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Techradar |
- Exclusive: BBC: We'd still love to have iPlayer on Xbox
- Sony's PS3 debuts brand new BBC iPlayer
- BBC shows off brand new iPlayer for TVs
- In Depth: 12 best Google Chrome extensions
- Review: BetterSnapTool 1.2.3
- Review: Equinux iSale 5.8
- In Depth: How to explore space from your desktop
- Review: Apple Final Cut Pro X
- In Depth: 3D processors, memory and storage explained
- Opinion: Ignore the speculation, Linux is far from dead
- Review: Technomate TM-2600 Super
- Review: Golden Media Unibox 9080
- In Depth: Why 3D is important
- Review: Hanns G HL225D
| Exclusive: BBC: We'd still love to have iPlayer on Xbox Posted: 07 Aug 2011 05:01 PM PDT The BBC's Daniel Danker has told TechRadar that he would love to see the iPlayer finally making it onto the Xbox 360. Danker, general manager for programmes and on demand, was speaking as the BBC rolled out the brand new HTML 5 iPlayer which will make its debut on the Sony PlayStation 3. The iPlayer has been a huge hit as a feature on the PS3 – providing 6 million programme views, second only to Virgin Media's offering in terms of set top box iPlayer views. No agreementDespite this, no agreement has been found between Microsoft and the BBC to put the iPlayer on the Xbox 360, with suggestions that restrictions on changing the look and feel, and the desire to make it available only to paid subscribers have stalled talks. "I don't know that you're talking about," joked Danker, when TechRadar asked if it was frustrating to not be on all games console. Love to be"We want to be on as many devices as possible. Of course we'd love to be on the Xbox because we want to get the iPlayer to as many licence payers as possible, which is pretty much everyone in the UK. "We want to be on the cheapest level that you can have on Xbox, and not only for [Xbox Live] Gold subscribers." The BBC's latest iPlayer for Smart TVs and set top boxes offers an overhauled user interface and is designed to bring iPlayer use into the mass market. 
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| Sony's PS3 debuts brand new BBC iPlayer Posted: 07 Aug 2011 05:01 PM PDT Sony's PlayStation 3 will be the first consumer device to show off the BBC's latest iPlayer, designed from the ground up to work on televisions. The iPlayer has been a major hit on the PS3, proving a popular addition to the console in the UK. So it's a natural place for the BBC to host its latest iPlayer version, built in HTML5 and boasting a new UI and new functionality. That includes a "vastly improved" search function and a favourite programme feature that allows you to call up old searches and make sure you don't miss the new series of Angry Boys or QI when they roll around. BundledWhen bundled together, the views from the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii iPlayer amount to 10 million in a month – an impressive total and second only to Virgin Media's iPlayer in set top boxes.
And, having any iPlayer at all, is something that PlayStation 3 fans can use against Xbox users. Daniel Danker, BBC's General Manager, Programmes & On Demand said: "BBC iPlayer has been tremendously successful. "With today's announcement, we're transforming iPlayer in its most natural home: right on the living room TV. "By creating a product that's as simple and intuitive as flicking through TV channels, the BBC is bringing on demand television to mainstream audiences across the UK." 
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| BBC shows off brand new iPlayer for TVs Posted: 07 Aug 2011 05:01 PM PDT The BBC has unveiled its latest iPlayer for smart televisions and set top boxes, with the new version making its debut on the Sony PS3 games console. The iPlayer may be a massive hit online, but it has also become a key addition to connected television equipment, including Smart TVs, set top boxes and games consoles. The BBC's general manager of programmes and on demand, Daniel Danker, told TechRadar that the latest iPlayer was designed specifically for bigger screens – rather than feeling like a rehash of the web iPlayer.
First principles"I don't want to criticise an older project that has been so successful," said Danker, "but we have gone back to first principles and designed this to be watched on televisions." Danker believes that the television remains the best place to watch television although he admits that the tablet is a 'curveball' and fast becoming a fine personal television. And the iPlayer head thinks that the latest player takes the player "beyond the tech savvy, and in to the realm of anyone capable of changing channel on a television."
New functionalityThe new features, beyond a radically different yet still familiar UI, include an improved search, grouped programmes that often allow you to go beyond a week's catch-up, and the addition of favourites.
The BBC is planning to roll this HTML5 based player out to a multitude of televisions and set top boxes as soon as possible, with the increased prominence of connected home entertainment devices at the forefront of the strategy. "Last week, Ofcom reported that 10% of TV sets sold in the UK are internet ready. But BBC iPlayer is already available on over 300 connected TVs and Blu-ray disc players, which has resulted in a 5x growth of iPlayer on TV over the last 6 months alone," added Danker. "At this rate of growth, in the next few years we could well see over half of iPlayer use directly on the living room TV." 
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| In Depth: 12 best Google Chrome extensions Posted: 07 Aug 2011 05:00 AM PDT Google Chrome's speed and stability have made it many people's browser of choice. It has also supported browser extensions for some time, and there are hundreds now available that add to its features and help to make your browsing safer, faster and more productive. However, it's not always easy to separate the wheat from the chaff, and there are some shockingly poor extensions out there. We've helped show the way by picking out 12 of the best Chrome extensions. 1. Send from Gmail Clicking 'mail to' links online can be annoying if you're a Gmail user, because they generally launch the default mail program and don't work well if you prefer to use web mail. Send from Gmail changes that behaviour to open a Gmail 'Compose mail' window in Chrome whenever you click an email link. It also gives you a Gmail button next to the address bar, which you can click to open a new mail message wherever you are. You can configure the extension to support Google App for your domain. 2. Scroll to Top Button
Savvy web designers generally break long sections of text into manageable page-sized chunks to avoid scrolling, and good web writers stay succinct and to the point, because most visitors are averse to scrolling and only really look at the first screen full of information. However, lots of sites still include pages that are many times the length of the average screen. Scroll Top to Bottom adds a handy 'scroll to top' button to particularly long pages, which appears when you hover the mouse over the top right of the page and makes navigating lengthy pages much easier. You can configure the button to scroll to the bottom of the page as well, and there are lots of options to customise the button and its position to suit your reading style. 3. Dropbox for Chrome Dropbox is a free service that lets you store up to 2GB of data on a remote server. It synchronises your stored files with local copies on as many PCs as you like. Dropbox for Chrome lets you access your Dropbox files directly in Chrome, so you can quickly download or upload a modified file without installing Dropbox locally. This is ideal for portable computing and laptops, where you don't want to sync continually. Once you've installed the Dropbox extension, you'll be prompted to enter your username and password. You can also specify the size of the popup window used to display your files. 