own ideas. "All in all we saw 35 different projects which ranged from tech, ideas, prototypes to almost finished games and we all mutually impressed each other. I can safely say that personally I was blown away by everything I saw that day." Coming up with good ideas is one thing. Getting investors to help turn them into real products is another. "The real problem nowadays for many British devs and studios is the fact that they are struggling more than ever to get the investment they need in order to produce big games," Molyneux says. He's quick to point out that it's not a UK-only problem, but it's still a problem: there's a yawning chasm between indie game developers and big-budget, triple-A developers. Sir James Dyson argues that there's a similar lack of vision in engineering. "Ideas need to be developed to be turned int commercial successes," he says. "And we have to start now." Related Stories Brit Week: Video exclusive: Sir Richard Branson Government gives Silicon Roundabout £1 million in funding This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

Brit Week: Video exclusive: Sir Richard Branson Posted: 06 May 2011 04:15 AM PDT In the build up to Brit Week, TechRadar sat down with Sir Richard Branson – the man behind the Virgin Brand – and asked him what he thought the state of the UK tech industry was. Branson told TechRadar that he thought the UK technology industry was "in need of a bit of saving" and expressed his hopes for the next generation of UK entrepreneurs. You can hear what Branson had to say about UK technology in our exclusive video clip. Related Stories Week in Tech: British tech: the good, the bad and the ugly Government gives Silicon Roundabout £1 million in funding This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

Sony CEO sorry for PSN hack, offers data theft insurance Posted: 06 May 2011 04:02 AM PDT Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer has spoken for the first time about the hack on the PSN and SOE networks, some two weeks after the security breach was made public. In a bid to bring calm to the situation, Stringer is offering every US users of the PSN an identity theft insurance policy, which is set to cost Sony $1 million (£610,000). Identity theft protection schemes for other countries are set to be announced in due course. In the 'letter from Howard Stringer', the CEO talks of the "frustration" of the situation and explains that the hack doesn't seem to have taken users' card information. "To date, there is no confirmed evidence any credit card or personal information has been misused, and we continue to monitor the situation closely. "As a company we – and I – apologise for the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack. "Under the leadership of Kazuo Hirai, we have teams working around the clock and around the world to restore your access to those services as quickly, and as safely, as possible." Questions asked Although Stringer has praised the efforts of his team, he does admit that Sony could have acted quicker once the hack was found. "I know some believe we should have notified our customers earlier than we did. It's a fair question. As soon as we discovered the potential scope of the intrusion, we shut down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and hired some of the best technical experts in the field to determine what happened. "I wish we could have gotten the answers we needed sooner, but forensic analysis is a complex, time-consuming process. "Hackers, after all, do their best to cover their tracks, and it took some time for our experts to find those tracks and begin to identify what personal information had – or had not – been taken." The PSN should be back up in running in the next few days, with "stronger defences", according to Stringer. Although if there ever was a line to bait hackers with, surely that would be it. Related Stories Brit Week: Branson: British tech needs a bit of saving

Review: Fujitsu LifeBook A530 Posted: 06 May 2011 04:00 AM PDT If you're looking for a recession-busting laptop, the Fujitsu LifeBook A530 will certainly catch your eye. The price tag is pretty tempting and, at just £364, there's really not many cheaper options on the market. If your laptop-buying decision is based purely on price, then the LifeBook A530 is a no brainer, but it goes without saying that there's no such thing as a free lunch and the A530 makes huge sacrifices. These come in the form of processing power, which is key to the amount of tasks your laptop can perform, and the amount it can do simultaneously. At the helm is a dated 2GHz Intel Celeron P4600 processor, which will struggle with anything more taxing than basic web surfing and emailing. This is backed up with a meagre 2048MB of memory, which is quite low by modern standards. Couple this with the 250GB hard drive and appalling lack of video memory and the £40 saving over the Samsung R540 is looking less appealing. TFT screen While we're talking about shortcomings, we might as well bring up the screen. It's a basic TFT panel, which is extremely dull and lifeless, and totally unsuited to films and media. A side-effect is that it's very usable in direct sunlight, so if you're a person who liked to take their laptop out to use in the garden, then it's worth considering this factor when making