Sponsored
Techradar |
- Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
- US building scale model of internet to test cyber ops
- Possible pics of Sony Ericsson Xperia Duo surface
- LulzSec: we haven't revealed all we've hacked
- Call of Duty CEO: People are gaming more in fewer games
- UK first to get Nokia Windows Phones
- Tutorial: How to fix Mac printing problems
- The Guardian begins pushing digital over print
- Amazon Kindle plagued by self-publishing spam
- Review: Benro C-1681 M8
- UN should take control of 'Wild West' web
- BBC: tablet is becoming second TV in the home
- Buying Guide: What's the best tablet under £300?
- Nokia banks on graphene for future tech
- Gary Marshall: Windows 8 tablets: boom or bust for Microsoft?
- Samsung TVs get BBC News app
- Apple patent reveals stalkerish iOS social network plans
- Video: Sony S1 and S2 tablets get a video teaser
- LG Optimus 3D launches in Europe
- Review: Star Walk 5.2.2
- Pentax K-r now available in 5 colours
- Week in Tech: A week of ups and downs for Android
- Review: Livescribe 2GB Echo Smartpen
- Review: Cables To Go TruLink HDMI over Cat5e Extender
| Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Posted: 18 Jun 2011 01:00 AM PDT This week we've got a full review of Samsung's new tablet, the 10.1. It's a real competitor to Apple's dominance in the tablet market and is light years ahead of the original Galaxy Tab. We've also got a hands on review with the new Nintendo Wii U as well as a full review of the new TomTom Go Live 82, Canon EOS 600D and the new AMD Vision laptop platform. Read on to check out all this week's hot reviews from TechRadar. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review The influx of Android tablets is picking up pace, and the latest from Samsung is a right belter. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is Samsung's second attempt at a 10-inch Honeycomb, tablet – the first one which was thicker and had an 8MP camera, was canned earlier this year. This one though has sleek good looks and is lighter and thinner than Apple's iPad 2. It's possibly the best out-and-out Android tablet we have seen yet, although it's a different proposition to the equally-compelling Asus Eee Pad Transformer. Honeycomb is still not a perfect mobile OS, but as far as hardware goes, this is as good as it gets. Canon's triple-digit EOS line has traditionally catered for those dipping their toes into DSLR photography, but as successive models have acquired more functionality, they've ventured further into enthusiast territory. The Canon 600D sits somewhere in between the two camps, with a small form and entry-level styling, but many features inherited from the enthusiast EOS 60D. Even so, it varies in only a handful of ways to the previous EOS 550D, and arrives only a year after that model. It's far from revolutionary, but the Canon EOS 600D is a well specified camera that's ideal for those wanting to get creative and elevate their photography to the next level. Hands on: Nintendo Wii U review The Nintendo Wii was the surprise package of the current generation of games consoles, and swept the PS3 and Xbox 360 aside with enormous sales. The buzz around the Wii died down a long time ago though, and now Nintendo has announced the successor to the Wii – the Wii U. Its controller has a touchscreen display on it, and is designed to work in cooperation with existing Wii remotes and nunchucks, and the console itself is said to be more powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3. We've had a play with it – click the link to see our early impressions. TomTom is on a roll. Not only has it been able to make the world's best sat navs even easier and more pleasurable to use, but it's done so in an intelligent, engaging way that leaves the competition even further behind. From simple changes like the improved integrated screen / dash mount to the changes its made to its sat nav operating system, TomTom's sheer class, quality and attention to detail shines through. The TomTom Go Live 825 then is something of a minor miracle. It's a shame that we have to give it back.
