Humax rolls out iPlayer to Freesat users
All users of Humax's Freesat Foxsat-HD and Foxsat-HDR set top boxes will now be able to use the BBC iPlayer through the red button.
Humax has successfully completed a beta trial of a red button catch-up service and has now rolled out the functionality to all users.
"After successful BETA testing, the highly anticipated BBC iPlayer service, which enables viewers to search and view a range of programmes, is now freely available to all owners of a Humax Foxsat-HD or Foxsat-HDR box, so they can play their favourite shows from the past seven days direct to their televisions," confirmed Humax.
It 'beta' work
Users will need to make sure that their Humax Freesat box is connected to both the internet and satellite dish, press the red button when on a BBC channel and then either navigate to the somewhat confusing BBC iPlayer Beta option in the list or type in 7001 on the remote control.
Graham North, Commercial Director, Humax UK comments: "We are excited about being the first to offer this fantastic new service via the set-top box.
"Our customers enjoy being in control of their TV viewing and BBC iPlayer on Freesat gives them even more freedom to watch what they want, whenever they want to."
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Exclusive: MSN Video Player launches, sets sights on Xbox and phones
MSN Video Player has been a big enough success through a pilot scheme to be launched as a major new product, and Microsoft is not ruling out offering the service to television manufacturers, on Xbox and through the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 Series.
A million people have already used the ad-funded and free MSN Video Player in beta to watch full-length programmes, trailers and clips, enough of an audience to convince the portal that the service has the appeal to become a key asset for Microsoft.
With users staying for an average of 25 minutes – far more than major catch-up services like ITV Player and 4OD – and advertisers champing at the bit to buy up pre-roll adverts before the features, Microsoft has now sealed deals with the likes of Endemol and Shed Media to expand their offering further.
Thousand hours
"We are expanding our catalogue to over 1,000 hours," explained MSN's Rob Crossen. "We've signed a number of new deals…we've gone out there and sourced content that appeals to our audience.
"The other aspect is that we are launching a new platform and it really puts content at the centre. It's not about other brands it's really about programmes.
"The reasons we are chasing the audiences that we are is that we know there is advertiser demand for those audiences because they are very tech savvy.
"It's not a discussion around getting thousands and thousands of hours [of content] it's more about a targeted offering."
The platform is optimised for Microsoft's Silverlight - support that was notably missing from the pilot - although it also works with Flash, and some of the content is available in HD streaming at 720p on connections of 2Mbps and upwards.
Xbox, Windows Phone 7 Series and widgets
With comparisons to the iPlayer inevitable, it's clear that Microsoft could roll out the MSN Video Player to television, its Xbox console, Windows Phone 7 Series and set-top boxes – in the same way as the BBC has puched its offering on multiple platforms from Virgin Media cable to the iPhone.
"What we're doing here is taking MSN beyond what it has typically been known for," added Crossen.
"An obvious place to tale MSN Video Player – given the quality of content that you are seeing on the platform – is the TV, and there are a number of ways that we could do that and in fact the challenge is prioritising so we're looking at a number of opportunities.
"There are a number of ways… widgets on internet connected TVs, we have our own products within the Microsoft network, Xbox and Windows Media Center for instance.
"There are a number of ways that we could choose to explore."
"We have a fantastic product coming later in the year," said Crossen when asked if a mobile MSN Video Player was likely for the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 Series, "but no fixed plans that we are announcing today.
"It's a reflection of our users telling us what they want and they also express their views how they want their content and how they consume it so it's absolutely no mystery to any of us how it could grow."
Xbox users already have access to long-form content through a tie up with the Sky Player and a movie download service, but the concept of a free and ad funded channel is likely to appeal.
The MSN Video Player officially launches tomorrow, go to player.uk.msn.com for more details.
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Vodafone planning own £130 Android phone?
Vodafone is apparently planning to release its own Android phone, with a super-budget price tag to boot.
Following the T-Mobile Pulse and Pulse Mini (low-end Android handsets exclusive to the network) Vodafone clearly wants to follow suit.
To that end, word is it will be releasing the Vodafone 845 (with a better name likely to be confirmed closer to launch).
Latest Android, tiny screen
It will pack the latest Android 2.1 upgrade, but the rest of the features will be lower end - a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen and 3.2MP camera.
