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- Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
- Google closes newspaper archive project
- Windows Mobile 6 to expire on 15 July
- Amazon tablet rumours: what you need to know
- 'Mac Defender' trojan causing Mac users woe
- Apple supplier: iPhone 5 orders 'several months' late
- Review: Apple iMac 21.5-inch 2011
- Review: Apple iMac 27-inch 2011
- Nintendo at E3 2011: what to expect
- Government appoints ex-Guardian man as 'digital tsar'
- Michael Bay: Filming in 3D is 'tough as hell'
- Review: Swann SportsCam DVR-460
- Buying Guide: Best CPU cooler 2011: 8 coolers tested
- Sony shows off markerless AR tech
- AIM becomes truly interoperable with Google products
- Review: AVM FRITZ! WLAN Repeater
- Nokia's Windows Phones may use ST-Ericsson chips
- Orange and Barclaycard launch NFC on the high street
- Orange and Samsung launch NFC on the high street
- Phishing site found running on Sony server
- Week in Tech: The key to tablet success: don't ape the iPad
- Review: GE Digital DV1
- Review: TP-Link TL-WR1043ND
- iPad 3 rumours: what you need to know
- US students get free Xbox 360 with new Windows PCs
| Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Posted: 21 May 2011 01:00 AM PDT This week's reviews include HTC's tablet as well as the new 2011 iMac lineup. The HTC Flyer was announced at Mobile World Congress when it impressed, but how does it stand up to the iPad 2 and plethora of Android 3.0 devices? The new 21.5 and 27-inch iMacs offer awesome power, but do they give you more power than you need? We've also looked at an epic 50-inch plasma TV from Panasonic and much more. Read on to find out more. Now that Android is a major tablet OS, with Android 3.0 appearing on the likes of the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1V, HTC is still staying separate from the crowd. The most notable change from the norm is the 7-inch screen and the touchscreen stylus, known officially as the Magic Pen. It connects wirelessly to the Flyer, and enables you to annotate, highlight and erase in supported apps. It offers a measure of pressure sensitivity (unlike most styluses on capacitive screens), so may pique the interest of artists. Apple's new 2011 iMac range retains the form factor of the 2010 models, but enjoys a very significant component upgrade. Second-generation quad-core Intel Core i5 processors are used throughout the 2011 iMac lineup. This 2011 21.5-inch iMac reviewed here is the new range's entry-level model, costing £999. It offers a quad core Intel 2.5GHz Core i5 processor, a great leap forward from the dual core 3.06GHz Core i3 used in the cheapest 2010 release. This 27-inch iMac under is the priciest in the 2011 range, but instead of the quad-core 3.1GHz Intel Core i5 processor offered in the standard configuration, ours was fitted with a quad core 3.4GHz Core i7 CPU. This is available as a configure-to-order option on the online Apple store, costing £1,809 rather than the £1,649 quoted for the top-end off the shelf offering. Panasonic has had such success with its 3D plasma TVs over the last year that it's a wonder the TX-P50G30B even exists. But while a high-end, 50-inch plasma TV that holds no truck with the third dimension is unlikely to get tech-heads salivating, it should still appeal to those convinced that the current 3D craze is just a passing fad. The new FinePix HS20 enters the super zoom market as a replacement for the once popular HS10. Sporting a handful of similar attributes to the HS10, including manual and semi-manual shooting modes, the HS20 is aimed at those who desire a camera with heighted technology that can produce the same picture quality of a DSLR in a trimmed down body, all at a more affordable price tag.
This week's other reviews Amplifiers Lehmann Black Cube Linear USB review Blu-ray players Cases BitFenix Colossus Venom review Thermaltake V6 BlacX ED review
Digital SLRs Disk drives (HDD & SSD) Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II 6TB review review Laptops Mobile phones TVs Routers
Software Ohanaware HDRtist Pro 1.0 review Bit Per Second sArchiver 3.7 review Speakers Turntables Well Tempered Simplex turntable review
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| Google closes newspaper archive project Posted: 20 May 2011 09:43 AM PDT Google has shut its newspaper archive project down, after digitising around 2,000 titles. The search engine had hoped to create a mass digital library of every article ever written, but Google has announced that it will not be processing any more files. A spokesperson for Google said, "We work closely with newspaper partners on a number of initiatives, and as part of the Google News Archives digitization program we collaborated to make older newspapers accessible and searchable online. "These have included publications like the London Advertiser in 1895, L'Ami du Lecteur at the turn of the century, and the Milwaukee Sentinel from 1910 to 1995." Relevant The statement continued, "Users can continue to search digitized newspapers at http://news.google.com/archivesearch, but we don't plan to introduce any further features or functionality to the Google News Archives and we are no longer accepting new microfilm or digital files for processing." According to an email sent to newspaper partners, Google has drawn the curtains on the Google News Archives programme in order to concentrated on "newer projects that help the industry, such as Google One Pass, a platform that enables publishers to sell content and subscriptions directly from their own sites." 
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| Windows Mobile 6 to expire on 15 July Posted: 20 May 2011 09:21 AM PDT Windows Mobile 6.x's days are numbered as Microsoft will no longer support the OS after 15 July. On that date, the various versions of the OS will gather atop a hill, ready to be welcomed into the big HTC handset in the sky. Or, rather, Microsoft will simply stop accepting new Win Mo apps and application updates from 15 July onwards. RIP Win Mo, we hardly knew ye Customers will still be able to buy apps, so devs can continue to rake in whatever paltry payoff Windows Mobile apps provide, but this marks the end of innovation on the beleaguered platform. Developers, however, are less than impressed, with many feeling abandoned by Microsoft which has put minimal effort into fixing Windows Mobile marketplace bugs for some months now. While we can understand devs' frustration as one income stream totters on its last legs, surely it can come as no surprise since the abandonment of Windows Mobile and the birth of Windows Phone. Time to ditch the dying dog and head on to pastures new, we'd say. Windows Phone may be looking a bit lacklustre with disappointing sales reported by Gartner yesterday, but hey – there's always Android and iOS. 
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| Amazon tablet rumours: what you need to know Posted: 20 May 2011 09:11 AM PDT If you're a Kindle owner, you'll know that the buying and ownership experience is the most Apple-y experience you can have without giving Steve Jobs all your money. The device is superb, and getting content onto it is effortless. Imagine if Amazon did the same thing not just with books, but with music, movies and apps too. Excited yet? We are. Here's what we know about the Amazon tablet. The Amazon tablet won't kill the Kindle Don't worry, Kindle fans. Amazon isn't going to dump the Kindle we already know and love. Speaking to Consumer Reports, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos said "we will always be very mindful that we will want a dedicated reading device." Bezos couldn't possibly comment on other product plans, but suggested that everybody should "stay tuned" for news of a Kindle tablet. There may be two Kindle Amazon tablets According to Boy Genius Report, Amazon isn't preparing one Kindle tablet: it's preparing two. The entry level tablet, codenamed Coyote, will be based on the Nvidia Tegra 2, while the more powerful model, Hollywood, will be based on the quad-core "Kal-el" processor, Nvidia's T30. The entry level tablet is likely to get a seven inch screen, with Hollywood getting something around the nine to ten inch mark. The Amazon tablet software will be Android Something of a no-brainer, this: Amazon has already invested heavily in Android and runs its own Android app store. Amazon also has a cloud-based music player, and of course it knows a thing or two about eBooks. The Amazon tablet display should be interesting Digitimes reports that Amazon's Kindle tablet may get its screen from E Ink Holdings, and that the touch screens will use Fringe Field Switching (FFS) technology. FFS is like the IPS tech in Apple's notebook and iMac screens and delivers a very wide viewing angle. The E Ink bit is interesting: could Amazon be working on something that, unlike other tablets, isn't hopeless in direct sunlight?
CONTINUING KINDLE: The old Kindle will still be sold even if there is a new Amazon tablet Amazon's hiring lots of tech staff Lab126 "engineers high-profile, portable, hand-held consumer electronics products,like the Kindle." It also happens to be part of Amazon's empire, and its current job adverts run to some eighteen pages of listings talking about things such as "leading-edge display designs for Kindle" and experience in "active matrix display operation". You may know active matrix displays by another name: TFT LCD (hat tip to Tap! columnist Ian Betteridge for spotting the ads). The Amazon tablet price will be low Amazon built its business by losing money - it didn't make a penny in profit for years and years - and we'll be amazed if the entry level Kindle isn't priced aggressively. That should in turn mean the current Kindle's heading for another price drop. The Amazon tablet release date is 2011 Digitimes reports that Amazon has placed orders for lots and lots of tablets with notebook and tablet manufacturer Quanta and suggests that they could be shipping as soon as "the second half of 2011" to the tune of three quarters of a million units per month. That's a lot of tablets. 