This week's other reviews on TechRadar AV accessories Cables To Go TruLink HDMI over Cat5e Extender review Cases Cooler Master CM Storm Enforcer review CD players Stello CDT100/DA100 Signature review Unison Research Unico CDE Twin review Headphones Hi-fi Accessories Input devices Livescribe 2GB Echo Smartpen review Motherboards Sapphire Pure Fusion Mini E350 review Processors
Projectors Philips PicoPix Mini Projector review Sat navs Software VITO Technology Star Walk 5.2.2 review Speakers Acoustic Energy NeoV2 Four review Tablets Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review Turntables
TVs Webcams Microsoft Lifecam Studio review D-Link Wireless N Home Camera DCS-930L review Hands ons Cameras Hands on: Panasonic GF3 review Consoles Hands on: Nintendo Wii U review
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
| ||
| US building scale model of internet to test cyber ops Posted: 17 Jun 2011 01:08 PM PDT The United States government is building a scale model of the internet in order to test out its cyber war operations. The multi-million dollar project is being called a 'virtual firing range' and will allow the US to simulate cyber attacks and create network protections systems to guard against them. The platform, commissioned by the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency, will also allow the US to try-out its own offensive capabilities without causing online havoc in the real world. Indeed, the initiative will be designed to enable the US to wipe the slate clean when test operations are completed. Eric Mazzacone, a DARPA spokesman, says that the US will be able to carry out test operations."in days rather than the weeks it currently takes." Prototypes The project is currently in the conception stage with key US defense contractor Lockhead Martin believed to be working on the project.Last month Lockheed itself fell victim to a cyber hack. The US recently allocated $500m (£309m) of its defense budget to develop "cyber technologies," with the US recently re-classifying cyber-attacks to be an act of war. DARPA is largely credited with developing the forerunner to the internet in the 1960s. Source: Reuters 
| ||
| Possible pics of Sony Ericsson Xperia Duo surface Posted: 17 Jun 2011 10:16 AM PDT Photos of what could be the Sony Ericsson Xperia Duo have been posted online, hinting at a dual-core Android handset. The pictures show a handset with a huge edge-to-edge (near enough) display and three physical buttons at the bottom of the screen – menu, home and back, presumably. Sony Ericsson trademarked the 'Xperia Duo' name along with the Xperia Arc, Neo and Play at the tail-end of last year. Real or fake? While this looks like a pretty legit photo – it's on a Sony Ericsson backboard, and the lower-case Duo name under the handset and the shadow on the Sony Ericsson logo are details that you wouldn't necessarily get on your average Photoshop job, we still have reservations. Check out the date, for instance – Tuesday 14 July? This year 14 July is a Thursday, so it's either referring to 14 July 2009 or 14 July 2015. We don't have a Delorean and an abundance of plutonium handy so neither are much good to us. There also seems to be a little more bezel on the left hand side than the right (as you look at the handset) and the Xperia branding at the bottom and status bar at the top seem a little bit squashed. And we're not sure Sony Ericsson would okay a handset that was so bottom-heavy while there's so much black space at the top. Still, we could be completely wrong on this one; the picture is fairly low-res so it's hard to get a good feel for the quality of the Photoshoppery – a handy trick of the faker, or a legit spy-shot? You decide. 
| ||
| LulzSec: we haven't revealed all we've hacked Posted: 17 Jun 2011 10:15 AM PDT LulzSec has released a statement regarding its hacking spree and has revealed that it is sitting on a lot more hacked data than it has released. Unlike, say, Wikileaks which has used this as a threat in the past, LulzSec has said that we should be grateful that it has publicly revealed some of what it has hacked, as many hackers don't. "Do you think every hacker announces everything they've hacked? We certainly haven't, and we're damn sure others are playing the silent game," said the statement. "Do you feel safe with your Facebook accounts, your Google Mail accounts, your Skype accounts? What makes you think a hacker isn't silently sitting inside all of these right now, sniping out individual people, or perhaps selling them off? You are a peon to these people. A toy. A string of characters with a value." Hacking for fun The statement goes on to give the reason why LulzSec is hacking big companies and it seems to be simply for fun – not just for the hacking collective but for the public too. "You find it funny to watch havoc unfold, and we find it funny to cause it. "We release personal data so that equally evil people can entertain us with what they do with it." LulzSec's list of victims is getting increasingly longer with PBS, Sony, Fox, FBI, CIA and a whole host of gaming websites all at some time been under attack by the group. The information not yet released includes the records of 200,000 Brink users and LulzSec does warn that it is the hacked info we don't know about which we should be worried about. "We're sitting on 200,000 Brink users right now that we never gave out. It might make you feel safe knowing we told you, so that Brink users may change their passwords. What if we hadn't told you? No one would be aware of this theft, and we'd have a fresh 200,000 peons to abuse, completely unaware of a breach." This new statement was released by the group as it has just hit 1,000 tweets, so this is certainly no sign off for the hacking collective. If anything, it sounds as if the online carnage is set to continue. 
| ||
| Call of Duty CEO: People are gaming more in fewer games Posted: 17 Jun 2011 09:41 AM PDT Gamers have a growing appreciation for deeper franchises and growing loyalty to a few key titles, according to Call of Duty publisher Activision. The Call of Duty series is one of the most successful in gaming history with well over 55 million sales since the first iteration was released in 2003. Speaking to Venture Beat, Eric Hirshberg, chief executive of Activision Publishing and responsible for the Call of Duty franchise, explained that it is these more intense gaming experiences that are keeping the industry afloat. Shooter When asked his take on the gaming industry's recovery from the recent recession, he said: "People aren't gaming less. There are no statistics you can find to show you that. People are gaming more than ever in terms of the installed base of console hardware. "If you look at the number of hours being played online, it's huge. It's bigger than it's ever been before. You look at the sales of the top titles; they are bigger than ever before. "What people are doing is they are gaming more in fewer games. They are going deeper into fewer franchises. "And so that's how we've built our slate. We are following that pattern. And so we are making fewer and bigger bets." 
| ||
| UK first to get Nokia Windows Phones Posted: 17 Jun 2011 08:27 AM PDT Nokia has revealed that the UK will be among the first countries to get its inaugural batch of Windows Phone handsets. The Finnish company will be launching the handsets into six European countries before the rest of the world gets a sniff. Alongside the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain will all be first to the Microsoft-flavoured Nokia handsets, set to launch in the last quarter of this year. All change At an event last night, Nokia's new UK MD, Conor Pierce, noted that the UK will be a key territory for the company's new batch of smartphones; no doubt Nokia wants to test the waters before it takes on the prized US market. The eagle-eyed among you have already noted that Nokia's homeland, Finland, isn't on that list, perhaps indicative of Nokia's plans to push itself further afield rather than preaching to the Finnish choir. Still, we're not complaining. It's nice to see the UK get first bite at the cherry – or should that be mango? – for a change. 