4. Docs PDF PowerPoint Viewer Docs PDF PowerPoint Viewer is a very handy extension which practically does away with your need to run a local PDF viewer application. Once the plugin is installed, Chrome will automatically open any PDF files you come across when browsing as Google Documents. There's no need to download the file to your PC before you can open it, and you can store it in your Google Document space if you have a Google account. The PDF viewer is quite basic, but you can still perform a simple text search within it. The latest version of Chrome includes a PDF viewer, but this is still handy if you want to move PDFs to Google Docs and share them with others. 5. Things to Do Things to Do is a simple addition to Chrome that lets you maintain a to do list that opens whenever you start a new tab. If you're browsing the web and suddenly remember a task, open a new tab, click the 'Add' button and enter the details. You can return to this tab or open a new one at any time to maintain your list. You can use the options to customise the colours and size of the list. You can reorder items on the list page by simply clicking and dragging the bullet buttons to the left of each entry. Edit any item by clicking its text and making the necessary changes. 6. New Tab Favourites
New Tab Favourites gives you a list of common destinations to choose from whenever you open a new tab in Chrome. The idea is that you can browse more quickly with convenient links to places like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook at your fingertips. There's already a list available when you install the extension, but you can customise it by clicking 'Edit mode'. Enter the names of any new sites you want to use along with their URLS, and remove any unwanted ones. 7. TweetRight Twitter is great for sharing things you've found online, but copying a URL, shortening it correctly and then pasting it into a tweet can be a tedious and clumsy affair. Even if you have a URL-shortening tool built into your preferred Twitter client, you still have to copy and paste the full address of anything that you want to share. TweetRight is a Chrome extension that makes posting something to Twitter a two-click process. Right-click the item you want to share, choose 'TweetRight' and then 'Post link to Twitter'. It's simple and easy. 8. Google Scribe
Google Scribe uses Google's predictive technology to guess what you're typing as you type it, and will suggest the likely next word in a sentence. This Chrome extension makes the predictive power of Scribe available on any website. There are privacy issues, because predicting what you're writing involves remembering what you've typed before, but this is still very useful for anyone who finds typing a chore. You can enable Scribe in all text boxes by default or select 'On demand', which lets you can toggle it on and off by pressing [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[J]. 9. AdBlock
Adblock removes adverts from web pages. Once it's installed select the ad filter lists that you want to use. You can add new lists if you know the URL of the list server. One of the general options lets you choose to keep text ads on Google searches, which can be useful. An option to remove YouTube ads is currently in beta. You can enable ads on certain sites in the 'Customize' tab, which can be useful if you want to see ads on a site. You can also block specific ads by URL. 10. Google Translate If you come across a foreign language web page and you can't translate it yourself, Google Translate is the next best thing. It uses Google Translate to fetch a literal translation of the page from Google's servers. It automatically detects the language used and provides a link to the translated version if it isn't your default language. You can set your default language and opt to translate pages automatically if you prefer. 11. Chrome IE Tab Multi For sites that insist you can only browse them using Internet Explorer, there are various extensions that can help. Chrome IE Tab Multi is the most useful of the options on offer, because it does the best job of mimicking Internet Explorer and supports multiple tabs. It also supports ActiveX controls, and can remember which sites you prefer to use in IE mode. In the options you can bookmark sites to open with IE Tab Multi and add options to open links in IE Tab Multi to the Chrome context menu. 12. FlashBlock Flash can add useful and attractive multimedia elements like animation to web pages, but it can also be used to hide malicious code. Flash modules can also be frustratingly slow to load, especially if they aren't relevant to what you want to do. FlashBlock is a port of the Firefox extension that blocks all Flash content until you permit it. Flash elements are presented as placeholders, which you can click and then decide whether to run the script or not. You can set up a whitelist of trusted sites, which will allow commonly used and trusted Flash content to run without interruption. Consider installing the FlashBlock plugin if you want to improve your browsing security at the expense of some bells and whistles. 
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| Posted: 07 Aug 2011 03:30 AM PDT Window management, in terms of on-screen placement, is one of the Mac's weakest areas, and while OS X Lion's full-screen mode will be fine for focussing on a single task, Windows 7 does a lot better when it comes to multiple applications. BetterSnapTool is yet another app that brings Windows Snap-like features to the Mac, but it warrants a look simply due to living up to its name – in other words, this really is a better snap tool. Preferences enable mouse and keyboard settings to be activated or deactivated. On the second of those, you can define shortcuts for maximising a window or sending it to a half, quarter or third of the screen. You can also fire a window to another screen on a multiple-monitor setup. Further customisation options exist for amending the appearance of the preview overlay when using the mouse to snap windows, delay settings and click actions on window buttons and the window's title bar. For example, you can right-click the zoom button to maximise a window and double-click the title bar to show the actions menu. Options also exist to move or resize windows below the cursor when a modifier's held. The lack of gesture support is a pity and the app's restore is more like an undo. But with its healthy spree of options and unusually low price, BetterSnapTool's now our favourite app of this type on the Mac. 
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| Posted: 07 Aug 2011 03:00 AM PDT Online auction tool iSale takes much of the tedium out of preparing and uploading your eBay auctions. With over 200 templates to choose from, building eye-catching listings is a simple task. Photos can be dragged and dropped into preset picture boxes, information can be typed or copied into text fields and the overall layout can be tweaked to suit your needs. Don't expect full-on DTP facilities though. The template's backgrounds can't be customised, so you're stuck with the original images and colours. iSale's great at dealing with photos, though. It's easy to add multiple pictures for free by hosting them online, without any awkward HTML editing. You can even embed videos. This new version, which is free for iSale 5 users, expands the app's research tools. The Research Assistant searches key websites for similar items, and is joined by eBay's new product catalogue, allowing you to find and add product information quickly and easily. Stability and performance have been improved too. As before, Draft, Running and Finished Auctions are grouped, and you can set up smart folders to sort them. You can relist items no one bought, or edit and reuse old auctions when selling a similar item. It also monitors running auctions and offers after-sale features, but they're no easier to use than the eBay site. iSale's strengths lie in the beginning of the process – preparing auctions, reusing old listings and uploading them at a time of your choosing. For that, it's worth the money. 