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| 'Mac Defender' trojan causing Mac users woe Posted: 20 May 2011 08:35 AM PDT A scareware programme known as 'Mac Defender' is currently causing an increasing number of Mac users woe by demanding payment to remove viruses it claims to have found on their machines. The programme appears to automatically download to unprotected machines, exploiting the default 'open files after download' setting of most web browsers. Although the user must provide an administrator name and password to install the bogus software, a 'significant number' of users seem to have done just that. The software then autoruns, makes out like its scanning the Mac for viruses and asks users for credit card details in order to remove the viruses it claims to have found. Mouldy Apple Apple support staff have been instructed that: "AppleCare does not provide support for removal of the malware. You should not confirm or deny whether the customer's Mac is infected or not." As well as Mac Defender, the malware also occasionally calls itself "Mac Protector" and "Mac Security", and is spreading through legitimate advertising networks and 'poisoned' Google searches. Mac users should disable the 'open files after download' option in their browser settings to avoid accidentally installing the programme. The Guardian reckons an organised gang is behind the scam, although it's not clear where the evidence for this supposition has come from. Either way, it's a sad day for Mac users, many of whom thought themselves somewhat untouchable in the virus/malware arena. 
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| Apple supplier: iPhone 5 orders 'several months' late Posted: 20 May 2011 07:48 AM PDT Fuel has been added to the iPhone 5 delayed launch fire by yet another supplier, which claims that orders for the new build are "several months later than usual." Gene Munster, analyst for Piper Jaffray, cites two "concrete data points" as his source, one of which is an iPhone manufacturing equipment supplier who told him that they received orders for the equipment later than normal. Just what those supplies are we do not know, but our colleagues at T3.com have handily tidied all the rumours up into one iPhone 5 video below: You know what month is "several months" after June? September. You can see where we're going with this. Apple usually launches new iPhones in June at its WWDC developer event, but this year has seen rumour after rumour suggest that the fifth generation iPhone will usurp the iPod at Apple's September music event. September rain Munster has also been doing a bit of date-related maths, looking at the amount of time that Apple usually waits between iOS launches and handset launches. Based on previous launches, he postulates that if Apple unveils iOS 5 at WWDC, we can expect the iPhone 5 to launch around the end of August and go on sale in early September, as per his table below. Also foreseen by Munster is a 4-inch display for the iPhone 5 which will serve as a "window into the software"... also known as a screen.
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| Review: Apple iMac 21.5-inch 2011 Posted: 20 May 2011 07:21 AM PDT Apple's new 2011 iMac range retains the form factor of the 2010 models, but enjoys a very significant component upgrade. Second-generation quad core Intel Core i5 processors are used throughout the 2011 iMac lineup - which includes two 21.5-inch models and two 27-inch models - where previously all but the most expensive model had dual Core i3s. New graphics give up to three times the power of the mid-2010 iMacs, and the Thunderbolt port could revolutionise I/O technology. The 2011 21.5-inch iMac reviewed here is the new range's entry-level model, costing £999. It offers a quad core Intel 2.5GHz Core i5 processor, a great leap forward from the dual core 3.06GHz Core i3 used in the cheapest 2010 release. Its discrete graphics chip is a powerful AMD Radeon HD 6750M, with 512MB of GDDR5 memory, up from an ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256MB of GDDR3 RAM. The Mini DisplayPort has been replaced by a Thunderbolt port, Intel's exciting new I/O technology that can support up to six daisy-chained peripherals and data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps in both directions. It's over 20 times faster than USB 2.0 and 12 times quicker than FireWire 800. Thunderbolt also supports video, and can be used to connect an external monitor. It can even function as a video-in port, allowing you to use the iMac's gorgeous 1920x1080 pixel 21.5-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display as a screen for another device. The SD card reader is retained, but it now accepts SDXC cards for a theoretical maximum capacity of 2TB, with cards of up to 64GB already available. For those who like video chat, the built-in webcam has been upgraded to a FaceTime HD camera, giving 720p resolution, a 16:9 aspect ratio and a much-improved low-light performance. Yet despite these improvements, the entire range is now cheaper than before. Not hugely so, but this particular model is £21 cheaper than its predecessor.
The 2011 refresh sees the entire Apple iMac range, including this 21.5-inch model, move over to Sandy Bridge processors, Intel's second generation of Core-i chips. Based on Intel's 32-nanometer process technology, Sandy Bridge chips combine the processor, cache, memory controller and graphics engine on a single chip. This means data doesn't have to travel as far, making for increased performance and efficiency. Sandy Bridge takes a new look at the Core-i chips' Turbo Boost technology. Turbo Boost 2.0 shifts core frequency in smaller increments than before, allowing the processor to better manage its performance without sacrificing efficiency. Turbo Boost automatically shifts or reallocates CPU cores and processor graphics resources, tailoring a workload to the task in hand and giving immediate short-term performance acceleration when needed, by allowing the CPU to operate above its stated speed. Unfortunately the Sandy Bridge processor used in the off-the-shelf iMac range lacks a Hyper Threading feature, which would've let each of the processor's cores run two threads at once. All four standard 2011 iMac models use quad core Intel Core i5 processors, with a Core i7 (which does Hyper Thread) available as an Apple online store custom option for the more expensive release in each of the two sizes. The entry-level 21.5-inch 2011 iMac reviewed here has no processor upgrade option. The new iMacs use AMD Radeon discrete GPUs throughout, for up to three times the performance offered by the previous generation. This entry-level 2011 iMac uses an AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics processor, with 512MB of on-board GDDR5 memory. All the new 2011 iMacs have Thunderbolt ports, with the two 21.5-inch models (including this one) supporting a single port, and the 27-inch iMacs having two. Unlike the previous generation, where only the larger all-in-ones could be used as a display for another video-out device, all iMacs in the 2011 range offer a Target Screen Mode, allowing you to connect a compatible product to the Thunderbolt port and use the iMac as a display. At the moment, this feature requires a Thunderbolt-to-Thunderbolt connection, so it can only be used with one of the new 2011 MacBook Pros (at least until the next generation of Mac minis are released). However, we're assured that third-party manufacturers will be able to make adapters for other video-out protocols such as Mini DisplayPort and HDMI. Maybe one day we'll be able to use our iMacs as screens for our PS3s, Xbox 360s and Blu-ray players. The new FaceTime HD camera on the 21.5-inch 2011 iMac gives 720p resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio. You can only use FaceTime in HD when you're chatting with another device that has an HD camera. You can still call people using older FaceTime cameras, such as those with older iMacs, but only at standard 640x480 definition. The new camera has a much better low-light performance than the one it replaces on the 2010 iMacs, and because it uses the Sandy Bridge-integrated video encoder, it doesn't tax the CPU.
The 2011 21.5-inch iMac put in a stellar performance in our benchmarking tests, proving way ahead of the cheapest 2010 iMac, and even outperforming the last generation's top-of-the-range model in several key areas. In our Xbench test, where we look at the CPU, memory and hard drive performance, it scored a comfortable, if unremarkable, 15.7% increase over its predecessor. But its quad core processor really paid dividends in our Cinebench 3D rendering test. Restricting the processor to only a single core, it was 18.8% behind the older model, as its 2.5GHz CPU was outpaced by the 2010 iMac's 3.06GHz chip. But with all cores in play, its quad core Intel Core i5 soundly beat the last-generation iMac's dual core Intel Core i3, recording an increase of over 56%. Interestingly, in this multiple-core Cinebench test, this entry-level 2011 iMac also beat the most expensive off-the-shelf model in the 2010 iMac range – the £2,249 27-inch SSD performing just under 7% faster. It's a similar story with our movie encoding test, where we time how long it takes QuickTime 7 Pro to encode a five minute, 720x480 sample video. The 2011 21.5-inch iMac did it in just 128 seconds – more than a minute faster than its predecessor. The top-of-the-range mid-2010 iMac 27-inch SSD we tested last year, a 2.8GHz quad Core i5 with a solid-state drive added as a custom option, only managed 131 seconds. In our gaming test, the 2011 21.5-inch iMac handled Doom 3 at 169.7 fps – 28.4% faster than the equivalent 2010 model, but not as fast as the previous generation top iMac's 178 fps. We won't see the best of the Thunderbolt port until a significant quantity of peripherals are released, although a Mini DisplayPort display can be plugged directly into the Thunderbolt port. DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI or VGA displays are also compatible, using existing Mini DisplayPort adapters. And remember, although capable of 10Gbps, the Thunderbolt port might not be the limiting factor for data transfer speeds. To get the most from Thunderbolt, it's best to use a RAID drive, streaming data from more than one HDD. But even a single external hard drive that can only manage maximum speeds of 3Gbps will prove almost four times as fast as a FireWire 800 connection. Our iTunes encoding test produced disappointing, if entirely predictable, results. This 21.5-inch iMac encoded our test CD in six minutes and 13 seconds, an almost identical speed to all recent Macs other than the Mac Pro. This is because the optical drive is proving the limiting factor. It really is time Apple gave us something faster than the current 8x SuperDrive. We're never going to get a Blu-ray drive due to Steve Jobs' much-publicised dislike of the format's licensing terms, but a faster DVD drive is long overdue. Our only other complaint is the lack of custom options for those who order through the Apple online store. There's no way of improving the processor, the 21.5-inch is the only iMac in the current range that doesn't give you a solid state drive option and you can't even pick a higher-capacity hard drive. Unlike the MacBook Pros, there's no matte screen option for those who dislike glossy displays. Memory can only be boosted to 8GB, despite this iMac being quite capable of supporting 16GB as offered with the rest of the range. However, it's best not to buy extra memory from Apple anyway. It's easy to fit it yourself, and buying from third-party vendors is much cheaper. On a positive note, all iMacs in the current range now let you dispense with the Magic Mouse in favour of a Magic Trackpad, if you wish.