| ||
| Tutorial: How to fix Mac printing problems Posted: 17 Jun 2011 08:20 AM PDT Printers can be frustrating devices. If you're having issues with printing from your Mac, you're in the right place. We've gathered together the most common printing issues experienced on Macs and attempted to solve them. Let's start the questions... "Why can't my Mac detect my printer at all?" Have you installed the driver software that came in the box? Also check the manufacturer's site and run Software Update to check for newer versions of the drivers. Now plug the printer in using a USB lead – it should show up automatically in the Print & Fax pane. If not, click the + and you ought to see it in the Default tab. If you can't, check it's switched on and that the cabling isn't faulty, and try a different USB port (or better still, test it with a different computer). If it's a wireless printer you've got, it needs to be connected to the same network as your Mac. Use the printer's control panel to make sure Wi-Fi is enabled and it's hooked up to the correct network – you can often print a network diagnostics page to get all the details at a glance. If you recently altered the WPA key to get on your network, you'll need to change it on your printer as well. And try temporarily connecting your wireless printer to your Mac using a USB lead – does it appear in the Print & Fax pane now? "Why am I getting these lines across my printouts?" Blocked inkjet print heads are the likely culprit, so use the utility software that came with your printer to run the nozzle cleaning tasks (you'll find the software in your Applications or Utilities folder). It may take several goes, but run the nozzle clean until the test page prints out perfectly. While you're in the printer utility, it may be worth checking the print head alignment, which can also have an impact on your printouts. Blocked nozzles are caused by ink drying out in the pipes when the printer isn't being used, so try to use your printer at least once a week to prevent blockages. Faint areas suggest your ink or toner is running out – time to buy some more. "Is it possible to check ink or toner levels on my Mac?" It depends if your printer supports this. Go to System Preferences > Print & Fax, select the printer, click Options & Supplies… and select the Supply Levels tab. Some printers may have a separate app that provides this info, so have a look in the Applications or Utilities folders to see what's there. "Am I able to print from my iPhone or iPad?"
While AirPrint currently only works with a limited range of printers, there's a utility called Printopia that enables you to print to any printer connected up to your Mac. While we expect AirPrint to be opened up to more printers over time, using Printopia is a really easy way to run off hard copies from your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch in the interim. And at under £7, it won't break the bank. How to print troublesome docs We'll assume your printer's on, not flashing any error lights, there's paper in it and you're not out of ink or toner – but you'd checked that already, hadn't you? Open the Print & Fax pane in System Preferences, select your printer and click Open Print Queue…. Check it's not paused – if it is, click Resume Printer at the top. There may be other documents in the print queue that are holding things up. Have any error messages appeared in this window? If so, they should give you a clue as to what's not right. Type the exact message into a Google search to look for answers. If there are print jobs waiting that won't roll off the press, delete the lot and try printing again. The problem could be linked to an individual file or app, so try printing a different document from a different app. Should this not help, right-click the Printers column in Print & Fax and choose Reset printing system… Quick tip If you need to reinstall your printer drivers but you've lost the disc that came with it and can't find them online, Apple includes common ones with OS X. Pop in your Mac OS X DVD, run the Optional Installs app and choose the relevant drivers under Printer Support. 
| ||
| The Guardian begins pushing digital over print Posted: 17 Jun 2011 08:17 AM PDT The Guardian has announced that it is to adopt a "digital first" strategy for its news output, after the newspaper reported losses of £34.4 million in 2009-2010 and £33 million the following year. Speaking to Press Gazette, a Guardian spokesperson said that the focus on digital was now the priority with a number of resources being moved from print to digital. Digital income for this financial year is set to be around £47 million and the Guardian is hoping that this will be doubled over the next five years. Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger admitted that the company must "move beyond the newspaper, shifting focus, effort and investment towards digital, because that is our future". Digital vs print Given the huge losses, it is interesting that the Guardian, according to the Press Gazette, has said that staff levels will not change, nor will overall editorial budgets – but more money will be put into digital properties. Insiders at the paper, however, believe that redundancies will have to happen and are pointing to possible closures of a number of the main paper's supplements. 
| ||
| Amazon Kindle plagued by self-publishing spam Posted: 17 Jun 2011 07:59 AM PDT Junk email? That's so yesterday; it's all about the e-book publishing spam these days, with the Amazon Kindle self-publishing platform proving to be a spammers' paradise. The work of legitimate aspiring authors is getting swamped by Private Label Rights (PLR) work – prose that is available to be picked up cheaply (or freely) by anyone online. Spammers and those looking to make a quick buck are reformatting these rights-free works into ebooks and sticking them up for sale around 99 cents (60p) using the Kindle Direct Publishing platform - and some are even selling books and DVDs to educate others in how to do it. The man who would be Kindle Not only is it irritating if you accidentally buy one of these PLR works, but this influx of spammy ebooks makes it harder than ever to find something worth reading. Another sneaky money-spinning trick infiltrating the book platform is the copying and republishing of ebooks that are already proving popular, using a different title and cover. One element making the platform so attractive to spammers is that distributing a work using the Kindle Direct Publishing service doesn't cost anything; Amazon simply takes a cut if you make any sales. With plagiarism and spam-like content taking over, questions will no doubt be raised over whether Amazon needs to police the self-publishing platform more aggressively, or remove it altogether. 
