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- Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
- Retweet and Sexting make Oxford Dictionary
- Google sends Street View cameras to Amazon
- Facebook adds new Ticker feature
- Panasonic hopes to grow compact system camera market further
- IBM creates chip that mimics human brain
- Review: Samsung WB700
- iPad 3 Retina Display orders tip early 2012 release date
- Vodafone launches operator billing for Android
- Asus's MARS II GTX 580 graphics card revealed
- Free music clampdown sees Spotify subscriptions soar
- Review: OCZ Agility 3 240GB
- Review: Crucial M4 256GB
- Review: Corsair Force 3 120GB
- In Depth: Whatever happened to Wireless USB & HDMI?
- Competition Commission calls for restrictions on Sky Movies
- Updated: Top 160 best Android apps 2011
- Week in Tech: Google moves on Moto as patent war hots up
- Samsung IFA teaser hints at new 7in Galaxy Tab
- Vodafone picks up Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray
- Gary Marshall: Could HP's move spell the end of the PC?
- Apple chases Europe-wide Samsung Galaxy ban
- Apple chases Europe-wide Samsung ban
- Review: Acoustic Energy Neo Max
- Review: SteelSeries 6Gv2
| Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Posted: 20 Aug 2011 01:00 AM PDT We may be in the middle of summer (not that you'd know it, looking outside) but we've still got some great kit reviewed this week. First up is Sony's new Alpha 35 SLT camera which has plenty of innovative features for those who want a bit more from an upgrade. We've also got a review of the monstrous EVGA GeForce GTX 560 2Win - two full-spec Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 GPUs together on the same card - as well as the excellent new Xperia Mini. It's a new Android-toting miniature smartphone from Sony Ericsson. Read on to see what we thought of it as well as tens of other products reviewed this week on TechRadar. The Sony Alpha A35 is the latest launch to join the manufacturer's innovative Single Lens Translucent (SLT) camera line-up, debuting a number of new technologies that look set to turn the heads of first-time entry-level buyers and upgraders alike. Sony has succeeded in taking an already impressive piece of technology and really exploring its potential. Using their innovative SLT design, it has created a very responsive camera that impresses in just about every aspect. With a glut of high-end features that elevate the SLT-A35 above the rank of your typical 'entry-level' camera, there's plenty to love about this model. Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G review These days we're seeing a lot more slim and light ultraportable laptops. Rising up against these size zero models is the Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G. Like the Dell XPS 15z and the Macbook Pro 17 inch, this is all about packing in huge amounts of power, and who cares if it's on the chunky side. After all, as our mothers told us: it's not the outside, it's what's on the inside that counts. Acer's Ethos range are built for entertainment, and aimed squarely at those who want a smart and powerful portable for enjoying their games and media collection. We're big fans of previous Ethos models, so we gleefully put the Aspire Ethos 8951G through its paces. EVGA GeForce GTX 560 2Win review What fresh madness is this? Two full-spec Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 GPUs on a single slab silicon? Either the EVGA GeForce GTX 460 2Win is a stroke of genius in a graphics card or it's something to do with a surplus of old graphics chips. Select your benchmarks just right and you can happily say that this twin-GPU card outperforms the EVGA GTX 580 Superclocked. You can say it happily, but you surely can't say it without feeling slightly guilty at putting so much spin on it. As a technical achievement, it is impressive, but it's far too expensive compared to a standard GTX 460 SLI pairing or a vanilla GTX 580. So the British summer is having another shocker, and let's face it, autumn will likely be just as grim. On that merry note, it's well worth saving up some cash for a new entertainment machine to keep you occupied during those long, dark evenings, so you don't have to resort to conversations with family members. We've seen some excellent and unique multimedia laptops recently, from the sleek and powerful Dell XPS 15z, to the Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G, with its detachable remote control touchpad. The MSI FX720 certainly has a lot of competition, but it comes with a less eye-watering price tag than many of its peers. Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini review Before the arrival of Sony's Ericsson's new Xperia Mini, the X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro were an odd little couple, launching in mid-2010 with Android 1.6 and a bespoke and heavily-customised user interface on top. They weren't amazingly powerful phones and their 2.55-inch screens were shockingly small - but Sony Ericsson did a good job of maximising the available space with its corner-based interface. The same system has returned in 2011's updates, albeit improved thanks to Sony Ericsson's developers having another year to fiddle with the interface and add more new layers of social integration.
This week's other reviewsHard disk drives Headsets Plantronics Voyager Pro UC v2 review Hi-fi Accessories Caig Audio-Video Survival kit review Dynamique Audio Tempest and Cyclone review Spin Clean Record-washing system review iPod accessories
Keyboards Logitech Wireless Keyboard K360 review Mice and trackballs HP Wi-Fi Direct Mobile Mouse review Genius Micro Traveler 900BT review Monitors Fellowes Office Suites Monitor Riser Plus review Network adapters Belkin Share Powerline AV 3 Port review Netgear Powerline AV+ 500 review Optical drives LiteOn External Blu-ray Disc Combo review Processors Projectors Software Xara Web Designer 7 Premium review Avanquest Web Easy Professional 8 review Virtual Mechanics SiteSpinner Pro review Mr Site Storefront Pro Seller review MAGIX Website Maker 5 Deluxe review Cyberlink Photo Director review Speakers Acoustic Energy Neo Max review Storage Western Digital My Book Live review
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| Retweet and Sexting make Oxford Dictionary Posted: 19 Aug 2011 12:56 PM PDT A host of new tech words, including Retweet and Sexting, have been added to that bastion of our treasured lexicon, the Oxford English Dictionary. Also among the 400 new words to appear in the twelfth edition of the dictionary since 1911, are words like Woot and Cyberbullying. The new words made the cut after being entered into a database of over two billion contemporary websites to test how widely they were being used. DefinitionsHere's a rundown of the new words legitimised by their continued use in tech circles: 1. Cyberbullying (noun): The use of electronic communication to bully a person; 2. Retweet (exclamation, informal): Used to express elation, enthusiasm, or triumph; 3. Retweet (verb): Repost or forward a message on Twitter; 4. Sexting (noun, informal): The sending of sexually explicit photographs or messages via mobile phone; 5. Textspeak (noun): Language regarded as characteristic of text messages. The makers of the dictionary have also deemed Jeggins - often-too-revealing leggins with a denim effect - and Mankini - always-too-revealing male swimwear with a spandex effect - worthy of inclusion. 