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| In Depth: How to explore space from your desktop Posted: 07 Aug 2011 03:00 AM PDT Half a century has passed since Yuri Gagarin ventured into orbit, and over 40 years since we landed on the moon, but since then, we've retreated. Space is too expensive to explore. The space shuttle fleet is being retired to museums, and our only permanent orbital presence is limited to a handful of scientists. But while manned space exploration appears to have faltered, astronomy has exploded beyond all recognition. We now know of nearly 600 planets orbiting alien suns, and have a small army of space telescopes at our command. It's not just professional scientists making breakthroughs, either. Amateur astronomers and armchair enthusiasts also provide vital discoveries. Do we really need expensive manned space flight any more, or can we now discover the secrets of the universe from our PCs and back gardens? "I actually had to classify the galaxy next to it - next to the strange thing I found," says Dutch schoolteacher Hanny van Arkel of the discovery that made her famous. Hanny's Voorwerp (the Dutch word for 'object') is an unusual patch of superheated gas close to a spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo Minor. It contains no stars, so where is the heat coming from? It seems to be a complete mystery, but it's one that could have been undiscovered for many more years if it weren't for the emerging field of citizen science. "It's very light, very warm, and it doesn't have any stars, which apparently is exceptional," says van Arkel. "I thought, 'Wait, what was that?' So I clicked the back button and saw this strange, blue sort of cloud. It caught my eye because it was very blue and it had a strange form. It was nothing like the irregular galaxies I'd seen." Van Arkel found the Voorwerp while classifying galaxies from her home in Holland as part of the Galaxy Zoo project. She contacted one of the astronomers on the project (known as Zookeepers), but neither he nor his colleagues knew what the Voorwerp was either. In a demonstration of just how much private individuals can help science, time was booked on the Hubble Space Telescope to examine the Voorwerp in more detail. The team controlling Hubble receive around 10,000 requests for time each year, but van Arkel's discovery was so intriguing and important, it became one of only 3,500 requests to be granted. Van Arkel's involvement in the Galaxy Zoo project was as unexpected as her discovery. "I have a passion for music," she says. "I play guitar, and Queen is one of the bands I like. Brian May is interested in astronomy and put an announcement on his website about a project called Galaxy Zoo. It looked very interesting and I thought: 'Well, I'll have a look.'" Crowdsourced science
Galaxy Zoo is much more than a simple project to get people interested in astronomy and science in general. It's also part of an attempt to help working scientists overcome a growing problem shared by many different areas of science, as physicist Chris Lintott explains. "It's something strange that's been caused by an explosion in technology, in computing power, in the availability of cheap cameras and in bandwidth," he says. "I think for the first time in a long while, we almost have too much data. And I think that a lot of the science that happens in astronomy, in ecology [and] in climate science over the next decade will be driven by how creatively we can solve that problem." Galaxy Zoo helps solve the problem of the mountain of data streaming down to Earth from dozens of space telescopes collecting data at various wavelengths. When it comes to pattern-matching, the average human brain is still far more accurate, faster and cheaper than even the best artificial neural network software. It was therefore logical to ask members of the public to log in and set to work classifying galaxies into groups to help create a full survey of captured galaxies. Galaxy Zoo launched in 2007, with an initial one million images for people to classify. The team behind the site believed it would take two years for visitors to work through them all, but were very excited by the enthusiasm shown by armchair astronomers the world over. Within 27 hours, pictures of galaxies were being classified and re-classified at a rate of 70,000 an hour. The original million galaxies were classified 50 million times by 150,000 regular users in the first year alone. Multiple classifications increase the confidence that a galaxy has been correctly categorised. Galaxy Zoo is part of a larger initiative called the Zooniverse. Its subtitle is 'Real science online', and that's exactly what it is. After all, experimentation is only a small part of science - the bulk of the work revolves around classifying and analysing the collected data to discover what it reveals. There's no reason that anyone with an interest in science and a little training can't don a virtual lab coat, pitch in and help out. The full Zooniverse contains projects as diverse as watching for massive solar storms to help provide a much needed early warning system for Earth, hunting for planets orbiting other suns, and helping to show how Earth's climate is changing by entering naval observations stretching back to the 18th century. Getting involvedThe training involved in Galaxy Zoo is straightforward, making the project open to just about anyone who's interested in taking part. When classifying galaxies, you are asked several questions about their appearance. To answer the questions, you simply need to know what they mean, which is explained on the project's website. The first question is whether the galaxy is smooth (simply a cloud of material that gets brighter towards a central point), has visible features, or is a definite disk shape. There are several examples you can click to see if your classifications are correct. This idea of teaching by example is remarkably efficient, and by the third classification question, it's difficult to get the answers wrong. It's very easy to see if a galaxy is 'cigar-shaped', for example. Counting the number of arms on a spiral galaxy is just as simple. This classification system is exactly the same as the one used by working scientists like Meghan Gray, a research fellow in the Faculty of Science at Nottingham University. "Even though we have automated routines to gather some of this information," she says, "those automated routines are still not perfect and there's still a lot to be gained by using [the] eye-brain system, which is really good at picking out particular patterns or particular features." There's a real need for volunteers in these projects. "Together with a team of maybe about seven or eight other people, we could cover about six or seven thousand galaxies, with each one being done a couple of times to make sure that we agree on the classification," says Gray. Some databases contain millions of galaxies, though. "That's far too many galaxies for any sane individual to look through, one by one," she says. Amateur discoveriesThere's always the possibility that you might uncover something that nobody else has seen or can explain, and that's exactly what happened in the case of Hanny's Voorwerp. It became an object of interest; something out of the ordinary, and that's always something that excites scientific minds, trained or otherwise. The word 'amateur' comes from French, meaning 'lover of'. While the term has negative connotations in some fields, astronomy has a long tradition of amateurs making important discoveries, and this looks set to continue into the internet age. One inspiring example is German-born composer and musician William Herschel. His music led him to study mathematics, and eventually astronomy. After emigrating to England and settling in Bath, where he became organist at the Octagon Chapel in 1766, Herschel designed and built his own reflecting telescope - sometimes spending up to 16 hours a day carefully grinding and polishing the mirrors. In 1781, during a painstaking search for double stars, Herschel and his sister Caroline discovered Uranus. This led to his election to the Royal Society in 1782, and his appointment as the King's Astronomer. Since then, many other amateur astronomers have found fame and even fortune. Sir Patrick Moore, despite having written over 70 books and been president of the British Astronomical Association, is a proud amateur. His maps of the moon were even used by NASA to help select possible landing sites for the Apollo missions. Canadian David H Levy is an amateur astronomer who holds the record for the most comets discovered by a single person (22), including the famous Shoemaker-Levy 9, which broke up in 1994 and smashed into Jupiter's upper atmosphere in 1995.
If you'd rather simply understand what you can see on clear nights, or fly a virtual spaceship between the planets, there's no shortage of excellent free software that can help you, much of which is also open source. Stellarium is a fully featured virtual planetarium that will tell you exactly what you can see in the night sky. Turn off the atmosphere to get a better view of space by pressing [A]. You might also want to turn on the equatorial grid by pressing [E] so you can judge where you are in the sky more easily. The best thing about Stellarium is that you're not limited to observing from Earth. Press [F6] select 'Moon' and you'll find yourself on the lunar surface. You can even speed up time by hovering the cursor over the location bar at the bottom of the screen. Celestia is an application that lets you climb into a virtual spaceship and travel between planets to see some far-out sights. It's more than a simple virtual planetarium; it's a real time space simulation that uses real data to plot the location of objects in our solar system and well beyond.