| ||
| Posted: 17 Jun 2011 06:30 AM PDT Part of Benro's Travel Angel tripod range, the C-1681 is an attractive looking, four section tripod made from carbon fibre. With a maximum load of 8kg, it's well able to support enthusiast and semi-pro SLRs and lenses, while maximum height is a lofty 1 metre, 41 centimetres.
The C-168 is available for around £290 online, so it's not cheap, but will appeal to travel and nature photographers. Build quality and performanceDespite its similarities to the C-1180T, the C-168 feels less sturdy, with noticeably more flex in the legs. It's got the same nice twist-lock system as the C-1180T for easy set-up, but the legs don't fold right down to the ground.
However, the centre column pops out, which is a nice touch, that is useful for macro photography when you need to get low to the ground. The carbon fibre legs are reverse folding too, which makes packing and transportation easier, and leg angles can be adjusted via the splendidly named Plucking Angle Adjuster – you literally 'pluck' them into shape.
VerdictThis lightweight carbon fibre travel tripod has many virtues, but it's still outclassed by the C1180T model. The latter feels sturdier, while still being very easy to carry around and set up.
| ||
| UN should take control of 'Wild West' web Posted: 17 Jun 2011 05:56 AM PDT The UN should take action on internet freedoms, says the Council of Europe's head of human rights, Thomas Hammarberg. Taking in both the point that access to the web has become a human rights issue and that content needs to be better policed, he takes issue with the different strokes for different folks approach: "These kind of clampdowns which we have seen in China must be prevented. We would like to see a discussion about international regulation which would filter out porn or incitement to war and hatred," he said. Wicky-wild-wild "The time has come to begin to find the right way to regulate it with the protection of freedom of expression. Some governments have restrictions and others are letting it become like the Wild West." In Hammarberg's opinion, the United Nations is best-placed to deal with the issue of net freedoms because it poses global conundrums. "When I discuss freedom of expression with governments I notice there's a problem here. We need to have a serious discussion about this. We need to protect the diversity of media. The tendencies in some countries are very restrictive. "There should be a special commission appointed to work on this appointed by the UN because the problem is so global nowadays. "There's a need for an international dimension. Most of the sites are run by private companies but the regulations are directed towards governments. It's complicated." Notoriously internet controlling countries like China, Iran, Syria, North Korea and Egypt are all members of the UN. In the UK, creator of the internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee has spoken of the importance of unrestricted access the web and the fact it has become a human right, saying that special laws may have to be brought in to keep the online peace. That's a viewpoint that Vodafone's CEO, Vittorio Colao, and France's president Nicolas Sarkozy agrees with, while companies like Facebook and Google have spoken out about the importance of keeping the internet 'free' of restrictive laws in order to foster innovation. 
| ||
| BBC: tablet is becoming second TV in the home Posted: 17 Jun 2011 05:45 AM PDT The BBC's new director of future media, Ralph Rivera, has suggested that the tablet is becoming a second PC in the home, and that the broadcast giant's duty is to deliver content on every screen possible. Speaking at a BBC Online press briefing, with TechRadar in attendance, Rivera brought up what Jobs has termed a 'post-PC era'. "We are seeing this post-PC era more and more now and it is an opportunity to deliver our experience on whichever piece of glass [the consumer] chooses," he said. "The iPlayer is an excellent example of being on four screens, it is already on 200 devices.The number of streams shows that the computer is the majority, but the growth is in the device segment. "The tablet is becoming a second television in the home." Big rise The statistics Rivera showed off suggested that there has been a 2500 per cent rise in tablet use, obviously pushed by the growth of that market segment, but also a 67 per cent rise in the number of views on mobile phones.
However, Rivera was keen to point tout that the BBC's main emphasis will always be the content, and not how it is consumed. "Editorial is at the core of this, it is the core, added Rivera. "That doesn't go contrary if in identify to what you are specifically looking for suggesting other stories that might be of interest to you because they are of interest to your friends. "It doesn't go against the notion that there are the most popular things in addition to what you're looking at. "I don't want to lose the serendipity of editorial. I like to open up newspaper and see things that I wouldn't see if I was specifically looking." 