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| Google sends Street View cameras to Amazon Posted: 19 Aug 2011 12:23 PM PDT Google has to begun to map the Amazon rainforest and river for its Street View service. Camera teams have been dispatched by boat and in order to bring intimate details the world's largest tropical rainforest to your desktop. The crews, which include the indigenous peoples of the area, will also seek to capture the living environments of those who inhabit the jungle. Culture and beauty"Once all the images are uploaded to the internet, we can share the local culture and beauty of the Amazon with anyone, anywhere in the world," says Karin Tuxen-Bettman, who is leading the team. Without the vision, creativity and dedication of our partners, this endeavour would not be possible." The project is being carried out in association with Sustainable Amazon Foundation, which hopes to raise awareness about the rainforest's plight. Link: Telegraph 
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| Facebook adds new Ticker feature Posted: 19 Aug 2011 12:01 PM PDT Facebook has started to roll a new feature called Ticker, which will showcase all updates in real-time. The new functionality will feature status updates, likes, photo postings and what-not as they happen. Ticker will not replace the current news feed, but instead will appear to the right of it. Facebook's news feed will increasingly focus on "Highlights" or top stories, according to the All Facebook blog, but that is likely to mean a lot of repetition across the page. Roll-outSo far only a few users have seen the update affect their homepage landscape, but it is believed that all users are in line for the switch. The new ticker also boasts a new means of commenting on and liking posts. As you mouse over an item it will spread across the main news feed and allow you to respond. Link: All Facebook 
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| Panasonic hopes to grow compact system camera market further Posted: 19 Aug 2011 10:35 AM PDT Panasonic has high hopes for its micro four thirds range of cameras, suggesting that the market will continue to develop and grow, allowing the company to expand further. According to Panasonic, the company is the third biggest player in the interchangeable lens market, and at the top spot for the compact system camera (CSC) area of the market. The Panasonic G3, released in May, is currently the best-selling CSC in the UK, along with being in the top five for all camera sales. Speaking in London, Panasonic's Mr Uetmasu spoke of his hopes for the continued growth and expansion of the compact system camera. He made it clear that he did not believe that CSCs were second rate compared to DSLR. Citing the rapid development in digital camera technology over the past 20 years, he said he could see no reason why compact system cameras could not catch up with DSLRs in the next few years in terms of image quality. Sensor isn't everythingOne of the biggest drawbacks of micro four thirds cameras is the smaller sensor size compared to APS-C and full-frame DSLRS. In a bid to counter this criticism, Mr Uetmatsu said, "Image quality is not only about sensor size, but also signal processing and optical performance." Another area where compact system cameras have an advantage is in the camcorder market. A micro four thirds sensor is 10 times bigger than a consumer camcorder, which should result in higher image quality. Panasonic was the first company to enter the CSC market with the G1 back in 2008, and has since introduced several models including the G3, GH2 and GF3. Uematsu described the original G1 as a "very small step in technology, but a big step for system cameras." Mr Uetmatsu was also confident that we would be begin to see a greater expansion in the general compact system camera market. "Many manufacturers will introduce mirrorless cameras, but we have a distinct advantage because we are already two years ahead," he said. Samsung, Sony and Pentax already have mirrorless models on the market, while Nikon has long been rumoured to be introducing its compact system camera soon. In a previous interview with TechRadar, Mr Uetmatsu said Panasonic was currently working on an advanced GF model to sit at the top of the range. 
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| IBM creates chip that mimics human brain Posted: 19 Aug 2011 09:53 AM PDT A computer powered by a human brain has long been a ghoulish trope of sci-fi, but it could be one step closer to reality thanks to IBM's SyNAPSE project. The project aims to create chips capable of "cognitive computing", which means they instantly react and re-engineer themselves based on external stimuli and events. Two prototype chips have been created, using advanced algorithms and silicon circuitry to recreate the phenomena of spiking neurons and synapses in biological systems. This enables the processors to "learn" from experiences, find correlations, create hypotheses and mimic the brain's structural and synaptic plasticity. 'Compact size'Dharmendra Modha, the leader of the project, said IBM aims to create "a system that not only analyses complex information from multiple sensory modalities at once but also dynamically rewires itself as it interacts with its environment - all while rivalling the brain's compact size and low-power usage." Modha illustrated the idea behind the chips with the concept of traffic lights that are able to "integrate sights, sounds and smells and flag unsafe intersections before disaster happens", which sounds a little too close to Minority Report for our liking. That said, a film starring a set of traffic lights instead of Tom Cruise has a certain appeal. 
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| Posted: 19 Aug 2011 09:36 AM PDT Samsung WB700's 18x optical zoom (24mm to a lengthy 432mm in 35mm terms) Schneider Kreuznach Varioplan lens may be enough to make it attractive to many, but the W700 also has program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual (PASM) that keen photographers are always eager for. Along with the PASM options, there's also a smart auto mode, video, scene modes and the dual IS option which enables both optical and digital image stabilisers.
There are also the digital effects available on the WB700. Labelled as smart filters, there are some run of the mill ones seen on previous cameras for a couple of years now, as well as some funky new ones. The filters that have been present before include the Half Tone Dot, Sketch, Fisheye, Vignette and Custom RGB. We really like the newly added Old Film modes though. The camera will record a random filter on each picture making them look different. It's a shame, however, that the old film filters can't be used in video mode. With the decent lens, good build quality, long zoom and manual controls the WB700 looks set to take on the popular Panasonic TZ models. One distinct advantage that the Samsung model has is its cheaper price, around the £210 mark on the high street or £200 online. The W700 feels solid enough and appears well built, even the lockable battery port door is very tough and has no flex in it. There's also a small flip door to protect the USB and HDMI ports on the side of the camera, not a bendy rubber door - which is nice. Thanks to its long lens, the W700 is also noticeably larger than Samsung's other compact cameras. On the bottom, we're happy to see a metal tripod bush as this is generally the mark of a camera that's higher in the market placing than ones with a plastic version.
There's a small grip on the front of the W700 that fits to the fingers nicely and makes one handed shooting comfortable. The only time we ever had trouble holding the camera steady one-handed was at the maximum 18x optical zoom, but fortunately the impact of the optical image stabiliser is visible on screen when the shutter release button is half pressed. We have a slight issue with the shutter release button. Normally this would have a failry obvious halfway point to lock focus on a subject, but with the WB700, it feels like there's another mark before the halfway one. We found that sometimes we pressed the button down and it didn't lock because we hadn't reached the halfway point. Other times we pressed harder and inadvertently took a picture. For a comparatively advanced camera, the W700 is surprisingly easy to use. We like the overall layout and design, the camera looks good enough to contend with similar offering from Nikon, Canon and Panasonic. It also has a nice feel to it and is comfortable to use. The screen is nice and bright and we love the futuristic look of the menu system. The sensor and processor are both very sympathetic to colours. They record and process them realistically with just the right amount of saturation. Pictures are generally sharp, thanks in part to the nifty focusing, though edge definition degrades at mid to high sensitivity settings. Noise is held nicely at bay at the lower end settings, but not surprisingly, it gets gradually worse as the sensitvity level goes up.