But the beauty of using Android means that the Vodafone 845 will have to have some higher end features - namely Wi-Fi, 3G and GPS all as standard.
Vodafone 360 is said to be a key part as well - that means integrated contacts and possibly social networking too.
The cost is said to be €145 according to Dutch site All About Phones - which means it could be coming for the thoroughly palatable £130 in the UK.
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In Depth: 10 unusual but cool iPhone apps
It's criminal how utterly dependent you can become on your iPhone or iPod touch.
But it's not enough to simply rely on it for communication, entertainment and locating a decent pub... Oh no, now fiendish app developers have found even more ways to tie you to Apple's addictive device.
Read on for 10 more useful – if not immediately obvious – uses for either the iPhone or iPod touch.
1. TeamViewer - Free/£5.99
Need to access your home or work PC while on the road? Why lug a laptop around when you can gain remote control from your iPhone? The best app for the job is TeamViewer, as it's incredibly simple to use and connect, works with both Macs and PC, and is free for personal use too.
2. Touch Mouse – Free
Your iPhone can also act as a wireless touchpad and keyboard for your PC or Mac, enabling you to control it from any room in the house – so Touch Mouse is perfect if it's hooked up to your TV in another room, for example.
3. Handy iLevel – Free
Now, where did you put that spirit level? Don't worry about it – Handy iLevel turns your iPod into the perfect companion for putting up shelves. Just calibrate it on a flat surface and you're good to go. Upgrade to Handy iCarpenter for £2.39 to get four more useful tools: plumb bob, bubble level, ruler and protractor.
4. Did I Close The Door? - 59p
Did I Close The Door? may be designed for those people who keep forgetting to lock their doors, but renaming one of the presets to "Gas cooker" or "Security light" enables you to compile a checklist of important things to do before you head off to bed – or Benidorm for a week.
5. iSat – Free
Having trouble pointing your satellite dish to the correct satellite? Set your location in iSat using the "i" button, then pick your chosen satellite from the dozens listed (spanning the entire globe), and you'll be told how to align your dish accordingly.
6. PrinterShare – Free
Print photos, web pages, contacts or the contents of your iPhone's clipboard on your PC's printer with the free PrinterShare app. You'll need to sign up for a free PrinterShare account at www.printershare.com, plus download the server software for your PC or Mac. Once done, you can set up print jobs from anywhere on the internet for processing automatically or when you get home.
7. Cleartune – Chromatic Tuner - £2.39
Musicians will love Chromatic Tuner – it's designed to tune your instrument using nothing more than your iPhone's mic (it goes without saying that iPod Touch users will need an external mic), and will work with a wide variety of instruments.
8. Tree-to-Go – Free
If you're into your family history, Tree-to-Go is a must. It links in with your free online tree at Ancestry.co.uk – not only can you show off your tree to family, you can add or edit entries, plus upload photos from your iPhone too. Perfect should you find yourself in a dusty records office following a promising lead.
9. Sleep Machine - Free/£1.19
Trouble sleeping? Pop on your headphones or crank up the speakers, then launch Sleep Machine Lite or Sleep Machine Full to soothe you to sleep with a variety of sounds or chilled out tunes. Includes timer, alarm and the ability to mix and match up to three sounds.
10. Torch - Free
Torch might feel gimmicky, but you'll be glad you installed it the next time you're plunged into darkness and left scrabbling around for the trip switch or fuse box.
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Facebook wants its own 'Sonic or Mario or Halo'
While there is currently a cool 32 million people regularly playing FarmVille on a daily basis on Facebook, the social network has made a plea to games developers to create 'iconic games' such as Mario, Halo or Sonic for the platform.
Facebook Platform Manager, Gareth Davis, speaking at this week's Games Developers Conference in San Francisco, reminded devs that the next killer game was out there and that Facebook was ready to help to host it and popularise it.
Research suggests around three quarters of Facebook's 400m users regularly play social games on the site.
"The next killer game is still out there and this game will come from you," Gareth Davis told a room of designers in San Francisco.
"When we look at every major game platform, we see that there is an iconic defining game on that platform whether it's Sonic or Mario or Halo.
"And while there are some great games on Facebook today, no one has yet produced the iconic game for [it]. The Facebook Mario is still out there," added Davis.