The 2011 refresh represents a great leap forwards for the iMac range. Although the enclosure is unchanged (apart from the ports at the rear), the switch to new second-generation Sandy Bridge processors and powerful AMD graphics give the new 21.5-inch iMac a massive performance boost over the previous generation. We liked The entry-level 21.5-inch 2011 iMac's quad core 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 processor's Sandy Bridge architecture combines the processor, cache, memory controller and graphics engine on a single chip for improved efficiency. Its Turbo Boost 2.0 function is also an improvement over that offered by the first generation of Core-i processors. When more processing power is needed, Turbo Boost takes the processor over its quoted clock speed for short periods. Turbo Boost 2.0 activates more often and keeps the processor working at higher speeds for longer. In our benchmarking tests, the 21.5-inch 2011 iMac performed extremely well, belying its position as the entry-level model. In fact, in several significant tests, it outperformed the high-end model from the 2010 range – an incredible achievement considering less than a year has passed between updates. The screen is gorgeous, with bright, vivid colours and excellent viewing angles, and the new Thunderbolt port will prove very useful over time, as compatible peripherals and adapters are released. The SD card reader now supports higher-capacity SDXC cards, and the built-in camera has been improved, giving HD resolution, a 16:9 aspect ratio and better low-light performance. We disliked There's little to complain about here. The configuration options available to those who order from the Apple online store are disappointing. There's no SSD option, no means of increasing your hard drive capacity and memory upgrades are limited to 8GB, even though this 21.5-inch iMac is quite capable of supporting 16GB. The optical drive is slow too, and for all its strengths, the processor lacks the Hyper Threading feature offered by many Sandy Bridge processors. Verdict Even at just under £1,000, this 2011 entry-level 21.5-inch iMac is excellent value for money (and £21 cheaper than the previous generation's cheapest model). A massive performance boost means it actually rivals the power offered by the high-end 2010 iMac 27-inch SSD from the previous generation, and its new Thunderbolt port will prove its worth over time. It could use more configuration options, and the whole of the new iMac range would benefit from a faster optical drive and a matte screen option, but overall, it's a superb update to an already-popular machine. 
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| Review: Apple iMac 27-inch 2011 Posted: 20 May 2011 07:14 AM PDT Although the form factor is unchanged, the 2011 Apple iMac refresh represents a significant step forwards for the popular all-in-one computer. Again consisting of two 21.5-inch models and two with 27-inch screens, the entire lineup has switched to Intel's Sandy Bridge processors, the second generation of the respected Core-i CPU series. Quad core Intel Corei5s are used throughout, whereas the 2010 iMacs they replace used dual core Intel Core i3s in all but the most expensive model. The 27-inch iMac under review here is the priciest in the 2011 range, but instead of the quad-core 3.1GHz Intel Core i5 processor offered in the standard configuration, ours was fitted with a quad core 3.4GHz Core i7 CPU. This is available as a configure-to-order option on the online Apple store, costing £1,809 rather than the £1,649 quoted for the top-end off the shelf offering. It's otherwise identical to the top-of-the-range 27-inch 3.1GHz iMac in the 2011 range. Its graphics processor is an AMD Radeon HD 6970M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory, up from an ATI Radeon HD 5750 in the top 2010 version, the 27-inch SSD. Storage remains unchanged – a 1TB 7200rpm hard drive is installed as standard, with configuration options offering a 2TB drive, a 256GB solid-state drive or a combination of SSD and HDD. Once again, it has 4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 memory out of the box, which can be expanded to 16GB either as an online configuration option or a post-market modification by the end user. The 27-inch 2011 iMac's Mini DisplayPort has been dropped in favour of two Thunderbolt ports, an exciting new I/O technology that can support video as well as data. You can plug a Mini DisplayPort monitor directly into a Thunderbolt port for use as a second screen, and it also acts as a video-in port, allowing you to use the iMac's huge 2560x1440 pixel 27-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display as a screen for another device. The FaceTime camera has been upgraded to HD, and the SD card reader now supports the SDXC format.
Like the rest of the mid-2011 range, this customised top-end 27-inch Apple iMac uses a Sandy Bridge processor, the second generation of Intel's Core-i CPUs. Sandy Bridge chips, which are based on Intel's 32-nanometer process technology, combine the processor, cache, memory controller and graphics engine on a single chip. As data doesn't have to travel as far, performance and efficiency are increased. Turbo Boost, a feature introduced with the first Core-i processors, gives the CPU an extra burst of speed at times of high needs, such as when using a processor-intensive application such as Aperture 3 or Final Cut Pro. It works by automatically shifting or reallocating processor cores and processor graphics resources, tailoring a workload to the task in hand and taking the processor above its core clock speed while power and temperature considerations allow. This feature has been improved in the Sandy Bridge chips. Turbo Boost 2.0 shifts core frequency in smaller increments than before, allowing the processor to manage performance without sacrificing efficiency. As a result, it activates more often and stays active for longer. A feature enjoyed by the Core i7 Sandy Bridge processor used in this customised 27-inch 2011 iMac, but not the Core i5s used in the off-the-shelf models, is Hyper Threading. By allowing two threads to work each of the processor's cores, Hyper Threading effectively doubles the number of jobs it can tackle. As the processor we have here is a quad core, Hyper Threading gives it eight virtual cores, allowing processor-intensive tasks to be spread more evenly. The 2011 27-inch iMacs have two Thunderbolt ports, replacing the Mini DisplayPort. Thunderbolt combines data transfer and video capabilities, so you can use it to connect a second (and even a third) monitor as well as external storage.
Mini DisplayPort screens plug directly into a Thunderbolt port, but you can also fit DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI or VGA displays by using existing Mini DisplayPort adapters. It also acts as a video-in port, so you can use your 2011 Apple iMac as a display for another device. At the time of writing, this feature demands a Thunderbolt-to-Thunderbolt connection, so is currently restricted to using the 2011 range of iMacs as a screen for a MacBook Pro. But Apple assures us that third-party manufacturers will be able to make adapters for other video protocols such as Mini DisplayPort or HDMI, which is excellent news. Being able to plug in a games console or Blu-ray player would make the 27-inch 2011 Apple iMac a great media machine. As a data transfer solution, Thunderbolt is capable of speeds of up to 10Gbps in both directions, which is 20 faster than USB 2.0 and 12 times quicker than FireWire 800, though connected peripherals might not be capable of using the entire bandwidth. Like all recent iMacs, such as 2010 top dog the 27-inch SSD, this new model has a built-in webcam. The FaceTime camera used in the last generation has been upgraded to FaceTime HD, boosting the resolution from 640x480 to 720p. The aspect ratio is now 16:9 – a wider image that makes it easier for groups of people to chat over FaceTime – and it has much better low-light performance than before.