It's best to start with a demo, which you can enter by pressing [D], but Celestia also lets you fly around under your own control. Point your virtual spaceship in the direction you want to travel by dragging your cursor, then press [A] to accelerate. Your speed is displayed at the bottom left of the screen. To decelerate, press [Z]. To jump to a specific location, click 'Navigation | Go to Object' and enter its name. For example, to go to the Cassini probe, type Cassini and press [Enter]. Be aware, though, that Celestia can cause you to waste several hours doing things like flying through Saturn's rings, or making contact with space probes. Worldwide TelescopeMicrosoft Research's Worldwide Telescope is an even more impressive piece of software. It gives you access to the images from a collection of telescopes and sky studies, combined to provide a seamless view of the known universe - but there's a lot more to it than just amazing visuals. "Worldwide Telescope brings to life a dream that many of us in Microsoft Research have pursued for years, and we are proud to release this as a free service to anyone who wants to explore the universe," says Curtis Wong, Manager of Microsoft's Next Media Research Group. "There's really nothing else that allows you to so fluidly put together your own view of the night sky and different objects and then share it in a seamless way," adds Jonathan Fay, a developer with the group. The Worldwide Telescope has also been described as a space for storytelling, but what does it let you to do? For starters, you can add your own imagery to the default database. If you're already a keen amateur astronomer, this means you can create your own views of the sky, rather than relying on others to do it for you. The Communities feature lets you make a global group of like-minded individuals to help you in your research. The hope is that teachers will also use Worldwide Telescope to make lesson plans that pupils can add to. The default installation contains a catalogue of guided tours, and because the Worldwide Telescope is a collaborative venture, there are plenty to download too. When mission controllers are driving a robot on another planet, like the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars, they don't only have to use simple 2D television pictures and other readings to find their way around. It makes sense to also see depth, and Worldwide Telescope gives you a sense of how that must feel if you have a pair of 3D glasses to hand.
After downloading and installing the software, click 'Explore', then 'Solar System (sky)'. Click 'Mars', then select 'Panorama' from the menu at the bottom of the screen. The default image is a picture of the Apollo 12 landing site. Select an entry labelled 'stereo' from the Imagery menu and put on your 3D glasses. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers have stereo vision, and the difference it makes to their images is breathtaking. No satellite neededIf astronomy isn't your thing, there are other projects out there, including the Old Weather project. Climatologists are trying to predict future weather trends by looking at records going back to the 18th century. Are current fluctuations in climate unique, or have similar changes happened before? Luckily, log books are available from ships belonging to the English East India Company. These stretch back to the 1780s and contain measurements of tides and weather, but they aren't the only resources we have. When Darwin made his historic voyage on HMS Beagle between 1831 and 1836, the voyage was part of the South American Survey. Darwin was essentially a passenger, on board partly because Captain Fitzroy feared madness if he had no one of his intellectual status to talk to. Data from this and similar voyages is also available, but the scientists trying to map historical weather have a serious problem. There are 250,000 ships' logbooks in the UK alone, and more exist in the USA, South America and Asia. Clive Wilkinson of the Old Weather Project estimates that they contain billions of observations. The problem is, computers can't read the copperplate handwriting used to log them. This is where the public comes in - the text needs to be read and entered into a database. Once this is done, the climatologists plan to publish the data so people can make their own analyses. This is very exciting; there's every chance that a non-scientist might make an important discovery about our climate. We live in an unprecedented time of technological progress, but it's also a time of data overload. Because of this, scientific discovery is no longer the preserve of professionals. They need our help, which means that anyone could discover something amazing. In that sense, we're all potential explorers, boldly going where no one has gone before. The universe is vast and mostly unmapped. There are still plenty of Voorwerps left to discover on Earth and out in space, each potentially stranger than the last. All we need is access to a PC. 
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| Posted: 07 Aug 2011 02:30 AM PDT That Final Cut Pro (FCP) had lately been showing its age is no secret. Most of the innovation was actually taking place in the consumer field with iMovie, and there were many features that professional editors were eyeing with envy. These were features such as: skimming through thumbnails to get a preview of clips to greatly speed up the selection process; being able to label clips with various keywords to make it easy to find the right one in seconds; giving each project its own scratch disk as opposed to having one set for the application; a more up-to-date font and text architecture instead of the antiquated one that hadn't changed since FCP's introduction; and being able to see when an audio clip is peaking just by glancing at the waveform in the timeline, rather than having to listen to it proper. All these were added to FCP X (pronounced 'ten'), along with many others including a 64-bit architecture (meaning you can feed it as much RAM as you can cram into your Mac, rather than be limited to only 4GB), background rendering and the ability to work with any files from SD to 4K – even within the same project. All this sounds good, so why all the fuss online and even on comedy shows? It's because Apple decided to remove a lot of what many professional editors depended on and never thought about until it was taken away from them. Take the main column in the browser window, which used to remain anchored on the left-hand side – no matter how far down the right you'd scroll to see more of the clip's metadata, you'd never lose track of its name. Well, that's gone.
And what about adding keyframes to animate any parameter, which was automatic each time you modified its value after having set the first one? Missing in action. Then there are the clips in the browser that kept the last In and Out points you'd set; the free creation of chapter markers along your timeline; the ability to drag any clip anywhere on the timeline, creating gaps if you needed them (or not); and the projects that could be of virtually any dimension. None of these – nor many others – are possible with FCP X. Larger omissions include: a complete lack of multi-camera support; an inability to natively export to OMF, AAF or EDL files to move your project to other programs for further manipulation; no option to send a clip to Motion from the timeline to add effects to it; no proper support for connecting to a broadcast monitor; and no possibility of importing projects created with an earlier version of FCP.
This is all because FCP X isn't an upgrade but version 1.0 of a completely new program. What's confusing is that Apple kept the same name and discontinued the Final Cut Studio suite when FCP X was released, forcing people to move to the new application. And if they couldn't, they had to consider their options – hence the anger and confusion. Curiously enough, Apple kept the older version alive when transitioning users from Mac OS 9 to OS X and even iMovie 6 to 7, so why they haven't done so this time is a bit of a mystery. But if so much is missing, what does this new software offer aside from the above?
For one thing, you can edit more files in their native format, such as AVCHD, avoiding the lengthy transcoding process and saving you a fair amount of disk space. You can finally work with AAC and MP3 audio files without having to render them first, and clips shot with any iOS device now display as expected. FCP X can also import iMovie projects, creating a clear and easy migration path for up-and-coming editors. The new magnetic timeline keeps your clips together, avoiding unintentional gaps and making sure you never overwrite clips by mistake, or move the audio and video out of sync when moving things around (unless of course that's your intention). There's no such thing as layers anymore: clips can be added above existing ones as you wish, but all are linked to the main Storyline, which is essentially the first layer. This is an entirely new editing concept that will take some getting used to. The whole process feels like you're being looked after, which is great for first-time editors, but veterans may well feel constrained because they can't work the way they're used to. Many keyboard shortcuts are the same, but quite a few are different. Thankfully, there's a powerful shortcut customisation option, but this can't disguise the fact that you're having to learn an entirely new program.
