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Techradar |
- Samsung Galaxy Z pics sneak online
- Free Nikon Coolpix P300 with Nikon binoculars
- Web TV audiences to be measured by Barb
- iPhone app for Google+ social network 'coming soon'
- Review: Bang & Olufsen BeoVision 4-85
- HTC Desire Android 2.3 update enters testing phase
- Microsoft: Kinect accuracy better now than at launch
- What's new in Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 2
- Review: Toshiba 42HL833
- Skype for Android gets video calling update
- Microsoft unveils IE10 Platform Preview 2
- Buying Guide: Top 10 creative apps for Mac OS X
- Murdoch's BSkyB takeover inches towards completion
- Virgin Media responds to Spotify partnership rumours
- Review: AMD 990FX Chipset
- Review: Sony VAIO VPC-EB3J0E/WI
- Review: Packard Bell EasyNote NS44-HR-033UK
- Dark of the Moon Transforms 3D fortunes
| Samsung Galaxy Z pics sneak online Posted: 30 Jun 2011 10:27 AM PDT A new smartphone from Samsung has been announced by Three in Sweden, the Samsung Galaxy Z. As Samsung hasn't revealed the handset itself we are not sure if this was a slip by Three, with the handset looking like a slightly less powerful variation of the Samsung Galaxy S2. Specs-wise, the Samsung Galaxy Z is dual-core, packing two 1GHz Cortex-A9 cores, it's powered by Tegra 2 and has a 5MP camera and can shoot 720p video. Considering the Samsung Galaxy S2 has a dual 1.2GHz processor, it is definitely the more powerful handset but the Galaxy Z is still an impressive piece of kit. The 4.2-inch display isn't SuperAMOLED but it is SC-LCD with a WXGA resolution. When it comes to memory, there's 8GB space built-in to the handset. The Z factor The Samsung Galaxy Z comes with Android 2.3 and measures 25.3x66.1x9.5mm. There's no Samsung Galaxy Z UK release date as of yet but it is up for pre-order in Sweden right now. Price-wise, you can get the Samsung Galaxy Z on a 24-month contract for 300kr, which is around £30 a month. 
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| Free Nikon Coolpix P300 with Nikon binoculars Posted: 30 Jun 2011 09:00 AM PDT Nikon has announced a new promotion entitling customers to a free Nikon Coolpix P300 with an RRP of £300 when purchasing any binocular from their EDG range. Until the 31st August 2011, customers will be able to claim a Coolpix P300 with purchases of one of the 5 models in the binocular range. The EDG binocular range features dielectric high-reflective multilayer prism coating. The Coolpix P300 is a premium compact, packing higher quality features into a small and lightweight body. A bright f/1.8 lens allows for fast shooting in low light. With 4.2x optical zoom and full manual control allow for creative shooting. Customers purchasing a pair of binoculars from the EDG range have until 30th September to file their claim. For more information on how to claim, visit the Nikon Coolpix EDG promotion website. 
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| Web TV audiences to be measured by Barb Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:59 AM PDT Web TV is to finally get an audience measurement system, with Barb (the Broadcaster's Audience Research Board) announcing that it will begin monitoring web TV viewing figures. Barb will initially trial the monitoring in 100 homes in 2011, but this will be rolled out in 2012 to 1,100 homes with this reaching around 2,500 viewers. "The rollout of the web TV meter demonstrates our long-standing commitment to the development of TV audience measurement," said Bjarne Thelin, Chief Executive of Barb. "We will continually consider and verify the web TV measurement technique so that we can confirm the appropriateness of this approach for Barb. "Following this initial stage we'll evaluate the value of proceeding further and with the industry we will assess how this data can best be utilised and applied." Learning over time Barb has already been trialling its measurement software in 75 homes and it is hoping that the expansion will help with understanding how users watch web TV content and on what devices. "The prospect of a measurement which enables web-TV viewing to be examined alongside television set viewing, from a single source, will have a number of applications," said Thelin. "It's likely that the greatest initial learnings will come from data aggregated over time." 
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| iPhone app for Google+ social network 'coming soon' Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:18 AM PDT An iPhone app for the Google+ social network is on its way, with the search giant confirming that a native application is coming soon. With people still scrabbling for an invite to the Google+ social network, it is still early days for a new social network, although hopes are apparently high within Google that this will not go the same way as the disappointing Google Buzz. One of the key factors in success is a useful phone application and, although an Android (2.1 and up) version is, as you would expect, available at launch, no other mobile OS has its own app. Coming soon However, the company has confirmed on its page that it is working on an iPhone app, labelling the phone with 'coming soon'. People with an iPhone and access to Google+ can use the browser to access the service for now, although that obviously lacks the elegance of a native application. For those of you with BlackBerrys, Symbian or Windows Phone 7 handsets the wait may be a little longer. It remains to be seen if Google's mixture of social circles, hang outs and sparks can lure people in at the volumes needed to reach social tipping point. But at least iPhone users will have the chance to +1 it on their handsets without resorting to the browser soon enough. 
