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Techradar |
- Google and Apple battling it out in T3 Gadget Awards shortlist
- Apple sells 1m copies of OS X Lion in first day
- Nokia slip slingshots Apple into No.1 spot
- R2D2/C3PO-themed Kinect Star Wars Xbox 360 console unveiled
- Hands on: Apple MacBook Air 2011 review
- LulzSec decides not to publish News International emails
- Samsung Galaxy Q: what you need to know
- Hollywood greed damaged 3D, says Dreamworks CEO
- TechRadar Phone Awards: Samsung Galaxy S2 wins Phone of the Year award
- TechRadar Phone Awards: Phone Awards 2011: winners announced
- Nokia posts £323m loss, smartphone sales down 32%
- Updated: 10 best 32-inch LCD TVs in the world today
- Gary Marshall: Don't click that! It's the NaughtyNet!
- Amazon Game Download Store to reach the UK in October?
- Lenovo announces IdeaPad Tablet P1 with Windows 7
- Exclusive: Twentieth Century Fox: Blu-ray is our main focus
- Customer satisfaction with mobile phone networks soars
- Opinion: Why the end of Google Labs is a crying shame
- Twentieth Century Fox to offer movies for Android devices
- PRS proposes 'traffic light' system for music search results
- Review: HP SimpleSave 3TB
- Buying Guide: Best Mac webcam for Mac: 5 tested
- Mobile devices fuel another bumper Intel quarter
- Review: LaCie FastKey 120GB
- Bing Live Tile update begins to rollout
| Google and Apple battling it out in T3 Gadget Awards shortlist Posted: 22 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT Google and its Android mobile OS have picked up the lion's share of the nominations ahead of Apple in the T3 Gadget Awards shortlist. The T3 Gadget Awards have become one of the highlights of the UK tech calendar, with TechRadar's Future Publishing stable-mate unveiling the names that will be fighting it out for the ultimate prizes. Apple has 15 nominations, with the iPad 2 up for six gongs and the iPhone 4 is in four nominations. But both will face some stiff competition, with the likes of Nintendo's 3DS, some truly wonderful Android handsets and the Amazon Kindle all battling for a winner's medal. Tight voting Luke Peters, Editor of T3, said: "This year's voting was incredibly tight in most categories. "However, the T3 readers and judges are a discerning, knowledgeable bunch and have selected an excellent shortlist of products that span the entire consumer technology industry." TechRadar editor Patrick Goss is one of the judges for the Awards, and he has picked the commuter gadget of the year award as one to keep a close eye on. "You might think that the iPad will run away with this one, but with the Amazon Kindle and the 3D toting Nintendo 3DS both vying for recognition, I can't wait to see who picks this particular up come October," he said. Another contender will be the Samsung Galaxy S2 - which picked up the prestigious 'Phone of the Year' title in the 2011 TechRadar Phone Awards. Winners of the T3 Gadget Awards 2011 will be revealed at the star-studded awards ceremony at Old Billingsgate, London on Monday 10 October 2011. For more information on the T3 Gadget Awards 2011 visit http://awards.t3.com 
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| Apple sells 1m copies of OS X Lion in first day Posted: 21 Jul 2011 04:44 PM PDT Apple has announced that one million copies of the Mac OS X Lion operating system have been sold in the first 24 hours since launch. Lion, which is the eighth iteration of the revolutionary OS X format, has become the fastest selling operating system in Apple's history, the company said in a press release. "Lion is off to a great start, user reviews and industry reaction have been fantastic," said marketing head Phil Schiller. "Lion is a huge step forward, it's not only packed with innovative features but it's incredibly easy for users to update their Macs to the best OS we've ever made." Download-only The speed of uptake can no doubt be attributed to the new download-only mechanism, with Lion exclusively available on the Mac App Store in 123 countries. Users no-longer have to traipse to the nearest Apple Store in order to pick up a physical disc and can install from the comfort of their armchair. An attractive price point of just £20.99 surely helped too. Lion, which landed on the Mac App Store yesterday boasts 250 new features, including a host of multi-touch gestures and native full-screen apps. Other highlights include the new Mission Control feature which showcases everything you have open on your Mac, Resume which saves your last activity in apps even when you restart the computer, and Versions which backs-up your documents every time you save. 
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| Nokia slip slingshots Apple into No.1 spot Posted: 21 Jul 2011 02:10 PM PDT Apple has now overtaken Nokia as the world's leading smartphone manufacturer following this week's massively contrasting financial reports. On Tuesday, Apple announced that it had sold a staggering 20.4m iPhone handsets between April and June, on the way to record-setting income and profits for the quarter. Nokia responded on Thursday with a hugely disappointing loss of £323 million for the same period, during which it sold 16.7m handsets - down 32 per cent from one year previous. That means, for the first time Apple shifted more iPhones in a single quater than Nokia sold handsets making Steve Jobs's company officially the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world. The news will be icing on the cake for Cupertino as it already overtaken Nokia in terms of the revenue brought in from the smartphone arm of its business. Ailing Finns During the Nokia financial report the ailing Finns also revealed that it had received a one-off payment of $600m from Apple in order to license patented Nokia technology. As part of a new agreement, Apple will continue to make payments, but it's going to take a lot more than that for Nokia to even think about getting back on an even playing field. Those Windows Phone-packing handsets surely can't come soon enough. 