There are a lot of things to like in this release, such as the ability to mouse over an effect and see how it changes a selected clip prior to applying it (holding down the Option key as you do so intensifies the effect), and the new colour correction tools are impressive, but too much is missing for professionals. Since it's so cheap though, you should consider purchasing it and running it alongside FCP 7 (which will still work with Lion), then learn how to use it as you keep earning money with the older version. Apple's promised to update its new program fast and you don't want to get left behind when younger editors can do things better and faster thanks to the changes in FCP X. 
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| In Depth: 3D processors, memory and storage explained Posted: 07 Aug 2011 01:00 AM PDT Entering the third dimension has huge implications for a PC's display system, but it doesn't end with a high performance graphics card and a stereoscopic monitor. 3D images put great demands on the processor and its associated memory, and storing 3D content requires vast amounts of hard drive space. It therefore seems appropriate that a major strand in current research is improving performance by making the components themselves three-dimensional in structure. In May, Intel made a remarkable announcement - all its processors with a 22nm feature size and beyond will soon feature 3D transistors. Officially known as 3D Tri-gate transistors, these new circuit elements have a completely new structure that comes out of the plane of the chip, and offer increased performance and lower power consumption. But this is just a start, as you'd discover if it were possible to take a ride in a miniature aircraft over the surface of the silicon die in a processor. You'd see an amazing landscape of hills and valleys, but first appearances can be deceptive. All the transistors - even 3D ones - would be in one plane, connected horizontally. According to many researchers though, all this could be about to change as processors move to a multi-layered arrangement. This approach will minimises the chip's 'footprint', and hence the size of the circuit board, which is vitally important in mobile computing. It will also provide a way to improve performance at a time when continually shrinking the feature size is becoming increasingly difficult. Multi-layered chips
PROTOTYPE CHIPS: IBM sandwiched cooling layers with water channels no wider than a human hair between layers of transistors To see how this works, we spoke to Dr Bruno Michel, manager of Advanced Thermal Packaging at IBM Research in Zurich. "The main benefit of adopting a 3D structure is that the distances for information transport become far shorter than with 2D chips," he says. "The second benefit is that more interconnects are possible, which further improves communication speed. The main problem of a current processor is that it takes on average 1,300 clock cycles for information to arrive from the main memory, which is some 20-30 cm away. This is partially alleviated by introducing cache memory on the processor chip, but during a 'cache miss', waiting is inevitable. In 3D chip stacks, cache memories can be much larger which reduces the waiting time and thereby considerably improves the overall efficiency." None of this comes without some considerable challenges, the first of which is making those connections between the layers of transistors. One method is to extend the layer-upon-layer fabrication method used today to create multiple layers of transistors with the necessary interconnections running both horizontally and vertically. This is called the monolithic approach. Success here has been limited though, partly because the heat needed to create a new layer of transistors is often enough to destroy any connective pathways already in place. Although monolithic 3D chips could offer much greater connectivity, most of today's research has therefore been into methods of creating inter-layer connections between several wafers or dies that have been manufactured conventionally. Even this isn't without its challenges, as Dr Michel explains: "The problem is tackled in several stages: The first is the development of the Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology, which allows chips to be stacked with short interconnect distances. This can be applied to systems that are composed of heterogeneous technologies with one chip being logic and other chips being cache memory". In a similar vein, other researchers refer to stacking cores as a means of improving core-to-core communications. Keeping coolDr Michel's second point isn't a new one, although a 3D structure exacerbates it. "The second development is the cooling technology needed, since stacking of logic chips multiplies the heat fluxes and thermal resistances with the number of layers. For this reason interlayer cooling will become mandatory when more than three processors are stacked." IBM is addressing this issue by implementing water-cooling on a miniature scale. It has used cooling channels as thin as a human hair between the individual layers to achieve up to 180W of cooling per square centimetre on each layer. 3D memory
3D SANDWICH: 3D memory uses the same principle as 3D processors, with DRAM layers allowing for greatly increased density and efficiency When you read this, Samsung's latest 8GB memory modules will be about to hit the market. Using the same TSV technique IBM pioneered to move processors into the third dimension, Samsung bonded memory chips together, allowing them to communicate vertically. The company claims that its DDR3 DIMMs will offer a 50 per cent improvement in memory density, while providing a 40 per cent reduction in energy consumption compared to conventional memory modules. Spectacular gainsThe improvements promised by Samsung's dual-layer memory modules are relatively modest because they're designed to work in conjunction with ordinary processors and standard motherboards. If these constraints are removed though, much more spectacular gains can be achieved, as Dr Dong Hyuk Woo of the Georgia Institute of Technology explains. "A CPU is typically manufactured with a logic process optimised for speed while a DRAM is typically optimised for density," he says. "Due to such different optimisation requirements, we weren't able to implement both components on the same silicon die or chip. Thus, each chip was manufactured into an individual package, and later mounted on the same motherboard to form a system. Such separation means the number of interconnects between these two packages has been seriously limited so data bandwidth between them was also limited. Such limited data bandwidth has been called a von Neumann bottleneck." Fortunately, Dr Woo has a solution up his sleeve. "Now, on the other hand, 3D integration allows multiple dies, built with different manufacturing technologies, to be packaged and integrated into a single package," he says. What's more, using TSVs means the number of parallel lines connecting the main memory to the top level cache could be phenomenal - as many as 32,000 has been suggested. In his research, Dr Woo was interested in how much performance can be improved with such tight integration, which can practically eliminate the bandwidth limitation. Working on the basis of a one layer processor, one layer for the memory controller, and four layers for the memory, he was able to demonstrate that fetching huge chunks of data from main memory to cache didn't saturate the memory bandwidth. By using such an aggressive approach, he was able to show a doubling of processor performance in many instances. But if this technology becomes mainstream, we would essentially be saying goodbye to RAM as a system component. In much the same way that Intel's Sandy Bridge processors have eliminated the Northbridge chip, GPU and memory controller by integrating them with the CPU, if Dr Woo's vision becomes a reality, this super-chip would also include the system memory. Meanwhile, researchers at Rice University in Texas have developed a form of flash memory with two terminals per bit instead of the three in standard memory. The benefits go beyond its inherent simplicity; the two-terminal architecture is also more suitable for building into 3D arrays. Rice University's Professor James Tour jokes, "I've been told by [the] industry that if you're not in the 3D memory business in four years, you're not going to be in the memory business. This is perfectly suited for that." 3D data storage
COMING SOON-ISH: Overlapping blue lasers are used to record holograms in a GE micro-holographic disc Mass storage media is flat, but even today it's not entirely two-dimensional. DVD and Blu-ray discs can both have two layers of data per side, and researchers have demonstrated 16-layer disks (400GB). But there's a limit to how far the technology can be stretched. Although the laser beam addresses a particular layer by tight focusing, passing through several other reflective layers can seriously degrade the signal. Holography is a means of recording a scene so that it can be viewed from any angle, providing a true 3D experience. The same technique can be used to store pages of binary data, which are selected by altering the angle at which the hologram is read. Although we can't talk about layers, the data in a hologram is spread through the thickness of the media. This has been touted as a future method of high capacity data storage for years, but companies intent on bringing products to the market have been unsuccessful. An announcement by General Electric of a micro-holographic disk is therefore particularly interesting. By placing microscopic holograms on a 120mm disk, it offers a significant advantage, as GE's Brian Lawrence explains: "Because GE's micro-holographic discs could be read and played using similar optics to those in Blu-ray players, our technology will pave the way for holographic drives that could be in every home. The day when you can store your entire HD movie collection on one disc and support formats like 3D TV is closer than you think." 