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| Review: Bang & Olufsen BeoVision 4-85 Posted: 30 Jun 2011 07:30 AM PDT It's no surprise that Bang & Olufsen's first 3D TV also happens to be one of the most expensive sets ever produced. More likely to be found on a yacht or luxury custom installation than the average living room, the BeoVision 4-85 boasts an 85-inch plasma screen, a host of features and a price that would make Croesus himself blush. The display is the same as that behind Panasonic's TH-85VX200, so its pedigree isn't in doubt. Amazingly, though, the 4-85 is about to become the smallest TV in the BeoVision range, with the non-3D 65-inch version being phased out and a whopping 103-inch version (BeoVision 4-103) waiting in the wings. The latter, with its motorised stand, will cost you – deep breath – close to £100,000. If you decide to wall-mount it, the price comes down to a trifling £82,000. For now, this 85-incher is the only plasma sold by Bang & Olufsen, the rest of its range being mostly LED-backlit LCD TVs that are as delectably designed as they are expensive. At the entry level – if such a thing exists within B&O's money-no-object ethos – is the BeoVision 8-40. A snip at £4,500, this 40-inch TV has a full HD resolution, 200Hz and a surround sound decoder, plus a soundbar-style speaker system. Next up is the BeoVision 10 range, all of which have a curiously square aspect, thanks to the three-way speakers slung under the displays. The variations comprise the 32-inch BeoVision 10-32 (£4,500), 40-inch BeoVision 10-40 (£7,000) and 46-inch BeoVision 10-46 (£8,500), with only the smaller version unable to cope with surround sound. All have 200Hz, full HD and an anti-glare screen covering that's also seen on this 85-incher (it works, too; switch-off the TV and reflections are only faint). Finally, aside from this 3D monster, is the BeoVision 7 range, which comprises the BeoVision 7-40 (£11,000) and BeoVision 10-55 (£16,000). The smaller is LCD, the larger LED-lit, yet both have perhaps the greatest feature of all; built-in Blu-ray. It's not 3D, sadly (it soon will be), but is designed quite brilliantly. Press Eject and a Blu-ray disc (or DVD) silently slips out, supported by a slim column. All Bang & Olufsen TVs – and especially the BeoVision 4-85 – are programmable. An engineer asks you exactly what other products you have – say, a Sky+HD box and a Sony Blu-ray player – and the controls for those are integrated into the remote control. However, if you change your components around, an engineer does have to pay another visit to reconfigure the remote. It's the kind of personal service you'd expect if paying this much cash, though the charges keep on coming. You can't just barge into a Bang & Olufsen store and purchase the BeoVision 4-85, though. A site survey must be carried out first, largely to make sure the TV will fit through your doorway, and be supported by your walls or floor. The site visit costs £300, though it's refundable if you decide to buy a BeoVision 4-85. The final charge is for delivery, which, as you can imagine, requires some pretty specialist lifting equipment; say goodbye to between £4,000 and £10,000. The main reason for that is the BeoVision 4-85's clever floor stand that weighs a whopping 500kg. Whereas most TV stands rotate and wriggle, this one elevates. It's largely a show-off feature and not aimed specifically at improving the viewing angle or picture, but it's still addictive; switch the TV on from the remote and it rises to attention, revealing the BeoLab 10 speaker (also part of that 500kg bulk) as it does so. This feature can be customised to exact proportions, with the TV leaning back or turning slightly. Does a TV need to have one position when switched-off, and another when turned on? No, not really – though arguably that's more important with an 85-inch TV, which is likely to become the focal point of any room, however large. When it's switched-off, the BeoVision 4 retracts down to the floor – just an inch or two above, in fact – and from down there it doesn't dominate quite so much. No sooner has the TV lifted into position than the TV comes to life – no coincidence – in typical B&O style; a pair of digital curtains part on the screen to reveal a live TV channel.
At this price the BeoVision 4-85 isn't going to sell in the thousands, which is great news if you're in the market for it, since you can pretty much have it completely customised. Your first choice is between six colours (black, silver, red, blue, golden or gunmetal); the sample we reviewed was finished in snazzy brushed silver. There's no Freeview HD tuner on board the BeoVision 4-85. If you balk and splutter at that, you're very probably not in Bang & Olufsen's universe. Any situation where the BeoVision 4-85 could be used is also one where a Sky or Virgin box is going to be in place – if only for the plethora of high-definition TV channels – so we're not unduly worried about the lack of DVB-T2. Despite that, we're told it will soon be in place. In some ways the BeoVision 4-85 is all about cutting out features considered pointless, picture settings being first on the list. It's a strange stance in some ways, because high-end punters should be the fussiest, but Bang & Olufsen has removed virtually all opportunities to tweak the image. Yes, there are some very basic drop-down menus to change contrast, brightness and colour alongside a Game mode, but that is it; everything else is performed automatically by the BeoVision 4-85's ... wait for it … robotic pop-out camera. Has Bang & Olufsen gone cuckoo? The set arrives perfectly calibrated for its surroundings – B&O is very confident about that, and doesn't want it jeopardised by the customer (heaven forbid) – so the job of the robot arm is to keep things that way. Partly because plasmas are dynamic, colours can take on a slight yellowing hue the more they're used, so every 90-100 hours of use a five-inch camera pops-up from the top of the display, drops down in front of the screen, and measures the saturations and contrast (from a colour spectrum and a greyscale shown onscreen). It then resets to its original parameters, and adjusts the colour temperature to steer away from yellow and the camera dives back in, cuckoo-clock style. The whole process (called Automatic Colour management, which can be done manually at any point) takes about 20 seconds, during which time the IR receiver is also measuring the ambient light in the room, and adjusting the brightness accordingly. It's all a very subtle and silent process, and as we'll see, does a great job, though home cinema aficionados might take umbrage at the apparently dismissive stance towards users making their own tweaks. We presume this stance is largely to stop customers requesting call-outs every time someone messes with the settings. Aside from magical moving mechanisms, the BeoVision 4-85 is also a 3DTV. It employs the Active 3D system used by (for now) the majority of manufacturers and brands, though that's absolutely no surprise; this is a high-end, and huge, plasma that is ideal for Active 3D. In and outputs are, again, up to each buyer; on the back of the sample we saw was strapped a BeoSystem 3 surround sound processor that built-in DVI, four HDMI, component video, three electrical digital audio and, remarkably, three Scarts. Also back there were some line ins and outs, analogue and digital RF and an RF modulator.
Paired with a reference-level Oppo BDP-95EU Blu-ray player, the BeoVision 4-85 pumps out some seriously great 3D pictures. Perhaps it's just the size of the screen that creates such enveloping intensity (not that we sat directly underneath it), but a run-through of Avatar delivered some of the most convincing 3D pictures we've seen. Heavy on contrast and with a searing brightness (at least, for a 3D screen), the BeoVision 4-85 deciphered with intrinsic depth and startling detail the scene where the floating flowers settle on Jake. The way the screen picks out pricks of bright light in otherwise inky black areas of the image is brilliant. In the dog attack scene, it all moves a touch too fast for the BeoVision 4-85; there's a suggestion of crosstalk, though it's mostly a problem with judder. Colour is sublime, as it is in 2D mode. There's a huge drop in contrast with those 3D specs dumped, though it's still enough to impress when compared to mainstream plasmas. On 2D mode there simply isn't any motion blur at all, which is why plasma is best for monster screens (though the 3D specs do introduce some). Sky channels look better than Freeview, which is blighted by softness and fizzing around moving objects. That's no surprise on a screen this big, and the good work done in contrast and colour is retained. Overall, the BeoVision 4-85 is a top-drawer screen for 3D and 2D, while for standard definition it does a decent job at cleaning it up, considering its size. It would be remiss not to point out that 3D material is best viewed on Active 3D screens in as near to blackout as possible – and the BeoVision4-85 is no different.