FarmVille leads the charge
"[FarmVille] has grown to $1bn from nothing nearly three years ago. It is definitely a mass market phenomenon across the board and represents a change in the way people play games and interact with their friends," said Justin Smith of research firm Inside Network.
This is just the beginning of Facebook's move into the game space, according to Gareth Davis.
"We are going to see multiple games with more than 100m people playing each one. That is as many people as watched the recent superbowl, the most watched TV programme in American history.
"The growth we are seeing is amazing and in a short space of time we have developed a brand new mass market audience for gaming."
Namechecking Battle.net, Xbox Live and games like Rock Band Davis reminded the developers in San Fran this week that: "The most profound revolutions, the most significant disruption, is how social games are designed. They are made for social interaction - people want to play with their friends."
"Social games are the past, present and future of the games industry. Someday soon all games will be as social as they were in the past - and we won't call them social games, we'll just call them games again."
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Guide: 8 ways to speed up Internet Explorer 8
Internet Explorer 8 is without doubt the best browser Microsoft has ever produced, but it still has a few problems.
In particular, you may find its performance tails off over time, pages can suddenly take ages to load, and you might even find it crashes unexpectedly.
The reason? Junk. Just as Windows slows down as it becomes clogged with leftover registry entries and unnecessary start-up programs, so Internet Explorer can become weighed down with unwanted toolbars, pointless plug-ins and other assorted rubbish.
But don't worry. All this trash may take months to build up, but in just a few minutes you can strip it all away, revitalising Internet Explorer 8 and restoring its original speedy performance.
1. Remove unwanted extensions
Click Tools > Manage add-ons to see the add-ons you've installed. If you spot anything you no longer need, click it and select Disable.
Do experiment – the worst that can happen is that some pages won't display properly, in which case you can simply re-enable the add-on and everything will be back to normal.
2. Remove Accelerators, too
Click Accelerators in the left-hand Add-on Types list. If you're sure you don't need one of these, click it and select Disable or Remove.
Click the Search Providers add-on type, remove any you don't like, and check Prevent programs from suggesting changes to my default search provider to keep current settings.
3. Download more
Download more files simultaneously. Launch Regedit and browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Internet Settings.
Double-click MaxConnections PerServer and MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server in the right-hand pane, select Decimal, set each to 10, then reboot your PC.
4. Save time
Some programs reconfigure Internet Explorer to check for a newer version of a web page every time you visit it, slowing down browsing.
To fix this, click Tools > Internet Options > Browsing History Settings and make sure Check for newer versions of stored pages is set to Automatically.
5. Configure the cache
Stay in the Browsing History Settings, and check that the cache Disk space to use value is set to the default 50MB.
If your PC has more than one hard drive, make sure your temporary files are stored on the fastest. Check the location path to see where they are, and click Move Folder to relocate them, if necessary.
6. Clean everything
Even when it's correctly configured, your IE8 cache may become corrupted. As a result, some pages may load slowly, or not at all, and the browser might crash.
Fortunately, this is easily fixed: click Tools > Delete Browsing History, check Temporary Internet Files, clear all the others, and click Delete.
7. Turn on Pop-up Blocker
Unwanted pop-ups sap your bandwidth, slowing down your browsing. Click Tools > Internet Options > Privacy and check Turn on Pop-up Blocker to keep them under control.
Then click Settings and check the sites that are allowed to display pop-ups. Select any that don't need to be on the list and click Remove.
8. The final step
Click Tools > Internet Options > Connections > LAN Settings. Most home users don't need Automatically detect settings checked – it can cut performance.
Clear the box and reboot. Then you just need to sit back, relax and enjoy a smoother and faster browsing experience.
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Review: MSI CR610-013UK
The MSI CR610-013UK is a widescreen media centre laptop which provides Blu-ray functionality. While Blu-ray laptops are becoming increasingly common, it is still rare to find them for less than £599.
Letting you watch the latest high definition (HD) movie releases, the inclusion of a Blu-ray drive is the key selling point of this laptop.
Of course, a movie is only as good as the screen you watch it on, but thankfully the 16-inch widescreen panel used here is excellent. With impressive brightness, colour and contrast, photos and videos look great.
However its worth noting that the Super-TFT screen coating is highly reflective, and it lacks a Full HD 1080p resolution.
Where this machine misses a trick is in its limited graphics performance. While HD video runs comfortably and smoothly, a powerful graphics card would have added to its multimedia potential. Unfortunately, the ATi chip used only suits the most basic gaming and media editing.