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| Opinion: Ignore the speculation, Linux is far from dead Posted: 06 Aug 2011 05:00 AM PDT Usually I try not to overdo the Linux evangelism. I'd rather Linux succeeded on its own merits than from the fumbling insights that come from the mouths of believers. But last month I read an article and it left me feeling a little down. It was titled Is Linux Finished? and the author outlined what he thought were the reasons for the distinct lack of success Linux has had on the desktop. A lot of it had to do with Apple stealing its niche, the lack of a decent user experience and the confusion that comes with distro fragmentation. It was a good article and each of these points is valid. I've moaned about them before myself. But I do think that the article's negative prognosis for Linux, especially on the desktop, is becoming increasingly irrelevant and that's not something I expected 10 years ago. What most of us forget now is that Linux was never created to compete with Windows. The first major release of the kernel, 1.0, came only a month after Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Those two technologies couldn't be more different and, despite appearances, they are just as different today. What's governed development from that point isn't a desktop strategy, but purely a reflection of where the most contributions were being made to a major free software project. Linux was always, first and foremost, a Free software project. That's a capital 'F' for freedom. It has always been a project that any developer could adopt and build upon. The proof that this simple idea has worked is all around you, from your digital television recorder and ADSL modem to your Android phone and Google search. It's this one concept of free adaptability that is Linux's killer feature, and thanks to the GPL licence that enshrines this freedom, it will remain so. Quick to adaptIt's this feature that Steve Ballmer referred to as a cancer in his famous Chicago-Sun Times quote from 2001, and it's this feature that has always been the biggest threat to Microsoft. It's not the potential for desktop Linux to steal some of the Windows market share, although that would have been nice, it's the potential that Linux has to be quickly adapted to changing circumstances. The original article also pointed out that while Linux had a massive lead on netbooks, that share was quickly trampled by Windows as the potential value of these little devices became apparent. That is a failure of Linux, but not because the user experience was wrong or because it was something different. It was a failure because there was no mechanism for Linux to improve and respond. There was no central resource for a revised netbook campaign and no R&D department working on its successor. That situation isn't going to change unless one distribution becomes dominant and even then, I suspect that many Linux users won't be happy with a single gatekeeper. But netbooks were also the perfect example of how Linux succeeds in a more profound way. Only Linux could be quickly adapted and deployed onto an emerging platform without the delay that accompanies other platforms. Defining successIt's the same for many other devices, including the new breed of tablets and phones. It does this without a marketing budget or thousands of sales people bombarding potential purchasers, OEMs and shops with discounts. Market share and money aren't good indicators of success for an operating system that costs nothing, even though companies like Google and Facebook are making money with Linux. Success comes from the advancement of the original principles, and that means freedom. It's a brilliant, exciting, collaborative environment that scales better than any of its competitors. It's how many people re-found their love for computing, and it's how people are hoping to power a programming rebirth, like David Braben with his Raspberry Pi project. Linux and free software has also been able to change interoperable attitudes towards proprietary software and the internet. None of us have to suffer IE-only sites any more if we don't want to. And while it might seem like I'm moving the Linux on the desktop success goalposts to a different continent, this paragraph is much closer to answering the 'Is Linux Finished?' question than the first. The answer has to be a resounding 'No'. Linux is stronger than any of us could have imagined. It's not strong on the desktop, where many of us thought it should be. But it is in agility, community development and collaboration. That's real software and development democracy, and the only proper judge of success. 
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| Review: Technomate TM-2600 Super Posted: 06 Aug 2011 03:30 AM PDT DISEQC motorised mounts, which sit between the existing mounting pole and the dish, have usually been quite expensive. The TM-2600 Super from Technomate, on the other hand, sells for about £50. As a result it will be attractive to owners of budget systems like the Ross 22300HD-R. During our testing, we successfully partnered the 65cm Ross dish with the mount by fitting a larger U-bolt. The solidly built TM-2600 Super can, however, be used with dishes up to 1.2m in diameter. We were impressed by the thought that Technomate's designers have put into this product. For a start, a peek inside the mount (don't do this yourself or you'll invalidate the warranty) reveals that the gearing is heavy-duty metal rather than nylon. Although this will make the mount slightly heavier, a longer operational life is assured. There's also no 'play' to speak of, and so your dish will remain resolutely locked in position once the desired satellite has been reached. The instruction manual explains in some detail how to install the TM-2600 Super and even provides a web link to a Moteck applet that does all of the calculations relevant to your specific site latitude. A membrane-covered switch on the base will move the dish east or west (provided that a receiver is connected), while a hidden pair of sliders enables hardware dish-limits to be set. Software limits can also be set via your receiver's DiSEqC menu. Elevation adjustment combines a knife-pointer with a calibrated scale for readability. The TM-2600 Super was found to work very well, although as with all such mounts the speed of travel depends on whether the currently selected channel has a vertical or horizontal polarity (horizontal channels rely on the receiver sending a higher DC voltage up the LNB cable). 
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| Review: Golden Media Unibox 9080 Posted: 06 Aug 2011 03:00 AM PDT Those 'going digital' (or upgrading) are faced with a fundamental question – terrestrial or satellite? Like a handful of other receivers, the Golden Media Uni-box 9080 CRCI HD PVR Combo covers both. The satellite part is compatible with both DVB-S and DVB-S2 signals, and can tune into standard and high-definition channels alike. Unfortunately, the terrestrial tuner is only conversant with DVB-T signals. In the UK this means the Uni-box will only receive standard-definition broadcasts. A USB port allows the receiver to be converted into a basic PVR – and this is where those two tuners come in handy. Some varieties of multimedia content can also be fed into the unit via USB, while an Ethernet port provides some limited functionality. The Uni-box is ready for pay-TV, courtesy of a dual Conax smart-card reader and a pair of CI slots. Build and connectivity
The midi-sized Uni-box looks classy and unpretentious. Dominating the front panel is a generously proportioned alpha-numeric fluorescent display that, among other things, shows the current time and channel. The entire front panel, which is held shut with magnetic catches, hinges downwards to reveal a selection of buttons for menu access, volume/channel-change and standby. Many receiver features are thus accessible without recourse to the handset – which, in contrast to the receiver, is disappointing. Some of its tiny and close-spaced buttons are labelled with hieroglyphics lacking any discernible function. With the drawbridge down, the conditional access hardware is also available. Sadly, there's no front panel USB port. We noticed after a few days that the (fanless) Uni-box had a tendency to run rather warm, though our testing took place in summer. On the rear panel is a decent range of connectivity. Ranged horizontally, and bunched rather closely together, are the inputs and loopthrough outputs of the satellite and DTT tuners.