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| R2D2/C3PO-themed Kinect Star Wars Xbox 360 console unveiled Posted: 21 Jul 2011 01:02 PM PDT There have been many special edition Xbox 360 consoles over the years but surely none as cool as the offering Microsoft just unveiled for the Kinect Star Wars game bundle? The awesome Limited Edition R2DT console, complete with C3PO-style gold controller, went on show to massive geek acclaim at the Comic Con expo in San Diego on Thursday. The bundled-in Kinect peripheral will also come in a custom shade of Stormtrooper white. It not just a looker though. When you power-up the console or open the disc tray, it will produce custom C3PO sound-effects. Outstanding. Saber duel The special edition is in honour of the Kinect Star Wars game due out later this year, which will see controller-less light saber battles between your favourite characters and much more. The bundle comes complete with a 320GB console, the Kinect peripheral and Xbox 360 control pad, along with a copy of Star Wars Kinect, exclusive DLC, a wired headset and a copy of Kinect Adventures. This sure-to-be-massively popular bundle is now available to pre-oder from participating retailers in the US for the galaxy sized price of $449. 
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| Hands on: Apple MacBook Air 2011 review Posted: 21 Jul 2011 09:52 AM PDT The MacBook Air that debuted last October was a mighty fine-looking piece of hardware - a newly designed unibody shell, 0.3cm at its thinnest. Trouble is, the meat inside didn't quite match up with the supreme exterior – Apple had been forced to stick with the ageing Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Intel had originally produced a special, smaller packaged Core 2 Duo variant for the first-generation MacBook Air that was still clinging on in last year's release. The small processor package, presumably, couldn't be bettered until this year's Sandy Bridge generation of Intel Core chips. So here we are with the newly-launched 2011 MacBook Air running the day-old Mac OS X 10.7 Lion - featuring all new processors.
The great news is that the new models don't lack for performance. Even the base models are stacked. The off-the shelf models come with the blistering Core i5 1.6 (11-inch, £849/£999 depending on memory and SSD) or 1.7 Ghz (13-inch, £1,099/£1,349 depending on memory and SSD) variants. Even better is that, for an extra £100 you can pop a 1.8GHz Core i7 into the high-end 13-inch and that is what is inside the 13-inch MacBook Air Apple has been kind enough to loan us here. (It's the 7-2677M, if you're a code aficionado.)
Moving centre stage The model we have in our hands is seriously quick, though having used numerous Sandy Bridge Core i5s including the new 2011 MacBook Pro, we're confident the performance of those machines won't disappoint. Whichever you choose, the MacBook Air is certainly no longer the poor-powered portable Mac – indeed, Apple has so much faith in it that it has discontinued the MacBook for retail purchase (it's still going to be available for education, apparently). The MacBook Air is expensive of course, but you get what you pay for. As with the new MacBook Pros, the new MacBook Air also adopts the Intel-gestated Thunderbolt technology - again manifesting in a DisplayPort connection. Various Thunderbolt products will launch in due course, but in the meantime Apple has also released a new Apple Thunderbolt Display which is a thorn in our theory that thunderbolt is just a gimmick.
You see, the monitor acts as a docking station for the MacBook Air. There's Gigabit Ethernet, USB ports and FireWire – and it all connects over the Thunderbolt connection along with the video of course! We have to say, the idea of having Thunderbolt as a single point of docking connectivity is mighty appealing – even if the display is a monstrous £899. Which should you choose? Although the 13-inch MacBook Air is a lot more usable for most workhorse tasks, the 11-inch MacBook Air is still a highly capable machine for most purposes. The displays remain the same as the last generation, though what they're driven by is different.
Graphics is now provided by Intel's HD 3000 graphics built into the new Core chips rather than the Nvidia GeForce 320M used in the last generation. While Intel's Sandy Bridge graphics are fine for most needs, if it's supreme graphics performance you want than you need a MacBook Pro. In terms of pixels, the 11-inch is a 16:9 1366 × 768 panel, while the 13-inch is 16:10 - 1440 × 900.
All the memory is solid state as with the last generation, and the 11-inch comes with either 64GB or 128GB while the 13-inch provides either 128GB or 256GB depending on model. You can have up to 4GB of DDR3 memory. One of the most annoying things about the last MacBook Air was that a compromise had had to be made about the backlit keyboard – it disappeared to the chagrin of many potential purchasers. Thankfully, it is now well and truly back.
As you'd expect from any Apple notebook, there's the glass Multi-Touch trackpad that supports Lion's multi-touch gestures.
There's also support for Bluetooth 4.0 should you be interested in that, while you also get the standard Apple webcam (not HD) and an SD card in the 13-inch which was introduced with the last generation. As then, there isn't the space to include one in the 11-inch.
Weight is comparable to the last generation of the Air at 1.08Kg for the 11-inch and 1.34Kg for the 13-inch. It seems strange that the MacBook Air has become Apple's entry-level notebook. But that's what has happened. If you can spare the not-inconsiderable cash, its one hell of a power portable whichever model you decide to plump for.
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| LulzSec decides not to publish News International emails Posted: 21 Jul 2011 09:43 AM PDT Notorious hacking group LulzSec has said it won't publish the 4GB of emails it is alleged to have acquired when it hacked thesun.co.uk earlier this week. LulzSec claims to have taken the emails from The Sun's servers and that they could contain evidence pertinent to the ongoing News of the World phone hacking cases. LulzSec had promised to publish the emails over the course of the week, but a tweet sent from a spokesperson for the group today reads, "We think, actually we may not release emails from The Sun, simply because it may compromise the court case." Dangermouse However, a legal expert told the Guardian that the emails may still be ruled inadmissible as evidence in future court cases if a judge rules that the email server was compromised by the hack. Both the Sun and the now-closed News of the World are part of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's media empire. The phone hacking scandal has already seen the News of the World closed down, News International's bid for the remaining shares of BSkyB scuppered and Rupert Murdoch himself take a cream pie to the face. 