As you'd expect, this top-of-the-range 27-inch 2011 iMac augmented by a processor upgrade excelled in our benchmarking tests. But with the entry-level 2011 iMac putting a performance that rivals the previous generation's most expensive model, does the average home user really need this much power? Our Cinebench rendering test looks at how well the computer copes with complicated 3D graphics. Restricting it to a single processing core, this 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac proved just under 33.5% faster than its top-of-the-range predecessor. Yet the entry-level 21.5-inch iMac in the current range beat the most expensive 2010 model too, proving almost 15% faster. When all cores are used, the Core i7 chip's Hyper Threading feature comes into its own. With the rendering tasks spread over eight virtual cores, it proved over 62% faster than the top 2010 iMac, the 27-inch SSD, while the entry-level model in the 2011 range was almost 7% ahead. In our QuickTime encoding test, we time how long it takes QuickTime 7 Pro to encode a five-minute, 720x480 sample video. This 27-inch Core i7 iMac completed the task in a very impressive 98 seconds, over half a minute faster than its 2010 equivalent's 131 seconds. But the entry-level 21.5-inch iMac also proved quicker, encoding in 128 seconds. When testing the frame rate offered by the popular Mac game Doom 3, the entry-level 2011 iMac's 169.7 frames per second couldn't match the best 2010 model's 178 fps, but both were significantly behind the Core i7 iMac under review here, which achieved an excellent 244.3 fps. In our Xbench test, which looks at the computer's CPU, memory and hard drive performance, it scored a very respectable 196.54. Although this customised top-of-the-range 27-inch 2011 Apple iMac puts in an impressive performance, with the £800-cheaper entry-level 21.5-inch 2011 iMac holding its own against even the best 2010 model, is this this one worth the extra money? Naturally, the 27-incher has more to offer over the sub-£1,000 21.5-inch iMac than just raw power. Its gorgeous 27-inch, LED-backlit IPS screen will certainly endear it to professional designers and video editors, as long as they're happy with its glossy finish. Apple still doesn't offer a matte option. The 27-inch iMacs also have two Thunderbolt ports, while the 21.5-inch models only have one, and it's much better served by online customisation options, allowing you to add a bigger hard drive, a solid state drive, a better graphics card or up to 16GB of memory. However, ordering extra RAM as a custom-order option is unwise. It's much cheaper if you buy from third-party vendors, and easy to fit it yourself. Given the performance of the entry-level 21.5-inch 2011 iMac, you have to ask whether it's worth paying so much more for this top-end model. Perhaps the cheaper iMacs are now so powerful, the pricier releases struggle to find their niche with the home user.
The 27-inch Apple iMac takes a huge leap forwards with the 2011 refresh. Although the only change to the enclosure is a minor revision to the ports at the rear, the switch to new second-generation Sandy Bridge processors and powerful AMD graphics give a massive performance boost over the previous generation of iMacs. We liked The new iMac range's Sandy Bridge processors offer greater efficiency and performance than the first generation of Core-i CPUs, and the Turbo Boost feature is enhanced and improved with the 2.0 release. The quad core 3.4GHz Intel Core i7 processor – available only as a custom option for the top-of-the-range 27-inch iMac – also offers Hyper Threading, allowing its four cores to run two threads at once for eight virtual cores. This means applications that support multiple cores can spread their tasks more evenly, again giving an improved performance. The new Thunderbolt port will really only come into its own when compatible peripherals are released, but it has the potential to revolutionise I/O technology. The SD card reader now supports higher-capacity SDXC cards, and the built-in camera has been improved, giving HD resolution, a 16:9 aspect ratio and better low-light performance. We disliked Although the 2011 Apple iMac's 27-inch display is of a very high quality, we wish there was an option to fit an antiglare screen instead of the standard glossy finish. If you order a MacBook Pro on the Apple online store, you can opt for a matte display, so why doesn't the iMac range offer a similar choice? The optical drive is looking long in the tooth too. Verdict This top-of-the-range, 27-inch 2011 Apple iMac with a 3.4GHz Core i7 processor added as a custom option is an incredible machine, but it might be more than you actually need. Creative professionals might welcome the larger screen and extra power, but for the average home user, a sub-£1,000 21.5-inch iMac could well prove more than good enough. 
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| Nintendo at E3 2011: what to expect Posted: 20 May 2011 07:00 AM PDT Nintendo has already announced its plans to reveal the successor to the hugely successful Wii home console at E3 2011, with pre-show excitement levels about Wii 2 tech and games amongst the company's hardcore fanbase immediately putting its rivals at Microsoft and Sony on the back foot, long before the major three press conferences have even begun. We have already considered the many pre-E3 rumours, speculation and confirmed info from Microsoft and Sony, with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation companies both set to run their pre-E3 press conferences on Monday 6 June. Breaking with E3 tradition, which usually sees Nintendo's E3 conference sandwiched between Microsoft on the Monday morning (LA time) and Sony on the Tuesday lunchtime, at E3 2011 Nintendo's E3 conference is the final of the major showdowns from the big three console giants, taking place at LA's Nokia Theatre at 9am PST (5pm GMT) on Tuesday 7 June.
3DS: we hope to see some killer system-sellers at E3 2011 "Nintendo is in an interesting place due to the rumours about a new console," is the personal opinion of Nvidia's European PR manager, Ben Berraondo. "They've always been innovative so there's a lot of expectation. I think they'll have more than simply an HD Wii. All of their biggest franchises have been a bit quiet of late so in addition to Zelda on the 3DS we may see a new Mario or Metroid." New Nintendo hardware and iconic system-sellers As for the key elements of Nintendo's new console - codenamed Project Café (with Nintendo Stream rumoured to be the final name) online rumour and speculation to date all points towards a powerful, high-definition machine to allow the Kyoto-based Mario factory to finally compete with the graphics and processing grunt of the PS3 and Xbox 360. Nintendo has already sold 86 million Wiis since its launch in November 2006, though sales were down considerably (around 25 per cent) in 2010, which is a clear pointer that it is time for the company to progress to the next stage in the home console tech race. Wii clearly succeeded in Nintendo's stated objective of opening up the gaming market to new demographics outside of the teen-to-thirties male hardcore gaming crowd. But can the company successfully disrupt the market yet again? After all, Nintendo faces a whole host of new commercial challenges in 2011 - with new and improved Kinect and PS3 Move experiences on the way from Microsoft and Sony, alongside a multitude of new smartphone-and-tablet gaming and cloud/web-based casual and hardcore gaming experiences on offer. "In terms of what we're going to see from Nintendo at E3, we know for certain that the Wii's successor will be unveiled and will be playable - but beyond that, it's very much a case of 'wait and see'," says NGamer magazine editor Charlotte Martyn. Nintendo are masters of keeping things under wraps."
WARIO ON 3DS: a new 3D Wario bonkers mini-game selection would be nice Martyn also reminds us that "the internet is fixated on the idea of a controller with a built-in touch screen, almost akin to a self-contained handheld console in itself [and] given Nintendo's track record of innovation - with Wii, DS and 3DS - it wouldn't be a total surprise if these rumours turned out to be true." In addition to these reports of what is a rather unique-sounding gamepad with a 6.2-inch touchscreen, dual analogue sticks and a built-in camera, if the rumours that the Wii 2 is set to be powered by a three-core IBM Power PC chip with an ATI R700 GPU for fully high def 1080p/3D visuals and be fully backwards-compatible with Wii 1.0 games and feature improved 3DS syncing-and-compatibility features and the promise of far-better online gaming capabilities, then it is not hard to see why Nintendo may well steal the show at E3 2011. That last point about the limited online gaming options with the first-gen Wii, in particular, has been a sticking point with Nintendo's customers and publishing/development partners, ever since the console first arrived in stores back in November 2006. "[Nintendo CEO] Satoru Iwata has recently admitted that Nintendo's approach to online gaming has been underwhelming in the past," the NGamer editor reminds us, "which heavily suggests 'Wii 2' will improve upon Wii's online showing. HD is a given, as is a significant power hike. "More powerful than PS3 and Xbox 360? It would be short-sighted of Nintendo not to make its next console at least as powerful. Another recent comment by Iwata acknowledging Nintendo's keenness to work with third parties hints at easier portability between platforms. Could we see the likes of GTA on Wii 2? We've had Chinatown Wars on DS already, so why not?"
WII 1.0: The original motion-control console has had its day Sony looks set to announce one of the first major new hardware tech stories of the week, with the final reveal of its new Next Generation Portable set for its press conference at 5pm PST on Monday 6 June. Following this, Nintendo really needs to consolidate its position on the recently-launched 3DS handheld (otherwise it risks losing its first-mover advantage). So Mr Iwata and Nintendo's creative chief Shigeru Miyamoto really need to announce some concrete exclusive 3DS content news and show off some seriously impressive demonstrations of new triple-A 3DS system-sellers due for release this coming Christmas holiday season. We hope to see a lot more demos on (and a final name for) Super Mario 3D which "could be the system-seller that Nintendo is looking for," notes Martyn. "There were some really strong games in the 3DS launch window, but there's been no big first-party title for people to get their teeth into. Ocarina Of Time 3D is a big game for Nintendo, but a totally new Mario game - not a remake - could really drive hardware sales." Also on the 3DS front, Nintendo plans to release a firmware update bringing the new Nintendo 3DS eShop with plenty of new gaming and other downloadable content available for people to test out immediately after the 7 June press conference.