Under these is a sextet of phono sockets carrying component video, composite video and analogue stereo audio, plus a single USB port and HDMI 1.2 connector. There are also two Scart sockets (one of which is wired for RGB), a RS232 port for data transfer and an Ethernet terminal. Finally, we have bitstream-capable coaxial/optical S/PDIF outputs and a mains switch that will take your standby power consumption down to zero watts. SetupAll menus are arranged on a carousel. One of them is 'installation', within which you'll find submenus for conventional satellite/terrestrial installation, 'fast' satellite searching (specific to a number of non-UK providers) and 'auto-installation'. The latter examines the dishes and switchboxes connected to the LNB input, and automatically determines the available satellites. We've seen nothing like it. Once the list has been built you can search each of the discovered satellites in turn.
Also unique is the final item, 'satellite guide'. Enter your site latitude/longitude, plus the longitude of the desired satellite and the Uni-box will calculate the necessary elevation and azimuth angles. The satellite installation menu is rather conventional. Choose a bird from the list of satellites and your LNB type. Unicable, single-band and universal types are all supported – there's also a user-definable alternative. In the installation menu a DiSEqC switch position can be assigned; if you're using a motorised dish it can be set up from here. Both 1.2 and USALS types are catered for – the usual features (such as continuous/step movement, position recalculation/global shift and limit setting for DiSEqC 1.2) are all present. The signal strength and quality bars indicate how well the currently selected transponder is being received. Single transponders or entire satellites can be scanned; TV and/or radio, plus free or all channels, can be specified beforehand. New transponders can also be added and existing ones edited. The only available parameters are frequency, symbol rate and polarity. Disappointingly, entering or modifying PIDs is not allowed. Blind scan is available, although you cannot change the frequency step-size. A 'service' main-menu option on the carousel covers channel organisation. Services can be moved, locked, deleted, renamed, skipped or added to one or more of no fewer than 32 favourites lists. Other carousel items look after – among other things – languages, clock settings, default digital audio output mode, CAM matters, USB device formatting (FAT32 or NTFS), PVR configuration, network parameters, firmware upgrades via USB or Ethernet, aspect ratio and video output mode. On which subject, RGB Scart and component (and, for that matter, RGB Scart and HDMI) cannot be active simultaneously. Basic use
Although it's not even mentioned in the manual, pressing the 'F1' button displays all available satellites (among which you'll find 'terrestrial') for quick selection. A handy 'find' function is also available. Enter one or more letters of the desired channel's name, and all matches are displayed. As is usual, pressing 'enter' calls up the main channel list. This can be sorted alphabetically, numerically, by transponder or according to encryption status; the 'find' function is available here too. The yellow button accesses a 'property' submenu, which presents users with a quick and easy way of adding a channel to a favourites list. All other editing functions are available here too.
In normal use, the handset's 'fav' button cycles between 'all channels' and any active favourites lists. In normal use the 'info' button displays basic information about the current programme; pressing the red button treats you to technical information like signal strength/quality, encryption status, PIDs, satellite, frequency, polarity and symbol rate. There's supposedly a multi-channel 'mosaic' facility, although the relevant button of our sample's handset had no effect. Even without USB storage, though, you can 'freeze' (and unfreeze) the picture with the 'pause' button – but nothing more. A six-step picture zoom function, with panning, is also available. All of the 'usuals' are present – a dedicated button switches the unit from TV to radio mode. Decoding of conventional teletext (i.e. not the UK standard red button 'digital' variety) is possible, and if they're available you can choose from multiple soundtracks and subtitles. We have no complaints about the EPG, which is compatible with now-and-next and seven-day schedules. By default, it displays the programmes currently being broadcast by up to five consecutive channels. A touch of a button replaces these with the 'next' programmes of the same schedules. Switch to 'more', and the EPG screen is replaced by a two-hour timeline-style display. The final EPG mode details up to nine consecutive programmes from one (selectable) channel. It's easy to set the eight-event timer from the EPG. PVR and multimedia
Although timeshifting and the recording of radio and TV programmes are possible with a high-capacity, solid-state USB device, an external hard drive is recommended for serious use. Thanks to the twin tuners, recording a satellite programme while viewing a terrestrial one (or vice versa) is permitted. You can even view one satellite channel while recording another, the proviso being that both must be carried by the same transponder. In addition to making timed recordings you can manually invoke them – with a stop time if desired. Recordings are accessed from the 'file list', which has its own short-cut button. This is grouped with the 'transport' controls, which reside in the lower part of the handset. The most basic of functions apart – renaming, locking and deleting recordings – no editing facilities are available. Timeshifting gives you the usual repertoire of trick playback functions. Its parameters, such as default buffer size, can be changed in the 'PVR Setting' menu – as can the nature of recording. You're given a choice between recording an entire transponder and all its channels (a HDD is essential here), an MPEG file ('programme-stream' audio-and-video only, an option that's unavailable for HD channels), or the currently selected channel in transport-stream format. In the latter mode multiple soundtracks, teletext and DVB subtitles are retained. The same is true of the 'transponder' recording mode, which is unique as far as we're aware. We're very impressed with the multimedia player, which represents an alternative use of that USB port. Although billed as compatible with MP3, JPEG and BMP only, the Uni-box can handle far more than that. Among others, MKV/H.264 content (up to 1080p) and FLAC audio files can be played. Less than intuitively, you have to manually select the type of USB content (video/software/MP3/image/ recordings) that you're after. There is an 'all (files)' option, but the default is MP3 (which actually covers a number of compatible formats). 'All' is more of a quick content browser – you can't select photos or video in this mode for full-screen playback. It's a pity that the Uni-box cannot play networked multimedia files. Network features that are available include a weather forecast, RSS news feeds, basic FTP client and firmware updates (we couldn't get the latter to work). Finally, we have a trio of games – Tetris, Othello and Snake. Performance
The Uni-box is let down by a sluggish user interface. It's far too easy to shoot past the desired menu option or channel. Switching between channels on the same satellite takes three seconds or so. Search speeds are slower than usual. A full-channel search of Astra 1 was completed in five minutes. However, blind search is commendably fast. A blind search of Astra, which found two extra transponders, took just under seven minutes. We had no problems with sensitivity, the Astra 1 and Hot Bird channels being reliably pulled in with a small dish. Picture and sound quality impress too, the free-to-air HD channels on Astra 2/Eurobird conveying a definite 'Wow' factor via HDMI. Even the RGB Scart outlet yields vibrant colours and intricately rendered details by SD standards. Tech Labs
Power consumption: Watts Search performance Search 28E Search 19.2E Search 13E VerdictFor its modest asking price, the Golden Media Uni-box delivers some unique features. The ability to record an entire transponder is intriguing, while the automatic DiSEqC identification and satellite position calculator are practical installation tools. Day-to-day channel selection, meanwhile, is eased via the handset's dedicated satellite-selection and 'find' buttons. In format support terms, the multimedia player is superior to that of many far more expensive receivers (and, for that matter, dedicated media players). AV performance is excellent, and the EPG has been well implemented. Weighing against these pros are several cons. The handset is disappointing, and the user interface that it drives can be slow. The search facilities are too limited for dedicated enthusiasts. Regular users will, however, find much to recommend the Uni-box. 