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| Samsung Galaxy Q: what you need to know Posted: 21 Jul 2011 08:47 AM PDT Samsung's one of the most interesting Android manufacturers, and the Samsung Galaxy Q could be one of its most interesting products yet: if the rumours are correct, this year's IFA 2011 will see a "tabphone" that's half tablet, half phone. So will it be a successful union like cheese on toast, or something terrifying like Chas'n'Dave? Let's pan the river of rumour for some nuggets of news. The Samsung Galaxy Q specs include a 5.3-inch screen Details are thin on the ground, but we're hearing from Yahoo Korea that the Galaxy Q specifications will include a 5.3-inch Super AMOLED screen. That would make it around an inch larger than existing Galaxy handsets, which is worryingly close to Stupidly Large territory. Dell has been here already with the Dell Streak 5, but few other firms seem to think five-inchers are the way forward. Samsung, however, argues that for some people the smartphone is the ideal format and tablets are just too big; the Galaxy Q, it says, will be the ideal stepping stone between PC and mobile phone. The Samsung Galaxy Q specifications include a dual core processor T3 reckons it'll have a dual core processor and a slimline form factor too. That's not something you're likely to lose your shirt betting on. Last year's Samsung Galaxy Q rumours were unfounded A supposed spec sheet for the Galaxy Q was widely circulated last year and is doing the rounds again this week, but the BlackBerry-style device it detailed - complete with 3-inch screen and physical keyboard - doesn't seem to have survived. Samsung Galaxy Q features include 3G It's unclear whether the 3G support will be for data only or for voice too, but the Samsung Galaxy Q hardware, we're told, includes a 3G radio. US customers will get 4G support too. The Samsung Galaxy Q software will be Android Of course it will be: all of Samsung's other interesting kit is Android powered. We don't know which version the Samsung Galaxy Q OS will be, however: will it go the smartphone route with Gingerbread or the tablet route with Honeycomb? Depending on the release date it could even be Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich. The Samsung Galaxy Q UK release date should be late 2011 If the unveiling isn't until IFA 2011, that's September - so Samsung will need to work quickly to get its handsets onto the shelves for the all-important Christmas shopping period. With the launch far off, the Samsung Galaxy Q UK price - surprise! - hasn't been announced yet, although we'd expect similar deals to the existing Galaxy range. 
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| Hollywood greed damaged 3D, says Dreamworks CEO Posted: 21 Jul 2011 08:29 AM PDT The CEO of Dreamworks, Jeffrey Katzenberg, has spoken out over the flood of sub-standard 3D movie conversions that swamped cinemas, accusing Hollywood greed of damaging public view of 3D. He told CNN that the growing public apathy towards the 3D form was caused by "a singular and unique characteristic that only exists in Hollywood: greed." "So I think there were, unfortunately, a number of people who thought that they could capitalize on what was a great, genuine excitement by movie goers for a new premium experience, and thought they could just deliver a kind of low-end crappy version of it, and people wouldn't care, or wouldn't know the difference. "And… nothing could have been further from the truth," he continued. Dragon training Dreamworks, which is the animation house behind 3D hit How to Train Your Dragon, has long been an advocate for 3D and Katzenberg still maintains that the film industry can turn things around. "I think Hollywood has managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory here. And with time we'll get back there again, but it's only going to come by understanding and embracing this as a creative, storytelling tool, and a way of giving an enhanced movie theater experience, premium experience.
"So, our great filmmakers that are using these tools today, Marty Scorsese, Stephen Spielberg, Peter Jackson, more and more of the really great users of both technology and great storytelling are now starting to get at it, and they will deliver good experiences to people, and I think it will take us a while, but we'll earn it back." His comments echo those of Panasonic's marketing director Andrew Denham, who stressed the importance of quality 3D content, saying that 3D suffered due to a plethora of poor quality Hollywood conversions. 
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| TechRadar Phone Awards: Samsung Galaxy S2 wins Phone of the Year award Posted: 21 Jul 2011 07:33 AM PDT The TechRadar Phone Awards have come to a close, with Samsung nabbing the Phone of the Year award for the Samsung Galaxy S2. Samsung's flagship offering managed to win the overall award even though it has only been out for a short time, but the Apple iPhone 4 took the gold in one of the major categories: Best Phone for Business. This is something of a sea change for the mobile phone market, pipping the likes of RIM, with the BlackBerry 9780, from the winner's spot. Another big winner in the awards was Android, which managed to bag the Best OS category - with eight of the nine judges voting for the Google's mobile phone operating system. The judges of the TechRadar Awards this year comprised tech experts from TechRadar, MSN, T3, Gizmodo, Sky News, uSwitch, Silicon and the Telegraph.
As well as a number of judged categories, TechRadar also asked its readers what they felt was – among other categories – the best app, game and phone network. More than 131,000 votes later and Angry Birds has been voted the best game on any platform and Google Maps Navigation the best app, while Vodafone narrowly nudged past to O2 to win the Best Network award. Head over to our Phone Awards: Winners Announced article now to see the winners of all 12 categories. 