Sound If the picture relies largely on the Panasonic plasma panel it's hosted on, the sound is all Bang & Olufsen's work. The BeoLab 10 speaker that sits below the screen is a mono driver – but acts as a centre channel in a surround sound set-up, which is virtually the law if you're spending this much. In our review the BeoVision 4-85 was paired with two BeoLab 5 speakers (£3,600 per pair) and two surround sound modules, the BeoLab 3 (£2,700 per pair). The sound is crystal clear and powerful, as it should be at this end of the market. In fact, with the sharp and well-weighted vocals, pitch-perfect bass levels (no external subwoofer is needed) and overwhelmingly effective surround effects, we'd argue that the audio brings the movie to life just as much – if not more – than the 3D effects onscreen. Value If you want one of the best screens on the planet, it will cost you. There is the small matter of price to contented with though – Panasonic's TH-85VX200 costs a 'mere' £42,000, so where's the BeoVision 4-85's extra £24,000 going? On the robot arm, perhaps? The motorised stand? The look of the BeoVision 4-85 is a lot more sculpted, and the way it integrates into a home automation system – and, more importantly, a speaker array – is impressive. Other than that, the money seems to get you a screen that delivers a consistent picture performance that refuses to bend to your will. For those after a top-notch, fuss-free 85-inch screen with huge wow-factor, the BeoVision 4-85 is first class – but the only real reason for any TV to cost £66,000 is that a production line simply doesn't exist; it's custom-built, and that is what determines the price. Ease of use There are two remote controls to pick from. The default option is a Beo4, a long, slender and pleasingly weighty product that takes some getting used to. It's thoroughly effective, though a tad slow at communicating with an IR receiver that protrudes from the BeoVision 4-85's top right-hand corner. The Beo6, which has been in the Bang & Olufsen arsenal for quite some time, costs £230. Those that want a more up-to-the-minute touchscreen remote are also catered for by the Beo6. It's a strange looking thing, with a small colour OLED screen sitting atop what looks like part of a model aircraft's fuselage. It's nicely weighted and comfy to hold, but best of all channel logos can be programmed to appear on the touchscreen. At £600 it adds further to the increasingly stratospheric bill (it comes free with the BeoVision 4 and BeoVision 7 products, so why not this top-of-the-range TV?). The remote really comes into its own when controlling external equipment; we managed to control the internal workings of a Sky+HD box with no problem, perusing the EPG and setting-up recordings. Both remotes are capable of mastering a home automation system if paired with a MasterLink Gateway so, for example, you can use it in conjunction with a Lutron lighting system; press 'movie' on either Bang & Olufsen remote and the Blu-ray kicks-in as the lights dim. It also works with Crestron and AMX systems, so for the wealthy it can control security systems, ventilation, curtains, a burglar alarm – even your electronic pool cover. The TV's user interface doesn't make such a splash, though it is complete simplicity defined. While other brands struggle to introduce polished graphics and colourful, responsive menus, here a different attitude has been taken. There is a bare-bones (and attractive, despite being just white text on a black background) interface that cuts in menus and choices from the left-hand side, but usually the remote can be used to directly choose the source. Those wanting to control TV, or even entire zones of their automated house, with a smartphone can do so with the free – and highly polished – BeoLink app on iPhone or Android.
Although it's always been a pricey brand, the last four or five years has seen the Danish brand issue TVs that haven't been sufficiently different to mass-market propositions to get anyone very excited. We liked: Contrast, colour and sheer detail are the picture highlights, but this TV goes way beyond its great 3D and 2D work. The robotic camera, home automation options and speaker opportunities are excellent, as is the touchscreen remote and iPhone app, while the motorised stand does nothing to lower our expectations. The choice of plasma when LED-backlighting is so well marketed is a shrewd, if risky move – and absolutely pivotal to its success. We disliked: The constant piling-on of costs – for the remote, surround sound decoder, speakers, stand and even delivery charges – might begin to annoy even those with vast resources. We're also rather surprised there's no online dimension whatsoever, while the lack of a Beo6 touchscreen remote as a default, included option is a shame. Final verdict: Incredibly expensive and aimed at money-no-object types, the BeoVision 4-85 sees a return to form. Bang & Olufsen's engineers have sensibly built the swish user experience around a cutting-edge plasma panel that excels with all sources. 
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| HTC Desire Android 2.3 update enters testing phase Posted: 30 Jun 2011 05:56 AM PDT HTC has announced that its long-awaited Gingerbread update for the HTC Desire has entered internal testing. The update will provide the HTC Desire with a slightly stripped-down version of the software, with some apps having to be abandoned to free up memory required by the Gingerbread update. It's been a rollercoaster ride for Desire owners; HTC had originally promised the update, then decided it couldn't deliver it and then changed its mind again a day later, saying that it would be bringing the update out after all. Gingerbone of contention The latest update from the company reads: "Hi all - We're excited to share that we are testing our build of Gingerbread for HTC Desire and will start doing quality assurance for it this week. "When we have an update on availability we'll post another announcement. Thanks for your patience." Unfortunately there's no official ETA on the actual software release date yet; but if the software is already in the testing phase we hope it won't be too much longer. 