a laptop purchase. The chassis of the A530 is good for such a bargain price and it manages to feel light, without being flimsy, which is something few budget notebooks manage. At 2.5kg, it's light enough to carry round if you really need it, but we wouldn't recommend it for life on the road. There's a full numeric keypad, present as well as a full sized standard keyboard. The lab tests of the Fujitsu A530 highlight its meagre performance. It turned out low scores in our tests of processing power, and battery life was also a miserable 101 minutes. The Acer Timeline X 3820TZ came out worse in terms of graphical power, and that sacrifice is made in the name of super portability and a staggering battery life. The Fujitsu achieves neither, and the strain really shows. All this translates into a weak performer with serious shortcomings. If you're looking for something for the most basic web surfing, then you'll be fine. However, HD video and web streaming will suffer, and even playing basic games will be a struggle. When you consider that another £30 could buy you the HP Pavilion dv6-3046sa with its significantly superior build and performance, we can't recommend it, but if your decision is based purely on price, the Fujitsu LifeBook A530 is hard to turn down. Related Stories Review: Packard Bell Dot SE Review: Toshiba NB520-108 Review: Acer Aspire Timeline X 3820TZ

Exclusive: How BlackBerry will bring mobile payments to the UK Posted: 06 May 2011 03:31 AM PDT BlackBerry is far from the first NFC phone, so why does RIM's UK MD Stephen Bates think that when the BlackBerry Bold 9900 comes along it will kickstart mobile payments in the UK ahead of the rest of the world? It's not because it will have NFC in it - Orange has said half the phones it sells this year will have NFC and Bates freely admits that "NFC is not new. Really, we don't see this as we're bringing more technology to market." What BlackBerry has is battery life that keeps going so you can still pay for things late in the evening, security that users, banks, mobile operators and companies who want to sell you something all trust - and good relationships with a lot of them already. "In the consumer market we might think people don't tend to see security as a feature or a need they have at the moment, but we think once you start paying for coffee and newspapers people will just assume that security will be there," Bates told TechRadar. Plus it has the hugely successful BlackBerry Messenger service; an infrastructure for sending messages in real time that's far more reliable than text messages (let alone Twitter). "BBM is a real-time handshaking technology that confirms when I've sent something to you and when you've received it; in layman's terms that's called a receipt…" One of the reasons combined Oyster and credit cards haven't taken off - not everyone wants to switch to Barclaycard. BlackBerry can avoid the problems of whether your mobile operator works with your particular credit card, because you'll be able to charge things to your phone bill - for yourself or as gifts. "If my kids want a prepay top-up they can ask me to pay it and I can gift it to them and get it charged to my carrier bill. If I want to buy an app, I can charge it to my carrier bill. Now - in a mobile commerce world - if I want to buy myself a coffee and a newspaper and a sandwich I can do that with contactless payment." More than payments Paying for things is only part of what NFC is going to be good for; you can use NFC for reading from the phone as well as for sending to it which means it could be the fob that gets you through the door at work as well as the Oystercard you use to take the train home. It could also be what gets you into the concert or football game you bought a ticket for online, linking your online and real-world social life. "Say I like a certain band," suggests Bates. "I'm connected to their web page, I'm connected to their fan page, I'm on Twitter, I'm on Facebook… I get pushed an update for concerts, I buy my ticket and it pushes me a date in my diary. I use that to get in because I've got a contactless ticket and I get a special offer for a 10% discount on a T-shirt because I'm in the fan club. I walk in and there may be a special on at McDonalds that gets pushed to you. You have this ability to sign up to this and be connected and be interacted with through your social network, through the way you live your life." Expect mobile payments to start small with a limit on the value of transactions - coffee and newspapers that won't give you a shock when you see them on your bill at the end of the month. "It's about people being comfortable with things," Bates told us, comparing it to the way people have moved from using social networks on the PC to expecting to be able to tweet and message on their phone all day. He expects that to happen faster in the UK than many other countries; "We think the UK is one of the markets where the population is more attuned to doing things like contactless payments; they're less scared than other markets around the world." There are two events coming up that he thinks will speed up these services. "We think the 2012 Olympics is a catalyst for contactless payments - and the 2015 Rugby World Cup is ticketless games. That means we've got probably three years to get ticketless working." Related Stories Best mobile screen: display tech explained Exclusive: Details of first QNX BlackBerry phones revealed Best phone screen: display tech explained