| ||
| Buying Guide: What's the best tablet under £300? Posted: 17 Jun 2011 05:01 AM PDT Though many would say the Apple iPad set the standard in terms of what people expect from a tablet these days in terms of function, it also seems to have set the price. Many Android tablets, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and HTC Flyer have come in at a price that comes close to matching the cost of Apple's machine, but not everyone's willing to pay that much to get in on the act. As ever, the world of technology can be relied upon to provide some budget tablets, including some brilliantly cheap Android tablets, and in some cases you'll sacrifice surprisingly little from their more expensive brethren. 1. Creative Ziio 7-inch
The Ziio isn't what you'd call a premium product, we readily admit. For functionality and design, it's far behind the more expensive tablets. But there's still a lot that appeals about it. It's light at just 412g, it's not too thick and it's got excellent sound quality. Most importantly of all, it's a stone cold bargain at under £200. Read TechRadar's full Creative Ziio 7-inch review 2. Advent Vega
The Advent Vega impressed us by getting the modern tablet basics right. It offers a responsive touchscreen, good hardware in its Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset and a solid internet browsing experience, including Flash. With all this, corners have had to be cut elsewhere. The 10-inch screen offers a comparable resolution to the big boys, but doesn't have anywhere near as good viewing angles, and the operating system isn't Android 3.0, unsurprisingly. But since its available for just £200 these days, it's still an astonishing amount of tablet for the money. Read TechRadar's full Advent Vega review 3. Archos 101
This is another tablet that succeeds in getting the most important things right a budget price. We found performance to be strong, with smooth web browsing and responsive multi-touch gestures. The screen is also a standout feature, offering bright and vibrant images across its 1024 x 600, 10-inch display. It can be a bit reflective, but it's still a strong feature for a budget tablet. Read TechRadar's full Archos 101 review 4. ViewSonic ViewPad 7
This dinky 7-inch tablet masquerades as a smartphone at times, which we found a little unnecessary in our review, but it has a significant upside. Unlike many of the tablets here, the ViewSonic ViewPad 7 comes with the Android Market on-board, so it's got the full range of the operating system's app catalogue available to it. It's not hugely strong when it comes to performance, but there's still a lot of potential for the price thanks to the Android Market. Read TechRadar's full ViewSonic ViewPad 7 review 5. AOC Breeze
Where AOC has done well here is surely in the Breeze's construction. Our review found the tablet to be well-built for the price, with some nice aesthetics for a budget tablet. It's also one of the few tablets in this price range to feature the Android Market, so the potential functionality is huge. Unfortunately, the Breeze uses resistive touchscreen technology, rather than the capacitive tech used in almost all other tablets. It also has a slightly low screen resolution at 800 x 600. Though the screen is its weak point, there's still potential value in the Breeze thanks to its low price and Android Market functionality. Read TechRadar's full AOC Breeze review 6. Disgo Tablet 6000
As a 7-inch Android tablet with a 1GHz processor, the Disgo sounds like a strong option for the price. Certainly, this would seem to be backed up by the sturdy build quality and plethora of ports, including HDMI. Unfortunately, a low-resolution resistive touchscreen holds it back, as does the lack of Android Market to add some variety of apps to the device. Read TechRadar's full Disgo Tablet 6000 review 
| ||
| Nokia banks on graphene for future tech Posted: 17 Jun 2011 04:36 AM PDT Nokia has announced its intentions towards graphene, hoping to bring the super thin, strong, lightweight carbon allotrope to the masses by getting involved in research into the super-substance. Graphene has got the technology world all afluster, as it ticks all the nerd boxes for strength, thinness, low weight and – most excitingly – bendy. Nokia is joining the Graphene Flagship program because it "believes that graphene is a future-changing material" and "to help bring this most-promising material to the real-world." Graphene novel It's not clear exactly what Nokia itself will be doing to help other than pumping money into the project, with nine other partners also on board, notably four Nobel laureates and a parliament of universities taking part. And here's where we wax lyrical about graphene: graphene sounds science-fictionesquely brilliant, like the Superman of materials. It's just one atom thick – one atom! – while simultaneously having a breaking strength 300 times greater than steel, making it the strongest material ever tested. It's also light as a feather, super conductive and crazy-flexible, meaning we could see OLED displays or solar cells shaped to curl around columns or screens that we can roll up and hide away in a cupboard. Nokia's excited because its involvement in the initiative means that it could have first dibs on the stuff, potentially bringing concepts like Nokia Morph coming to fruition. "Imagine a phone that can be screwed up into your pocket, where the size restrictions of today don't apply," it says. Imagine, indeed. 