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| Posted: 06 Aug 2011 03:00 AM PDT 3D has been a buzzword in the technology industry for years. Ever since Avatar brought 3D cinema back into the public eye in 2009, there's been a resurgence of interest in 3D technologies. Now we're surrounded by 3D TVs (with and without glasses), 3D computer monitors, 3D videogames, portable 3D games consoles like the Nintendo 3DS, 3D Blu-rays, 3D web streaming and even 3D sound. It seems like most of the major electronics companies are jumping on the 3D bandwagon, but why? 3D is nothing new; in fact, the first patent for stereoscopic 3D movies (where two images are combined to fool the eye into seeing footage in three dimensions) dates back to 1894. Since then, there's been a cycle every 10-15 years where 3D is hawked as the next big thing, people flock to cinemas to experience it and then it quietly fades away until the next generation rediscovers it. What makes 3D entertainment so attractive to us? Why do we strive to replace our 2D displays with ones that fool us into seeing that extra dimension, and what will happen when we finally do? To understand 3D's attraction, we spoke to Joanna Bawa, a chartered psychologist with a special interest in technology. She feels it's something inherent in the way we view the world. "3D is appealing because it's more like reality than 2D," she says. "We can choose to engage with 2D entertainment by making a decision, in effect, suspending our disbelief. With 3D, the choice is far less conscious because 3D engages us whether we like it or not by triggering unconscious responses, which are more closely connected with our emotional selves." Viewer involvementSamsung, which is investing heavily in 3D tech, agrees. "Viewers want to feel involved in what they're watching, and immersed in the environments portrayed on screen," a company spokesman told us. "3D is the most important evolution in visual technology for decades." But we've been here before. In the '80s, viewers were thrilled by films like Jaws 3-D and Amityville 3-D, but the technology was mothballed almost as soon as it appeared. Is 3D just a fad - an attractive novelty rather than something genuinely useful? "3D isn't a fad," Bawa explains. "It's an aspiration we're some way off achieving, but which continues to drive us. The closer we get to 3D, the less visible the seam between technology and the real world, and the more immersive the experience. So, while it's true that we're attracted to novelty, in a way 3D is more traditional because it more accurately reflects our every day experience of interacting with the world. That doesn't mean 3D is good for everything, though!" On the bandwagonYou wouldn't believe it looking at the vast range of products now bearing the 3D label, one of the latest examples of which is 3D web streaming. "To expand the 3D TV market, we have launched a free 3D video on demand (VoD) service to the UK," Samsung told us. "The service is available on Samsung Smart TVs, and lets users access 20 free 3D videos on demand. But this is just the start - by the end of the year we will be offering up to 70 free 3D VoDs and believe that in years to come, [people in] every living room will be able to access 3D content at their convenience." With new applications for 3D popping up all the time, and even ways to view 3D without glasses like head-tracking or lenticular screens, are we about to crack 3D? It's already lasted longer than in previous iterations, so what does Bawa think the main impact of 3D will be if we finally succeed? "It depends in what sphere," she says. "In entertainment, especially movies and games, participants will become far more immersed in their 3D world. This will be enriching in many ways, but may well impact adversely on our 'real world' skills. For example, there is already some evidence that extensive game playing is leading to an increase in the accident and death rate in young men because of their reduced ability to judge risk in the real world, and their reduced awareness of real world consequences. More and better 3D will blur the boundaries between real and not-real in ways which we cannot fully anticipate," she says. "In movies, the experience is more personal and more immediate because objects appear to enter an individual's personal space - which can be scary, funny or thrilling. At the moment, although we respond emotionally to this, we still know 'it's just a movie', but the younger the participant the less clear that distinction. "In a technical sense, 3D is better than 2D for visualising solid objects. Product design, remote surgery, layout of stores and molecular science are all examples where 3D has clear benefits." So seeing in 3D really does provide a different emotional impact compared to 2D? "Yes," Bawa says. "Some of our most important perceptual skills are based on survival and have evolved over many millennia, which means they bypass our conscious brain and operate at a much faster, subconscious level. Objects and movements we cannot perceive consciously have an emotional impact (such as fear or arousal), which allows us to respond before we know that we need to. "Emotions are therefore experiences in a less predictable but more intense way, which is rarely achieved in 2D. Of course, this only applies where emotion is involved - 3D modelling of molecules or products has no emotional dimension but provides a better fit to the experience of working with a real object." So what does she think would be the most exciting use for 3D? "That depends on what you regard as exciting! Video conferencing, space flight, education, combat training, virtual tourism, communication and geo-exploration are all markets ripe for 3D. Real life is 3D, so there are few areas where good 3D technology wouldn't have a role. But let's take a guess. The usual market leader in these immersive, interactive technologies is the porn industry, and given that sex remains one of our most powerful drivers and most intense emotional experiences, it's the area where the brain is probably most willing to be tricked. "But while that sounds exciting, it will bring a huge raft of problems too, if the issue of two-dimensional porn addiction is anything to go by. 3D is hugely powerful, and like all powerful technologies, it brings solutions and problems we never imagined." 
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| Posted: 06 Aug 2011 02:30 AM PDT How much difference can a good monitor make to your PC? If you're into editing photos, a screen with flawless colour representation and sharpness is crucial. For gamers, add high native resolution and quick response time to that list. Even the casual PC should be able to watch videos of zoo animals sneezing and strangers' infant children laughing in sparkling high definition. Will the Hanns G HL225 set your eyes alight with blinding, unbearable beauty? No. But come on, it costs a hundred quid – give it a chance! It's one of many competing value-end 22-inch screens snapping for your £100 like rectangular black piranhas, alpha males of the pack being the Liyama Prolite E2208HD and Viewsonic's VX2239WM 22. Like both these snappily named screens, Hanns G's offering supports 1920 x 1080p natively, and has a 1000:1 contrast ratio. No HDMI connector here though, which seems a bit stingy. The colour quality isn't anything to get excited about either. Blacks get a bit muddy, whites get a bit washed out, and the 'X-Contrast' setting only seems to accentuate this. Such is the competition at this price point that even these minor bugbears means the HL225D loses a lot of ground to the forerunners. 
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