ZELDA IN 3D: Link will no doubt feature heavily in Nintendo's E3 2011 press event The 3DS eShop is essentially an online store housing Virtual Console, DSiWare and 3DS games and content, as well as web browser support. Let's just hope that Nintendo doesn't spend too long talking about the 3DS eShop, as it really should have been an out-of-the-box feature that arrived at the console's launch back in March. Publisher support for Wii 2 In addition to its own first-party titles, Nintendo really needs to convince the games industry and consumers alike that it intends to improve the third-party publisher and developer support for its new HD home console. Initial signs look promising on this front, with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot recently going on record claiming that Nintendo's Wii successor is "really a fantastic platform." Speaking on a recent Ubisoft investor's conference call, Guillemot added: "We think that it will be extremely successful," explaining that cross platform development (ie releasing the same games on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii 2) will soon be much easier for the major publishers. "What we see is that we will be able to leverage a lot of the work we do for the Xbox 360 and PS3 when we create games for the platform," Guillemot explained. "So we will not have to completely redo the games we create. We will be able to use all of the capacity the console offers and also use all of the work that we do for the other platforms." There are likely to be a few teasers about new Wii 2 and 3DS games from major publishers such as Konami, Electronic Arts, Rockstar, Ubisoft, Activision, THQ and others and - we hope - a decent smattering of playable demos of the major new titles from all of the above on Nintendo's new hardware across the E3 showfloor at the LA Convention Center throughout the week. Independent and smaller developers will also be watching Nintendo's latest hardware play closely, as Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of UK developer trade body TIGA, informed TechRadar: "The next Nintendo Wii will give UK developers a great opportunity to showcase their talents. Original content and games has always been at the heart of the UK industry and this provides another platform to illustrate this." After all, once that initial press conference hype has died down by the start of the show proper on Wednesday 8 June, it is really that all-important "did you play this yet? did you see that yet? imagine what you could do with this new control method?" word-of-mouth that percolates throughout the event and, eventually, onto thousands of gaming websites and specialist magazines worldwide, that will decide who, in the longer-term, is the eventual "winner" of E3 2011. Finally, it needs to be stressed that Nintendo is not simply going to forget about the Wii (just yet), particularly with the Project Café home console not set to arrive until later in 2012. So expect to see plenty of new content on iconic franchises such as the forthcoming The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword. And let's just hope that online gossip of a $400 possible launch price for Wii 2/Project Café/Stream is considerably wide of the mark and notably higher than whatever the final price of Nintendo's new console ends up being. 
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| Government appoints ex-Guardian man as 'digital tsar' Posted: 20 May 2011 05:43 AM PDT The Government has revealed the UK's new 'digital tsar' as Mike Bracken, previously head of technology at The Guardian newspaper. His full job title is Executive Director of Digital, a new post that will see Bracken improving the Government's online activities and websites. At The Guardian, Bracken was responsible for all sites and apps for the paper, as well as its sister publication, The Observer. Thrifty Bracken told The Telegraph, "I am convinced that if we attract new digital skills, adopt user-first principles and work collaboratively within Government and with a wider, more agile supplier base, then we can improve how citizens interact with Government. "It will take backing from all corners, but the prize on offer is simply too great to ignore." Sounds great, but the government wants to slash its online spending and ditch three quarters of its websites, so what Bracken will most likely be focusing on is how to get a lot of digital value out of a little actual money. 
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| Michael Bay: Filming in 3D is 'tough as hell' Posted: 20 May 2011 04:48 AM PDT Michael Bay has spoken out about the trials and tribulations of filming in 3D. You'd think that Bay, with his propensity for ridiculous and seemingly never-ending explosions, would have been first in line to board the 3D express, but his first three dimensional movie is yet to hit cinemas. Speaking at an event in LA, Bay described how he was loathe to invest in 3D even at the behest of the equally OTT Avatar director James Cameron. He explained, "Years ago, Jim Cameron called me and told me I needed to do 3D. I told him no!" But then, eventually, yes "Then, I was starting work on the first Transformers, and he was making Avatar. He was shooting in this tiny set and asked me to come see it. It looked like mission control, full of hard drives and computers… I'm old school! I like 35mm Panavision cameras and I try to do as much as possible in camera. "He told me they had great algorithms and things like that. I was, like, 'What the f**k?'" But Bay did manage to get over this technophobia for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third in the autobot saga in which a lot of things get blown up and some other stuff probably happens too. Unfortunately, as is wont to happen in Bay's own films, it wasn't plain sailing for the 3D shoot. "The first day was wonderful. I always have a lot of depth in my shots – foreground, middle ground, and background. I woke up the next day in love with 3D," said Bay. "Then my producer, Ian Bryce called to say we lost the first day. THE FIRST WHOLE DAY thanks to hard drives failing or something." No doubt the colour drained out of his face at this point, with the camera zooming in for a tight shot as the off-key strings crescendo-ed in the background. "We made up the time and I ended up loving the 3D, but it was tough as hell. The 3D rigs had a problem with dust and they needed to be more robust." 
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| Review: Swann SportsCam DVR-460 Posted: 20 May 2011 04:00 AM PDT There are lots of once-in-a-lifetime experiences that you might regret not filming so you can later share them with (and sometimes bore) friends and family. From swimming with dolphins to charity skydives and everything in between, the Swann SportsCam DVR-460 aims to capture it. It's a small, robust camera that comes with a waterproof casing (up to 65ft) and plenty of straps to securely attach it to yourself. This is a very versatile camera. For example, before you haul yourself up a ladder to repair some guttering you could first inspect the damage by attaching the DVR-460 to a pole, filming the guttering, then watching it on your computer. The camera's size means it can be a bit tricky to set up. There are two switches on the body, for turning it on and off, and for enabling sound recording. There are also two small buttons for recording film and taking still shots, and a Micro SD slot. The camera can take cards up to 16GB in size, but it doesn't have any built-in memory, so you'll need to buy a Micro SD card to use it. There are also two tiny LEDs, one red and one green. These flash to tell you what the camera is doing, and how much battery life is left. It's worth reading the manual, otherwise you might miss out on footage because you didn't know that four green flashes mean there's less that 24 per cent charge left. The camera records footage at 640 x 480 pixels, and the results are pretty good considering the device can easily sit in the palm of your hand. You won't want to record your home videos on it, but as a rough and ready camera that can endure a lot of punishment, the quality is surprisingly good. For £60, you get a decent sports camera that has many more uses than you might think. 