| ||
| Gary Marshall: Windows 8 tablets: boom or bust for Microsoft? Posted: 17 Jun 2011 04:30 AM PDT Microsoft has big plans for Windows 8. It's designed to scale from titchy tablets to supersized screens, and it promises to be all things to all men. I hope it delivers, because if Windows 8 is a dud then Microsoft's stuffed. Ed Bott has been tracking the market share numbers, and he's spotted something that should make Steve Ballmer - and Microsoft's shareholders - nervous: Microsoft's share of web browsing has dropped below 90%. Some of that's due to OS X, but most of it is down to iOS and Android. The figures are the canary in the Windows coal mine: mobile is beginning to eat the PC. The numbers aren't huge yet, but they're growing at an extraordinary rate: iPhone browsing share has gone from 0.53% to 1.23% in a year, and the iPad has gone from zero to nearly one percent. That means it's getting the same share as desktop Linux already. It turns out that I'm not the only one who's doing more and more computing on mobile devices. Everybody's at it, and the trend is just going to continue. It won't be long before even the dumbest phone is a smartphone and good Android tablets are as cheap as chips. That's bad news for a firm who's largely reliant on selling copies of Windows and Office. Can Microsoft compete? As Mary Branscombe points out, Microsoft is going in a different direction from the rest of the industry: where others are making their smartphone OSes more feature-packed, Microsoft is taking a desktop OS and working out how to make it mobile. The move to ARM processors is part of that - Windows 8 will run on ARM, although you'll need ARM-specific applications - and Windows 8 tablets will be capable of running software such as Excel. There are two questions here: do people want that? And if they do, can Microsoft pull it off? The answers to both questions are far from certain. A big part of tablets' appeal is their simplicity: I'd rather run something stripped-down and speedy like IA Writer on a tablet than a full-fat version of Microsoft Word, a program that famously had to redesign its UI because most users weren't aware of, let alone using, most of its features. I worry that Microsoft isn't thinking "how do we reinvent document creation and editing on tablets?", but "how can we shove Office into it?" Then again, Microsoft employs some incredibly smart people. They've made Tablet PCs, and they'll be aware that Android and iOS tablets are a completely different ballgame. They'll no doubt be aware of things like the Asus Eee Transformer and Motorola Atrix too, devices that morph from tablet or phone into pseudo-laptops when it's time to get serious. A Windows that does apps and Office could do amazing things in that environment. The second question, whether Microsoft can pull it off, is the big one. As Mary points out, the to-do list is hefty: there's the Metro-style interface, Kinect and voice recognition, touch control, support for multiple form factors, different kinds of PC - business machines, tablets, Media Centers - new technologies such as refracting "wedge" screens... Microsoft doesn't just have to make that work, but it has to tell the world that it works too. If this were an Xbox game, it'd be the boss fight to end all boss fights. If Microsoft gets it wrong, it's Game Over. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
| ||
| Posted: 17 Jun 2011 04:01 AM PDT The BBC has announced that it is to launch a BBC News app for connected televisions, with Samsung being among the first partners for the app. In a conference today, with TechRadar in attendance, the BBC launched the app saying that it will "provide 20 to 25 minutes of footage to get the user up to date, and should provide the same info as watching a bulletin on BBC One." Samsung has been going all out with its app service for televisions, with its Smart Hub available on a variety of Samsung TVs - including the company's flagship model, the D8000 Series. The Samsung Smart Hub already has apps for the BBC iPlayer and LoveFilm and the addition of BBC News is a big win for the company.
Samsung also recently launched a 3D VOD service through its Smart Hub. This offers a variety of 3D content, from movies to trailers and is the first 3D on-demand service of its type in the UK. "Today we are launching a fourth screen for news," said the BBC's Ralph Rivera. "The initial launch is with Samsung Smart TV's but this is designed to be scaled to any manufacturers who meet our syndication and technical requirements. "This is built with HTML, and it is a web-delivered experience that could run on any device that supports this spec." Samsung has also announced that it has now shipped 2 million Smart TV sets, including 710,000 across the European region. 
| ||
| Apple patent reveals stalkerish iOS social network plans Posted: 17 Jun 2011 03:59 AM PDT A new Apple patent has revealed an iOS-based social networking service which uses users' on-device content and location data to automatically find friends. Well, we say friends. We mean "new friends", aka total strangers; you'll be able to set the app to find compatible 'buddies' near your current location, making it sound like a kind of dating app to us. The patent application describes it as "ad hoc networking based on content and location", with the ability to match people up based on music they listen to on the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, as well as videos, pictures and websites they've recently visited and shared, rather than a public-facing profile that you physically set up, a la Facebook. Location, location, location As well as content data, the app would use location information to suggest matches; not just where you currently are, say Starbucks, but also where you've been recently, like Bognor Regis. Or Slough. This information could be used to populate the "Now what shall we talk about…" option, although the prospect of a stranger wandering up to you and asking how your holiday to Timbuktu was is more than a little scary. The whole app is no doubt setting off privacy sirens in web-phobic establishments around the world, but rest assured it proposes that you set your own privacy preferences during set up, and there's an option to turn make your personal profile undiscoverable. The patent bites its thumb at Facebook which is still licking its wounds over Apple's decision to integrate Twitter into iOS 5 rather than Zuckerberg's baby. Facebook's not at home dying its hair black and listening to The Smiths though; with an iPad app apparently round the corner and an App Store rival apparently in the works, there could be quite a tech battle coming up. 