Review: Acer Aspire Timeline X 3820TZ Posted: 06 May 2011 03:30 AM PDT If you take a trip to your local PC superstore and take a look at all the laptops under £399, you'll find that the majority are fat, heavy, plasticky and cumbersome. The Acer Aspire Timeline X3820TZ couldn't be more different, and it's just as portable and solid as it is great value. The Timeline is finished with a solid brushed-metal lid and the same material is also used on the palmrest as well. This gives it a solid feel, reminiscent of a quality ultraportable, but instead of costing in excess of £700, this is available for a mere £380. This 13.3-inch laptop weighs just 1.9kg, something your back will thank you for if you have a long commute. Any 13-inch laptop at this size and price will immediately draw comparisons with netbooks, but let us be clear, there's a huge difference. Firstly, the Aspire Timeline X3820TZ features a dual-core 2.00GHz Intel Pentium processor, which means it's capable of more than just simple web browsing. What's more, it also has a comfortable full-sized keyboard. However, like a netbook, there's no optical drive supplied, so DVDs and CDs are out of the question – prompting questions about whether it's suitable as a main PC. Elsewhere, you'll find a healthy 3072MB of memory, which will keep it feeling responsive and fast when working on day-to-day tasks, and a 320GB hard drive, which is enough for most people. The screen looks sharp and clear, but the glossy coating of the Super TFT screen will make it hard to see in direct sunshine. We would expect most budget ultraportables and netbooks to slump in our lab tests, as the limits of low-cost, low-profile technology bite, but the Acer Aspire Timeline X3820TZ performed in line with most of the laptops at this price, achieving similar scores to the Samsung R540 and HP Pavilion dv6-3046sa, despite being over half a kilo lighter. Its abundance of processing power means that it's capable of web surfing, tackling more demanding tasks like dealing with SD video, and watching rich web content. Benchmarks Battery life: 594 minutes MobileMark 2007: 208 3DMark 2003: 3188 Staying power In addition to impressive performance for such a low-cost ultraportable, the Acer still has one trick up its sleeve. In our battery life tests, it achieved a staggering nine hours, meaning it will last a whole day out on the road, on campus, or simply out in the park on a sunny afternoon. This level of performance was untouched by any of its rivals around this price. At such a competitive price, quality build and powerful spec, the Acer could be the UK's best-value laptop. If your needs are basic and portability is important, then you'd be mad to ignore it. Related Stories Review: Packard Bell Dot SE Review: Toshiba NB520-108 Review: Fujitsu LifeBook A530

Review: Panasonic DMP-BD75 Posted: 06 May 2011 03:00 AM PDT Unsurprisingly, 3D will continue to dominate home cinema in 2011, with a flood of 3D TVs and Blu-ray products hitting the market as the year unfolds. Indeed, Panasonic's new range of Blu-ray players includes four 3D-ready models, such as its flagship DMP-BDT310. But it's worth remembering that not everyone has the desire or the budget to embrace the 3D revolution, which is why Panasonic also provides a couple of non-3D models, including this DMP-BD75. This entry-level player has been stripped of the headline-grabbing features of its 3D stable mates, its focus shifting to the brand's proven picture prowess, with a lower price tag to match. Features Panasonic has made a concerted effort to downsize dimensions in order to reduce the amount of packaging, making the BD75 so slim you could almost slip it in your wallet. Art deco it's not, but the understated black styling is undeniably tasteful, and the aluminium bodywork is surprisingly robust. Just a couple of buttons adorn the fascia, alongside a USB port in place of the usual SD card slot and a basic display panel. The rear panel also screams 'entry level'. All you'll find there are HDMI, composite video and stereo audio outputs. These are pretty much all you need if you own an HDMI-equipped AV receiver, but those who need a separate digital audio output, or multichannel analogue ports, should look further up the range. There's also an Ethernet port, which on Panasonic's more expensive players enables you to explore the new Viera Connect cloud internet service and Skype functionality. Here it's limited to DLNA networking (dubbed Media Server), BD-Live downloads and firmware updates. There's no Wi-Fi support at all on the Panasonic DMP-BD75, neither built-in nor dongle-fed. Still, it's encouraging to see networking filtering down to even the cheapest players, as the ability to stream music, video, photos and recordings stored on DIGA recorders is always a bonus (although you need a Windows 7 PC to use it here). The USB port on the front panel provides another way of playing digital media. As well as supporting the usual suspects – MP3, JPEG and DivX HD – it also handles MKV. But it didn't want to know our AAC, WMV or WMA files, plus, we could only hear the audio for AVI. The USB port is also used