With other Samsung digital compact cameras such as the SH100 or ST6500, noise has a tendency to get visibly annoying at ISO 800, but the WB700 has an extra stop grace and only shows colour invasion at ISO1600 and ISO3200. At ISO 3200 images show a poor edge definition, as well as large blobs of colour noise. Darker areas of photographs taken at this setting also have a definite colour cast to them. Though the metering system generally perfoms well, when the W700 is presented with complex lighting situations, we found that we had to underexpose by as much as 2/3rds of a stop. That being said, we really like the pictures that we got from the Samsung WB700 digital compact camera. We think that the pros far outweigh the cons, and the majority of cons can be worked around. We used a few of the digital filter effects in the test and the majority of them were great. We especially enjoyed using the old film filters at a Victorian boating lake. However, the miniature effect is disappointing. It works by placing a blur at the top and bottom of the picture that fades out to create an illusion of narrow depth of field. However, the edges of the blur are too hard on the WB700 filter and the result isn't especially effective in many cases. Our test of the Samsung WB700 is on the way, but in the mean time we would like to share the resolution chart images and the noise and dynamic range results. If you view our crops of the resolution chart's central section at 100% (or Actual Pixels) you will see that, for example, at ISO 100 the Samsung WB700 is capable of resolving up to around 22 (line widths per picture height x100) in its highest quality JPEG files. Examining images of the chart taken at each sensitivity setting reveals the following resolution scores in line widths per picture height x100:
ISO 80, score: 22 (see full image)
ISO 100, score: 22 (see full image)
ISO 200, score: 20 (see full image)
ISO 400, score: 18 (see full image)
ISO 800, score:16 (see full image)
ISO 1600, score: 14 (see full image)
ISO 3200, score: 14 (see full image) These graphs were produced using data generated by DXO Analyzer. We shoot a specially designed chart in carefully controlled conditions and the resulting images are analysed using the DXO software. Signal to noise ratioA high signal to noise ratio (SNR) indicates a cleaner and better quality image.
JPEG images from the Samsung WB700 just beat the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 signal to noise ration score at ISO 100. From ISO 200 results for the WB700 are less impressive than the comparison cameras. Dynamic range
This chart indicates that the Samsung WB700's JPEGs compare well with the Panasonic TZ20 up to ISO 200, but as the sensitivity increases its perfomance drops off. See a selection of sample images taken with the Samsung WB700, featuring a range of different subjects and conditions.
Click here to see a hi-res version.
Click here to see a hi-res version.
Click here to see a hi-res version.
Click here to see a hi-res version.
Click here to see a hi-res version.
Click here to see a hi-res version.
Click here to see a hi-res version.
Click here to see a hi-res version.
Click here to see a hi-res version. See how the Samsung WB700 performed at different ISO speeds.
ISO 80 Click here to see hi-res version.
ISO 100 Click here to see hi-res version.
ISO 200 Click here to see hi-res version.
ISO 400 Click here to see hi-res version.
ISO 800 Click here to see hi-res version.
ISO 1600 Click here to see hi-res version.
ISO 3200 Click here to see hi-res version. It looks like Samsung started out to produce a camera that would contend with the large zoom TZ-series of compact cameras that Panasonic is releasing at the moment . The WB700 is a similar size, has a similar zoom range and has a similar high quality lens from an independent manufacturer. Samsung offers slightly more though, such as the lens actually being built by Schneider and fitting an 18x zoom. Pictures pop with realistic colour and are pin sharp, the processor handles noise very well and the novelty digital filters will provide additional entertainment. We think that the Samsung WB700 will be ideal for many different types of consumer. The complete novice might be overwhelmed at first but there is a smart auto on the command dial to let the camera control everything except taking a picture.
We likedWe love the little extras that the WB700 has such as the Schneider lens, manual controls and excellent build throughout – even on the battery door. Pictures are great with lovely colours and sharp focusing. We dislikedDetail resolution and dynamic range could be improved, especially at higher sensitivity settings. VerdictAmateur users will enjoy the fun elements and large zoom while keen photographers will welcome the manual controls however limited the aperture is. The addition of a histogram is also a welcome feature for the more advanced user. The rating of the camera reflects the good points. We feel that the bad points are negligible compared to the good points. 
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| iPad 3 Retina Display orders tip early 2012 release date Posted: 19 Aug 2011 09:35 AM PDT Apple has placed orders for high resolution Retina Display panels for the iPad 3, according to supplier sources, with a projected launch date of early 2012. So, that'll be around the same sort of time as normal then, given that the original iPad launched in April and the iPad 2 in March, going against the many rumours that we'd see it launch before the end of the year. Anyway, the exciting news is that it looks as though we will get our Retina Display iPad at last, with Apple reportedly testing suppliers' current shipments of 2048 x 1536 resolution 9.7-inch displays. Much ado about nothingOne component supplier told the Wall Street Journal that Apple has already placed an order for parts for around 1.5 million iPad 3s in advance of ramped up production for the launch. The iPad 2 was weighed down by supply problems when it launched in April of this year; no doubt Apple hopes to avoid these issues with a bigger stockpile of slates ready to go. While any article titled "Apple developing new iPad" serves more to remind us of Reuters' "scoop" "confirming" the existence of the iPad 2 as if it were in any kind of question, we're inclined to trust the Wall Street Journal and its supplier sources. So it looks like we won't be getting an iPad 3 in time for Christmas after all; the elves are no doubt sighing with relief.
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| Vodafone launches operator billing for Android Posted: 19 Aug 2011 09:20 AM PDT Vodafone is the first European network to offer operator billing for its Android owning, app loving customers, having announced that the roll out will start today. This means that Android owners on Vodafone contracts can charge their App Market purchases to their phone bills rather than paying via credit card as they go. If you're on pre-pay, you can still take advantage of the new service by using your credit to buy apps instead of making calls. ApptacularVodafone says the service will "initially" be available to customers who bought their handsets through Vodafone online and its high street shops. In a blog post aimed at developers, Vodafone explains, "In addition to facilitating the best possible user experience, Vodafone operator billing extends your reach to the large number of app buying customers who are unwilling or unable to use credit cards. In some countries this can be more than 90% of the market." The service is rolling out across the UK and Germany from today, so Vodafone customers should keep their eyes peeled for the new option in the Android market. 
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| Asus's MARS II GTX 580 graphics card revealed Posted: 19 Aug 2011 07:53 AM PDT Component and computer manufacturer Asus has unveiled its Republic of Gamers MARS II graphics cards, which ship with dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 chips. The ever-modest Asus claim that the card is the world's "fastest, most powerful graphics card", and that it sets "new records in video and gaming excellence". Each graphics processing unit runs 22% faster than reference GeForce chips, and Asus says this will let the card run DirectX11 games in resolutions higher than 1080p. Asus has also crammed 3GB of GDDR5 video memory onto the card. Ever keen to worship the gods of thermodynamics, Asus has cooled the cards with two 120mm fans, which are said to move 600% more air than reference designs - which is also great if you're thinking of teaching a canary to sky dive. Push the buttonA turbo fan button is incorporated on the card itself, which cranks both fans up to 100%, regardless of driver settings. The button is on the side of the card though, so you'll need to open your case to access it, or use a really long stick. If that's not enough, Asus has used 21-phase Super Alloy Power technology, which combines a 21-phase power architecture with a special alloy mix for a "15% performance boost", and also more than doubles the lifespan of the card. The card ships with Asus's GPU Tweak utility, which makes overclocking nice and easy, as well as a "laser-carved, sequentially-numbered aluminium plate" which certifies the card's limited edition status, and is sure to impress the ladies. 