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| TechRadar Phone Awards: Phone Awards 2011: winners announced Posted: 21 Jul 2011 07:30 AM PDT The TechRadar Phone Awards 2011 have come to an end and now we can finally announce the winners. This year the awards comprised both readers' votes and categories judged by some of the biggest names in the technology world. To say that we were pleased with our reader response to the awards would be an understatement. Garnering over 130,000 votes, the awards have been a runaway success, so we can only say thank you to you all for being such an opinionated bunch! The Phone Awards have been TechRadar's most popular awards so far and it just goes to prove that the mobile phone market is positively burgeoning, full of technological innovations, warring factions and fanboys who live to see what the next OS update will bring. So, without further ado here is the list of the biggest and best phone tech of the last year… feel free to argue it out in the comments. Phone of the yearNominations
WinnerSamsung Galaxy S2
What the judges said: "The Samsung Galaxy S2 might have only been out for a short while, but consumers have been buying it in droves thanks to the combination of stunning design, lightning operation and a pin-sharp screen, putting it head and shoulders ahead of the competition." Runner-up: Apple iPhone 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best phone for businessNominations
WinnerApple iPhone 4
What the judges said: "The consumerisation of business devices continues apace - the BlackBerry is the business device of yesteryear." Runner-up: BlackBerry Bold 9780 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best phone innovationNominations
WinnerNFC What the judges said: "In terms of the furthest reaching implications, NFC is far and away the most exciting innovation to bring to mobiles. Even if mobile wallets take a while to take-off, other uses such as ticketing, content sharing are disruptive and cool. Runner-up: Tegra 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best phone accessoryNominations
WinnerJawbone Jambox What the judges said: "The Jambox is far more compact than expected, small yet bassy in its reach. Whilst the price is somewhat prohibitive, the Bluetooth connectivity and compact nature makes for a great accessory with a myriad of uses, from watching a movie on an iPad 2 to bringing the party to the beach." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best phone OSNominations
WinnerAndroid What the judges said: "Android beats iOS owing to the pace of innovation on the platform. This is evident in how iOS 5 is 'borrowing' lots of features from it. "It has turned around the fortunes of Motorola, Sony Ericsson and made HTC a household name." Now check out the winners of the readers votes... Best NetworkNominations
WinnerVodafone
Runner-up: O2 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Best AppNominations
WinnerGoogle Maps Navigation
Runner-up: BBC iPlayer --------------------------------------------------------------------- Best GameNominations
WinnerAngry Birds
Runner-up: Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit -------------------------------------------------------- WTF of the YearNominations
WinneriPhone 4 antenna-gate
Runner-up: Apple launching the microSIM ------------------------------------------------------------------ Best Phone FeatureNominations
WinnerHTC Sense
Runner-up: iPhone 4 Retina display ----------------------------------------------------------- One to watchNominations
WinnerApple iPhone 5
Runner-up: Android Ice Cream Sandwich Please note: if you entered the competition to win one of 13 fantastic smartphones, the winners will be announced shortly. 
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| Nokia posts £323m loss, smartphone sales down 32% Posted: 21 Jul 2011 06:15 AM PDT Nokia has posted its financial results for the second quarter of 2011, revealing an enormous net loss of £323 million. Net sales of all products fell by 7 per cent, but the company was heavily hit in the smartphone arena where it sold 32 per cent fewer handsets compared to the same quarter a year earlier. The heavy losses won't come as too much of a surprise to the company, which is well aware of its failings in the growing smartphone market and is taking steps to improve its fortunes by moving to the Windows Phone 7 OS later this year. However, it was forced to issue a warning earlier in the week that its results were likely to be even worse than anticipated. Blame game Predictably, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop deflected blame to the "strategic transformation" and conceded that it impacted in "a greater than expected way in the second quarter." However, he claims that the company is on the up, adding: "We are making better-than expected progress toward our strategic goals." The only major smartphone launch Nokia has managed this year is the Nokia N9, which isn't yet in the shops and runs MeeGo, an OS that Nokia has distanced itself from and is unlikely to pursue. Good work. 
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| Updated: 10 best 32-inch LCD TVs in the world today Posted: 21 Jul 2011 06:00 AM PDT Our constantly updated list of the best 32-inch TVs in the world. Which is the best 32-inch TV?Most living rooms can't physically take a TV much bigger than 32-inch, making this size by far the best for a lot of people in the UK. But within this size division, there's plenty of choice. A basic HD-ready set can be found for less than £300 is you search hard, though it's just as easy to spend over £2k. There's only one certainty at this size - your new TV will be a LCD TV. If you're lucky it could have LED backlighting, but it won't be a plasma; LG used to make plasmas at this size, but there's not one on sale currently. A typical circa £500 purchase will sport a Full HD screen, have at least three HDMI inputs, and some kind of 100Hz scanning, though the latter feature varies so much in effectiveness that you've simply got to see it in action in the shop before you shell out any extra cash.
Full HD, media streaming and even built-in Freesat HD or Freeview HD - it's all possible on these small TVs. Freeview HD is on some of these TVs, but not all. If you've got Sky or Virgin, of course, a Freeview HD tuner is mere frippery, and worse, will add unnecessarily to the cost. And besides, if you're not among the 50 per cent of the UK population that can receive Freeview HD broadcasts yet - and are set on finding a subscription-free hi-def solution - you're better off going for a TV with a built-in Freesat HD tuner. So what's the best 32-inch LCD TV for you? Read on to find out...