for storing downloaded BD-Live content. So, if you're a regular downloader, get used to having a USB stick protruding from the front. Interface The onscreen interface has also been given a new lick of paint for 2011, including a radical rethink of the navigation system. While there was nothing hugely wrong with the brand's previous menus, this is a distinct improvement. The added immediacy and logic bring it closer in spirit to Sony's Xross Media Bar, as seen in models such as the BDP-S570. Icons are laid out in a cross shape, and the relevant menu is selected simply by hitting a direction key or Enter. The icons are cute and the colour scheme is bright and bubbly. It's a dream to use and poses no problems when streaming, surfing media folders or tweaking the settings. Among these settings are picture presets and a user-defined mode where you can adjust colour, contrast, brightness and sharpness. The remote takes an 'ain't broke, don't fix it' approach, keeping the same compact shape, button layout and clear labelling as last year's zappers, while providing a dedicated button for the Media Server feature. Performance Panasonic has also shaved a chunk off last year's disc loading speeds on the DMP-BD75: it gets Terminator Salvation from tray to play in 40 seconds, with less stubborn discs firing up in 30. And in terms of performance, the DMP-BD75 offers everything you expect from a Panasonic Blu-ray player, particularly when it comes to picture quality. Its tried and trusted on-board image technology delivers deep, vivacious colours and sublimely sharp detail. It paints the lush high-definition landscapes of Pandora throughout Avatar with such intensity that you can't resist being pulled into the picture. And with close-up shots of faces or CG creatures, the deck doesn't miss a single pixel. The Silicon Optix demonstrates what a smooth operator the DMP-BD75 really is, particularly for an entry-level deck. Neither our Film nor Video Resolution loss tests showed a single sign of strobing, the edges of the moving white bars on the jaggies test patterns are as smooth as a baby's bum, and the rows of seats during the pan across Raymond James Stadium look steady and composed. HD audio soundtracks are as crisp as you'd expect over an HDMI connection, and our Tech Labs' analogue audio jitter test suggests it's a solid CD player too – although subjectively we thought performance was unspectacular. Verdict If you're in the market for a basic Blu-ray player that serves up eye-popping pictures, and you have no need for bells and whistles, then you could do far worse than plump for the DMP-BD75. But most AV enthusiasts will surely be tempted by the more exciting treats offered higher up Panasonic's 2011 range. An extra £100 gets you built-in Wi-Fi, access to the Viera Connect portal and, of course, 3D playback.

Brit Week: Branson: British tech needs a bit of saving Posted: 06 May 2011 02:40 AM PDT Sir Richard Branson has expressed his disappointment that Britain has not managed to provide one of the global internet successes, but the Virgin founder has high hopes for the future. Branson is one of Britain's highest profile entrepreneurs, and his latest project - Virgin Galactic - is an example of how a major risk can pay off in the future. But, Branson has admitted that he was a little upset that the UK had not managed to become a global leader on the internet. Very sad "I think it's very sad that Britain has not been good," Branson told TechRadar ahead of Brit Week. "None of the really great things like Facebook, Google or MySpace has come out of Britain, and there's no real reason why not." Branson believes that the next decade could see the UK reasserting itself on the internet, and believes that Virgin can play a part in boosting people's good ideas. "I hope that in the next 10 to 15 years a new generation of Brits will put that right and we can get some world dominating sites. "If anyone does have a great idea then I have team of people at Virgin who would be delighted to work with them!" No excuses Branson believes that the excuses being offered up for a lack of innovation in the UK are not good enough. "America as a whole doesn't have a lot to offer. I would say San Francsico and the internet is saving America at the moment. "Britain needs a bit of saving, and we have got to encourage entrepreneurs to be coming up with the next big breakthrough. "There's no reason at all why is shouldn't be a British entrepreneur rather than an American." Related Stories Sony CEO sorry for PSN hack, offers data theft insurance

Samsung Galaxy S2 used to send world's highest tweet Posted: 06 May 2011 02:36 AM PDT Samsung has announced the 'world's highest tweet' has been sent from the summit of Mount Everest on a Samsung Galaxy S2. Using the summit's first ever 3G connection, Brit Kenton Cool posted a tweet just after 2AM GMT after reaching the peak for the ninth time, as well as, apparently, posting up a picture and updating his Facebook status. There's no news as to whether he checked out TechRadar, but we're assuming he did, possibly to check out the five star Samsung Galaxy S2 review. Up in Cloud 9? "Everest summit no 9! 1st tweet from the top of the world thanks to a weak 3G signal & the awesome Samsung Galaxy S2 handset!," tweeted Cool. Cool was handed the Galaxy S2 to unbox at basecamp, after Samsung picked up the sponsorship of his latest journey up the world's highest mountain. "I've climbed Everest before, but have never been able to share the exhilaration and excitement I experience when I reach the top with those back home," said Cool. "I unboxed the new Samsung Galaxy S II at base camp and was excited to be able to not only make a 3G connected call home, but also to use all the other great features like updating my Facebook status, tweeting on my journey up and posting a picture to share my moment with friends." Related Stories Android 2.3.4 rolling out across the UK Vodafone begins rolling out HTC Desire HD Android 2.3 update Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro revealed Exclusive: Sony Ericsson planning further Facebook integration Hands on: Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini review

Review: Cambridge Audio Minx S325 Posted: 06 May 2011 02:30 AM PDT At first glance, the Minx S325 looks no more remarkable than the speakers you get with an all-in-one home cinema system made by various Korean or Japanese mass market brands. But we need to look West rather than East in seeking a comparison: think Bose rather than Sony or LG and you get the idea. Midway between the S215 and S525 systems, Cambridge Audio reckons that the Minx S325 "completely rewrites the rulebook of what's possible from miniature speakers". Build quality bodes well, with extractable banana sockets and a high-gloss lacquer finish applied to dinky little cabinets that are engineered from acoustically damped thermo polymer and extruded aluminium. Peeling off the grilles reveals a surprise: instead of domes and tweeters there are perfectly flat discs with rubber surrounds. Each driver has a hybrid flat-panel radiator mounted on a conventional rubber surround. Features Minx's unique selling point is its use of Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) technology. These full range drivers – reaching the 20kHz limit of human hearing – use NXT-style 'bending wave' principles for higher frequencies and conventional pistonic driver movement for lower ones. According to Cambridge Audio, this results in a wider frequency response than similarly styled speakers, with deeper and more powerful bass and broader sound dispersion. The company is certainly playing the lifestyle card here, and as well as black and white lacquer finishes, there are options for mounting, comprising the basic supplied wall bracket, a £15 pedestal stand and £80 floor stands. The Minx lineup comes in three 5.1 permutations. The Minx S215 features single-driver satellites combined with a 200W subwoofer, while the Minx S525 boasts twin-driver sats hitched to a 500W sub. My sample, the S325, uses twin-driver sats and a 300W sub. The subwoofer looks classy and resplendent in gloss black and sits on solid rubberised feet. Like the satellites, it takes an unconventional approach. Behind a removable nylon grille is a forward-firing driver which combines with an downward-firing Auxiliary Bass Radiator (ABR). A bespoke Digital Signal Processor (DSP) helps boost efficiency and enables a much smaller footprint than would normally be expected to deliver a claimed frequency response as low as 33Hz. The rear panel offers control of gain, phase and crossover frequency and includes a line-out socket for adding a second sub. There's also a handy signal detection feature and a wireless port for removing the LFE input cable in future. On test Fired up, it soon becomes apparent that the Minx is indeed a remarkable system, but not an unqualified success. The subwoofer is an extraordinary beast, like a kitten with the lungs of a lion. In the first chapter of There Will Be Blood on Blu-ray, Daniel Day-Lewis set off an explosion that blew the grille off the sub. Our fault for not fixing it tightly enough, but on a second serving we watched in amazement as our plasterboard walls reverberated. As the beautifully scored soundtrack reaches a crescendo you really feel the drama of the scene's climax is enhanced, as the bass seals the sense of excitement and fulfilment. Likewise, when The Thing shouts "fine" on the Brooklyn Bridge in the Fantastic Four's DTS-HD soundtrack, our shirt pressed back into our chest. As the truck exploded, the subwoofer gently flexed its LFE muscle and the room boomed in a purposeful, yet controlled, way. But what of the satellites? They certainly seem to fill the room, exhibiting much more power than you'd expect and achieving that broad sound dispersion. But they do have an obvious flaw, which is that mid-to-higher frequencies tend to lack subtlety, while dialogue sounds cold and shrill as if it has come from a primitive, unrefined digital amplifier. Bigger noises, such as the fire engine crash in the Fantastic Four, screech an uncomfortable assault on the ears. A quick spin of Jeff Buckley's Real was a similar experience – the sub and sats filled the room effortlessly, but the vocals remained unsatisfactory and felt unreal. Verdict The Minx S325 is certainly a remarkable product. This system can fill a room with an impressively broad soundstage, the subwoofer would be a truly compelling proposition as a standalone product and the whole package looks gorgeous. It's just a shame its upper frequency performance lacks refinement.