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| Free music clampdown sees Spotify subscriptions soar Posted: 19 Aug 2011 07:43 AM PDT Spotify gained over 500,000 paying subscribers after introducing tight restrictions on its free service in May 2011, according to a leaked report examined by MusicAlly. The surge in premium subscriptions tipped the music streaming service over the 1.5 million paying customers mark. However, the same period saw Spotify drop 1.6 million users from its free service; even if 500,000 of these became paying subscribers, that still leaves a dearth of 1.1 million free users who have abandoned ship. If you leave me now…The figures quoted relate to the period from March to June 2011, during which time paying subscribers leapt from 1.02 million to 1.54 million. Quite a jump, when you consider that the service racked up only 124,000 paying subscribers between January and March - no doubt users were keen to avoid the new restrictions and ditch the irritating adverts. The controversial new set up saw Spotify Free members restricted to 10 hours of music streaming per month, as well as caps on the number of times each song could be played. Since the introduction of the service caps, Spotify has also launched in America, a long-awaited move that should be bolstering its figures for the remainder of the year. 
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| Posted: 19 Aug 2011 07:30 AM PDT SandForce's hotly anticipated new SF-2200 controller? Check. 240GB of solid state memory? Yup. SATA 6Gbps support? Affirmative. Sequential read and write performance in the 500MB/s ball park? Oh, yes. Just what separates this OCZ Agility 3 drive from its seemingly identical Vertex 3 sibling? Not a lot, as it happens. But there is one difference. The Agility 3 makes do with asynchronous rather than synchronous NAND memory. But what, exactly, does this mean? Asynchronous NAND is cheaper and cheaper usually means slower. In this case, the reasons are rather subtle and involve the way flash memory chips sync with other parts of the SSD chipset over a given clock cycle. But the crucial upshot is that the asynchronous NAND limits the Agility 3 to 50MB/s per channel, whereas the Vertex punches out 200MB/s. DuraWrite maths rewriteNow, that does seem like a yawning gap in performance. Given that both drives have eight memory channels, it also begs the question of how the Agility 3 can possibly deliver 500MB/s. Do the maths. It doesn't add up. The answer, of course, is SandForce's DuraWrite technology which cleverly compresses data before it's stored in the NAND cells, effectively boosting bandwidth. Except, that is, when you're dealing with incompressible data. Like, zip files. And MP3 tracks. And video clips. Which, when you think about it, represents most of the really hefty files on most people's PCs. It's worth bearing this in mind in the context of the small price difference between OCZ's pairing. Predictably, therefore, the Agility 3 scores highly in the standard ATTO sequential read and write benchmark, clocking up over 500MB/s in both metrics. Truly monumental numbers, we think you'll agree. However, fire up the AS SSD test, and things aren't quite so peachy as AS SSD uses incompressible data. The result is sequential read and write performance around the 200MB/s mark. Not so monumental, then. Mercifully, random access performance is less bandwidth limited allowing the Agility 3 to keep a little closer to the Vertex 3 in the AS SSD 4K read and write benchmarks. More importantly, barring the Vertex 3, the Agility 3 is mostly as quick as anything else on test in the 4K random tests, which bodes well for day-to-day desktop use. As for real-world application performance, the Agility 3 is solid if not spectacular. It's in roughly the same ballpark as the non-SandForce competition in our file decompression race, but a little off the pace when installing games. Of course, it's attractively priced for a 240GB drive with the latest SandForce controller technology. But then the OCZ Vertex 3 only costs an extra 10 per cent and tops the performance tables across the board. In the end, that £30 discount just isn't enough. 
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| Posted: 19 Aug 2011 07:15 AM PDT Hand on heart, you know that drives with the latest SandForce SF-2200 series controller are probably the quickest you can buy. Is there any point in looking elsewhere? Well, yes. Price and reliability also come into the equation. Enter the Crucial M4 from one of the biggest outfits in memory. The new M4 256GB is hardly a slouch thanks to 6Gbps SATA support and 415MB/s read and 260MB/s write ratings. Not long ago, those would have been absolutely spectacular numbers. Admittedly, not so much today, but then again the M4's input-output operations per second (IOPS) performance which is around the 40 to 50K mark is far from shabby and should make for strong real-world performance. As for what makes the new M4 tick, it sports a mildly reworked version of the older Crucial C300's Marvell 9174 controller. As before, it remains an eight-channel controller, just like the SandForce SF-2200. Of course, the C300 was one of the first SSDs to offer SATA 6Gbps support, so it's no surprise to find the M4 does likewise. As for the flash memory chips, they're the latest 25nm NANDs from parent company Micron. The chips are fabbed in a joint venture with Intel. Oddly, Micron badged chips from this venture are rated at 3,000 write/erase cycles to the 5,000 of the same chips from Intel. In theory, that makes the Intel chips longer lasting. The moral of the story here is take such specs with a healthy pinch of salt. Much depends on how a given vendor chooses to validate its products. Indeed, it's also worth bearing that in mind when comparing two totally unrelated drives. Of course, real-world longevity takes years to shake out. What we can comment on, however, is performance. The headline sequential read and write performance exceeds Crucial claims, clocking up 440MB/s and 286MB/s respectively. That's still quite a bit slower than drives powered by the latest SandForce SF-2200 controller, but then the Marvell 9174 controller doesn't do the same uber data compression thang as the SandForce. Movie muncherBut hang on, because that's not always a bad thing. When it comes to shunting incompressible data around, like music and video, the Crucial M4 takes much less of a performance hit. It's 50MB/s faster with incompressible writes than the mighty OCZ Vertex 3. It's pretty darn nifty in our file decompression and game install benchmarks, too, running the Vertex 3 very close. It's also a little larger at 256GB rather than 240GB. All of which makes for a pretty interesting alternative to the defaultoption OCZ Vertex 3 and its SandForce controller. Or at least it would were it not for the fact that the Crucial M4 is typically £20 more expensive. It's not a massive difference, but it's definitely in the wrong direction. 