| ||
| Video: Sony S1 and S2 tablets get a video teaser Posted: 17 Jun 2011 03:42 AM PDT Sony has released an intriguing video teaser for its upcoming tablet range, which offers little in the way of information but still manages to be an oddly interesting watch. As with most of Sony's advertising, the promo is a touch off the wall. It focuses on a strange contraption that looks like a futuristic version of the game Mousetrap. In it, the Sony S1 and S2 are involved in sending digital love notes between two figurines. Yep, we want whatever they are smoking too. Tablet talk As it is free of anything regarding specs information, it's good then that we already know that the S1 has a 9.4-inch screen, boasts a Tegra 2 chip and has dual cameras. The S2 is a clamshell tablet which has two 5.5-inch displays. It also has Tegra 2 and dual cameras and both tablets pack Android 3.0. The video is the first in a five-part series, so it looks like the tablet love story is set to continue. Just this week, Engadget reported that the Sony S1 and S2 have been pencilled in for a September release. 
| ||
| LG Optimus 3D launches in Europe Posted: 17 Jun 2011 03:35 AM PDT LG has announced that it has launched its new Optimus 3D phone in Europe, bringing the first 3D screen on a mobile to our shores. The press release is from the global team, so is predictably sketchy when it comes to the details, but at least the UK is on the right continent for being first in line for the new phone: "The phone will be available in Europe first, and then in more than 60 markets around the world over the next several weeks," muttered the release, after extolling the virtues of the new phone. Of which, in fairness, there are a few - it's going to be a pretty powerful beast even without 3D screen technology, offering a large 4.3-inch WVGA display with dual-core innards. 3-Dual power This is LG's second dual-core device following the Optimus 2X, but is actually the more powerful grunt-nugget thanks to dual-channel technology, giving the processors greater resource during use and increasing the speed and graphical capabilities of the device. The Optimus 3D was reportedly delayed by a month according to the likes Amazon, but it seems that the phone is still on course to launch in June, which was the date previously given. When we get that all important LG Optimus 3D UK release date or price, we'll be popping it up on the site faster than you can say "with a dual-channel configuration, data transfers take place simultaneously between the dual-core and dual-memory". 
| ||
| Posted: 17 Jun 2011 03:30 AM PDT The Star Walk app for iPhone, iPod and iPad combines the age-old wonder of stargazing with the cutting-edge technology of augmented reality. When you point your device at the sky, the app uses information about where you are (combined with the digital compass and camera if you're using an iPad 2) to display an image of the night sky. The stars above you are highlighted and named, along with constellations, planets and satellites. Seeing the stars illuminated, and constellations traced and overlaid with astrological signs is a spellbinding experience, helped by the brilliant interface and presentation. Stars twinkle as celestial bodies slowly crawl across the screen, and the Sun even has a lens flare effect. This app's accessibility is admirable considering its educational capabilities. Clicking on any named star, planet, constellation or satellite and then clicking the 'I' icon brings up its Wikipedia entry. Although the app works perfectly during daylight hours, for the best results you should use it at dawn or dusk when the stars are just visible. Although the iPad 2 offers the best experience for this app thanks to its large screen, and built-in digital compass and camera, you can still use the app with less feature-packed devices. You don't even need access to an internet connection, though some features are hampered and you need to enter your location manually. This is an augmented reality app that goes further than telling you if there is a KFC around the next corner, and demonstrates the full potential of this technology. 
| ||
| Pentax K-r now available in 5 colours Posted: 17 Jun 2011 03:23 AM PDT Pentax will make its entry-level K-r DSLR available in five new colours, the company has announced. From July, the Pentax K-r will be available in yellow, pink, blue, purple and metal chocolate. The 12.4-megapixel Pentax DSLR, released last year, is already available in black, white and red models. Among the Pentax K-r's top features are a sensitivity range from ISO 100 to 25,600, 6fps high-speed continuous shooting and a SAFOX IX AF sensor with 11 selectable points. The Pentax K-r price tag sits at £529.99, and the each coloured K-r body is available to purchase in a standard kit that includes the DA-L 18-55mm lens. Read our Pentax K-r review 
| ||
| Week in Tech: A week of ups and downs for Android Posted: 17 Jun 2011 03:00 AM PDT Last week the tech world thrilled to news of new Apple things, but this week it's Android's turn in the spotlight - for good reasons and for bad. There's some tasty new kit on the horizon, but existing HTC Desire owners have been diddled around. And we don't mean that in a good way. Tasty tech first. Specs have emerged of the forthcoming Nexus 3, the Google-branded smartphone that acts as a flagship for the Android platform. Designed to run Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest and most stupidly named version of Android yet, the Google Nexus 3 promises a "monster-sized" screen, a dual-core 1.2GHz or 1.5GHz TI OMAP 4460 or Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1080p HD video capture via a 5MP camera and no buttons. Sources say the handset's navigation will be entirely software-based, just like a certain phone from Cupertino. That's not all. US customers will get 4G connectivity - meaningless over here so far - and everybody benefits from an ultra-thin casing. With an anticipated US release date of November, it shouldn't be long before Google does an official reveal. So far, so straightforward - which you can't say about HTC, who managed to confuse everyone with its plans for upgrading Android on HTC Desire handsets. First, it said that Desire owners wouldn't be able to upgrade to Gingerbread. Then, it changed its mind. There's still no word of when the update