Toshiba 32HL833B - £320This back-to-basics edge LED-backlit model redefines the budget LCD TV Edge LED backlighting and full HD resolutions were considered high-end features only a couple of years ago, so to see them on this sub-£500 screen is quite something. Toshiba's entry level 32-incher may lack the latest web, 3D and Freeview HD goodies, but this slim HL Series set has more than enough technology for many. The lowlights are just two HDMIs, poor audio and the lack of Freeview HD, though great colour saturations, decent sharpness and contrast do enough to deliver a sense of cinema that bely its price. DivX playback is handy and the detail in Blu-ray is superb, while DVD and Freeview are watchable on this good value, efficient TV that delivers the basics well. Read: Toshiba 32HL833B review
Sharp LC-32LE210E - £345Cute and good value edge-lit LED set sadly lacking Freeview HD Sharp's latest 32-inch TV is LED-powered and is cheap to boot. The edge-mounted backlight enables a depth of 46mm, about half as thick as a comparable CCFL-lit set. A good value TV that ignores Freeview HD and 100Hz, this Sharp gets away with it because of its high quality LED panel, novel record-to-USB functions, and low online price; one for those on a budget and just after the basics. Read: Sharp LC-32LE210E review
Sony KDL-32CX523 - £349You call this entry level? Smooth images, smartphone control and BBC iPlayer on this great value Bravia This is one exciting package from Sony. A combination of a basic LCD panel with an integrated Freeview HD tuner ought to suit the mass market just fine, but there's more; surprising extras include smartphone app control, USB recording, wireless connectivity (via an add-on dongle), Bravia Internet Video (including BBC iPlayer, Sony's own Qriocity hub, and Lovefilm) and a new incarnation of the Xross Media Bar user interface, all alongside a full HD resolution. You won't, however, find 3D playback or 100Hz scanning. With the possibility of Skype video calling (if an add-on camera is bought), too, the KDL-32CX523 has the potential to go way beyond its entry level roots. Read: Sony KDL-32CX523 review
Philips 32PFL7605 - £410Excellent value edge LED TV lacking only an HD TV tuner Philips' 32PFL7605H is the latest in a procession of startlingly affordable, relatively small edge LED TVs – and here it means no significant compromises to performance. The set also manages to cling to an impressive roster of features despite its affordability, with highlights being its potent video processing mix and its online capability, especially open web access. Freeview HD is missing – a huge oversight, but virtually the only one in an otherwise unbeatable performance if judged purely on value. Read: Philips 32PFL7605 review
LG 32LV550T - £439Impressive mid-range TV with bags of features and enjoyably cinematic 2D performance The 32LV550T is a well-made TV with tons of features that sells for an exceptionally aggressive price. It's better looking than most 32-inch sets and its connections wouldn't look out of place on a flagship TV – so don't be fooled by the lack of 3D. Edge LED lighting is unusual at this price, and though you'll have to do without a Freeview HD tuner, it also includes full HD resolution, 100Hz, TruMotion processing and endorsement by the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF). No wonder, since with judicious calibration the 32LV550T is an engaging and natural picture performer. Add LG's Smart TV system, extensive DLNA PC network compatibility (including the fabulous Plex interface that makes home networking a lot easier), USB multimedia playback and optional Wi-Fi, and the smallest member of the LV550T range makes a big splash. Read: LG 32LV550T review |
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Gary Marshall: Don't click that! It's the NaughtyNet!
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 05:53 AM PDT
Sometimes, I love my job - and today's one of those days, because the Performing Right Society has found a new way to fight piracy.
In future, when you search, the results will tell you which of two internets a particular page comes from: the NiceyNet, or the NaughtyNet.
The problem, the PRS reckons, is that people aren't always aware that they're downloading from dodgy sites. Pirate flags, misspellings, movies that haven't even reached the cinemas, cracked software and names such as Pirate Pete's Piratey Page of Pirated Pop are too subtle - so the PRS wants to add a red light to your search results.
What's next? A man with a flag?
Inspired by traffic lights, the PRS proposes that search engines should put a green light next to legitimate results and a red one next to infringing ones - so the next time you Google for free copies of records that aren't even in the shops yet, you'll know that they're not coming to you via iTunes.
I think I've found two flaws. One, you need to be several kinds of dumbass if you don't realise you're pirating music. And two, nobody pays attention to traffic lights.
For proof, just hail a taxi.
Taxis and torrents
If you were to show me statistics proving that almost all piracy is carried out by taxi drivers, I wouldn't be surprised. I've come to dread the "so, what do you do for a living?" question, because the follow-up is inevitably about transcoding video files downloaded from dark corners of the internet.
Talking about transcoding is enough of a pain when you're getting paid for it; doing it while you're drunk as a lord, experiencing the sort of G-forces fighter pilots balk at while the driver runs yet another red light is even worse.
The driver isn't running the red lights because he's ignorant; he's doing it because he doesn't want to stop. And he isn't downloading dodgy files because he thought he was on HMV.com; he's doing it because he doesn't want to pay.
This isn't the first time the PRS has asked search engines to change things, and I've got some sympathy for them: unlike other organisations, they're not stomping around demanding that we block half of the internet or electrocute anyone with an illegal Rihanna MP3 - or at least if they are, they're not doing so publicly.
Previous PRS requests have been perfectly reasonable. The organisation successfully persuaded Google to change its autocompletion so that piracy-related terms didn't appear automatically, which seems fair enough to me: search engines probably shouldn't be in the business of saying "hey! It looks like you're trying to break the law! Let me help with that!"
The only benefit I can think of from a traffic light scheme is making it easier for parental control software to filter out the dodgy download sites, but The Kids will find ways around that.
Real-world traffic lights don't stop all drivers, and online ones won't stop downloaders.
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Amazon Game Download Store to reach the UK in October?
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 05:18 AM PDT
Amazon is set to release its Game Download Store in the UK in October, according to the latest reports.
The PC game download shopfront, which has been live in the US since February 2009, is said to be currently in the testing phase on our fair shores and heading towards a full rollout in autumn.
According to MCV's sources, the UK version of the store was meant to open in April 2011, but has been subject to delays for undisclosed reasons.
Gaming mecca
The Game Download Store in the US began life as a casual gaming vendor, but has recently started selling the bigger hitters for serious gamers in download form.
The Amazon service is part of a growing industry of digital game distribution, with Steam still serving as the granddaddy of the bunch.
Amazon won't be abandoning physical gaming, however, with the current US version of the store offering either the digital or boxed edition to customers.
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Lenovo announces IdeaPad Tablet P1 with Windows 7
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 05:17 AM PDT
Lenovo has announced the Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet P1, a 10.1-inch tablet set for release with Windows 7 OS, alongside two tablets running Android 3.1 Honeycomb.
The IdeaPad P1 will offer a 1.5GHz Intel Atom processor, up to 2GB of RAM and the option of either 32GB or 64GB SSD storage, it also has expandable storage with a microSD card slot.
The tablet also comes with a 1280 x 800 capacitive multi-touch screen, Bluetooth, WiFi, a USB 2.0 port and an optional 3G modem.
The IdeaPad P1 weighs in at around 790g making it heavier than both the 10-inch Samsung Galaxy and the Motorola Xoom tablets.
Ideas galore
You'll be able to video call friends using the front-facing 2MP camera, however with no camera on the back don't expect to get too snap-happy.
Windows 8 is tailored for the touch screen market and is set for release soon, so it will be interesting to see how well this Windows 7 tablet does in the market.
Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet P1 UK price and release date are still yet to be announced by Lenovo, however, it is to launch later this year in the US.
Lenovo also launched two tablets running Android 3.1 and offer dual-core Nvidia processors. The Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 is designed for entertainment and and Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet which is more business-focused, coming with productivity apps and data encryption software.
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Exclusive: Twentieth Century Fox: Blu-ray is our main focus
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 05:17 AM PDT
With the announcement that Twentieth Century Fox is to add Android to its list of devices compatible with its digital copy service, there seems to be something of a question mark surrounding Blu-ray.
Just how long can physical media survive in a market where Apple no longer offers optical drives on many of its computers and tablets are becoming a big part of consumers' media consumption?
TechRadar sat down with Vincent Marcais, senior vice-president for marketing, and Danny Kaye, executive vice president of global research & technology strategy, from Twentieth Century Fox recently to discuss just that, and they explained that Blu-ray is only really at the start of what is set to be a long shelf-life.
The reason for this is that Fox is looking at Blu-ray as the main part of what is a wider media package – it is the disc you buy, but with it you get the ability to get digital copies and more. But it is the disc that is essential to the quality of the product.
Future proofing
"Blu-ray at the moment is the best way for consumers to directly own content because they get the best quality and it's future-proofing at the same time," explained Marcais.
"We are looking at all different types of things: electronic, digital and physical stuff. But our focus at the moment is really Blu-ray."
Blu-ray sales are up year on year and with Blu-ray player prices dropping way below the £100 mark, it is a format that's becoming part of the mainstay.
However, the proliferation of digital downloads will eventually mean that Blu-ray's market share will shrink.
As Danny Kaye explained to TechRadar, though, Fox is hoping that the eco-system it is helping create with the digital locker service UltraViolet will enrich Blu-ray buying and not hinder it.
"The concept of UltraViolet is giving something extra," explained Kaye.
"If I want to watch it on a large screen TV in the best quality, I get a Blu-Ray disc. But if I also get a DVD then I can move that around the players that I might have in other places including a car or my computer.
"And then with UltraViolet, I will be able to download a stream to any number of portable devices, then that's a lot of flexibility.
"So I buy one title and I can do any number of things with it. That should shift from a 'rental-streaming' model, to a 'purchase-own' store."
UltraViolet - ultra backing
UltraViolet is being backed by some 70 companies and it acts as a digital locker for your content. While the idea is sound, the concept at the moment does mean that titles you have bought before the UltraViolet launch will not be part of this locker.
Kaye, however, did hint to us that Fox was looking at ways to get previously bought content on to the service.
"We're talking about all of these kinds of things and sure it's going to happen… there may be easier ways to do it than in the past where you could end up digitising each part of your library."
Marcais agreed with this, and explained to TechRadar: "Finding the good solutions for people to digitise their existing library will prepare them to be more willing to buy them in the new environment."
UltraViolet is set for a UK launch sometime later in the year.
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Customer satisfaction with mobile phone networks soars
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 04:32 AM PDT
Mobile phone companies have upped their customer service according to new research from Ofcom, which shows that customer satisfaction with their mobile network is generally higher than average.
The research, which involved 3,000 interviews with consumers, showed that O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone have all improved their customer satisfaction significantly compared to 2009's findings.
The one blot on the networks' copy book came from 3, which was found to have more fault issues and garner more complaints than average; however, its overall customer satisfaction was still fairly high, at 63 per cent.
I want to speak to the manager
Ofcom also looked at landline, broadband and pay TV providers; TalkTalk takes home the wooden spoon, with almost a quarter of its customers dissatisfied with its landline service, and 23 per cent unhappy with the broadband service.
On the Pay TV front, customers' satisfaction with Sky has improved, but Virgin Media's customers are more dissatisfied with the company's customer service than they were in 2009.
Consumer Group Director, Claudio Pollack, explained the reasoning behind the research: "By publishing this research we want to give consumers an insight into the standard of customer service being offered across the communications sector.
"The more information of this kind consumers have, the more effectively they can exercise their choice."
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Opinion: Why the end of Google Labs is a crying shame
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 03:31 AM PDT
The news that Google is shutting down its Labs offering is, for me, a sad moment – although Larry Page's recent statements mean that it hardly comes as a surprise.
Although Google Labs projects were a veritable grab bag of offerings, some great but many odd or ill-formed, it represented a glimpse into the untamed land of innovation.
When Page suggested at the quarterly earnings that Google needed more wood behind fewer arrows, his decision on narrowing the search giant's focus was clear.
Fewer products and more development might, for instance, have stopped ill-judged forays into Google Buzz and Google Wave and combined the technologies earlier into the much better thought out Google+.
Testing public opinion
But, for many at Google, Labs represented a chance to test public opinion on their 20 per cent projects and see if they were worth pursuing.
A year ago TechRadar spoke to then-Google Labs project manager Aparna Chennapragada, who explained that the process was very helpful to engineers.
"A normal idea can take three years to get to the public, but with Labs we can get them out early, even if they are a little rough around the edges," said Chennapragada
"And by getting them out early we can start to get user input that can help to shape the product."
20 per cent
For the public that gave us a glimpse into Google's now renowned 20 per cent time, and what happens when you hand a bunch of very clever people time to pursue their own projects for one day a week.
"The 20 per cent products are not monitored," explained Chennapragada.
"It's nice to go away and see if an idea works, and actually the hit rate – even if it's one per cent of products – is pretty good.
"It's a nice experimental process that sometimes provides something concrete or sometimes something that becomes a main product if it proves it merits it."
Not many companies are willing to let the public peak behind the curtain, but recent times have shown that giving early access can be hugely beneficial, not only in user feedback but also in terms of the way the public perceives a project.
Perhaps the best example of that came with Windows 7, where a public beta offering from Microsoft became a massive public relations win as people got to see what the successor to the badly-received Windows Vista would bring.