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| Posted: 19 Aug 2011 07:00 AM PDT One hundred and seventy English pounds for a 120GB SSD powered by the latest SandForce SF-2200 controller and 25nm NAND flash memory? Looks like a bit of a bargain, particularly compared to 120GB-ish drives with the Marvell 9174 controller, such as the Intel 510 and Plextor M2S. For the most part, Corsair's new Force 3 continues to look like a great deal when the stick-poking forensics kick off. You get the same SF-2281 controller found in several much more expensive drives. That means SATA 6Gbps support and clever DuraWrite data compression that reduces traffic to the flash memory cells, theoretically making for more performance and better drive longevity. In fact, to be strictly accurate, data compression is just one part of the DuraWrite feature set that contributes to reduced write amplification. To give an example of the overall impact, SandForce says a typical installation of Windows 7 and Office 2007 involves 25GB of writes to a standard hard disk or SSD. Thanks to DuraWrite, this is reduced to just 11GB. AmplifiedDue to the way data is stored in blocks, with a normal SSD you'd expect much more than 25GB of data to be written to the flash cells, hence the term 'write amplification'. With that in mind, the arrival of 25nm MLC NAND flash from Intel and Micron, as found in the new Force 3 and several other drives, is intriguing. Depending on who is doing the measuring, 25nm NAND is rated at 3,000 to 5,000 write-erase cycles. At best, that's half the typical rating of 34nm NAND and raises questions about just how long the latest SSDs with 25nm NAND can last. It will likely take years for a really detailed picture of the reliability of today's SSDs to emerge. But anything that reduces writes must be a good thing. What the Force 3 isn't, however, is perfect. For starters, Corsair has gone for cheaper asynchronous NAND, limiting absolute bandwidth (not taking into account data compression) to 50MB/s channel or 400MB/s total. Just like the OCZ Agility 3, which also uses asynchronous NAND, the Force's 3 claimed sequential performance is likely to drop significantly when handling incompressible data. Another problem is likely temporary but concerns drives freezing or not being detected by the BIOS for certain motherboard chipsets; most often Intel Z68 and H67. As we went to press, the problem wasn't solved, but Corsair has been extremely candid so far and we're confident it will solve the issue. The final snag is performance that's good but not great. Some of the shortfall can be explained by the asynchronous NAND chips. But overall, the Force 3 is a little slower than we expected. Whether this is related to the drive's current instability is unclear. We hope to know in the coming weeks. 
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| In Depth: Whatever happened to Wireless USB & HDMI? Posted: 19 Aug 2011 06:14 AM PDT A few years ago, we were promised that USB cables would be a thing of the past. And that our HD TVs would also connect to our Sky boxes and Blu-ray players wirelessly. So where are the wireless ultrawideband (UWB) technologies that were supposed to get rid of these cables? Picture the scene – it's CES 2007. The consortium of manufacturers that make up the USB Implementers Forum has a small but significant presence on the show floor, demoing cameras which download their pictures to your PC just by being placed in their presence. A printer starts spitting out high quality prints with no cables attached. In a side room below the Sands Convention Centre, Philips shows off TVs with Wireless HDMI adaptors. It's a triumph, winning praise from those who like to mount their screens on the wall, but dislike the thick corded cables that mess up a minimalist lounge. Two years later, Ofcom declares UWB tech fit to use in the UK. Pundits rejoice, with some (even on this site) declaring that Wireless HDMI would be the standard by 2010. And things definitely haven't got to this stage. So what happened? Unlikely USB?Wireless USB was supposed to be a game changer. Within three metres, it is technically capable of the same speeds as USB 2.0, and can still manage a respectable 110Mbps at 10m range. Because it works in the UWB spectrum, it doesn't need line of sight to a receiver and it's resistant to interference too. Yet it's one of those great technologies that may simply never happen. Part of the problem was the delay between announcing standards and the lifting of regulatory restrictions for devices operating in the UWB spectrum (3.1 to 10.6GHz). It took several years between development of the standard and authorisation of its use, and regulatory requirements are still different in different countries. By the time most territories had authorised the airwaves necessary (around 2009), fast 802.11n Wi-Fi was commonly available. Many of the things that Wireless USB was developed for were being done just fine over that. Want to print wirelessly? No problem, there's barely any price premium to pay for a multifuinction printer and scanner that has Wi-Fi built in now. Laptops with Intel's Wireless Display (Wi-Di) tech on board can even send HD pictures directly to a TV over Wi-Fi (albeit unreliably laggy at present). And why build a camera with Wireless USB to copy pics to your hard drive, when you can upload shots directly to Facebook if it has Wi-Fi on board?
Didn't you hear? The iPhone 4 is the most popular camera on Flickr now, and that syncs your snaps automatically over a cell signal. Belkin, as ever an early adopter of these types of things, was one of the first to launch a Wireless USB hub and adaptor kit. Which is no longer on sale. Investment elsewhereIt's not just about red tape, of course. Other reasons for the delay come down to inconvenience and cost of adding WUSB to a new peripheral when there are no laptops or motherboards that have transceivers built in. Another adapter is confusing and pricey for consumers – making wireless strangely less convenient than wires. Plus, there's the fact that USB has since been settled on as the cable of choice for charging phones and media players. Plans are afoot to enhance voltages over USB ports so they can be used to charge tablets too. Since wireless power is another idea whose time is not yet come, there's no sense including a WUSB antenna when you'll be connecting by cable anyway. And finally, while investing in WUSB has no guaranteed returns for manufacturers, excitingly fast new cabled connections like USB 3.0 and Lightpeak/Thunderbolt are a safer bet. Western Digital, for example, has shifted its entire portable hard drive range over to USB 3.0 already and is looking at Lightpeak/Thunderbolt for the future. It has no plans to start introducing WUSB anytime soon. Why would it? Adding another chip and a battery into a hard drive would be madness when we have Dropbox for that kind of thing. The cloud make WUSB almost defunct. Wire free TVIf Wireless USB has an uncertain future, then, what's the prognosis for Wireless HDMI? Far from being standard by 2010, there are almost no TVs with Wireless HDMI built in, and none that are available in the UK. A couple of years ago, there were at least two models – one from LG and one from Panasonic – available. So we're going backwards. To a certain extent, that's understandable in a time of tough economics - compared adding internet connectivity and 3D glasses, Wireless HDMI is unlikely to sell many more TVs to consumers. There are, however, lots of Wireless HDMI adaptors available – although with prices for the likes of the Xenta kit starting at £150, they aren't exactly cheap. But wireless display technology does seem to be slowly catching on, although they're coming from PCs rather than TVs. There's Intel's Wi-Di (mentioned earlier), and ASUS has its Kinect-like Wavi Xtation on the way. Samsung's Central Station monitors, which combine both a wireless USB hub and display adaptor, are here already and have proved themselves admirably capable in reviews. Whether or not techniques for streaming video to a screen will converge around a standard like Wireless HDMI is uncertain, then. But we do still hope it catches on: there's no getting away from the fact that those cables running up the wall are very ugly. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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| Competition Commission calls for restrictions on Sky Movies Posted: 19 Aug 2011 05:43 AM PDT The Competition Commission has told Sky that it will have to share the premium movie prowess with its competitors. BSkyB has contracts in place with six of the major Hollywood studios that see it getting first dibs on most Hollywood blockbusters, giving the premium Sky Movies channels exclusivity on the big hitters for up to 15 months. The Commission has ruled that Sky charges other pay TV competitors like BT Vision and Virgin Media too much for these movies, meaning that they're unable to sustain a business selling films. Not to mention the fact that Sky's domination of film broadcast rights means that we consumers are paying £50- to £60 million more a year than we should. Not coolRecommendations from the Competition Commission, a final decision on which will be published in August 2012, include Sky being restricted from signing exclusivity deals with all studios. It has also been suggested that the deals themselves be changed, so that other operators can buy the rights to, for example, on demand showings of the films while another operator owns the broadcast rights. Laura Carstensen, chairman of the Competition Commission's investigation, said: "Recent movie content is important to many pay-TV subscribers. As a result, Sky's control of this content on pay TV enables it to attract more pay-TV subscribers than its rivals and having more subscribers increases further its advantages when bidding in the next round for pay-TV movie rights, and so it goes on. "We have found that, as a result of this lack of effective competition, subscribers to Sky Movies are paying more than they otherwise would, and there is less innovation and choice than we would expect in a market with more effective competition." Agree to disagreeVirgin Media's chief executive, Neil Berkett, said "Virgin Media has long argued that there are deep rooted problems in the pay-TV movies market which have been severely hampering competition." Unsurprisingly, Ian Lewis, director of Sky Movies, disagrees: "As both the person in charge of Sky Movies, and, just as importantly, a major film fan myself, I see a very different picture to that outlined by the CC. "And, not to put too fine a point on it, I struggle to understand how anyone can think the supply of movies today is anything other than vibrant and dynamic." "While we continue to engage the CC on its ongoing investigation, it's worth taking the time to consider whether regulatory intervention is really something that is required in this rapidly evolving marketplace." 
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| Updated: Top 160 best Android apps 2011 Posted: 19 Aug 2011 05:28 AM PDT While Android doesn't feature the same volume of apps in its Marketplace as iPhone users are used to, there are still loads of great Android apps to download. Whether you're after the best free Android apps or the best paid ones, we've rounded up the top Android apps for 2011 in the articles below. 40 best free Android apps Most of the good stuff on Android is free, thanks to the work of developers who do it for love alone. These 40 free Android apps should be any Android owner's Day One installs... Read 40 best free Android apps 40 best free Android games We've worked our way through a whole load of Android games to reveal the ones you should download to your phone.
Read 40 best free Android games 10 best Android apps worth paying for Don't panic because we're mentioning money here - the average cost of this little lot is around two dollars a pop. In return, you're able to tether, customise, share data and more, all in incredible style, thanks to the work of Team Android's finest people.
Read 10 best Android apps - paid apps Top 10 best Android paid-for games Android's a world of bargains - most of the finest examples of paid-for Android games come in around the psychologically negligible 'micro-transaction' cost level, with the majority of developers selling their works for a couple of dollars, tops. So, now you've been gently acclimatised to the possibility of having to pay for something, pay for these things - the 10 best paid-for games on Android today.
Read Top 10 best Android games - paid apps 10 best alternative Android apps Even if you're using a phone layered down with a custom user interface like Sense or TouchWiz, there are many alternatives to your pre-installed tools and settings. These are our 10 favourite alternate Android apps. Read 10 best alternative Android apps 10 best HTC Desire apps HTC's custom HTC Sense user interface isn't to everyone's taste. Some of the supplied apps have been tweaked a little too much by HTC's eager-to-please software developers, straying so far from the Android norm they're totally unrecognisable. So, to redress the balance, we thought we'd compile a list of the best apps for the HTC Desire to help it hold onto its top smartphone status for another year. Top 20 best free Android 3.0 apps Got an Android 3.0 tablet? The number of apps designed for Android 3.0 is growing steadily, and we've picked our favourites.
Read Top 20 best free Android 3.0 apps 10 best free Android apps for kids There are plenty of child-friendly apps in the Android Market. From educational apps to fun apps, we've rounded up 10 your kids will love.
Read 10 best free Android apps for kids 10 best office apps for Android Android has a wealth of productivity tools at its disposal, ranging from free and simple text editors and "to do" lists up to impressively feature-packed and rather costly suites of document management apps that promise PowerPoint and Excel editing on your mobile. Read 10 best office apps for Android 
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| Week in Tech: Google moves on Moto as patent war hots up Posted: 19 Aug 2011 05:00 AM PDT "Some will call it Googorola," Gary Marshall writes. "Others, Motogoogle, or perhaps Moogle. But whatever you call it, Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility is the biggest thing to happen in mobile since Nokia climbed into bed with Ballmer." Google is acquiring Motorola Mobility for a cool $12.5 billion, subject to regulatory approval. As Gareth Beavis put it: "They must REALLY like the Atrix." So what's going on? Marshall believes it's all about the patents. "Android has become something of a patent battleground - Eric Schmidt was getting annoyed about firms who "are not responding with innovation [but] with lawsuits" last month - and I'm wondering if the Motorola deal was what Schmidt meant when he said that "we will make sure they don't lose, then" when asked about HTC's patent battle with Apple." It's not only about patents, though: Google is now in the Android hardware business. What does that mean for your favourite kit? Gareth Beavis explains: "the acquisition is still very much good news for consumers. Android devices will be much better braced to take on the iPhone and iPad - a tightly integrated OS and hardware package that brings a polish to the Google experience we've been lacking so far," he says. The deal "will hopefully yield more innovative and sleek devices... and that can only be a good thing." What does everyone else think?Android firms have been quick to praise the deal, but we're not sure they mean it. Samsung "is concerned at the power shift", and other firms' oddly similar "yay Google" responses reminded us of Kent Brockman's "HAIL ANTS" banner in The Simpsons. The Google move also persuaded Nokia boss Stephen Elop to look out his special Stirring Stick: "This further reinforces our belief that opportunities for the growth of Nokia's smartphone business will be greatest with Windows Phone," he said - with brilliant timing, because we'd just asked whether Nokia should have embraced Android instead. Analyst Allen Nogee told us that going for Windows Phone was probably the best move - but it's a huge risk too. Nokia's smartphone market share is currently in free-fall, and its Windows Phone devices won't ship for a while yet. Samsung vs AppleThe mobile market is becoming increasingly important as the PC market continues to slow: as Kate Solomon explains, "we're still using PCs; we're just not buying them." So much so that HP is choosing to spin off its whole PC division, just like IBM did in 2004. HP isn;'t losing money on PCs, but it wasn't making enough money, as Gary Marshall points out today. And, just possibly it can see the PC market dramatically changing. However, while the mobile industry is enjoying plenty of hits, there are also writs: everybody in mobile appears to be suing everybody else. Apple got the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned in Germany (and for a while, the rest of Europe too), HTC's trying to get bans on Apple's various i-devices, Apple's going after the Xoom and Nokia's starting to mutter about its own patent portfolio. The reason for all the legal activity is, of course, money. As Mary Branscombe reports, patents could massively increase the cost of making a new phone - something that's already "a $30 million engineering commitment". Branscombe quotes patent expert Florian Mueller, who says "I wouldn't be surprised to see aggregate patent fees north of $100 per device a couple of years down the road". ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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| Samsung IFA teaser hints at new 7in Galaxy Tab Posted: 19 Aug 2011 04:35 AM PDT Samsung has launched a pair of teaser videos, warming its mobile fans up for the announcements it plans to make at IFA 2011. One video is pretty clearly hinting at a phone of some kind, with the tag line "Something big is coming" easily translated from marketing speak into "Something new is coming". We don't think it'll be the massive 4.65-inch Ice Cream Sandwich phone that we know Samsung has in the works, but it could be any one of a number of lower-spec Android or Windows Phone 7 Mango phones. Tablet timesThe other video is more ambiguous; titled Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2011 Episode 11, it shows us sunlight shining through tree branches, slow motion children playing on a beach, the sun rising over breaking waves, some kind of propeller thing and a tattered yellow flag buffeted by the wind. Frankly, it could be anything, but we're willing to bet that something as pointlessly arty as this is going to be a tablet; could Samsung be referring to the 7-inch Android Honeycomb tablet that we spied in the Samsung roadmap leak yesterday? Probably, yeah. Not long to wait until we find out anyway; all will be revealed at IFA 2011 on 1 September. 