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| Buying Guide: Best CPU cooler 2011: 8 coolers tested Posted: 20 May 2011 04:00 AM PDT How hot does your CPU really get? If you're talking about some low-end AMD Fusion beastie or a limping Intel Atom chip, then the short answer is: not very. If you're on about a fully fledged multi-core number, though, you may just be generating enough heat to cook a plum duff. Tasty, yes, but bad for your rig. With those lower-end CPUs, you can even get away with passively cooling them. That means no fans and no spinning, whirring noises to disturb you. You can't do that with higher-spec chips, since they work harder and thus get hotter, meaning you will almost always need an active cooler to keep your CPU running effectively. Of course, you could set up a heatsink the size of the mighty Greg Davies, but finding a chassis to house such a beast will be tricky. So if an active cooler is the practical solution to heating woes, what of liquid cooling? Traditionally, this is a realm that's been left to either professionals or the suicidal tech journalist, but the rise of the closed-loop, all-in-one liquid-based coolers means everyone else can have some of that watery goodness too. It used to be expensive, but the likes of Antec's latest Kühler have helped to drive down the price, making it accessible to the masses who don't have masses to spend. That doesn't mean the heatsink and fan combo is out of touch, though. Indeed, it can keep both the CPU and motherboard chilled, instead of just the former. Given the £15 asking price of the Xigmatek Loki, you can't really argue with the tech. Another issue to consider is scale. There's a finite amount of space in any given chassis, so you may be in trouble if your heatsink is too monolithic. Fear not, though, as we've dug out the best CPU coolers to keep all kinds of cases frosty and leave your wallet full enough for a cool beverage when you're done. Alpenfohn Matterhorn - £45
Imposing, cold and tall. You could think Alpenföhn's Matterhorn was so named because it shares these properties with the Alpine mountain. We prefer to think it's because it kills 12 climbers each year, but that's just us. The supplied fan does a good job, generating very little noise even for a 120mm unit, and it's possible to mount a secondary one too. Despite the six heat pipes, we're not blown away by the unloaded performance, though. While it's a healthy 12°C cooler than the stock unit, the solid copper base can't keep up with either the Xigmatek Gaia or the Prolimatech Armageddon, which is possibly due to both of these using a direct-touch design. Under load the Matterhorn ups its game, drawing level with the Gaia and showing its 6mm heat pipes can shift as much warmth as three 8mm ones. Both are priced similarly too, so they're tough to choose between. Temperatures Idle: 65°C Verdict: 84% Antec Kühler H20 620 - £49
We know liquid cooling's cool, but its development seems glacial in speed. The new Antec Kühler H20 620 could change the status quo, though. It's a drop-in liquid cooling solution that works, and works quietly. Priced at the same level as some high-end air coolers, such as the Genesis, yet costing less than the zany V10, the Kühler offers a number of clear advantages over more complex and costly liquid systems. We liked its engineering; the unit feels well constructed, plus its installation process is easy to follow and well thought out. Basic performance is adequate and under load the Kühler does an efficient job, even if it's outperformed by some of the air coolers here. The kicker is that some of these are also cheaper, such as Titan's Hati and the Xigmatek Aegir. That said, if you want the quietness of water cooling, then these considerations don't detract from the overall good performance on offer. Temperatures Idle: 63°C Verdict: 89% Cooler Master V10 - £85
Now that is one big cooler. It delivers a phenomenal spec list in one mammothly proportioned package. Measuring 24cm long and 16cm high, it's packing two 120mm fans, three heatsink arrays, 10 heat pipes, and there's even a hybrid TEC heat pump buried inside there as well. Can all that be put to good use? Not really. We like the attempt to create a dedicated, more all-round cooling device, but in its attempt to bolt as much on as possible, we think Cooler Master has lost sight of simple, efficient cooling. Installation is tricky and causes issues with memory. With a unit of this size and price, we'd also have expected some type of manual fan control on top. Considering the twin fans, it's not overtly noisy – you won't miss it running, but it does produce a good, clean fan noise. For the levels of cooling the V10 provides, however, even that noise isn't really justified. Temperatures Idle: 63°C Verdict: 69% Prolimatech Genesis - £55
Bigger appears to be better if the Genesis air cooler is anything to go by. Taking on the likes of the V10 and the Gaia, this twin-heatsink air cooler uses six fat 8mm heat pipes that elegantly coil their way off to the twin sets of heatsinks. Once hooked up, the Genesis blew us away, and not because of the fans. Its unloaded performance matched that of the equally impressive Armageddon, and altogether running a notable 17°C cooler than the stock unit. The performance is the one thing to take away; it's excellent. Couple that with a reasonable price tag and, if you don't mind supplying your own fan, you're onto a winning combination here. That said, the Genesis is a large cooler and that's going to turn many people off. Adding two extra fans to the price is also going to push the total cost way above something like the Aegir, which does a perfectly adequate job. Temperatures Idle: 58°C Verdict: 91% Prolimatech Samuel 17 - £40
We can't say Prolimatech doesn't know what it is doing, because the Genesis is one of the best air coolers we've seen. However, it was aimed at the high-end market. The Samuel 17 is a low-profile cooler designed for the slimmer system, most commonly a home theatre PC. Its performance is unquestionably good for this style of cooler, but it's still a way off an entry-level third-party cooler with a fan. In comparison, Alpenföhn's Panorama is half the price and comes with its own fan pre-installed. For six heat pipes, we would have perhaps expected even better overall cooling, although the results we achieved were good. We're also not big fans of the rear-mounting system, but it's understandable, since otherwise it'd be impossible to fit with a 120mm fan. The main issue, though, is its price, which is high for something that offers below-average cooling and comes without a fan. Temperatures Idle: 68°C Verdict: 75% Titan Hati - £38
In many ways, the Titan Hati demonstrates the importance of straightforward cooler design. It's simply been made to get the heat out of the CPU spreader and get rid of it. Easily competing with the Xigmatek Aegir for the best mid-range cooler award, the Hati puts in the sort of cooling performance seen in units costing far more. Its direct touch design and no-nonsense, 8mm heat pipes mean it's able to carry off more heat than other competitors. Titan also uses an interesting fan design that seems to work well, shifting a good volume of air without producing too much noise, considering we ran the fans at full speed for testing. In contrast, the mounting system feels like a Heath Robinson contraption, but does a solid job once it's been carefully constructed. Yes, the base could do with slightly better engineering, but that doesn't detract from the Hati's confident performance. Temperatures Idle: 61°C Verdict: 92% Xigmatek Aegir - £42
A mid-priced cooler, the Xigmatek Aegir has the specification of a somewhat higher-end model. Oddly, at this price it's competing with the Xigmatek's own Gaia, but then the company seems to have more models than it knows what to do with. Unusually, the Xigmatek Aegir has a layered heat pipe design that uses different-size tubes. Two central 8mm pipes are trapped in place by two 6mm cylinders either side and two more 6mm tubes on top. The whole unit is finished off by a high-volume 120mm fan. We like almost everything about the Xigmatek Aegir, from its high-volume fan that can shift buckets of air with little noise to the unusual layered heat pipe design that does a grand job of sucking all the heat away from the processor. The icing on the cake is the price. Our one annoyance is the mounting system, which makes installation harder than it should be. Temperatures Idle: 61°C Verdict: 89% Xigmatek Loki - £15
Described as a budget cooler, the Xigmatek Loki SD963 looks like a performance unit, but it certainly doesn't have the price to match. Only the smaller 92mm fan and the thinner 6mm heat pipes give away that it's not on a par with the other coolers here in terms of cost. What's not to like about this little cooler that could, though? Sure, you could spend £5 or so on a stock cooler, but for just a tenner more the Loki provides performance cooling without much added noise. Since it's also capable of supporting a twin-fan cross-flow installation there's even more room for cooling or noise reduction, and that universal mounting system gives it the advantage of flexibility as well. Obviously, a 120mm fan would be preferable, and universal mounting systems are always tricky to install. But that's just being unnecessarily picky, since we're struggling to find anything else that's negative to say about it. Temperatures Idle: 68°C Verdict: 90% Technical analysis
We tested on an overclocked Core 2 Duo E6420. Each cooler was run for 20 minutes to get the idle temperatures. Then we fired up MaxCPU to crank usage up to 100 per cent and left the system for 10 minutes, to give us our full load. No cooler really struggled, although size can clearly be an advantage, with the Genesis leading the field by a decent margin. Some of the smaller boys were taxed under full load, though. Not to the extent that they'd render a system unstable, but they're not ideal if you plan on overclocking. 
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| Sony shows off markerless AR tech Posted: 20 May 2011 03:46 AM PDT A video of Sony's latest augmented reality (AR) tech shows AR that works without using any physical markers like a barcode. The technology, which Sony has dubbed SmartAR, has been developed specially by the company, and can track objects at high speed, as well as trigger virtual images using existing objects around the home. Speculation is now rife that Sony will include this impressive SmartAR tech in its upcoming PSP successor, dubbed the Sony NGP and set to be revealed towards the end of this year. In your face, 3DS Nintendo's handheld console, the Nintendo 3DS, offers quite impressive AR using the device's camera; but it requires 2D barcode cards to trigger the augmentations. If you don't have the cards, you can't use the AR. Another feature that Sony says is unique to SmartAR is that users can touch the AR image on the screen to get extra information or manipulate the virtual object. We've been a bit down on Sony of late, what with its somewhat flippant approach to major security breaches, so it's nice to have something Sony-related to get excited about for a change. If you happen to find yourself in Ginza, Tokyo, this weekend, you can pop in to the Sony Building and have a squizz at the SmartAR tech for yourself. We'll only be 73 per cent jealous. 
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| AIM becomes truly interoperable with Google products Posted: 20 May 2011 03:43 AM PDT Google Talk and Gmail will now be completely interoperable with AIM – AOL's instant messaging service. Although a little aged, AIM remains a popular instant messenger client and Google is keen to make sure that its Google Talk service can take advantage of its user base. The two services have been linked since 2007, but there was a fairly crucial barrier in that the AIM could only work within Gmail, meaning that none of Google's other communication products could use the service. However, Google has now announced that this problem has now been removed. Open standards "From the beginning, we designed Google Talk using open standards so that you could connect to your friends and family using any chat product, making communication as easy as possible," said product manager Matthew Leske on the Gmail blog. "A few years ago, we announced our partnership with AOL which made it possible for people to chat with AIM users right from inside Gmail. "Today, we're happy to report that AOL has now made it possible to chat with AOL contacts across a variety of Google services: not just Gmail, but also iGoogle, Orkut, and Google Talk on Android phones." 