The end of Labs will not end beta testing from Google or even the 20 per cent time, but it is an indication of a company that has often thrived in the limelight beginning to consider putting blinds up on their windows and keeping their offerings private until they are fully-formed and ready for public judging.
So, when Labs finally hangs up its white coat, TechRadar will be a little sad – because we often enjoyed seeing the mad, the bad but often the simply fascinating glimpses into what Google was up to.
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Twentieth Century Fox to offer movies for Android devices
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 03:30 AM PDT
Twentieth Century Fox has given Android a major boost by announcing that it is to offer movie downloads that are compatible with Google's OS.
According to the Financial Times, the first of these downloads will appear with X-Men: First Class, with a digital copy of the movie being offered in the Blu-ray package.
Currently digital copies only work with iOS and Windows devices, but Fox has decided to add Android into this mix.
The UK, US, France and Germany will be the fist countries to benefit from this new type of digital copy.
Second screen
Speaking about the new Android initiative, Vincent Marcais, senior vice-president for marketing at Twentieth Century Fox International Home Entertainment, said: "Given its strong growth as a mobile operating system, the support for Android is an important move for us because it further enhances Blu-ray discs as the best way to get your movies to all your screens.
"With the connectivity and interactivity [in Blu-ray] we can now use the tablet as a second screen device to complement what is happening as you watch the big screen."
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PRS proposes 'traffic light' system for music search results
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 03:30 AM PDT
The Performing Rights Society (PRS) has proposed a plan to brand music search results based on their legality.
The new search system is inspired by traffic lights, with legitimate results flagged green and illegal download sites tagged red.
PRS argues that Joe 'web surfing' Public is often unaware that he's downloading illegally when browsing the web for tunes; the new branding system would leave no doubt.
Not site blocking
Robert Ashcroft, CEO of PRS, said, "There is evidence out there that if you help people go in the right direction many of them will do. We're concerned about piracy, there are many things we can do about it, but we should start by telling people what is licensed and what is not licensed."
Alluding to the current proposal put forward by a group of rights holders hoping to implement website blocking in order to reduce piracy, Ashcroft added: "We're not trying to stop people, this isn't a legal action, this isn't site blocking."
Although PRS has come up with this great plan and would like to see it implemented "before the end of the year", it will still need to convince search engines to implement it; currently, Google has 'no comment' on the plans, while Bing and Yahoo are yet to respond.
At the tail end of 2010, Google announced that it was looking at ways to reduce copyright infringement in its search results, but not a great deal has materialised yet.
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Posted: 21 Jul 2011 03:30 AM PDT
With no fancy casing or gimmicks to offer, the HP SimpleSave 3TB external hard drive is as strait-laced as its name suggests.
When you're trusting a device with your important and irreplaceable files, this approach is as reassuring as it is refreshing. With a huge 3TB capacity, this drive can house almost all your digital files with ease.
Of course, 3TB of files is a lot to trust to any device, and if your files are absolutely essential, a more professional RAID solution will provide peace of mind.
While you might not want to entrust your professional documents to this device, for home use this is as good as it gets. The solid build quality will keep your files safe, barring the most serious of disasters.
Performance is excpetional – which is reassuring if you're backing up terabytes of data. Our 1GB file transferred in 17 seconds, with an average write speed of 81.11MB/s and a read speed of 105.72MB/s.
The device comes with HP SimpleSave software, which is certainly better made than a lot of the free backup offerings you get with external hard drives. It's good enough to trust with your files, though the simplistic design and limited options makes it suitable for home users who just want a quick way of backing up all their files.
As always, if you want a more comprehensive backup strategy with control over what's saved, a dedicated product like Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 is essential.
The HP External Hard Drive coupled with some decent backup software provides a formidable disaster recovery and backup solution that's well worth the money.
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Buying Guide: Best Mac webcam for Mac: 5 tested
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 03:25 AM PDT
All Mac notebooks, iMacs and Apple displays have a built-in iSight, FaceTime or FaceTime HD camera. Positioned directly above the screen, it's great for keeping in touch using apps such as iChat and FaceTime.
But what if your monitor doesn't have an internal camera, or you want to show a wider view of yourself? Apple no longer produces the external iSight, but there are third-party webcams that work brilliantly with Macs. Here we look at five webcams for your Mac.
Also, to get more from your webcam, you can buy the iGlasses app. It gives extra controls for brightness, contrast, colour balance, orientation and more. It's due an update, but we're promised iGlasses 3 is on the way.
So what's the best Mac webcam? Let's find out.
01. Liquid Digital Solutions aGent V5 HD - £56
agent.liquiddigital.com.au
This full HD, 2MP webcam resembles the old Apple iSight. It comes bundled with clips and stands, and as its screw-in mounting is the same size as a standard camera's, you can also use a regular tripod.
A bundled CD is full of optional apps such as Webcam Monitor, CamGrabber and Gawker. The webcam's design is minimal - it even lacks an LED to tell you when it's activated.
The five-layer German lens does a great job with stills and video, recording sharp, detailed images, even in poor light. Unfortunately, sound quality is poor, and we had to turn the input volume right up to use it, and then it suffered from hiss.
Verdict: 4/5
Good looks and excellent image quality, but if you want sound too, you'd better use a separate mic.
02. Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 - £60
www.logitech.com/en-gb
This one puts in a stellar performance. Colours are more natural than the aGent V5 HD, and it handles motion well. It adjusts for sub-optimal lighting conditions, though it can look a little yellow when natural and artificial light is mixed.
Its sound is as good as its video, with built-in stereo mics. Given the specifications, it's no wonder its performance is so impressive.
The C910 has a Carl Zeiss lens, and takes 10MP stills. It's full HD, and you can make video calls in 720p. One-click upload to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter is also catered for. Unfortunately, its non-removable stand isn't very versatile, and it doesn't look Mac-like.