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| Microsoft: Kinect accuracy better now than at launch Posted: 30 Jun 2011 05:10 AM PDT Microsoft has confirmed that its Kinect motion sensor has improved in accuracy since it launched in November 2010. But that's not the end of it; the company says it has updates for both the Xbox 360 and its Kinect accessory in the works. Speaking to EuroGamer, Xbox senior product manager David Dennis said, "I think like we showed at E3… a lot of that tech is the advancements we've made in the accuracy, the tracking... being able to show finger tracking in the sparkles demo he did. "You saw too with Ubisoft's gunsmith demo [for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier] he was using his hand to fire in the firing range mode. I think that's the kind of thing we're going to continue to iterate on." Clever girl Speaking of the forthcoming Xbox 360 updates, he added: "That's the beauty of Xbox. We've been doing that with Xbox 360, starting three or four years ago - continuing to deploy new software updates to improve the functionality, like enabling finger tracking and voice search, and also to bring new partners like Netflix on. "These [updates] are very deliberate and planned and programmed. "There are already people working on things for next year and the year after inside our secret bunkers, and we'll continue to bring amazing stuff that consumers love." 
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| What's new in Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 2 Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:30 AM PDT When IE head Dean Hachamovitch announced the first platform preview of IE 10 at the MIX conference in April he said further preview releases would be "between 8 and 12 weeks apart". Platform Preview 2 arrives after 11 weeks and adds features for web apps, including Drag-drop and File Reader; so you can drag objects around on a web page - look for a magnetic fridge poetry demo on the IE test drive site soon - or drag files into browser windows to upload them and have that happen in the background. File access is possibly the first feature from the HTML5 Labs previews to make it into IE. PP2 also gets the web workers spec. Rob Mauceri, the lead program manager on the IE team, calls that "a popular request from developers" (we count it as the most common request in the IE blog after Flebox, which arrived in PP1) and it's going to make a big difference to the performance of web apps – and maybe your battery life. With web workers, a web app can shift some code to a thread running in the background – so a game can be working out the next turn without slowing you down while you play (usually the JavaScript for that would slow down what you're doing). This should work particularly well in IE because of the way the Chakra JavaScript engine can split code across multiple cores (and Microsoft's latest figures say that as of March 2011, the average PC has 2.4 cores). Other browsers already support web workers, although Firefox 5 does not allow messages sent through a direct 'channel' between different pieces of background code which Microsoft says explains why PP2 does better than Firefox at its new Bellagio Fountain test drive demo.
FASTER: IE10 gets Web workers after other browsers…
FIREFOX 5: …Microsoft says Firefox is slower at this test because it doesn't have message channels PP2 is the first browser to support three new performance APIs, including the Page Visibility setting that the Chrome team has been suggesting web sites use to check if a page is in a background or tab or a minimised window. "If a web app is pinging the server for data it could be doing a lot of work and increasing the cost of running that server, none of which is needed because the window isn't visible to the user," Mauceri explained. The IE team confirmed that IE10 PP2 is "the same HTML5 engine seen in the recent public "Windows 8" demos". One new feature that would explain the snappiness of the interface reflowing as you change the size of windows is Media Query Listeners; instead of the browser having to check periodically to see if you've changed the window size, changing the size sends a message to the server that it's changed and might need a new layout. IE10 PP2 is also the first browser to include CSS3 Positioned Floats (a spec Microsoft recently proposed to the W3C) and Rob Mauceri told us this is "part of the bigger picture of where reading is going online, towards a more print-like experience"; once you have a multi-column page flowing through a grid (all standards added in PP1), you want to be able to position a picture and have the columns flow around it – and that could be useful for web app layouts too.
FULL HARDWARE: Using hardware acceleration PP2 shows more fireflies…
CHROME: It might run on XP but Microsoft shows Chrome lagging on this demo There are also security improvements for embedding content like maps, ads or feeds form social networks in a web page using iframes; these will now run in a sandbox for extra security (again, something Microsoft tools us Firefox 5 doesn't support). PP2 also adds HTML5 forms and fields that will only accept specific types of information like email addresses or telephone numbers (something Joe Marini first mentioned to us as coming in the Windows Phone version of IE in the Mango update, suggesting that might be a version somewhere between IE9 and IE10). Mozilla evangelist Chris Blizzard recently told us Firefox is "almost as fast as IE9 and faster in some places" and Mike Belshie of the Chrome team showed background tabs in Chrome running faster than in IE9 at the Velocity conference this month (but using more battery to do it) but it looks like Microsoft is keeping up with performance improvements. The IE team isn't afraid to point at problems in other browsers either.
COLOURFUL IE10: It's not enough to implement HTML5 if you get it wrong, says Microsoft A demo titled 'how stuff works' (showing an HTML5 Canvas app that works in Chrome and Firefox but displays the wrong colours) could almost be called 'how IE10 works better'.
OFF-COLOUR FIREFOX: HTML5 is supposed to cope better with pages that aren't quite perfect – Firefox doesn't seem to manage that as well
GREY GOOGLE: Even worse, Chrome gets no colours at all Although Mauceri diplomatically phrases it as "we've made a lot of progress as an industry but there is still work to do". -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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| Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:16 AM PDT There's something refreshingly straightforward about the Toshiba 42HL833. The £700 set might be devoid of online features or streaming services and its Freeview tuner is strictly standard-def, but you won't find a cheaper full HD, edge LED set of its size in Toshiba's current lineup. Affordable TVs that eschew fancy features in favour of decent pictures should find an audience in these economically straitened times and the 42HL833 sits just above the HD ready EL833 series in the manufacturer's expansive, budged-conscious new range. If the 42HL833's 42-inch screen size doesn't suit you, the 32-inch 32HL833 is also available, while anyone after a Freeview HD tuner will have to step up to the RL833 series, which also add a few online features to the mix.
The 42HL833 is all about value: there's no 3D, no online connectivity or DLNA PC compatibility and the build quality is rather plasticky. You won't find much in the way of video processing, either and the panel is only 50Hz with a conventional (non-scanning) backlight. The 42HL833 is not entirely devoid of useful features, however: its USB port can handle music, photo and video files and the container formats the set can parse include MPEG, MPEG2-TS, H.264, MPEG2-PS, AVI (XviD), MP4 and MKV (H.264, MPEG1, 2, 4). A D-Sub PC port enhances multimedia options further, while other connections include an acceptable two HDMIs, a digital audio output and a single Scart. If you are thinking of hanging a 42HL833 on a wall, be aware that many of its connections – including one of the HDMIs, the component video input and the tuner jack – face straight out of the TV's rear, rather than being positioned for side access. Trawling the 42HL833's menus for features uncovers more adjustments than you might expect to find on such an affordable TV. There's a separate backlight control alongside the usual contrast and brightness adjustments, a trio of settings for black/white level balance and an adjustable static gamma level, as well as separate DNR and MPEG NR processing options. Most startlingly, a 3D Colour Management system enables you to adjust – via a superbly simple interface – the hue, saturation and brightness of the red, green, blue, yellow, magenta and cyan colour components. The only other things of interest are a bass boost function and a pseudo-surround audio processing option, both of which need to be treated with extreme care, as they can make the set sound worse, rather than better.