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| Review: AVM FRITZ! WLAN Repeater Posted: 20 May 2011 03:30 AM PDT The Fritz! WLAN Repeater is capable of extending Wireless N networks, boasting data transfer speeds of up to 300Mbps. Setting up the device is simple, especially if you have a WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) enabled modem or router. Just connect the repeater to a power supply, then tap the touchscreen and then press the relevant 'WPS' button on your modem or router. Even if you don't have a WPSenabled device, setup is still straightforward. We were able to connect the Fritz! WLAN repeater to our wireless network and begin broadcasting in no time at all. The range and speed are very good, and if you set it up just at the edge of your existing network, you can drastically boost your wireless coverage. However, as much as the Fritz! WLAN Repeater appears to be an average wireless extender, it does have a few interesting additional features that serve to boost its value. To begin with, unlike most wireless extenders, the Fritz! WLAN Repeater has a large display on its front. While this isn't particularly attractive, it gives you more information about the state of your network than the array of blinking LEDs that you find on most extenders. It's not revolutionary, but it's a nice addition that makes the device easier to use. You'll also find digital optical and phono audio ports located on the bottom of the device. These let you connect the device to a music system. It's not as good as a dedicated network music streamer, but it's another feature that some people might appreciate. 
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| Nokia's Windows Phones may use ST-Ericsson chips Posted: 20 May 2011 03:22 AM PDT Nokia's eagerly anticipated Windows Phone handsets look set to be sporting ST-Ericsson chips – according to a senior executive. Speaking to Forbes, STMicorelectronics chief executive Carlo Bozotti, who sits on the ST-Ericsson board, suggested that the Nokia phones will use the company as one of its two chip suppliers. Borlotti stated that ST-Ericsson remained an important supplier for Nokia with 'very close relations' with the company. Qualcomm Currently, Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor has been the dominant force in Windows Phone-sporting handsets, due to Microsoft's desire for a consistent offering for the launch phones. However, the company has already said that it will be less strict on which specific chipsets are used going forward. Microsoft's deal with Nokia, and the sheer investment in creating and marketing the Windows Phone OS, are an illustration of just how important the mobile phone sector is to the software giant. With rival Google's Android OS doing well not only on phones but also on tablets, and Apple's successes in the mobile markets, the need for a competitive product was clear. Bringing Nokia into the fold should give Windows Phone a major push, and it seems that it could come with a more relaxed attitude to what the handset actually consists of. 
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| Orange and Barclaycard launch NFC on the high street Posted: 20 May 2011 03:12 AM PDT Orange and Barclaycard have announced a partnership to finally make contactless payments a reality for the UK public. The citric network has been talking about SIM-based near field communications technology (NFC) for a while, and is now popping it in the Samsung Tocco Lite Quick Tap edition. This means that in places like Pret a Manger, EAT, Little Chef, Wembley Arena, Subway, Wilkinsons and McDonalds you can simply whip out the ageing handset and pay for any item under £15 using the device. Can't talk darling, paying for lunch Users can transfer up to £100 onto the Quick Tap app on the phone - although users will need to have a Barclaycard, Barclays debit card or Orange Credit Card to make the payments across, so still ruling out a large number of UK shoppers. Orange has promised the technology will come to a wider range of (hopefully better) handsets, which is likely dependent on developing apps securely for further platforms, in the near future as it looks to make contactless payments a reality for all. If you're at all bored at work today then perhaps you're looking for even the teeniest modicum of distraction - so check out the video of how the new service is going to work in real life: 
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| Orange and Samsung launch NFC on the high street Posted: 20 May 2011 03:12 AM PDT Orange and Samsung have announced a partnership to finally make contactless payments a reality for the UK public. The citric network has been talking about SIM-based near field communications technology (NFC) for a while, and is now popping it in the Samsung Tocco Lite Quick Tap edition. This means that in places like Pret a Manger, EAT, Little Chef, Wembley Arena, Subway, Wilkinsons and McDonalds you can simply whip out the ageing handset and pay for any item under £15 using the device. Can't talk darling, paying for lunch Users can transfer up to £100 onto the Quick Tap app on the phone - although users will need to have a Barclaycard, Barclays debit card or Orange Credit Card to make the payments across, so still ruling out a large number of UK shoppers. Orange has promised the technology will come to a wider range of (hopefully better) handsets, which is likely dependent on developing apps securely for further platforms, in the near future as it looks to make contactless payments a reality for all. If you're at all bored at work today then perhaps you're looking for even the teeniest modicum of distraction - so check out the video of how the new service is going to work in real life: 
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| Phishing site found running on Sony server Posted: 20 May 2011 03:10 AM PDT A credit card phishing site has been found running on one of Sony's servers, adding to the company's already extensive security based headache. Users are encouraged to apply for a credit card on the fake site, which lives at hdworld.sony.co.th; although the site doesn't mention Sony at all, the URL may encourage confidence in unwitting consumers. The company is still reeling from its last security breach, with the PlayStation store not even back online yet and the PlayStation Network having enjoyed over three weeks of downtime over the last month after hackers broke in and compromised users' credit card and personal details. One thing after another We're sure Sony will be scrambling to remove the dodgy site as we speak as F-Secure, which discovered the phishing site, alerted the tech giant to its existence. This latest revelation comes after the company was forced to take the PSN password reset site down because it required users' email addresses and dates of birth to verify their IDs; information that had already been compromised by the hackers. It looks to us like Sony needs to take a long hard look at all its security processes before another breach tips consumers away from the company altogether. 
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| Week in Tech: The key to tablet success: don't ape the iPad Posted: 20 May 2011 03:00 AM PDT What's small, exciting and generates more column inches than Pippa Middleton's bum? That's right: tablets. Where other sectors are feeling the effects as customers tighten their belts, tablets are flying off the shelves - and with good reason, because many of them are brilliant. We're into the second tablet generation now, and that means things are starting to get really interesting: where many first-generation tablets were pale iPad clones at best and vapourware at worst, tablets have been around long enough for some unusual and potentially very useful ideas to emerge. The HTC Flyer is a good example of the bright ideas firms are coming up with. HTC knows that fingers are by far the fastest, easiest and most fun way to navigate around a tablet, but it's been quick to notice that fingers aren't ideal for more detailed work. Its solution is a "magic pen" that adds pressure-sensitive precision for tasks such as photo editing, note taking and scribbling comments on web pages, and it works pretty well. Crazy designs HTC isn't the only firm who, ahem, thinks different - but while Apple is content to make minor changes to its iPad designs, Asus has gone completely crazy. And as we discovered this week, crazy is good. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer offers the best of both worlds: the fun and flexibility of a tablet, and a proper keyboard when you need to get on with stuff without hurting your hands. We liked it a lot. It hasn't all been sunshine and clever ideas, unfortunately. As Nvidia's CEO admitted this week, Android tablets haven't necessarily sold as well as they should have, partly because of inept marketing and partly because of a lack of decent apps. Elsewhere RIM has had to recall nearly 1,000 faulty BlackBerry Playbooks, although luckily few of the affected devices have reached end users, and the Acer Iconia Tab A100 release date has been pushed back to later this year. The odd problem aside, it's clear that the tablet market is maturing quickly - so quickly, in fact, that TechRadar columnist Gary Marshall wonders if that leaves any room for Google's Chromebook, which promises tablet-style ease of use in a device that looks like a netbook. The key issue, it seems, is price: at £400, UK Chromebooks aren't exactly cheap. "The problem for me is that Chromebooks have many of the same compromises as tablets – small screens, titchy storage, lack of horsepower – without the benefits," Gary writes. "They're up against tablets, which are better, and they're up against netbooks, which are cheaper. Given the choice between a Chromebook and an iPad 2, or a Chromebook and a Honeycomb tablet, would you really choose the Chromebook? Really?" There's no doubt that the trickle of tablets has become a flood, and that manufacturers have given their best brains the job of building kick-ass tablets. Things are only going to get more interesting - and that's why we've launched an entire channel dedicated to tablets and tablet-related tomfoolery. Covering every conceivable tablet as well as apps and accessories, if it's tablets you want then Tablets@TechRadar is a must-bookmark. 