Verdict: 4.5/5
Excellent performance, with great video and sound. We wish it had a screw-mounting, though.
03. Blue Microphones Eyeball 2.0 - £35
www.bluemic.com/eyeball
You can tell at a glance where the Eyeball 2.0's priorities lie. Most webcams add a microphone as an afterthought, but the Eyeball 2.0 is built around its mic, with the camera positioned on a retractable arm that pops out of its spherical body.
As a result, audio quality is good, capturing voices clearly without picking up background noise. Yet for all its acoustic strengths, the Eyeball 2.0's video was the worst of all the cameras on test.
Despite a 1600x1200 resolution, it lacked sharpness and clarity, and video was marred by motion blur. It copes with low light well, but its overall performance is poor.
Verdict: 2.5/5
Good audio, but this can't make up for the Eyeball 2.0's awful video quality. Horrible motion blur.
04. Macally IceCam2 - £17
www.macally.com
If you're looking for a less expensive choice that does a decent job with the minimum of fuss, then this is your cam. It's plug-and-play, with no bundled software or drivers, and its 640x480 VGA resolution is more than enough for video chat.
Its monitor/desktop stand and swivel head are functional, as is its long USB cable. Naturally, the video quality can't match the HD heavyweights. It's not as crisp, it needs to be manually focussed and there's significant motion blur when the light's poor.
The sound echoes a little, and audio and video are sometimes slightly out of sync. It's not for connoisseurs, but if all you want is basic video chat, the IceCam2 puts in a robust, if workmanlike, performance.
Verdict: 3/5
Surprisingly capable considering the price, and certainly good enough for basic video chat.
05. Ecamm BT-1 - £110
www.ecamm.com
The Ecamm BT-1's selling point is Bluetooth. With no USB cable, you can place the BT-1 anywhere within 30 feet of your computer, even in another room. Its supplied telescopic tripod uses a standard camera mounting screw, and its rechargeable battery lasts around four hours. There's nothing to mount it on a monitor, but that's not its intended use.
The BT-1 offers a maximum 640x480 resolution. Its colours are muted and it lacks sharpness and clarity, though there's very little motion blur. The mic does a decent job, capturing sound without picking up background noise.
It struggles to focus close in, but manages much better at longer distances. It's not yet compatible with FaceTime but we've been assured that an update is coming soon.
Verdict: 3.5/5
Not ideal for putting on your monitor, but great for when cables won't reach.
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Mobile devices fuel another bumper Intel quarter
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 03:09 AM PDT
Intel has announced another quarter of record profit, with CEO Paul Otellini pointing to the growth of mobile devices as a key factor in the chip giant's growth.
Intel surpassed $13.1 billion (£8.1bn) in revenue for the second quarter of 2011, with servers, strong demand for high-end Core chips and the continued growth of mobile devices all cited.
"We achieved a significant new milestone in the second quarter, surpassing $13.0 billion in revenue for the first time," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO.
Advanced tech
"Strong corporate demand for our most advanced technology, the surge of mobile devices and Internet traffic fueling data centre growth, and the rapid rise of computing in emerging markets drove record results.
"Intel's 23 percent revenue growth in the first half and our increasing confidence in the second half of 2011 position us to grow annual revenue in the mid-20 percent range."
Interestingly, Intel stated that newly acquired McAfee and Inineon Wireless Solutions (not Intel Mobile Communications) contributed $1 billion in their first full-quarter of results.
Breaking the results down further, Intel's PC client group had revenue up 11 per cent year on year, its Data Server group reported a 15 percent increase and Embedded & Communications Group saw a 25 per cent increase.
One sour note was the waning impact of the mobile Atom processor and chipsets, which saw revenues drop by 15 per cent.
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Posted: 21 Jul 2011 03:00 AM PDT
You could be forgiven for mistaking the LaCie FastKey for a standard USB flash drive. However, the FastKey is a bit special, bridging the gap between traditional USB drives and external hard drives.
The small size makes it incredibly portable, although with 120GB of your precious data stored on it, you won't want to take it out and about too often. Handily, it can sit unobtrusively in a PC or connected to a router to create a NAS device.
The reason it's so small is because it's a solid state drive, and the lack of moving parts means it's also very fast. In our tests, it took just 16 seconds to transfer a 1GB file, with the average speed being 93Mb/s.
The FastKey comes in three sizes, 30GB, 60GB and 120GB, with performance increasing according to capacity. We tested the 120GB version, which performed very well, but it's disappointing that opting for less storage space means accepting a drop in speed.
Even so, the LaCie FastKey does a good job of backing up important files. Although it doesn't come with back-up software (which Seagate is keen on providing with its external hard drives – often to the annoyance of its customers due to the quality of said software), the FastKey includes powerful AES 256 encryption and a two-year subscription for 4GB of online storage.
The build quality is great too, with an outer shell made from aluminium, but there's no escaping that this is an incredibly expensive external hard drive – especially in its 120GB incarnation. There are plenty of alternatives that will do just as much for less.
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Bing Live Tile update begins to rollout
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 02:48 AM PDT
Microsoft has made some changes to Bing's homepage, adding Live Tile functionality to the bottom of the screen.
These Live Tiles are said to be in a similar vein to Bing for the iPad and offer up information on the weather and select news blogs.
If there is one thing that Bing trumps Google in, it is the looks department. The changing daily image has many fans (alongside its hidden trivia) and one of the best things about Bing for iPad is the Live Tile functionality.
From Windows to Tiles
Microsoft hasn't officially announced the arrival of Live Tiles to Bing but Within Windows has posted a workaround to get the new search page if you are desperate to see the new functionality.
The update is all part of Metro, which is a codename for Microsoft's cosmetic changes to a number of its sites, including Windows Phone 7, Windows 8 and Xbox 360.
The Live Tile rollout doesn't seem to have hit the UK yet, but it looks as if this will be a global change to Bing.
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