The 42HL833 performs best with bright HD feeds. Hi-def coverage of the Wimbledon tennis tournament was amazingly detailed and sharp, with individual blades of grass or beads of perspiration clearly discernible. Even better, the clarity remains more or less unchecked during play, with balls and players moving around with little interference from motion trailing or resolution loss. This is surprising for a 50Hz TV and suggests an impressive native panel response for a budget set. The colour performance, meanwhile, is dynamic and engaging but also subtle when required; skin tones and the green of the courts are totally convincing, with smoothly blended tones and no striping or blotching to speak of and black level response is solid. Shifting down the gears to standard-definition feeds from the digital tuner, the 42HL833 still exceeds expectations - albeit by not quite as much. Most pleasing is the way the set retains its natural palette during the upscaling process, avoiding the unnatural sheen that tends to mar standard-def material on screens at the more affordable end of the market. Motion also remains decently smooth, though a little resolution loss is evident. Standard-def images are upscaled with respectable sharpness, though the 42HL833 doesn't entirely get a handle on source noise. The MPEG NR system can help tame some of the blockiness and shimmering that troubles standard-definition pictures, but it also creates a slightly processed, laggy look. The 42HL833 struggles with black levels when pushed hard by a high-contrast Blu-ray film. It is perfectly capable of combining bright image elements with dark ones within a single frame during normal footage, but frequently fails to extract enough light from really dark scenes, leaving them looking milky and short of shadow detail. A second problem concerns that classic edge LED woe of inconsistent backlight brightness. During dark scenes a slender ring of anomalous brightness runs around the edge of the screen, bulging sufficiently in places to become distracting. This problem is only problematic during the darkest scenes and its impact can be reduced by reining in the backlight and brightness settings, but it doesn't seem possible to remove the inconsistencies entirely and the issue increases dramatically at viewing angles wider than 30°.
Sound The 42HL833's speakers go a bit louder than those of most budget LCD TVs and can produce a soundstage on a scale appropriate to the 42-inch pictures. However, there's precious little audio finesse, with bass in short supply, a thin and echoey mid-range and harsh, poorly defined trebles. Value The 42HL833 is good value for a 42-inch LCD TV with edge LED lighting and will make a solid everyday set. However, its lack of any sort of online features or 3D options together with its backlight issues compromise its overall value. Ease of use The 42HL833's onscreen menus are logically organised and very cleanly presented and kick off with an attractive icon-based opening screen that provides a much more inviting starting point than Toshiba's usual boring, text-heavy system. The menu navigation system is intuitive and requires minimal brain engagement. The remote control is small, plasticky, and plain, but turns out to be a handy companion to the clear, uncomplicated menus, with responsive buttons and most of the main navigation buttons falling within easy reach. For the electronic programme guide, Toshiba has sensibly shifted away from its previous system that would change channel whenever you moved the cursor to a different station, slowing navigation down horrendously. The information presented in the EPG is also clearly legible displaying programme names in full. The 42HL833 does takes an age to switch display modes when you move from a standard-def to an HD channel (or vice versa), though and the automatic aspect ratio system doesn't always seem to work properly with some Sky broadcasts.
The 42HL833 is Toshiba's cheapest 42-inch full HD TV with an edge LED backlight. Neither the lack of online services nor the absence of 3D should stop the TV appealing to anyone after a decent, low-cost TV, while the flimsy build and average connectivity are about par for the price. It even has a few unexpected features, including playback of photo, music and video files from USB and a surprisingly comprehensive colour management facility. In many ways the 42HL833's picture performance is a winner. With HD sources in particular its combination of natural, warm colours, good detailing and surprisingly little motion noise make it a very enjoyable TV to watch with predominantly bright footage. It's a well above-average standard-definition performer, too, but does suffer from uninspiring black levels and obvious backlight consistency issues with more demanding material. We liked It's affordably priced for a 42-inch TV with edge LED lighting and its performance with bright pictures is enjoyable, thanks to natural colours, good sharpness and surprisingly little motion blur or resolution loss. The set's USB-driven multimedia abilities are a pleasing bonus, too. We disliked It's a pity, if hardly a surprise, that the 42HL833 doesn't offer 3D, online capability or a Freeview HD tuner and its mostly good picture quality breaks down during dark scenes, thanks to a lack of deep black colours, missing shadow details and a conspicuously inconsistent backlight. Final Verdict Casual viewers after a TV predominantly for watching standard-def broadcasts will be more than happy with the 42HL833. The 42HL833's backlight and black level issues probably rule it out as a serious movie machine, though. 
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| Skype for Android gets video calling update Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:14 AM PDT Skype has updated its Android app bringing video calling to the smartphone party. The new version, Skype for Android 2.0, allows HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, Xperia Pro (good luck with that, it's not actually out yet) and Google Nexus S owners to make free video calls over both Wi-Fi and 3G. As well as calling other Skype-toting Android phones, you'll be able to video-chat with Skype users on iPhone, Apple Macs, Windows PCS and web-cam-enabled Smart TVs. Android VHS Along with the video functionality, the app interface has had a bit of a spruce up, with a new main menu for easy navigation and a thrilling new 'mood message box' where you can update your current mood status. If you're lucky enough to own one of the launch handsets, you can download the updated app from the Android market now. 
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| Microsoft unveils IE10 Platform Preview 2 Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:59 AM PDT Microsoft has announced the availability of Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 2, as it continues to develop its next-generation browser. With IE9 all about bringing the 'beauty of the web' IE10 is aiming to add a little bit more makeup and maybe some blusher, with continued integration of HTML 5 and support for more interactive web applications. "With the second Platform Preview of IE10, developers can start working with several site-ready HTML5 technologies for building interactive Web applications with great performance and security," stated Microsoft. Building on IE9 "The Platform Preview can be downloaded from the IE Test Drive site, where you'll also find some new demos which showcase new capabilities within IE10 Platform Preview 2," it adds. IE9 has been something of a hit for Microsoft, with a renewed focus on speed and simplicity and the adoption of key standards like HTML5. The browser war has never been feistier, with the likes of Google Chrome and Apple's Safari battling against Firefox and Internet Explorer to capture more market share. 
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| Buying Guide: Top 10 creative apps for Mac OS X Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:52 AM PDT The Mac App store holds loads of top apps to boost creativity. Here are 10 of the best. Aperture - £45 Aperture is a real steal, especially for iPhoto users wanting to upgrade to something more powerful. It boasts top photo-management tools, including the ability to upload to and manage albums on Flickr, Facebook and MobileMe and manage images by Places and Faces. It also boasts intuitive RAW-editing features and a top-notch interface, making Aperture an essential buy.
CameraBag Desktop - £8.99 The Mac version of this iPhone's photo app, CameraBag Desktop is about adding old-school effects to your photos. The app is simple: open it up, load in an image and you can start applying the effects, including cross-processing, silver, instant and Helga. All the filters are high quality, and you can combine them for even more interesting effects, creating custom filters to save and share with the CameraBag community.
Pixelmator - £35 When you think of image-editing apps, Photoshop is the obvious one that springs to mind. But Pixelmator is certainly a worthy - and less expensive - rival for those wanting to make adjustments to their digital photographs and create digital paintings from scratch. Pixelmator is packed with hugely powerful and familiar image-editing tools. From layers to blending modes and a host of professional tools to make complex selections, it's an extremely accomplished app that is both intuitive and refined. It's just a really good value, snappy, well-designed creative app.
Live Interior 3D Standard - £30 Ever wanted to create your dream room on your Mac? Well now you can. In fact, you can sketch out and plan the look of your entire home in 3D. It's simple: just enter the dimensions of your room and start adding furniture, floor and wall coverings at will - before you head off to the local DIY store. The Pro edition gives more control over lighting, amongst other things. One thing this can also be used as is a storyboarding app - you can easily set up interior scenes before exporting for further editing.
Artboard - £12 The advantage of vectors (paths-based) over raster (pixel-based) imagery can be enormous - literally. Working in vectors means your artwork can be scaled to any size without any loss in quality. The best-known vector app is Adobe's Illustrator - but it's also very pricey. For £12 Artboard offers nowhere near the functionality or control of Illustrator, but it does bring some simple and easy-to-use Bézier drawing tools. It also has the ability to create 'styles' for future use - meaning you can specify stroke, fill and other attributes and easily re-apply these to new objects. Considering it's a 50th of the price of Illustrator, it's really not all that bad.
SketchMee - £4.99 SketchMee is a fantastic application if you want to quickly create painterly versions of your photographs. A simple interface enables you to load in your photo, choose the crop and then specify the 'technique' (for example, coloured pencil) the amount of detail, the paper quality and the type of strokes. The particularly clever part is that SketchMee uses vectors to create your sketch before converting it back to a JPEG format - meaning you can save out the result as a 16MP file, no matter what the size of your original was. This makes it perfect for taking into Photoshop (or indeed Pixelmator) and preparing for print to hang on your wall.
Hues - £2.99 Hues, as the name suggests, is all about colour. More specifically, it enables you to sample (or take) a colour from any image or open app and get the HEX, RGB and HSL values. Essentially you can sample the colour of any pixel on your screen. It's very quick to open, stores the last 25 colours sampled and you can copy the colour value to your clipboard after selection. Yes, it's very simple, but then again it's only £3!
Strata Design 3D SE - £30 3D modelling and rendering isn't exactly the easiest skill to acquire - and usually involves buying an expensive piece of software. Strata Design 3D SE, however, at only £30, could be a great way to test your hand at 3D skills without a massive financial outlay. There are some powerful modelling tools here, as well as great texturing and lighting functionality and a nice rendering engine. There's no animation toolset, however.
iStopMotion Express - £60 Here's your chance to recreate the look of Morph and Wallace & Gromit with Boinx's stopmotion movie studio. Sure, you'll need to break out the plasticine (or dig out your old Star Wars figures) but what you have here is an app you can have endless fun with. Set up your scene, plug in your camera and use the software to take snapshots of frames before piecing it all together to load into iMovie, Final Cut or your editor of choice. A great little app.
SketchBook Pro - £45 First thing's first: you'll need a graphics tablet to take full advantage of Autodesk's powerful sketching and digital painting app. For digital artists, SketchBook Pro is superb. It has a beautifully designed interface and a raft of tools for sketching ideas and creating full-blown digital artworks.
What we love about SketchBook Pro is that is feels like a digital canvas - it strips everything back but still gives you quick access to all the tools you need. In short, it's a masterpiece - and if you were lucky enough to get it when it was £18, well done you. 
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| Murdoch's BSkyB takeover inches towards completion Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:37 AM PDT Rupert Murdoch's bid for BSkyB seems to be going rather well, with the UK's Culture Minister, Jeremy Hunt, provisionally agreeing to proposals for Sky News to become an independent company under the News Corps umbrella. News Corps is bidding for 61 per cent of BSkyB, which would mean that BSkyB would own the company outright as currently is has a 39 per cent stake. The new plan, which intends to give Sky News editorial independence from News Corps' other media outlets, is subject to a few provisos – there must be an independent editorial director at Sky News board meetings, for example, and other Sky channels must continue to advertise the news service. The details have been thrashed out during negotiations between Hunt, News Corp, the Office of Fair Trading and Ofcom. All's fair in news and war If News Corp is allowed to take a controlling stake in BSkyB, Murdoch's company would then be in control of a massive chunk of the UK's media – it already owns The Sun and The Times newspapers, among other things – giving it, opposing parties fear, an overbearing sphere of influence into which it can push its editorial bias. There is still time for opponents to the take-over to air their grievances with the consultation having been extended to 8 July in light of the new agreements. But it's looking more likely than ever that News Corps' plans will be green lit by the Culture Secretary. Change of plan It's a bit of an about-turn for Hunt, who had previously intended to refer the deal to the Competition Commission, which would examine the merger to decide whether it poses a monopoly. "I am aware of the huge interest in the proposed merger and am grateful to those who responded to the consultation. I have considered carefully the points raised and, as at all steps in this process, taken advice from the independent regulators," he said in a statement. "A number of suggestions were made in response to the consultation which could further strengthen the undertakings, particularly around editorial independence, business viability and the articles of association. I am therefore proposing some changes to the undertakings and I will now hold a further public consultation." 