will actually happen, but we're sure it'll be sooner, or perhaps later. HTC yesterday said it would have to strip out some unnecessary apps to make room for the release. It's easy to mock, but HTC's dithering over the Desire doesn't do Android any favours. As our very own Gareth Beavis points out, "HTC must have seen the pain networks went through last year with the delayed Android updates - consumers getting increasingly irate on forums at perceived idiocy and apathy and in extreme cases leaving the network altogether, so I assumed it was a lesson learnt and brands would know not to mess around with mixed Android messages again." The Desire update isn't particularly important in the great scheme of things, but all the faffing around has generated lots of unfavourable publicity. When will you get the Gingerbread update? If you're waiting for an Android 2.3 update and want to know when you'll get it, we've made a page just for you: we're tracking the updates for all the major manufacturers. If you don't already have an Android phone and fancy getting your hands on some Gingerbread goodness, you might be interested to know that Vodafone's exclusive deal to sell the HTC Sensation - a phone we really, really like - is coming to a close, and you'll be able to get it on O2 and Orange from July. If you haven't already, check out our HTC Sensation review. Elsewhere, it was bad news for Acer: the firm has dramatically revised its tablet sales targets from "loads" to "not so many", dropping its forecast by almost 60 per cent. Instead of selling between 5 million and 7 million tablets in 2011, the firm now expects to shift around three million. That's partly because the 7-inch Iconia Tab A100's release date has been pushed back to later this year, but it's also because Android tablets aren't yet doing the numbers many expected: for example, Motorola says it shipped - that doesn't necessarily mean sold - 250,000 Xoom tablets in the first quarter of 2011, but industry analysts suggest Apple is doing nearly two and a half million tablets per month. Expect Android numbers to rise significantly this year as Android Honeycomb becomes widespread and the number of tablet-focused apps in the Android Market explodes. 
| ||
| Review: Livescribe 2GB Echo Smartpen Posted: 17 Jun 2011 03:00 AM PDT Taking notes when you're out of the house or office can sometimes be frustrating. It is not always possible to take your netbook or laptop with you while you travel, and typing on a smartphone can be fiddly and uncomfortable. If you have a pen and paper on you, you might find that the note you've hastily scribbled is lost or forgotten about before you get the chance to type it up on a computer. Although the 8GB version of the Livescribe Echo has been around for a while now, its £200 price tag meant that unless you needed to take a lot of notes, it was too expensive to be a worthwhile purchase. However, Livescribe has just released 2GB and 4GB versions of the pen, with the 2GB option selling for just under £100. The Livescribe Echo Smartpen has some great features that make note taking incredibly easy. When you write on the provided paper and then connect the pen to your computer, the Livescribe Desktop software imports your scribbled notes as either an image file or PDF, as if they had been scanned in. Unfortunately there's no OCR functionality built in that can transform handwriting into editable text for use in word processors, though there are apps available if this is a feature you're likely to use regularly. Sound and notes Each page of the notebook includes a small 'record' icon. Tap this with the Smartpen and it will begin recording sound with its built-in microphone as you write until you tap the 'stop' icon. Whenever you tap the notes you've written, the pen will automatically play back the recording it took as you wrote. The new Connect software bolsters the Echo Smartpen's feature set by letting you connect to your email, Facebook, EverNote or Google Docs account, and send notes, diagrams and recordings by writing the name of the service and tapping the pages you want to send, then connecting the pen to your computer. The results are a bit hit and miss – we're still waiting for a Facebook post to appear long after we connected the pen – but it's a promising idea. 
| ||
| Review: Cables To Go TruLink HDMI over Cat5e Extender Posted: 17 Jun 2011 02:30 AM PDT The HDMI standard is one of the best things to happen to home entertainment. It's such a successful method of delivering high-definition audio and video, most new home entertainment devices like Blu-ray players, games consoles, and media streamers come with HDMI ports built in. As your home becomes filled with HDMI devices, you'll notice that they begin to spread apart, requiring longer HDMI cables to connect them all up. This can be a problem for a number of reasons. To begin with, while HDMI is excellent for transferring crystal clear images and sound over short distances, the further the data has to travel – especially distances further than 10 metres – the more the signal deteriorates. Another problem is that HDMI cables can become very expensive when you want them to cover long distances. The Truelink HDMI over CAT5e addresses this problem in a novel way. It uses two network CAT5e cables to transmit the signal up to around 60 meters. Not only does this extend the range of HDMI devices by up to six times, but even two CAT5e cables will be cheaper than one long HDMI cable. When using the Truelink HDMI over CAT5e extender the video bandwidth is 4.95Gbps, which although lower than HDMI 1.3 (which is capable of up to 10.2Gbps) is still able to transmit full 1080p video over 40 metres without too much loss of quality. Below 40 metres and the signal is carried perfectly, though between 40 to 60 metres, the 1080p quality breaks down and a lower resolution of 1080i or 720p is needed. It's not perfect and can't compete quality-wise with a HDMI 1.3 cable over a short distance, but the ability to transmit signals over a much greater distance is so useful that a slight drop in quality is forgivable. It's a great tool for transferring signals, but you can't use it with wall plug networks – the cables must be dedicated to the task. 
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from techradar To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment