News International blocks news aggregators
True to his word, Rupert Murdoch has begun blocking news aggregators, with the Times Online now blocking its content from NewsNow.co.uk
The Times has altered its robots.txt file to prevent the NewsNow content aggregator crawling its site.
Lamentable move
NewsNow is understandably miffed at the fact that it has been singled out in this way, with Struan Bartlett, managing director and chairman of NewsNow noting:
"It is lamentable that News International has chosen to request we stop linking to its content and providing in-bound traffic and potential subscribers to the Times Online."
No other major search engine has been blocked by News International in this manner. Yet.
"NewsNow is not fundamentally different to other news search engines that are part of the internet infrastructure, such as Google News and Yahoo. Why block us and not them?"," says Bartlett.
NewsNow claims to receive around two million visitors every month.
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Google brings virtual advertising to Street View
Google is reportedly planning on bringing virtual world advertising to Google Street View.
In what seems like something straight out of cyberpunk sci-fi, the search giant has recently been touting the offering around European advertising agencies.
Critics are already likening the plan to something out of dystopic future visions of movies such as Bladerunner, Minority Report and Brazil.
Virtual storefront offers
Cnet was first to break the report, with the Register also noting that Google first filed for a patent "on a system that automatically recognizes word and characters that turn up in digital photos" back in 2007.
Luc Vincent, one of the leaders of the Street View project, was also behind that patent in 2007. "In one implementation, advertisements are presented along with the presented image," the application read.
"For example, an advertisement can be presented for the business identified in the image. Alternatively, one or more advertisements can be presented for alternative businesses. Additionally, the advertisement can be for one or more products associated with the business in the presented image, user search terms, or according to other criteria."
Cnet notes that Google's European presentation suggests Street View ads that link back to merchant info in its Local Business Center database and connecting to its Favorite Places program, offering promotions and discounts to those viewing the adds via Street View.
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Invisibility cloak tech gets another step closer to reality
A team from Fudan University in Shanghai claims that silver-plated nanoparticles suspended in water is the key to developing the ultimate gadget-freaks dream piece of clothing – the invisibility cloak.
Look out, Harry Potter, with our cloaks of nanoparticles suspended in water we will outwit you yet!
The fluid would contain "magnetite balls 10 nanometres in diameter, coated with a 5-nanometre-thick layer of silver, possibly with polymer chains attached to keep them from clumping."
Invisibility devices
The report adds: "In the absence of a magnetic field, such nanoparticles would simply float around in the water…if a field were introduced, the particles would self-assemble into chains whose lengths depend on the strength of the field, and which can also attract one another to form thicker columns."
The really interesting application of the property is the fact that it could then potentially be used to build "invisibility devices, directing light around an object so that it appears as if nothing is there."
Let's be clear here. This is still currently at the level of high theory, but the mere fact that scientists say it can be done already has us that little bit more excited about the future!
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Hewlett Packard developing a 'Half-Pint' Android Tablet
While the muted announcement of Microsoft's new Hewlett-Packard manufactured tablet computer failed to excite CES attendees this week, it seems that the rumours that H.P. is also working on a 'half pint' sized Android-powered tablet are true.
The news comes from the New York Times, which explains how HP is developing a number of different tablet computers in 2010, with various operating systems including Windows 7, Google Android, and possibly Linux.
A senior editor of a major magazine publishing empire told the newspaper, "I've seen a much smaller version of H.P.'s tablet that works exclusively with Android. It's smaller than the Windows 7 version, almost like a half-pint size, or about twice as large as the iPhone.
"I've also heard mention of a Linux version in the works, but I haven't seen the hardware for this device."
Can HP work with media?
The anonymous mag editor added: "H.P. is a great hardware company, they make excellent hardware experiences, but I worry about their ability to introduce and work with media."
Marlene Somsak, an H.P. Media Relations Director, in response to the story noted: "I'm certain that we will be announcing new Slates in the future as they are a very interesting area for us. There are also tons of HP Labs activities looking at a numerous different areas. As of now we are not announcing a new Android based slate."
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Skype's CEO gives a 'history of disruptive tech' lesson
Skype's chief executive Josh Silverman has been treating CES attendees to a short history lesson of 'disruptive' technologies, as a way of trying to explain his frustration with vested interest in the US telephone industry.
Skype's free voice and video calling service continues to grow at an accelerating pace, and, as such, is increasingly seen as a threat from those companies that currently charge for voice and video calls. Such as most of the US telephone industry!
Put simply, companies such as Comcast, don't want Skype users hogging their bandwidth without paying for it.
Henry Ford and red rags
Silverman told CES attendees that the debate over disruptive innovation goes back to Henry Ford inventing the first automobile in the early 1900s, when Pennsylvania passed a Red Flag law requiring any "horseless carriage" to be preceded by someone carrying a red flag.
"The analogy today is that carriers and other interests don't want an unfettered Skype — and its free voice and video-calling benefits — to burden their networks with unpaid traffic," explains Venturebeat.
"Progress in technology is incremental, until it isn't. Users have articulated needs, like how they want longer battery life and cheaper goods. Innovation that delivers on those needs is incremental. But every now and then, unpredictable changes happen where new inventions address unarticulated needs."
Skype currently has over 520 million users worldwide, having recently been sold by former owner eBay. Skype's latest strategy – outlined at CES this month – is to focus heavily on high-definition video calls on TV.
Silverman closed his talk by stressing that policy should be progressive, not reactive and "err on the side of disruptive communications," adding, "if we get the policies right, we can unleash a new era of innovation."
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39% of British parents ignore age-ratings on games
It looks like the newly-established UK videogames ratings body PEGI is going to have to work hard to convince British parents about age-ratings on computer and video games, with a reported 39 per cent of British parents simply choosing to ignore age warnings when buying games for their children.
The alarming figure comes from a recent survey conducted by the discount website MyVoucherCodes which goes some way to explaining why so many British kids get to play videogames inappropriate for their age.
Ratings are there for a reason
"I was surprised by how many parents have actually allowed their child to watch a film, play a game or listen to music knowing that they weren't old to do so," said MyVoucherCodes Managing Director Mark Pearson.
"I think that every child is different and what is right for one might not be for another, but I do think that ratings are there for a reason, so parents should execute some caution on deciding what they should expose their children to."
Furthermore, 25 per cent of those surveyed also admitted admitting that they had played age-inappropriate games with their children. Which raises the question, do hardcore gamers make (whisper it...) bad parents?
It would seem not, because the survey also adds that 53 per cent also allowed their kids to watch movies outside of the recommended age range and 66 per cent let their kids listen to music containing explicit lyrics.
Still, let's hope that PEGI manages to successfully communicate the message to British parents that letting their ten-year olds play Grand Theft Auto 4 is perhaps not the best way to be raising them!
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Review: Imation Apollo UX 500GB HD
USB flash drives are all very well, but for carrying around large quantities of data, only a portable hard drive will do. The Apollo UX 500GB model from Imation is small enough to fit in most pockets.
It's rubberised too, so it's able to take knocks and bumps as you carry it around. Like all portable drives it's solely USB-powered, with no need for an external power supply. There's no facility for connecting a second USB port for additional power, though it doesn't really need one.
In our tests, it successfully mounted when connected through two different unpowered USB hubs and even an aluminium Apple keyboard, though connection through an old plastic keyboard eluded it.
The drive is an attractive matte black, with a white front panel housing a blue LED power and operation indicator.
In our benchmarking tests, the Apollo UX delivered a random read speed of 11.6MB/s and random writes of 17.2MB/s. These are decent figures that see the Apollo UX marginally outperform the six hard drives we tested a while back as part of a group test.
Unaugmented USB is all that's on offer, though – there's no FireWire connectivity or turbo software available.
At آ£110, the Apollo UX is at the high end of what you'd expect to pay for a 500GB portable USB hard drive offering, though market forces will probably drive this down to around آ£80-آ£90. At those prices, it will be a bargain.
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Google VP says Voice will come to Apple iPhone
Google's VP of Engineering has said that the company's Google Voice application will come to the Apple iPhone at some point soon "one way or the other" despite Apple's prevaricating.
Google's Vic Gundotra was speaking at TechCrunch's 'Crunchies' award ceremony this week and commented on the situation with Google Voice on iPhone, following Apple's decision to refuse to allow the app on its handset last year.
Gundotra's suggestion that it would arrive at some point, by hook or by crook, strongly indicates that it may be re-worked as a web-based app, should Apple continue to decline to approve the stand-alone iPhone app.
Apple-Google Disconnect
Venturebeat notes that there is an ongoing disconnect between the two tech giants, and how "Apple says it "continues to study" the application and hasn't approved it because it may "alter the iPhone's distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone's core mobile telephone functionality," according to a letter to the FCC .
For its part, Google says that Apple did reject the app because it "duplicated the core dialer functionality", according to another FCC letter.
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Review: BenQ V2400 24" Eco Series LCD Monitor
The V2400 Eco Series is a new LED-backlit display from BenQ and features a white finish that would be an excellent match for a Mac mini if it were a little more shiny.
With its off-centre stand and built-in stationery holder, it's great to see a monitor designed with a little individualism.
The V2400 Eco can be wall-mounted using VESA standard brackets and tilted back 5آ؛ and forward up to 20آ؛, but not vertically adjusted.
Connectivity options are limited to VGA or HDMI, so if you want to use it with a modern Mac, you'll need an adaptor or a HDMI-to-DVI cable.
In operation it performs well, placing it among (but not atop) the better displays in its price bracket. It displays smooth, clear colour ramps, and is quite capable of distinguishing between 95% and 100% black; and at the other end of the scale, 5% and 0% black.
But its pure whites betray a bluish tinge, especially in the energy saving Eco Mode, which we found almost unusable. Our dark-screen test showed very little bleedthrough from the LED backlight, but perfect consistency eluded it in our single-colour tests.
The centre of the viewing area is noticeably brighter than the edges. Its viewing angles aren't great either, with the colours losing definition soon after you leave the head-on position.
The BenQ V2400 Eco Series wouldn't suit a professional designer or animator, but at this price, you wouldn't expect it to. Rather, it's a competent budget display for a home user, especially one who's tired of black monitors.
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TomTom set to offer free traffic info
Market-leading satnav brand TomTom is set to offer free traffic information and map updates on selected models of its in-car navigation devices later in 2010.
The move is clearly a response to Google's free Maps Navigation software, which has shook up the personal navigation device market considerably.
Free traffic updates
Tom Tom offers free lane guidance, text-to-speech and iPod control on its recently released iPhone GPS app and promises free traffic and map updates for select models of TomToms later this year.
It's nice to see a move away from the micropayments model that TomTom has relied heavily on for the past few years. Hopefully other satnav brands will see fit to follow suit.
Maybe next year they will introduce a feature that gives you free speed camera updates as well. Now that would be nice…
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Microsoft: 'We are a long way from the 3D living room'
While 3D TVs, laptops, monitors, gaming and glasses tech has clearly been the talk of CES 2010, it seems that one major gaming and technology company is still to be convinced. Namely, Microsoft.
The Xbox 360 platform holder has not been putting its weight behind the current push to 3D gaming, in comparison with Sony's heavy focus on the new 3D PlayStation 3 PR message in Las Vegas this month.
Questioning the 3D living room
Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg expressed his own doubts about the potential of 3D in the living room, questioning whether or not we can successfully recreate the cinema experience in the home.
"I think there's a lot of questions, to be honest. 3D is great in the theatre, but for the living room? I think we're a long ways away from that," the Xbox man informed Destructoid.
"In the theatre there's nothing between you and the experience, but as you have other people in the room and other people walking by, well, it's not the same experience."
It seems that Microsoft's Xbox division is squarely focusing on Project Natal in 2010, biding its time until the 3D TV hype becomes a little more of a concrete reality – as many analysts are still estimating that little more than a million TV users worldwide will actually own a 3D-ready TV by the end of 2010.
Display industry research firm Insight Media recently issued its own report on 3D gaming, noting that we will see, based on its latest industry forecasts, a shift from "a handful of 3D-capable displays and a few thousand gamers [this year], to an expected worldwide market of over 40 million 3D-capable displays by 2014".
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In Depth: The ultimate guide to reducing your PC's power consumption
Just like the song says, it's not easy being green. At least, not in some areas.
Spending ages sorting out your rubbish according to seemingly arbitrary rules and then reading that it's not actually recycled but shipped to some third-world landfill is enough to make you wonder if it's worth the effort.
Fortunately there are simpler ways to make a very real impact. A 300W PC system left on all the time with no power management will create around 1,400kg of CO2, as well as adding آ£289 to your annual electricity bill (assuming a charge of 11p per kWh).
You may be able to cut this by a third, even if the system remains powered up all the time, making a positive impact on the planet and saving yourself close to آ£100. Even tiny changes can have significant effects: here's what you need to know.
Peripheral use
The road to power-efficient computing starts very simply, by taking a quick inventory of everything connected to your PC. We spent some time checking a real home PC to illustrate how this might work in practice.
Start off by looking at the peripherals. Our test system had a monitor, multifunction printer, external hard drive, external Blu-ray writer, wireless router and pair of desktop speakers, all of which were on 24/7. It's easy to forget about these kind of devices – for example, leaving the printer on all the time even though you only use it once or twice a week – but the power they use does add up.
In our test case, the monitor consumed 47W, the printer 15W, the router 7W, the Blu-ray drive 6W, the external hard drive 5W and the tiny speakers 1W normally, rising to 3W when I was playing some music. That's a minimum drain of 81W running all the time, adding a chunky آ£70 or more to the annual electricity bill.
Solutions? The monitor was a 22in LCD display, set by default to the highest brightness level (100). We dropped this to 10, leaving it dimmer but still perfectly readable, and its consumption fell to 23W.
The printer and Blu-ray drive were on all the time, but rarely used. We switched them to a four-way extension cable where they could be turned off easily. Sometimes the PC's owner set his Windows audio to mute. We pointed out that the speakers were still drawing a little current, though, so now he switches them off instead when they're not needed.
The router supported wireless connections, but the owner hardly ever used these either. We turned wireless off from the router control console and power consumption dropped by 2W. These simple tweaks cut the average power consumption from 81 to 33W, an almost 60 per cent fall, saving around آ£40 a year.
That's not bad at all, but it's just the beginning – there's plenty more cash to be found elsewhere.
BIOS settings
There are a few well-chosen BIOS tweaks that can help to cut your energy needs. Reboot, press [F2], [Del] or whatever launches the BIOS setup program on your system, and start exploring what's on offer.
Typically you'll find a Power menu, with an option called something like 'ACPI Suspend Type'. This defines exactly how your PC will sleep, and can deliver huge savings.
If the Suspend Type is set to 'S1' or 'S1 (POS)' then your system will maintain power to your CPU, RAM and other components even after you've asked the PC to sleep, which on our test PC resulted in a sleeping power use of 117W.
Change this to 'S3' (or 'S1&S3', usually) and Windows will cut all but the most essential power to the motherboard, which on our system was a mere 5W. If the system is sleeping for 16 hours a day then this will save you around آ£72 a year.
Next browse the menus looking for monitoring options like 'Power up on PCI/PCI' or 'Power on by external modems' (Phoenix BIOSes often collect these under the APM Configuration menu). These can consume a little power on some older motherboards, so it's wise to disable any that your system isn't using.
The 'HPET Support' option allows Windows Vista and 7 to use higher resolution timers, which improves management of background tasks and saves a little energy. If you're using either of the newer operating systems, then turn HPET Support on.
Most PCs generally list useful processor power management settings under a CPU Configuration menu. 'Enhanced C1 (C1E)', for instance, reduces your CPU's power consumption by cutting the voltage and clockspeed when there's little for it to do. If you're overclocking, then set this to 'Disabled' (it can cause problems otherwise), but if you're more interesting in saving money then turn the option on.
'Enhanced Intel SpeedStep' or AMD's 'Cool'n'Quiet' allow more indepth control of your CPU speed. Again, ignore the setting if you're overclocking, but otherwise turn the feature on for valuable power-saving benefits.
The precise savings that you gain from changing these settings will depend on your hardware and pattern of use, but you might find that power when your PC's idling will drop by as much as 40W. If your desktop system is on all the time, and idle for 95 per cent of that (which isn't an unrealistic figure) then you could save as much as آ£36 a year.
Undervolting
Speedstep, C1E and similar technologies are great for the average CPU, which spends most of its time doing hardly anything at all. If you've a system that gets much heavier use, though – a server, perhaps – then you'll need something stronger. And undervolting is the ideal candidate.
It works like this. Your CPU receives a set voltage from the motherboard. This allows it to run at the given speed, but there's often a sizeable margin of error to make sure that your system can cope if the processor comes under heavy load.
And that's why you'll almost certainly be able to reduce your CPU's voltage, running it at a lower temperature, cutting your fan speeds and reducing your system's power requirements.
Sound risky? Well, there are potential problems. Cut the voltage too much and your system may not boot at all (be sure you know how to reset the BIOS settings in your CMOS RAM before you start).
Even if your system starts, it may crash later. If you want to try this then you must use a stress tester like ORTHOS to confirm that your PC is stable at the reduced voltage.
If you make undervolting work, the results are very worthwhile. High-voltage CPUs like the AMD Phenom II X4 955 or Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 in particular can see falls of more than 35W under load and perhaps 7W when idle, which for an always-on, highly active PC could save you more than آ£16 a year.
And keep in mind that undervolting isn't about reducing performance, so your system should be as fast as it always was – just more energy-efficient.
You could try undervolting by simply reducing the VCore (CPU core voltage) setting in your BIOS set-up program. That can conflict with options like SpeedStep, though, which already reduce voltage when they're able to, so a better approach is to use a tool like RMClock which lets you set a custom voltage for each of your CPU multipliers.
Check the Undervolting Guide at Notebook Review for step-by-step instructions, and take the time to explore RMClock's power management profiles – the tool has a lot to offer.
Graphics cards
Processors are power-hungry enough, but the real energy hog in many PCs is the graphics card.
High-end models like the GeForce 9800 GX2 consume around 90W for 2D activities and around 220W for 3D graphics under load, and even lesser cards will be responsible for a high proportion of your PC's electricity bill (Tom's Hardware has a list of the power requirements for a range of various graphics cards).
You can minimise this effect by underclocking the cards, though. Try reducing the processor core and memory clockspeeds to the minimum allowed by your system.
This will drastically cut 3D performance, but Windows and 2D applications will most probably work just fine. And you can always restore the faster default settings if you want to run something that requires all of your graphics card's considerable power.
To try this on an Nvidia system, right-click the desktop and choose 'Nvidia Control Panel'. Click 'Profile | Save' to save your current settings, entering an obvious name such as standard.nsu.
Click 'Adjust GPU Settings' in the Performance setting, drag the Core Bus and Memory Bus settings to the extreme left and click 'Apply'. Then click 'Profiles | Save', enter a name like energy saver.nsu and click the 'Save' button.
This tweak alone cut our test system's idle power use by 15W, and consumption under load by 49W (that's about a third). Of course, performance will be affected too, falling by around 75 per cent in our case. Gulp.
To get around this, click 'Adjust Custom Rules' and create a few rules to suit your needs. You could choose to load the energy saver profile when you run Word, say, or the faster standard settings when you launch a game. Just spend a few minutes setting things up and you'll soon be reaping the financial benefits.
If you have an ATI card, check your driver for similar options or use a third-party overclocking tool (these will happily help to you underclock, too). RivaTuner and ATITool are both worth a look.
Power plans
Windows' own power management tools play an important part in maintaining your overall energy efficiency, so it's worth taking the time to make sure that they're all set up correctly.
In Windows XP, launch Control Panel and click 'Performance and Maintenance | Power Options'. Choosing the Portable/Laptop Power Scheme will ensure your monitor and hard drive are turned off quickly (if your system is idle), but consider reducing these further still.
Turning off the monitor after five minutes' idle time instead of 15, say, would save 46W on our test PC's 22in monitor during that 10 minute block.
In Vista and Windows 7, click Start, type power options and then click the Power Options link. Select the plan that suits your needs – Very Low Power to maximise your energy savings, say – then click 'Change Plan Settings'.
Reduce the 'Turn off the display' and 'Put the computer to sleep' timeouts as much as you can, then click 'Change Advanced Power Settings'. Scroll down through this new dialog and you'll find settings for Sleep mode, USB, searching, your display and many other power related options.
Best of all, if you successfully enabled Intel SpeedStep or AMD Cool'n'Quiet earlier then you should also see a 'Processor Power Management' option. Expand this section of the tree, then 'Maximum Processor State', and you'll be able to define the maximum utilisation your CPU will be able to achieve.
Setting this to five per cent on our test PC cut power use under load by 20W. Exactly how much this will save you depends on your individual setup, but it may not be very much as CPU-intensive tasks will take much longer. Still, if you know you'll only be running lightweight tasks for a while then it makes sense to choose the Low Power Plan now, as you can always switch back later.
For real convenience, though, it's hard to beat PowerSlave, which will automatically define one power plan that will run during the day (Low Power if you're only using Word, email and a browser, say) then automatically switch to a different profile at night (such as High Performance so you can play demanding 3D games).
Software matters
When you're looking to cut your electricity use then it's natural to start as we've done here: focus on hardware, turn off unwanted devices and configure the rest to be as energy efficient as possible. But what about software?
The chances are you've installed many programs in the past that have proved real resource hogs, grabbing all your CPU time and thrashing the hard drive. This kind of problem isn't just a nuisance, though: the more system resources a program requires, the more it'll cost you to run, and the results can be a real surprise.
Take browsing, for instance. Everyone knows that IE is an inefficient memory hog, right? Well, maybe not.
Tech site Anandtech did a test where three notebooks were set to constantly reload three websites. After a set amount of time, the battery life was checked. It repeated the test with several different browsers, and found battery life varied by up to 27 per cent, with IE8 outperforming most of the competition in every single test.
On an Intel notebook, for instance, IE8 provided 227 minutes battery life, Chrome 218, Firefox 3.5.2 210, while Safari 4 was at the back with 184 minutes. This seemed hard to believe, so we set up an IE8 vs Safari test of our own. This provided similar results: running IE8 gave us around 20 per cent more battery life than Safari.
We wondered if further tests could vindicate Microsoft in other areas. Does Windows Media Player deserve its reputation for being slow and overweight, for instance?
We used it to watch a DVD on our test PC, monitoring power use, then tried the same thing with VLC Media Player, but in this case the results were as we'd expected: VLC Media Player was more efficient, cutting our power consumption by 6W.
Software plays a small but important part in your PC's energy consumption, then, so choose your applications wisely. Replace any that seem inefficient. And cut down on processes that run in the background: the more you have, the more difficult it is for your CPU to reach the power-saving idle state, and so the more energy it'll consume.
Wake-On-LAN
Saving money is all very well, but sometimes convenience is more important. You'll want your PC to be on and working at a particular time, and if it doesn't recover from sleep reliably, or takes an age to boot, then leaving it fully powered up seems the best option. But is there be a better alternative?
If your PC absolutely must be on and working at 1:30pm when you're back from lunch, say, then you could just set it up to do exactly that. Explore your BIOS set-up program – in particular check the Power section – and you'll usually find an option to wake your system on a timer. Set this to 1:28pm (or whatever you need for its boot time), then turn the system off when you leave, and it should be coming back to life again just as you return.
If you can't find the BIOS option, or it doesn't work for you, then the free WakeupOnStandby app is a versatile alternative. It has more flexible scheduling options, and is able to run the program of your choice when the system wakes, perhaps shutting down again when it's finished.
This kind of solution won't always be quite enough. If you're away from home and want to occasionally access your system through a service like GoToMyPC or LogMeIn, say, then it might look like the PC must be left on all the time. But even here, that's not necessarily true.
If your BIOS has a Wake-On-LAN (WoL) option (also known as 'Power Up On Network') then you can leave it powered down, knowing you can turn it on again from any internet enabled system.
The technology works like this. You configure your router to forward the WoL packet to your PC. Once the BIOS is configured correctly, it will watch for this packet and boot your system. Make a note of your network card's MAC and internet IP address before you leave, and shut down your PC.
And that's it – you can then use free services like Wake On Lan or Wake-On-LAN Online to turn your system on only when necessary, from any internet-enabled PC in the world, meaning that it's using the absolute minimum of energy.
In itself this won't save you a huge amount: maybe آ£8 if a 200W system is turned off for a couple of weeks. But what about everything else we've discussed? We totalled up the savings on our test PC as worth around آ£90 annually, and that was a reasonably well configured, low-powered system.
If you're not so lucky, you could save an extra آ£20 just by dimming the display brightness on a large display, another آ£30 by judicious undervolting and graphics card underclocking, and perhaps even more with careful Windows power management and a better choice of applications.
Over آ£150 of savings might be possible, though of course it all depends on your hardware, its use and current configuration. Let's not forget that the reduced power consumption should also reduce the system temperature and prolong your PCs life, as well as cutting your carbon footprint and helping the environment.
What's not to like? So if you've not done so recently, spend a couple of hours optimising your PC's power efficiency – it's a small investment, but one that could really pay off.
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Review: Revolver Screen 3
The Revolver brand started out 30 years ago, logically enough making turntables. After several changes in ownership, current owners The Acoustic Partnership took over in 2002, recently launching its first turntable, christened Replay.
The main stock-in-trade during the current regime, however, has been a well received collection of loudspeakers. The Screen range is new and very different from the run of the hi-fi loudspeaker mill.
The three Screen speakers (logically designated 1,2 and 3) are designed to look just like a flatscreen TV and hang on the wall like the latter, albeit rotated through 90 degrees.
In fact the آ£2,800 per pair Screen 3, with its picture frame finished in high-gloss black and a matt black grille, does indeed look remarkably like the large Pioneer display which took up residence here some nine months ago.
The world rushed out to buy flatscreen TVs because it didn't like large glass 'n' plastic boxes cluttering up the lounge. Revolver hopes it can be persuaded to do the same in order to avoid taking up floor space with loudspeakers too.
Although it flies in the face of normal practice, there's no reason why a skilled designer can't make a flat-against-the-wall speaker work very well. At least the room reflection boundaries are pretty well set in stone.
The Screen 3 is a full three-way design, using a 240-millimetre bass driver plus twin 165-millimetre midrange drivers (125-millimetre cones) above and below a 25-millimetre soft dome tweeter.
Sealed box loading should help keep the bass under control and the modest 11-centimetre depth is achieved by using a rather special 'inside out' bass unit, with the voice-coil and a compact neodymium magnet arrangement mounted in front of the 180-millimetre paper cone.
Build is impressive. Our samples came in gloss and matt black, but a wide range of alternative finishes is also available. Twinterminal pairs are fitted on the rear panel. Wall brackets are normally supplied (though we had to make do with the floor), and a freestanding stand is under development.
Sound quality
From a traditionalist perspective, the Screen 3 might seem an unlikely prospect, but in fact it worked rather well, with a fine overall tonal balance and very believably stereo images.
There is a bit of mid-bass excess, giving the sound a tendency to thump at times, depending on the material, but we guess this is likely to be considered a plus by movie enthusiasts, so the hi-fi enthusiast shouldn't complain too much. (Perhaps music lovers might prefer the slightly smaller Screen 2, with its 200-millimetre bass unit?)
Although it does err a little on the warm 'n' heavy side of strict neutrality, cabinet coloration is very low, the midband voicing is excellent and the top end seemed very well judged. True, the presence zone might be a little too restrained for some tastes and this does reduce the degree of openness somewhat, but makes some sense from an AV perspective where 'loud' is usually high on the agenda.
Used purely in stereo for a mixture of music and radio, the Screen 3 is remarkably effective and impressive, as well as competitive with its more conventional rivals in almost every way, while the wall-hung positioning somehow made TV sound even more coherent.
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Review: PMC FB1i
With a heritage which takes the BBC tradition and laces it with a healthy obsession for transmission line bass loading, PMC is one of surprisingly few specialist hi-fi companies founded in the last 20 years to get themselves properly established.
Furthermore, it's one of remarkably few loudspeaker brands to have achieved similar success with both hi-fi and pro audio sectors.
The original FB1 first appeared about a decade ago. It was the first floorstander introduced by the company and its outline design has remained exactly the same throughout. However, it has been the subject of several detail refinements along the way and it's no longer possible to upgrade those early examples to the current specification.
This latest آ£2,100 FB1i version – made in the UK from European components – first appeared in 2008.
It featured a new 27-millimetre soft fabric dome tweeter which PMC co-developed with OEM manufacturer SEAS and included substantial improvements to crossover components, in cabinet and plinth fit and finish, as well as in the bass/mid drive unit with its 125-millimetre doped paper cone.
The transmission line is a full three metres long here, so this speaker stands one metre tall, while the width is largely determined by the 170-millimetre diameter of the bass/mid driver frame.
The baffle edges are nicely rounded, and the enclosure is finished in real wood veneers – oak, walnut, black ash or cherry.
A black MDF plinth also has rounded edges (perhaps to avoid accidental toe damage). It extends the footprint, and securely accommodates the chunky floor spikes giving good stability. Twin terminal pairs, conveniently placed close to the floor, provide the option to bi-wire or bi-amp.
The folded, tapered transmission line might make cabinet construction complex and costly, but it does provide considerable stiffening for the enclosure side panels.
Exactly how such loading differs from the almost ubiquitous reflex, or indeed the tuned column, has long been debated, since all have similar impedance characteristics. However, it seems likely that the transmission line approach has superior main driver rear-radiation absorption.
Sound quality
When undertaking a group test which includes a previously well-rated favourite, there's always that moment of doubt when the listening tests begin. In this case, the question was whether the FB1i would still measure up, sonically speaking, to a generally somewhat more costly group of alternatives.
Happily, this speaker is still a class act, fully able to hold its head high, even though the competition is exceptionally varied and usually rather more expensive.
The slight presence restraint and mild associated congestion remains obvious enough, but that's the only significant real source of criticism, and this gives the overall sound a rather 'laid back' character.
In other respects, the FB1i is a very fine all rounder, the good enclosure control and impressive freedom from boxiness – in a real sense it sounds more like a standmount than a floorstander in this respect – perhaps being its most obvious strengths.
The bass is powerful and goes deep without any tendency to 'thump', lending the music an impressive sense of scale.
Stereo images are slightly distant, but have fine focus and the attractively sweet top end is nicely judged and avoids drawing unnecessary attention to itself.
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CES 2010: In pictures: Spring Design's Android eBook reader
This eBook reader is notable because it runs Android and features a second colour screen. What's more, that means the touchscreen can be used to navigate the web or access email and media. You can also switch the book display to the bottom screen if it's dark.
Manufacturer Spring Designs has partnered with Google Books (like Samsung with its new pair of readers) as well as Borders. Other formats including PDF are also supported. Price? $399 (آ£250).
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CES 2010: In pictures: MSI's dual-screen netbook
One of our favourite spots so far this CES, MSI's dual-screened concept will most likely see the light of day later on this year.
The company refers to it as an eBook reader, but it's actually a full netbook running an Atom Z-series processor on Intel's Menlow MID platform – hence the thin and light design. Both screens are capacitive 10-inch displays and the device runs Windows 7 Home Premium. An SSD drive is used for storage.
The device was being kept under tight control by the MSI troops, with a heavy watching over those fawning over the device at the MSI booth.
You can pull up a keyboard on one of the screens, for example, and drag windows between the two – the second screen works just like an extended display. "All the products here won't see the light of day until at least the end of Q2" said an MSI spokesperson. Let's hope we see this one in the summer, just in time for our trip to the beach.
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CES 2010: Dell teases laptop with OLED display
Dell has had a busy CES, showing off all kinds of exciting products, but the display of an OLED-screened laptop has to be up there with the most tantalising.
The Studio XPS is sporting a large OLED display with a depth of just 2mm, meaning that should this technology take off, laptops like the MacBook Air will be derided as super chunky.
The Dell concept, snapped by Electronista, has a contrast ratio of 10,000:1, which is pretty spiffy for a laptop like this, and the company is also claiming that response times and battery life (as the OLED panel doesn't need a backlight) are also improved.
Conceptual future
Sadly, Dell won't give out any details as yet about whether this is going to be released to the UK market, stating it's just a concept.
But the company does have previous form on this issue – in 2008 Dell's CEO Michael Dell teased that the company might be using OLEDs in its laptops in the future.
But we're just happy to sit back and enjoy the show – and pray that OLEDs, with their deep colour reproduction and thin form factor, become even more prevalent in 2010.
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CES 2010: Upgraded: the new Palm Pre Plus
Palm has announced it has upgraded its webOS-based smartphone range, cleverly just adding 'Plus' on the end of each.
The new Palm Pre Plus isn't crazily different to the original (which you may remember was announced this time last year) with the main difference being the small navigation button disappearing on the front.
It also now has 16GB, rather than 8GB of on board memory, although there's still no expansion through memory card as yet. The induction cover for the Touchstone wireless charging point will also be included as standard, where before it was an optional extra purchase.
P-p-p-p-pick up a Palm Pixi Plus
The Pixi Plus has also been refreshed, with Wi-Fi now included as standard, which some saw as a major failing in the original version.
This is a big plus for UK-dwellers, as the Pixi has been confirmed as debuting over here at some point, but hasn't got a release date yet – looks like it will be coming with Wi-Fi though.
Also, Palm has announced 3D gaming for its webOS platform – EA Mobile and Gameloft are already populating the Palm app catalogue ready for some in-depth mobile gaming.
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CES 2010: Motorola confirms Backflip for European launch
Remember than Android phone we mentioned recently with the 'unique form factor'? Well, it's real, it's by Motorola, and it's called the Backflip.
The phone is so called due to it mad design – the Android device features your average 3.1-inch touchscreen, but has a hinged flip down keyboard to boot.
This means when it's shut, the keys line the back of the device fairly uselessly, but flinging them forward opens the device into a messaging powerhouse.
And Motorola says it has designed something extra – the BackTrack, which is a touch sensitive pad on the back of the keyboard (try and work it out in your head) that lets you navigate the screen without touching it.
Blurring the lines
The phone is running MotoBlur, which is Motorola's Android overlay, integrating Twitter, Facebook and MySpace all on one contact, and spewing out a wealth of widgets for the home screen to keep track of who's saying what.
The Backflip has a 3.1-inch screen, with HVGA resolution, and runs Android 1.5. There's a 5MP camera with AF and single LED flash, and 2GB of memory is included with the phone, although this can be expanded up to 32GB with the microSD card slot.
A 3.5mm headphone slot and a 14oomAh battery round out the specs, and looking at it you'd have to assume it's going to appear with a pretty reasonable price tag.
It's due to land in Europe in Q1 this year (we'd imagine around February) but we're awaiting more details about a UK release date.
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CES 2010: Plastic Logic shows of QUE 'proReader' eBook
Plastic Logic has announced its QUE proReader – billing it as more than an eReader and pitching it as 'mobile professionals'.
The 8.5أ—11 inch, 1/3 inch thick device offers what Plastic Logi is describing as a premium business reading experience.
"Today we are introducing two major advancements: the birth of a new market category, the proReader, and a milestone in the evolution of plastic electronics," said Richard Archuleta, CEO of Plastic Logic.
"The QUE proReader was built from the ground up for people who need to read. Starting today, mobile professionals can look forward to a paperless briefcase, a lighter load, and a better way to work."
The inspiration for the QUE proReader was apparently the humble piece of paper, and it is the size of a typical pad.
"Designed for more than good looks, QUE provides instant access to the content busy professionals need at their fingertips all day long – all their content anywhere any time: Read a newspaper over morning coffee. Review your appointments imported from Outlook. Have every document you need when you need it. And at the end of the day, relax with a good book, says Plastioc Logic's release.
"In addition to highly valued business and professional newspapers, periodicals and eBooks, QUE supports reading and annotating document formats business users need (including PDF files, Microsoft Office, ePub documents and more).
" With the QUE software, it's easy to quickly transfer content from your PC, Macآ® computer or BlackBerry smartphone to your QUE. The standard 4GB QUE model can hold up to 35,000 documents or the equivalent of up to 35 filing cabinets worth of documents."
We haven't found out if there is a UK release or how much it will cost, but the US price for QUE will range from $649.00 for the 4GB QUE model $799.00 for the 8GB QUE model; so it's far from cheap.
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CES 2010: Panasonic shows off new Lumix cameras
Panasonic has unveiled six new Lumix cameras, theDMC- FS10 and FS11, DMC-FS30 and FS33 and the DMC-FP3 and FP1.
With the same feature sets, the only difference between the FS10 and FS11 is the megapixel count, with Panasonic putting what it describes as a 28 mm high quality wide angle LUMIX lens and a powerful 5x Optical Zoom into a slim and stylish, compact body.
Both models have a, 2.7-inch 230,000-dot Intelligent LCD screen – with a light sensor that should adjust the brightness – and can shoot movies in 1280 x 720p at a smooth 30 fps, in addition to WVGA (848 x 480) and normal VGA (640 x 480)
"The new DMC-FS11 and FS10 feature a variety of functionalities making picture taking more fun and entertaining than before, adds Panasonic's release.
"A rich variety of scene modes make it easy to get beautiful photos in a range of photographic situations. Baby, Pet and Sports mode take advantage of the Intelligent ISO Control, to give you great results even if the subjects move unexpectedly.
Panasonic DMC-FS33 and FS30
The DMC-FS33 and DMC-FS30 bring28mm wide angle lens and 8x optical zoom in a sleek and compact body.
The two models differ by the LCD screen only – the FS33 features a 3 inch LCD with touch panel for effortless operation, while the FS30 includes a 2.7 inch wide LCD.
Last, but not least, the DMC-FP3 and FP1 are described as'Ultra-slim, Super Stylish Cameras with Folded Optics, Intelligent Auto Mode and Sonic Speed AF.'
The two cameras have a 4x optical zoom, with the FP3 sporting a 3 inch LCD screen and 14.1 megapixel sensor and the FP1 a 2.7 inch screen and a 12. megapixel sensor.
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CES 2010: Hands on: Iomega vClone review
Why are we excited about this? Well not everything that's brilliant at CES is hardware. vClone is a clever new tech from Iomega that basically clones your entire PC, saving it to an external hard drive. Bear with us. Then, you can take the drive wherever you want to – to work, for example.
Plug the drive in and you can load up your entire PC in a window on your desktop. You don't just get access to your files, you can actually use your PC on another PC. Now that's cool. And what's more any changes you make are automatically synchronised. Get home, plug the drive in again to the original machine and your changes will update.
The tech uses VMware virtualisation technology from Iomega's parent company EMC. Of course, virtualisation isn't new. But it's hardly been a consumer offering up til now. The key boon with vClone is the ability to access protected digital media, so you could take your iTunes library to work, for example.
You will need to install some software to run the clone machine though, but no other files are left behind on the secondary machine – it's all run off the drive.
The software, which is available as a free download, is compatible with Iomega hard drives only (surprise!). vClone will also ship with Iomega USB 2.0 portable hard disk drives out of the box.
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CES 2010: Hands-on: Sony Bloggie MHS-PM5 review
Just last year Sony introduced the world to the Webbie – a fun point and shoot camera which looked to try and chase the same market that Flip had pretty much sewn up.
Coming to the UK as the PM1, the cam was easy to use and was a decent go-anywhere device.
At CES 2010, Sony has announced the PM1's successor the interestingly titled Bloggie.
Sony is hoping those who buy the device will record their life as much as possible. Supporting MP4, the camcorder allows the user to film Full HD footage at just the touch of a button.
Retaining the shape of the PM1, those familiar with that cam will be right at hom here.
Quite chunky in the hand, the Bloggie has a swivel lens (which goes around 270 degrees) to record in those hard to reach places.
To get the footage off of the cam, included is a USB arm, which means you won't actually need any wires to connect the device up – great for those who are recording on the fly around a mate's house.
When it comes to functionality, don't expect too much. This is a point and shoot cam, albeit one with great picture quality.
An additional add-on which bumps the Bloggie's coolness up a notch or two is a 360 degree camera lens. Put this onto the cam and you will be able to get great, if somewhat obscure shots of everything around you.
This total immersion fits with the idea that the Bloggie is there so you can video blog everything about yourself. Easy uploading to Facebook, YouTube and the like rounds off what is a great little device from Sony.
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CES 2010: Hands-on: Sony DSC-HX5V review
HD picture quality, and even Full HD picture quality, may be the norm for pocket camcorders but when it comes to getting HD video on a compact camera, this is a different issue entirely.
Sony has managed, however, to squeeze in 1080i video recording capabilities into its DSC-HX5V range of cameras, something it is boasting as a world's first for picture takers this small.
Part of the CyberShot range, the HX5 isn't the best camera we have seen looks-wise but its functionality that counts in this market as the HX5 has plenty of this to go around.
Not only does the HX5 have HD shooting capabilities, it boasts a 10x optical zoom, GPS and Backlight Correction High Dynamic Range – which essentially makes your underexposed images look a whole lot better.
The camera also uses some of the new technology which Sony announced at CES 2010 – most notably Transfer Jet.
This great little feature allows you to transfer images to different devices in a superfast way. Putting Bluetooth to shame, you can wirelessly send a number of images to another camera with Transfer Jet, or PC in a matter of seconds.
On the back of the camera, there's a 3-inch LCD, and there's a 10fps shooting mode within the camera so you can shoot fast-moving objects lightening quick, hoping that one of the ten images will come out okay.
Alongside the HX5, Sony has also announced the TX7, which has the same HD functionality. Both cameras, you will be pleased to hear, can now handle SDHC cards so there's no need to use Sony's proprietary Memory Stick.
This has been a long time coming but we are glad that Sony has finally got the message. Expect both cameras to be out Q2 of next year in the UK, with pricing still to be announced.
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CES 2010: Hands on: T-Mobile Vega Android tablet review
Away from the CES 2010 show floor, T-Mobile gave us a sneak peek at a product that will be coming later in the year: an ultra-thin 15" Android touch screen tablet codenamed Vega.
This isn't just another Android device for the sake of doing something that isn't a PC or a tablet to take advantage of the hype about whatever Apple might or might not launch; while it's got a web browser and it will play YouTube videos and work with BBC iPlayer, the main application is a shared family calendar for getting everyone organised. And who would buy that?
Busy mums who usually have to keep track of school events, holidays, dentists appointments and the rest and remind the rest of the family about them and who wouldn't run upstairs to check an online calendar on their notebook but would use a touch screen device in the kitchen, says T-Mobile's John King. (And yes, he freely admits it's a gender stereotype, but it's what customers say).
Vega helps you track the family with a shared calendar app using Google Calendars but with an interface optimised for touch and adding some helpful features for family calendars. You have a colour-coded calendar for each family member – and calendars for recurring events like clubs and activities – with photos of everyone, and the default view shows all the calendars in columns side by side.
If you collapse the calendars for everyone else, you still see when they're busy without seeing the details (and appointments are colour coded by the family member who organised them). You can share calendars with family members or friends outside the family via a simple dialog box (which is easier than the equivalent settings on Google Calendar on the web).
Digital fridge door
You can view and update the calendars on a PC or phone, but putting them all in the same place on a device that can sit in a corner of the kitchen gives you the 'digital fridge door' Intel and Microsoft Research have been talking about for a while.
The Vega – which will get a name that positions it as a family 'hub' – sits on a stylish magnetic dock and induction charger, so there's only one power cable to deal with and you can easily pull it off and use it as a tablet but the magnet grips it firmly enough that it won't fall over if you drape the morning paper over it.
The 15" screen is resistive, so that you can use a pencil or wooden spoon to work it if your hands are covered with flour or mud, but the home, menu and back buttons at the bottom are capacitive so they won't trap dirt.
Web browsing with the T-Mobile tablet
Inside is an Nvidia Tegra 2, so you can also use the Wi-Fi connection to browse the web, watch YouTube videos (thanks to the beta of Flash 10.1), HD video and – when the BBC agrees, which King is "confident it will" – BBC iPlayer.
Because of the screen size, it doesn't include Android marketplace (not all apps will work at this size); the designer of the tablet, Seattle-based Innovative Converged Devices, plans to work with app developers to create specific apps that you can download.
It's a phone, so you can text it to leave messages for the rest of the family to see. There's a webcam so you can take quick snaps or have a video conference, twin speakers so you can use it as a speakerphone while you're cooking and a 3.5mm headphone jack. And there's an SD slot under the same cover as the SIM card, so you can look at photos or transfer media; there's also a USB port on the side for connecting storage or a USB keyboard (although "keyboards get full of crumbs and rubbish," warns King, so it's unlikely to come with one).
An alternative dock will have more USB ports and stereo speakers, with the connection going through the same dock connector rather than needing cables.
As it's a prototype, King isn't ready to give the battery life but he expects it will be "far in excess of what's needed for normal use"; Nvidia is talking about eight hours of video playback and more.
T-Mobile tablet release date
King doesn't have a firm launch date, although it will definitely be this year, he says: "We have a specific time in mind but I can't share it". And the price isn't set, either, although he emphasises that "T-Mobile is a mass-market, affordable brand and that's where the price will be" and says it will come with call packages that make it "affordable" to call family members from the Vega, so it can be a way to keep everyone in touch. It will certainly be cheaper than kitchen-friendly PCs like HP's TouchSmart.
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