Brit Week: Silicon Roundabout is taking off, says key CEO Posted: 06 May 2011 01:40 AM PDT 7Digital CEO Ben Drury has told TechRadar that London's Silicon Roundabout is beginning to have a real impact, although he's not convinced by the high-tech area's nickname. Silicon Roundabout is the name attached to the juncture of Old Street and City Road in central London, an area being groomed as the England capital's answer to California's famed Silicon Valley. Drury, in an interview with TechRadar as part of Brit Week, insisted that the creation of a high-tech hub is of paramount importance, and that a culture of sharing ideas is beginning to arrive for the Old Street-based focal point. "[The Silicon Roundabout] is an awful name, but you do need a hub," said Drury. "We have started hanging out with other companies in the area, becoming part of the social scene and generally swapping ideas and getting advice." Help and advice "You can help each other if there are some dodgy investors snooping around who have been watching too much Dragon's Den and want 50 per cent of your company for three quid," he added. "It takes time for a community to build up but it is starting to happen. I am more positive now than any time before in London." Drury's 7Digital is a British success story, with the digital music download store competing with some massive global names for our digital dollars, including Amazon and Apple. "People in Britain and in Europe have always been a bit afraid to take risks but this is also starting to change. There is now more of an entrepreneurial culture," Drury says.

This Week in Mac|Life Posted: 05 May 2011 08:49 PM PDT Apple announced new iMacs with fancy new Thunderbolt ports and i5 and i7 processors. Plus we find a 25 awesome icon sets to customize your Macs desktop. If you were afraid to leave the house because your iPhone was keeping a database of the recently encountered cell towers, worry no longer. Apple pushed an update that should allow you to remove your tin hat. Features Game Time : The Age of Industry In honor of Skynet going online, we decided to pay special attention to machines and the chaos they create in this week's Game Time. Sure, there's a bit of irony in an Apple-centric mag covering the possibility of machines being evil, but we consider it our duty to our readers to report our findings. Gallery: 10 Great Mac Games Under $20 The Mac App Store made it easier than ever for Mac gamers to find and download unique titles of all stripes -- indie darlings, casual smashes, and big-budget blockbusters. We scoured the listings to select 10 sharp picks that can be nabbed for less than $20 apiece. And since we're simply glad you graciously took a moment away from Angry Birds to read this story, we'll safely leave that sensation off this list. But it's in the Mac App Store if you need it! Best Case Scenario: Cover Up Your White iPhone 4 You waited months for the white iPhone 4 to become available at a store nearest you. You were so determined to hold out longer than your friends for the now 9-month old technology, that you can't believe its white chassis is finally in your hands. But wait! Why let the whole world see it? Why not cover its beauty with a protective, decorative case? Why not one of the cases featured in today's Best Case Scenario? Gallery: 25 Amazing Icon Sets These icon sets by some of the most respected graphic designers in the Mac community will add some flare to your Dock and a little fun to your Finder. The sets range from classic and cool, to cute and silly. We're certain you'll find some you like! 10 iPhone Apps That Need iPad (or Universal) Versions If you're sitting there waiting for your favorite iPhone app to get a universal update (or even a separate "HD" version for the iPad), you're probably not alone -- here's a lineup of 10 apps guilty of depriving us of some big-screen iPad love. App Showdown: Celebrity Chefs Last week we peered deep into the world of video apps, seeing what food bloggers and a professional kitchen could put together. Today, we crank it up a notch and delve into the world of celebrity chef apps. Can these outsized personalities kick it iOS style and prepare us a five-course meal of digital goodness, or are they jumping on a bandwagon and rushing out a digital soufflé, only to see it flop? Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah, that much we can say, so let's have a look. The Mac|Life Show: Apple Answers to Allegations of iPhone Tracking This week, Robbie and Flo break down Apple's response to the allegations of iPhone tracking and discuss the software update slated to hit soon. How-Tos How To Customize Your Desktop with GeekTool GeekTool is an application that allows you to not only customize your desktop in Mac OS X, but also display any Terminal output right on your desktop. While the software was initially designed to display and monitor shell script output, it has been increasingly used for desktop customizations. Join us as we take you through the ins-and-outs of using GeekTool and show you some great desktop customization techniques. How to Create a Screen Saver From Your Flickr Photos Many people use the Flickr photo sharing service as an alternative to the MobileMe "Gallery" feature. Unfortunately, the screen saver preference lacks the option to create a screen saver from Flickr. Sure, you could download and deal with plug-ins, but what if you want to use the default photo screen saver options in Mac OS X? This can be done with a little ingenuity and a great RSS-conversion tool. How to Clean Your Mac Whether you're selling your Mac or just doing a little spring cleaning, keeping your Mac clean not only ensures that your machine works well, but that it also looks good. From cleaning your screen, to dusting your trackpad and magic mouse, we've got you covered in this guide. Learn all of the tips for cleaning and reconditioning your Mac desktops and notebooks. News Apple Releases New iMac Packed with Quad-Core, Thunderbolt and More Once again, the rumor mill has gotten the better of Apple. As widely reported in the last week, Cupertino has released a refresh of their iMac line on Tuesday, complete with quad-core Intel Sandy Bridge processors, beefed-up AMD Radeon HD graphics and the new Thunderbolt I/O. Adobe Creative Suite 5.5, Digital Publishing Suite Pro Edition Now Available Announced for preorder last month, Adobe has started shipping their latest Creative Suite 5.5 software, including packaged, download and subscription options. The company has also taken the wraps off their new turnkey solution, Digital Publishing Suite, for publishing content to the iPad and other tablets. Report: Over The Air Updates Coming with iOS 5? Since the first iPhone debuted in 2007 -- and right up through this week's iOS 4.3.3 update -- installing a new software version on your handset has meant jacking into iTunes. But that could change starting with iOS 5 later this year. Rumor: Lion Shipping Via App Store? In keeping with their continued effort of transitioning Mac related software to the App Store, a new report out today says that once Apple decides to release Lion into the wild this summer, they'll distribute it via the Mac App Store. Users would be able to upgrade instantly without needing to pop any sort of physical media into their system. iOS 4.3.3. is Out, Addresses Location Tracking Concerns The software update we've been waiting for since, um, last week, is here to address concerns of the iPhone tracking location data. The update will reduce the size of the cache on the iPhone that stores this iOS crowd-sourced location data and will no longer back it up to iTunes, which keeps score of where you've been. Additionally, the update will also delete the cache entirely when Location Services is turned off. So now, you can continue living like all incognito and never worry about any of us finding out where you've been. You sneaky dog. Report: Apple Looking to Upgrade iPhone Ambient Light Sensor Securing a contract to provide Apple components for its iOS devices is only half the battle -- you've got to keep pushing the envelope or Cupertino might look elsewhere. That appears to be the case with the iPhone's ambient light sensor, according to reports out of the Far East. MaximumTech Launches - FutureTech Nerd Trifecta Complete Well we've added another technology site to the sisterhood of the traveling nerds, MaximumTech. Jon, Markkus, and Mike will be doling out all the technology bits that the computer sites don't cover. The Daily Loses $10 Million in First Quarter, Racks Up 800k Downloads Remember The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's iPad-only newspaper? You can bet the accountants at publisher News Corp. do, because they're bathed in the red ink of the project's $10 million first-quarter loss. Deadlock, 8-Player Online Shooter, Announced for iOS If there's one area that the iOS gaming platform has been lacking in it has definitely been quality multiplayer experiences. While the PSP has games like Monster Hunter and SOCOM and Nintendo DS has Mario Kart, the iPhone hasn't had all that many quality multiplayer games worth getting excited about. So our interest was definitely piqued when we learned about the announcemen of Crescent Moon Games' 8-player shooter, Deadlock. iFixIt Sharpens Their Suction Cups, Guts a New 21.5-Inch iMac In case you didn't hear, Apple released new iMacs on Tuesday, which can only mean one thing: iFixIt Teardown! Or as the company puts it, they sharpened their suction cups (two of them, in fact) and dove in. Video: Apple's "If You Asked" Spot for iPad 2 As if the iPad 2 needs any more of a boost in sales since many people still can't get their hands on one, Apple has released a new television spot, "If You Asked," highlighting all of the wonderful ways people might describe their favorite tablet. Video: New iMacs Can Handle Dual 30-Inch Displays, Our Hopes and Dreams If you think rocking a 27-inch iMac with a 30-inch monitor is cool -- and we did prior to Tuesday -- how about a pair of 30-inch displays? That's exactly the kind of feats of strength the new iMac is capable of, thanks to dual Thunderbolt ports. Reviews Deluxe Moon HD Review Deluxe Moon HD is an app that looks as gorgeous as the moon itself. It can provide astrologers, gardeners, and -- let's just say it -- werewolves with massive amounts of moon-related data. Featuring a built-in compass and moon azimuth, GPS, and daily, location-based times for moonrise and moonset, the application is a one-stop shop for all of your moon-stalking needs Pictorial Review Remember summer nights when you were young, lying in the grass and finding patterns in the stars? (There's a country song in there somewhere…) Pictorial runs along those lines; it's an educational/puzzle game where you take seemingly random stars and drag your finger until the stars become lines and eventually form a picture. Discovr Review If your iPod feels a little stale, Discovr might be a good way to freshen it up. Enter the name of any artist and their icon appears, surrounded by icons of six similar bands. Double-tap an icon to learn more about that artist; to spawn more bubbles of more artists, a single-tap will do (and honestly, that seems backwards -- we'd like it the other way around). ÜberMask File-Hiding Utility Review Everyone has secrets. Whether it's your complete collection of Justin Bieber B-sides or some photos that are better off shared with a very select group (the visual record of our sophomore year of college comes to mind), there's just some stuff that's better off hidden. When we were teenagers, that kind of stuff went under the bed. ÜberMask is the digital equivalent of that space. It's not exactly Fort Knox, but hey—out of sight, out of mind. YummySoup! Review If you don't have a Mac in your kitchen yet, YummySoup will convince you that you need one. Calling this richly featured app a mere recipe organizer doesn't do it justice -- it's more about helping you collect, organize, use, and share recipes. SOHO Organizer 9 Productivity Suite Review Apple haters love to claim that we're paying a premium for little more than pretty hardware. But we all know how dim-witted that statement truly is—for starters, Apple makes tons of great software too. Case in point: The Address Book and iCal combo is a one-two productivity punch, and the two apps work so well—and are so tightly integrated—that getting us to drop $100 for a third-party contact manager and calendar is a bit of a long shot. But Chronos' SOHO Organizer 9 sweetens the pot with some tricks that Apple's offerings can't match and adds an information manager and a handy app for printing envelopes and other business documents. Infinity Field Review Decades ago, in the United Skates of America roller rink in Rumford, Rhode Island, I was introduced to the joys of dual-stick shooter arcade games. Here, my lone robot warrior faced off against thousands of less-friendly robots, the only tactic being to dodge, refocus your fire in the direction needed and pray that the next available power-up would boost your weaponry or atomize the opponents on your screen entirely. This tradition lives on in Infinity Field, a new dual-stick space shooter developed by ForzeField Studios and published by Chillingo. Frog Minutes Review With all of Suda 51's penchant for socio-political psychobabble, surrealism and punk-rock sensibilities, universal Frog Minutes is not the kind of game one would expect from his company, Grasshopper Manufacture. Frog Minutes is Grasshopper's iOS debut, and when it was announced as a charitable project whose proceeds would aid victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami to hit the developer's native Japan, all that was known about it was its name and amphibian-based logo. With Grasshopper's pedigree and following, they probably could have released a game about navigating Japanese tax software and people would still buy it, and in some ways the quiet Frog Minutes is almost as mundane -- it's an unexpected little app that involves, you guessed it, catching frogs.

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