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| Virgin Media responds to Spotify partnership rumours Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:36 AM PDT Virgin Media has spoken to TechRadar about the recent rumours it is to partner with Spotify, saying that it is "working hard on a new music service". It neither confirmed or denied that its music service would involve Spotify but it does sound as if Virgin Media's music offering would be a major player in the market. "We're working hard on a new music service and are in very encouraging and progressive talks with both major and independent labels," said a Virgin Media spokesperson. "Our focus remains on providing a compelling music service for both consumers and industry and we're developing a proposition that promises to be a truly attractive alternative to illegal file-sharing." Musical partnership? The Virgin Media music service has been gestating for a few years now. In 2009 it announced plans for an all-you-can-eat music service but only Universal signed off on the idea. It's not clear whether Virgin Media has managed to entice the labels this time around, which would mean that a deal with Spotify would make total sense – as this would bypass any need to get the fickle music bigwigs on board. If a deal between Spotify and Virgin Media does indeed go ahead (and the Guardian is reporting that it is all-but done) it will be interesting to see how much of a dent the combined service would make in the music market. Currently Sony is pushing hard with Music Unlimited, but there's plenty of other – Sky and its Sky Songs included – that have fallen by the wayside. 
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| Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:30 AM PDT The AMD 990FX is a new motherboard chipset, and the first two strapping motherboards are definitely aimed at enthusiasts. This means we'll get a clearer insight into exactly what this chipset is capable of. There is a problem, though - the 990FX chipset is all about adding support for AMD's formidably titled and mysterious Bulldozer CPUs. For the first time since 2003, AMD is building a CPU architecture from the ground up, and targeting Intel's i5/i7 2500/2600 range; the current cream of the CPU crop. And here's the problem – the 990FX boards are sitting pretty on our test rigs and Bulldozer remains a couple of months away from launch at best. It's likely to hit the shelves around early September. What we do know about Bulldozer, suggests that motherboards that support it will be in high demand. The primary innovation from AMD's 32nm chip can be found in the cores department. A 'core' on a Bulldozer CPU isn't what we're used to from Intel's chips, that's for sure. In Intel cores, one multi-purpose scheduler deals with integer and fl oating point logic. The Bulldozer module itself has two integer cores. Each integer core has its own L1 cache and integer scheduler logic, but just one floating point scheduler per Bulldozer module. Beyond that, there's shared L2 and L3 cache for both integer cores in the Bulldozer module. So a quad-core Bulldozer CPU would comprise of two Bulldozer modules, and the eight-core CPUs will be built from four Bulldozer modules. We're taking the opportunity to coin the phrase quad-mod… With this architecture, there can be no single-core operation, as the two cores in each module share fetch and decode architecture, as well as that L2/3 cache. Those eight core, quad-mod Bulldozer chips should match the i7 2600K pace for pace. Intel's chip is a four core, eight-threaded affair, while the Bulldozer chip will have – ostensibly – eight actual cores. Hyperthreading gives a performance boost of around 25 per cent out of one core, and AMD is promising 80 per cent performance boosts from the second integer core on a single module. The full multi All that processing magic will appear on store shelves in Zambezi quad-mod chips before you'll be digging your winter coat out, but for existing AMD CPU customers, the Bulldozer-ready Asus Sabertooth 990FX and Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 still have features to offer right now. First, there's a landmark moment for AMD boards and multi-GPU. It's available on both motherboards. Gigabyte's board will actually support 4-way SLI or CrossFireX setups, and the Sabertooth can hack three-way support. This is quite a big selling point for loyal AMD gamers – these are the first mobos to support Nvidia's multi-GPU tech, and the very fact it's included suggests Bulldozer has the grunt to match SLI'd GPUs. The 990FX retains SATA 6 Gbps support from 8 series boards, and Gigabyte has made full use of this by including eight SATA 3 ports. Asus isn't really leaving anyone wanting by including just six SATA 3 and two SATA 2 ports, but it's worth bearing in mind when figuring out why the Gigabyte board is pricier. Sadly, there's no native USB 3.0 support as many were hoping. It's still handled by an onboard controller limiting the number of ports. Both boards have just four USB 3.0 ports, and 14 USB 2.0 ports.
It seemed like a good opportunity to get the jump on Intel as it works to get USB 3.0 to co-exist with Thunderbolt. In fact, the Southbridge is the same SB950 from the previous AMD chipset, save for opimitisations in USB 3.0 and PCI-e data paths. AMD is great at backwards compatibility and this chipset carries that consumer-friendly torch. It's good to go with Bulldozer chips when they arrive too, but they're also happy with any existing AM3 processors. That's an enticing prospect: SLI, SATA 6 GBps and USB 3.0 now, and one simple upgrade to a Zambezi CPU later. Lovely pair Motherboards are hardly the Venus De Milo of PC hardware, but this pair are easy on the eye. Asus' Sabertooth board comes without that TUF thermal armour that gives its P67 iteration that distinctive look, and sports the rugged design and heatsinks painted in ubiquitous military tones. There's plenty of space to fit a cooler, the side-mounted SATA ports are out of your GPU's way, and it's compact enough to fit in most cases despite supporting three GPUs. Gigabyte's board looks great too, which is a pleasant surprise after their gimmicky Assassin enthusiast range. It's bigger and more spacious than the Asus. Again, fitting any cooler shouldn't be a problem and despite cramming four GPUs into its little beige mouths, it's less of a space hog than some four-way SLI boards we've seen. Both boards are capable overclockers, and here Asus' BIOS and AI suite betters the Gigabyte, making the process smoother and drawing slightly higher results. There's not a lot separating them in the functionality stakes. If you want to use four graphics cards and eight SATA 6Gbps storage devices, the choice is obvious. Only Gigabyte's GA-990FXA-UD7 can do that. It's a small niche though. During our testing, the GA-990FXA-UD7 outperformed the Sabertooth 990FX significantly in CPU-heavy tasks, such as video encoding and rendering. Not the marginal results we're used to in motherboard tête-à -têtes; actual noticeable differences. Factoring in a Bulldozer upgrade, that's a big plus. GPU performances are much tighter, and Asus' board comes up tops in some benchmarks, but we're talking decimals.
Benchmarks DirectX 11 tessellation performance: DirectX 11 gaming performance: DiRT 2 (FPS: Higher is better) DirectX 11 gaming performance: Far Cry 2 (FPS: Higher is better) Video encoding performance: x264 HD v2 (FPS: Higher is better) 
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| Review: Sony VAIO VPC-EB3J0E/WI Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:00 AM PDT Sony's VAIO brand has consistently turned out gorgeous-looking laptops and the VPCEB3J0E/WI is no exception. The design and usability are excellent and the reasonable price is great for a starter laptop that all the family can use. However, average storage space and poor battery life mean travelling users might want to look elsewhere. Lifting the solid silver lid reveals a stylish white chassis complete with a palmrest sprinkled faintly with glitter. It won't appeal to everyone, but we rather liked it. The chassis feels sturdy and durable but, at 2.72Kg, is one of the heavier machines around.
Solid keyboard The isolation-style keyboard that spreads across the chassis and is one of the best features of the laptop. The keys are solid and comfortable and will score points for anyone facing countless hours typing at their machines. Their size and space mean you rarely encounter a miss-hit, and a dedicated numeric keypad is also included. The textured touchpad supports multi-touch gesturing and the three traditional VAIO hotkeys offer quick access to your multimedia collection, the internet and Sony's own troubleshooting database. The 15.5-inch screen has a Super-TFT coating that gives movies a clean and crisp look, but causes annoying reflections in bright environments. We've always found the VAIO range to be great for multimedia and the vibrant colours are backed up with punchy audio from the speakers. Under the hood, the VAIO packs an Intel Core i3 370M processor and is more than a match for everyday applications. Multitasking, web browsing and multimedia software can all be handled comfortably and the 4GB of on-board RAM keeps things running smoothly. But the lack of a dedicated graphics card will temper any expectations of hard-core gaming or top-end photography editing.
Benchmarks Battery life: 176 minutes The 320GB hard drive should be ample storage for most users. Connectivity is taken care of with an 802.11n wireless connection, as well as Bluetooth. Wired ports include HDMI and VGA Out ports, three dedicated USB 2.0 connections and an eSata port doubling as a fourth USB. On looks and usability alone, not to mention the price, the Sony VAIO VPCEB3J0E/WI is a great choice for a family laptop to handle everyday typing and multimedia tasks. Even though the battery life is below average, we would still recommend the VAIO to any beginner looking to combine great performance with that extra touch of style. 
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| Review: Packard Bell EasyNote NS44-HR-033UK Posted: 30 Jun 2011 02:30 AM PDT Packard Bell's EasyNote NS44-HR-033UK is small and portable laptop. While it's not as visually appealing as some other laptops, it offers a reasonable performance in a compact little chassis. A smaller screen and cheaper price make this the perfect starter laptop for anyone who feels they are likely to be on the move a lot. An understated pattern covers the white lid of the NS44. It's a nice design, but will put off anyone looking for a sleeker machine. Inside, the pattern continues, but is limited to the silver palmrest. The rest of the chassis is blank white and we found no flex on any part. The 2.3kg laptop feels light and durable and is well suited to a long car or train journey. The 14-inch screen is bright and clear in normal conditions. The Super-TFT glossy coating is reflective, so viewing outside or in brightly lit areas could pose a problem. However, there's a fair amount of flexibility on the hinges that provide plenty of decent viewing angles. Excellent usability Usability is a highlight here. The isolation-style keyboard not only looks great, but feels comfortable to use for long periods of time. With a smaller chassis, Packard Bell might have been tempted to put the keys closer together, but we're glad to see plenty of space between the keys.
The caveat is the lack of a dedicated numeric keypad. But the NS44 does offer hotkeys around the keyboard. A specific social network hotkey will launch a dashboard on your desktop and let you check Facebook updates, Flickr pictures or YouTube videos. This is a great feature for a starter laptop and will be liked by anyone who uses a lot of social media. The touchpad is also responsive and easy to use. The performance of the Packard Bell was always going to fall slightly behind the other laptops in this group. But Intel's Core i3 Sandy Bridge processor will still handle all the needs of the average user and the higher-than-average battery life means users who value portability will do well with this machine, especially as we squeezed 310 minutes out of the battery.
Benchmarks Battery life: 310 minutes A speedy USB 3.0 port makes up one of the three on offer alongside both an HDMI and VGA Out port to connect to a second monitor or an HD television. The EasyNote has a 3-in-1 slot for flash memory cards and the standard 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks. While unable to compete on sheer performance and storage, the NS44-HR- 033UK is a cheaper and smaller alternative to some other laptops. You'll either love or hate the styling, but decent usability and a great battery life make this laptop worthy of consideration. 
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| Dark of the Moon Transforms 3D fortunes Posted: 30 Jun 2011 02:09 AM PDT Hollywood may have sounded the death knell for 3D a little early, with Michael Bay's Transformers: Dark of the Moon racing to the year's best opening day in the US. Although it opened on a Wednesday, with Bay's slightly desperate plea to watch it on the best 3D screen you possibly could ringing in people's ears, the action flick could apparently hit the $40 million mark inside 3 days. That's despite lukewarm reviews from critics – with TechRadar's Future stablemate Total Film awarding the film 3 stars in its Transformers 3 review. Under fire This will come as good news for the 3D tech camp, which has found itself under fire of late despite the support of esteemed directors like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron. Experts are predicting the global take for Transformers: Dark of the Moon will actual be higher than either of the previous two Transformers films; certainly a shot in the arm. The criticism arrived as the trend for movie-goers to go for the higher cost 3D versions of the films appeared to reverse in the States, although the UK audiences apparently still favoured the extra dimension. 
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