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| Posted: 20 May 2011 03:00 AM PDT Don't weep for the fate of single-function devices. They have had their time. Faced with a page of sums, you've probably moved past reaching for a dedicated pocket calculator; you'll load a calculator app on your phone or even just type the equations straight in to Google. You won't fill your pockets with a selection of clattering plastic boxes when a single slimline unit will do. The era of wide functionality is unquestionably upon us. Market saviour? There's a counter argument, of course: why should you send the decathlete onto the track when the 100m expert is the one breaking the world records? It's a good point. A specialised unit like this should theoretically best any comparably priced multi-function device. If you're a photographer, it's unlikely that you'll use the camera of a £400 smart phone in favour of a similarly priced DSLR. We say all this because the handheld video camera market appears to be spluttering its last breath. Cisco, fresh from buying the rights to the Flip camera, has abruptly pulled it from the market as part of an overhaul of its consumer products division. When what looks like the market leader drops out of the race, things have got to be pretty bad, right? GE's DV1 doesn't do an awful lot to assuage our fears, although it's a perfectly good device in isolation. It sports much the same form factor as the Flip – a small, portrait aligned nugget with little in the way of controls beyond a 'Record' button. There's a USB connnector for charging and transferring video to your PC, and an SD slot for storage. The screen is larger than most in the category, and of a higher pixel density; next to the final generation of Flip cameras, we're inclined to pick this one every time, though little of it is used for video – over half is dedicated to the settings you're currently using. Video quality is also good. There's the option to record in 720p at 60fps, which produces some very slick (though shaky) footage. It will also do 1,920 x 1,080 at 30fps, or you can choose slightly lower, softer resolutions and frame rates. Movies come out in MOV format, and as long as you've set your white balance correctly, you should have no problems. A trip to sunny Weston-super-Mare left us with a particularly blue set of clips, so it's a shame the DV1 couldn't automatically save us our blushes. The videos are also a little muddy. We found them a small step above the most recent generation of Flip cameras, at least in terms of footage in sunlight – footage shot under electric light at night is pretty grainy. Clarity is also quite poor, particularly at the 1080p end. Paucity of features As a single-function device, for £80, the DV1 does its job very well. It's a workhorse. If all you want is a point-and-shoot camcorder to take wobbly videos of your kittens, it's as good as, if not better than, anything else out there. Here's the problem, though: aside from its rugged waterproof casing, which promises 5m of water resistance and 5ft of shockproofing, there's nothing that makes the DV1 any better than a compact camera of the same price. You'll certainly find more in the way of flexibility with a compact camera, along with features like optical zoom and better shake reduction than the DV1 can muster. You'll soon be able take video of a similar standard with your mobile phone; we took some footage with an iPhone 4, which, though grainy, was about as effective, and we were able to edit and tweak the video all on the same device. It won't be long before mobile phones are able to take better quality video, offer 10m waterproofing, and whip up a tasty omelette at the same time. So enjoy it while it lasts, because while single-function devices still have a lot of life left in them – and this is great if you're going to be splashing around – we can hear this particular sector of the market wheezing out a death rattle. 
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| Posted: 20 May 2011 02:30 AM PDT Just £42 for a superfast modem? Seems fishy. That's the price you'd pay for a standard Wireless G router, not a dual-band Wireless N model. The TP-Link TL-WR1043ND – one heck of a mouthful – isn't actually a dual-band router; it's just a lowly single-band. Surely that means it has no chance against the dual-band devices in this test. Well, no. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Although the TP-Link doesn't benefit from the 5GHz transmission band, it has a crude way of making up for this, using three antennas to ramp the standard 2.4GHz signal to its maximum. And it works, with the fastest recorded transmission speed of the 1GB test file over wireless. There wasn't much different between this and the other routers at short range, but at the 10 metre range with two walls separating each laptop, it took just four minutes 20 seconds. Aside from being the fastest router in the test, the TP-Link TL-WR1043ND doesn't really have all that much to offer – not that it really needs to. The installation proved to be one of the trickiest of the test, which is probably what you get for paying just over £40 for the privilege. After scouring TP-Link's simple but extensive web interface trying to figure out why it wouldn't connect to the internet, we pinpointed it to a conflicting IP address. A beginner would have given up long before we did. Other than an additional USB port on the back, which can be used to attach storage devices and access media on them, the TP-Link doesn't really have any other features that help it rise above the others. But then again, not everyone wants all the gimmicks under the sun – there are plenty that just want a no-frills router that delivers what they're really interested in – fast wireless internet. 
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| iPad 3 rumours: what you need to know Posted: 20 May 2011 02:24 AM PDT The iPad 2 is out, and the rumour factory's already moved on: it's predicting iPad 3 specifications including chips, cameras and retina displays - with a little bit of help from mysterious, unnamed people who can't possibly be identified. How very convenient. So what's the word on the street about the next iPad? First, our colleagues at T3.com have rounded up the latest rumours in the iPad 3 video below: The iPad 3 release date is September 2011 This is the biggest rumour of all: an iPad 3 mere months after the iPad 2. An unnamed Apple employee says that the iPad 2 was a bit of a rush job, and "the third generation iPad is the one to make a song and dance about." Respected Apple watcher John Gruber added fuel to that particular fire by strongly hinting that the iPad 3 release date will be in September. Gruber, who was musing about the HP TouchPad's potential summer release said: "Summer feels like a long time away. "If my theory is right, they're not only going to be months behind the iPad 2, but if they slip until late summer, they might bump up against the release of the iPad 3." If Gruber is right about this and the iPad 3 features in an Apple autumn line-up, then it looks like Apple is going to start offering a new iPad every six months. The iPad 3 UK release date is a mystery With Apple apparently unable to meet demand for iPad 2, we'd expect a staggered release date for the iPad 3 too: if the US gets the iPad 3 in September, we'd expect the UK iPad 3 release date to be in October, or possibly even November. Apple won't want to miss the Christmas period, but the US comes first. The iPad 3 specs include a dual-core processor It's possible that the iPad 3 will have a brand spanking new processor, Apple's A6, but if the rumoured release date is correct then time is awfully tight: we'd certainly expect to see an A5, not an A6, in the iPhone 5 when it turns up this summer. Apple may well surprise us, of course, but we'd expect to see the same processor and graphics as the iPad 2 in the iPad 3: an A5 processor with PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics. This one comes down to the iPad 3 release date: if it's 2011, expect an A5. If it's 2012, expect a faster A6. The iPad 3 features include a retina display This was widely predicted for the iPad 2, but of course the current iPad doesn't have a double-resolution display: for now, that's something you'll only get in the iPhone 4. Could a Retina Display be one of the features Apple didn't quite get into the iPad 2? Could be! It's the very first thing on our iPad 3 wish list. Rumours of an HD screen on the iPad 3 gathered pace on 12 April 2011 when Digitimes reported that Apple is asking panel makers to provide screens that are capable of displaying higher image quality than the iPad 2. The iPad 3 hardware could include an NFC chip Apple's very interested in Near Field Communications, and one particularly tasty rumour at Cult of Mac suggests that the iPhone 5 will use NFC to take over nearby Macs, enabling you to use your data and settings with a flick of the wrist. Since the iPad 3 will follow the iPhone 5, if NFC's in one it'll probably be in the other too. The iPad 3 specifications will include more storage The iPad 2 has the familiar 16/32/64GB storage options, but as flash storage comes down in price a 128GB option for the iPad 3 isn't impossible - although that might depend on the current horrible situation in Asia, where the tsunami has caused chaos in parts of the electronics industry. The iPad 3 features could include a Thunderbolt port Two generations of USB-free iPads suggest that Apple just isn't interested in adding one, but the new Thunderbolt port found in the 2011 MacBook Pro could be another story: it's a combined accessory/display connector with astonishingly fast performance. The iPad 3 may live in the cloud This has been talked about and leaked about for so long that, on the same principle that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, it's bound to come true eventually: a cloud-based MobileMe for storing your stuff on Apple's servers. A new iPad with iOS 5 and a new MobileMe would be lots of fun. The iPad 3 specs might include an SD card slot This was widely predicted for iPad 2 and, like the retina display, didn't materialise. One for version 3, perhaps? Using a separate adapter to read camera cards is rather inelegant and clunky. The iPad 3 specification should include a better camera The rear-facing camera on the iPad 2 isn't brilliant: an iPhone 4 camera and flash would do nicely. The iPad 3 could feature a carbon fibre case Apple has hired a carbon fibre expert, senior composites engineer Kevin Kenney, fuelling speculation that the next iPad could be encased in the lightweight material. The iPad 3 price might be higher than the iPad 2 The iPad 2 didn't herald a price hike, but if the iPad 3's coming in September we don't think a massive iPad 2 price cut is very likely - which suggests that if the iPad 3 does appear then, it might be more of an iPad Pro - with a price to match. 
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| US students get free Xbox 360 with new Windows PCs Posted: 19 May 2011 05:50 PM PDT Microsoft has announced a massive incentive for US-based college students to pick up a new Windows 7 PC by serving-up a free Xbox 360 console. The Big M has decided that the best route to success for students is having an Xbox 360 in the dorm room after a long hard day of studying. The deal, which will encourage cash-strapped students to choose a PC over a Mac, will entitle every student who spends $699 or more on a new Windows 7 PC to their very own 4GB Xbox 360. Everything they need "A hot new Windows 7-based PC with a free Xbox 360 is the ultimate productivity, social and entertainment package for students," said Kathleen Hall, general manager of Windows Marketing at Microsoft. "In one shot, with this great offer, Microsoft is giving students everything they need for a successful new school year." Microsoft did not infer that they'd be supplying the alcohol and recreational drugs along with the Xbox 360 console. 
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