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| Vodafone picks up Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray Posted: 19 Aug 2011 04:13 AM PDT Vodafone has added the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray to its coming soon page, promising that the small smartphone with the big processor will soon be available on pay monthly deals. Unfortunately the big red network hasn't seen fit to list an Xperia Ray UK release date or UK pricing just yet, but we'd expect to see it land on deals from around £25 a month. That money will nab you the pin-sharp resolution of the Ray's 3.3-inch display and the 1GHz processor, as well as Android 2.3 with Sony Ericsson's TimeScape overlay. Xperia Ray-mondWe were fairly impressed with Sony Ericsson's latest effort when we hung out with the phone for our hands on Xperia Ray review. Vodafone joins a hefty line up of networks gearing up to offer the bright spark handset including Three and O2, and a host of online retailers. When the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray UK release date will fall is still a mystery, but with suggested dates ranging from mid August to early September, we'd wager it'll be fairly soon. 
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| Gary Marshall: Could HP's move spell the end of the PC? Posted: 19 Aug 2011 03:35 AM PDT Is it me, or is the tech industry trying to cram all of this year's news into a single week? A few days ago we had Google's surprise acquisition of Motorola Mobility, and now HP looks set to dump its entire PC business. HP tablets and smartphones have already been canned, and the firm clearly intends to sell off its PC arm too. The two stories couldn't seem more different, but they're both about the same thing: the end of the PC era and the rise of mobile. Google's arming itself for the coming mobile wars, and HP's decided that it can't be bothered competing. Ch-ch-ch-changesPCs aren't going away, but the business of making them has changed dramatically. IBM didn't wait for its invention to hit 30 before it decided to flog its PC business to Lenovo - that happened back in 2004 - and HP's decision to dump PCs appears to be motivated by similar concerns: it thinks the future is in services, not hardware. HP wasn't losing money on PCs, but it wasn't making enough money - despite being the biggest PC manufacturer on Earth. The PC business has become one of barely differentiated products with ultra-low margins, and the rise of cheap Asian manufacturers - firms that, in many cases, started off making little bits for the PC big boys - has eroded those margins still further. That leaves PC firms with three options: go high-end, go for volume, or get out altogether. The high end is where you'll find Apple, and it's a tough place to compete: it's not enough to have good products; you have to have desirable products, the kind of things people would sell a kidney to get. MacBook Airs have it. HP Envys, not so much. And of course, it's a particularly tough market to compete in when stockbrockers are hurling themselves from high buildings and most people have stopped spending money on luxuries. So that leaves going for volume, or going somewhere else. With single-digit profit margins you need to do big numbers to make big money, and HP, like IBM before it, clearly thinks its time and efforts would be better spent elsewhere. It's probably right. The PC business isn't impossible to make money from - look at Lenovo, which is doing just fine - but it's not the fast-changing, hugely profitable business it used to be. It's just another commodity business. The PC isn't dead, but our relationship with it is changing: it's gone from white-hot tech to something more akin to white goods. When was the last time you got excited about a washing machine, or a kettle? That's where the PC's heading. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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| Apple chases Europe-wide Samsung Galaxy ban Posted: 19 Aug 2011 03:33 AM PDT Apple's yet-to-be-heard case against Samsung in the Netherlands could see a stranglehold placed over all Galaxy-branded tablet and smartphone sales in Europe if successful. It's a stealth attack, with the Californian company hoping to cut off European supply of the devices by going after Samsung and its partners in the Netherlands, Europe's supply entry point for Samsung's hardware. And it's not just the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 this time; Apple's complaint lists every Galaxy device – from smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy SII to the tablet line up. End of the GalaxyDutch website Webwereld has extracted this information from Apple's subpoena, saying that the complaint filed extends over all Samsung's logistical affiliates responsible for distributing Samsung's products in 28 markets across Europe. The file also includes a letter that Apple has helpfully drafted for Samsung, which demands a complete recall of stock from all European distributors and resellers. As well as saying that Samsung will shoulder all costs, the letter drafted by Apple warns, "For the record we would like to mention the fact that by storing, offering and/or selling of the above mentioned Galaxy smartphones [and tablets], you commit infringement of the intellectual property rights of Apple Inc." Jobs and co are not messing around here. If the courts rule in Apple's favour, the ruling could be the end of the Samsung Galaxy range in Europe and a severe blow to Android - and all because Samsung's products look a bit like Apple's. Last week a German court granted Apple a temporary injunction banning the sale of all Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 slates across Europe, although this was later ruled to apply only to Germany. The Netherlands court will rule on 15 September. 
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| Apple chases Europe-wide Samsung ban Posted: 19 Aug 2011 03:33 AM PDT Apple's yet-to-be-heard case against Samsung in the Netherlands could see a stranglehold placed over all Galaxy-branded tablet and smartphone sales in Europe if successful. It's a stealth attack, with the Californian company hoping to cut off European supply of the devices by going after Samsung and its partners in the Netherlands, Europe's supply entry point for Samsung's hardware. And it's not just the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 this time; Apple's complaint lists every Galaxy device – from smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy SII to the tablet line up. End of the GalaxyDutch website Webwereld has extracted this information from Apple's subpoena, saying that the complaint filed extends over all Samsung's logistical affiliates responsible for distributing Samsung's products in 28 markets across Europe. The file also includes a letter that Apple has helpfully drafted for Samsung, which demands a complete recall of stock from all European distributors and resellers. As well as saying that Samsung will shoulder all costs, the letter drafted by Apple warns, "For the record we would like to mention the fact that by storing, offering and/or selling of the above mentioned Galaxy smartphones [and tablets], you commit infringement of the intellectual property rights of Apple Inc." Jobs and co are not messing around here. If the courts rule in Apple's favour, the ruling could be the end of the Samsung Galaxy range in Europe and a severe blow to Android - and all because Samsung's products look a bit like Apple's. Last week a German court granted Apple a temporary injunction banning the sale of all Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 slates across Europe, although this was later ruled to apply only to Germany. The Netherlands court will rule on 15 September. 
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| Review: Acoustic Energy Neo Max Posted: 19 Aug 2011 03:30 AM PDT Slapping the word 'Max' onto the end of your product name doesn't automatically make it great, as anyone who's tasted Pepsi Max can attest. But in the case of Acoustic Energy's Neo Max hi-fi speaker system, it seems entirely appropriate. Acoustic Energy's original 5.1-channel Neo V2 system was a serious proposition in the first place, but this beefed-up version adds even more firepower to its already considerable arsenal. It increases the speaker count to 7.1 and swaps the Neo Threes in the original sound system for a pair of the new Neo Four floorstanding speakers. This injection of sonic steroids was prescribed after AE's customers started demanding more potent floorstanders for the Neo lineup, capable of bringing more detail and bass depth than the smaller Neo Threes could muster. That means a higher price, but at just under £2,000 you're still getting a lot of speaker for your money. It's more expensive than the Magnat Quantum 650 Series but cheaper than the XTZ 99 Series and Monitor Audio Bronze BX Series.
Alongside the Neo Four fronts (£699 a pair separately), you get a pair of shorter Neo Three floorstanders for the rears (£409 a pair), £229 Neo One bookshelf speakers on surround back duties, the £179 Neo Centre and the £409 Neo Subwoofer. But first we'll inspect the new kids on the block. The Neo Fours are an imposing, majestic presence that'll cast sizeable shadows over your living space with their 1.2m tall, 70-litre cabinets. They weigh a fair amount too. But they have the sort of muscular build quality we love, and are much better than you have any right to expect for their price. But for all their bulk, Acoustic Energy has done a terrific job of making them look elegant and contemporary, with curves all over the shop and a luxurious Vermont walnut or Black Ash finish. Cover the drivers with the magnetic grilles if you want, but we think they look far funkier without them. For setup, you need to screw on the black plinths. Attaching the supplied spikes is entirely up to you. The Neo Four's internal design is just as attractive – particularly the 32mm-thick MDF baffle, which helps to ensure tight, potent bass response. They use a three-way, triple-ported design, with a 5-inch aluminium alloy midrange driver, a pair of 6.25-inch bass drivers and a wide-bandwidth 1-inch dual-ring radiator tweeter.
Another key element in the Neo Four's technical make-up is the choice of material used for the magnets. Interestingly, the Neo Fours use Ferrite magnets instead of neodymium, which is used by all the other speakers in the system and is what the range-topping speakers are named after. But there's method in the madness – Acoustic Energy's engineers preferred a ferrite system to deliver the extra punch required by these larger, more voluminous cabinets. And what a punch they pack; there's 200W quoted power handling and a frequency response of 28Hz all the way up to 40kHz. The rest of the system, from the bookshelf boxes up to the 905mm-high Neo Threes, boasts an equally awesome construction. Again, there's a choice of Vermont and Black Ash finishes and they share the smoothly curved corners as the Neo Fours. These rear floorstanders are a two-and-a-half way, reflex-loaded design featuring a 1-inch neodymium ring radiator tweeter, and a pair of 5-inch low/mid drivers. The two-way Neo One bookshelves lose the second low/mid driver.
The importance of dialogue to your movie enjoyment hasn't escaped Acoustic Energy's attention either, and as such the Neo Centre boasts the same two-and-a-half way driver array as the Neo Threes. It's a hefty box though, likely to require quite a reshuffle to house it. Acoustic Energy hasn't felt the need to introduce a new subwoofer for the Neo Max system, so you get the same bass-box as the original Neo V2 array. Thankfully it's up to the task, endowed with a 200W Class A/B amplifier, and an 8.5-inch drive with a long-throw ferrite magnet. All this brawn is bundled up in a beautiful box, styled in the same classy-looking finish. You should have no trouble getting it to integrate with the other speakers, thanks to the wide range of controls found on the rear panel. Volume, crossover and phase can all be tweaked to your heart's content, as well as less common audio adjustments such as notch filters for frequency, Q and attenuation, which can help rectify any sound problems you have with room acoustics. You also get line-level stereo inputs and outputs, plus a separate line-level input.
What all the slick new speakers in the Acoustic Energy Neo Max amount to is a system performance that's frighteningly potent and heart-meltingly silky all at once. The extra grunt afforded by the addition of the Neo Fours is instantly clear – they fire out frenetic action scenes with greater ferocity, pumping the room full of sound. As a result, the scale of the soundstage is immense. But despite that, the entire sonic spectrum is delivered with a sophisticated tone and few rough edges to sully your listening pleasure. With the remarkable tracking shot during the refugee camp siege at the end of Children of Men, the Neo Max hi-fi speaker system shows the full range of its talents. When the army blows up the tower block, the explosion is brutal, conveyed with tautness and depth by the superb subwoofer. And as the debris rains down, it shows its ability to handle delicate high-frequency detail, relaying the popping and rustling as little showers of rock hit the ground with pin-sharp clarity. The soundstage the Acoustic Energy Neo Max conjures is wide and spacious, with distant voices and gunshots drifting in and out of earshot from all over the room.
It's a dynamic, engaging performance, demonstrating audio power, agility and subtlety from every speaker and throwing considerable force behind the effects that really need it. And despite the disparity in speaker sizes, Neo Max ensures tonal consistency across the system, creating a wonderfully coherent, tightly-locked sound that immerses you in the action. You can also push them loud without distortion or high-frequency edginess, and they handle everything with a level of composure befitting a far more expensive set of speakers. I switched over to Hellboy II's 7.1-channel DTS HD Master Audio movie soundtrack and was equally bewitched. There isn't a weak link in the chain. The Neo Threes at the back offer levels of detail insight and bass depth that almost rival the Fours at the front, making the thumping effects during the battle with the Golden Army feel weighty and solid. The Neo Ones are smooth operators too, handling the eerie ambience of the movie's fantastical settings with sparkling clarity, while the centre channel delivers dialogue with openness and authority. The subwoofer doesn't let the side down either, resulting in an overall listening experience that borders on an epiphany at this price. Used as a stereo pair for music, the strength and poise of the Neo Fours again pays dividends. As well as reproducing kick drums and basslines with terrific depth and agility, it digs out nuances higher up the scale and produces vocals that you can really believe in. This wonderful performance makes the 7.1 Acoustic Energy Neo Max speaker system an absolute winner in our eyes (and ears), and the fact that you're getting it for under £2,000 is an even more compelling reason to check it out. 
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| Posted: 19 Aug 2011 03:07 AM PDT Modern keyboards can sometimes be accused of being overly elaborate, with products such as the Logitech G510 gaming keyboard including all kinds of bells and whistles to justify its existence. First impressions of the SteelSeries 6Gv2 pro gaming keyboard may lead you to believe that it's just a standard office keyboard. Its plain looks and lack of ergonomic design obscure the fact that this is a well-made keyboard that excels at competitive online gaming. The inclusion of a USB to PS/2 adapter might seem like a curious throwback, but far from being an obsolete port, the PS/2 allows for 104 simultaneous key presses – compared to only six with USB. The SteelSeries 6Gv2 pro gaming keyboard specialises in multiple key presses – not terribly useful for word processing, but it helps to avoid 'ghosting' when playing games. This is when too many keys are pressed for the keyboard to record, so crucial key presses are lost. The SteelSeries 6Gv2 is an extremely well made pro gaming keyboard, with a solid weight. The mechanical keys feel crisp and responsive when used, and can withstand a lot of wear and tear. It's not as comfortable to use if you're typing long documents, but that's not what this keyboard is built for. For PC gaming, this is a great, straightforward, choice. 
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