The same is true of the home and office abilities of this machine. Despite using a dual-core processor, the performance is suited to home and office applications. There is still ample power for most daily use, but don't expect the cutting-edge power of the Samsung R580, for example.
Another flaw is the less than pleasing keyboard. Many keys are small and thin and placed too closely together, making it easy to strike adjacent keys when typing. Another frustrating choice is that the left Ctrl key is indented, making it less accessible than on rival machines.
More pleasingly, build quality is generally excellent. Resilient plastics have been used and all panels feel firmly attached throughout. The black and gunmetal grey design scheme lacks the flair of the HP and Dell, but provides a suitably stylish look for the home or office.
Basic mobility
Inevitably for such a large laptop, mobility is limited. While this isn't the heaviest machine around – weighing just 2.5kg – the 186-minute battery life provides basic mobility; but you can still work comfortably around the home when necessary.
A pleasing set of features compensate somewhat for the MSI's flaws, however. High-speed wireless and fixed network connectivity is on offer, an eSATA port provides speedy access to external hard drives and a 500GB internal hard drive provides truly capacious storage for all your data and files.
Overall, the CR610-013UK is a competent entry-level media centre and its combination of a stunning screen and Blu-ray compatibility is a rare find at this price.
Unfortunately, its poor usability and limited performance prevent it from achieving our highest recommendation.
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World's first commercially available Jetpack goes on sale
Ever since the glory days of the Fall Guy in the 1980s any self-respecting gadget geek has craved a workable jetpack.
The new Martin Jetpack is priced at $86,000 (£57,675) and is the world's first commercially available personal flying machine.
This beast of a machine will allow you a full 30 minutes of flight time, so just be careful you are not too high when you are reaching that 28-minute point in your flight across from the top of London's Centrepoint to the top of the BT Tower.
The machine's rotors are built from a carbon / Kevlar composite and powered by a 200hp two-liter V4 two-stroke petrol engine.
Safety first, fun last
Martin Aircraft is based in New Zealand, so you may also have to take a trip over there to pick up your new wonder-toy. Either that, or pay a couple of extra grand for the shipping costs…
Martin Aircraft was founded in 1998 in Christchurch New Zealand and it's taken them twelve years of hard work to finally develop a machine they consider worthy (and safe enough) for commercial release.
Martin has made sure that the pack also has safety systems that will kick in in case the main system goes down. Should all else fail the machine also contains a ballistic parachute to aid with any emergency landings.
Control-wise, pitch and roll are controlled by one hand, thrust and yaw by the other. Finally, you have weigh between 140-240 pounds to be allowed to fly one of these.
Still want one? Head over to Martin Aircraft's website to place your order.
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Exclusive: Why Sharp thinks TVs need an extra pixel colour
Sharp's announcement that its next generation of Aquos televisions would come with a fourth colour of sub-pixel raised some slightly bemused smiles.
But the company has told TechRadar that the addition of yellow to the traditional red green and blue will have a key benefit.
Televisions currently use the primary colours – red, green and blue – to generate all the colours that the televisions shows, but Sharp's latest Quattron technology adds a yellow sub-pixel.
"The primary objective to to increase the colour spectrum," Sharp's UK marketing communications manager Martin Arnold explained to TechRadar.
"The TV has always been able to produce yellows – we're not saying that we're adding a yellow or a gold colour, but what we're actually doing is increasing the colour spectrum."
Golden touch
"Golds in particular have always been difficult to replicate on television, so by adding the fourth as a sub-pixel it's allowing us to increase the colour spectrum from billions of colours to trillions of colours and what that does is it opens up a wider colour aperture," he added.
"So whereas beforehand TVs struggled to replicate golds, Caribbean blues and aquas we more accurately represent those colours to the viewers."
Arnold explained that the fourth sub-pixel fits alongside the normal three because the company has managed to shrink the others.
"We've managed to make the red, green and blue sub-pixels 25 per cent smaller and that's given us the room to add the fourth sub-pixel, so you don't need any more pixels.
"What it also does is reduce the jaggedness of the picture because the sub-pixels are smaller."
Big investment
Sharp has invested heavily in the proprietary technology, and will spend even more money in marketing a concept that they believe brings tangible benefits to the screen.
"The real benefit is that this technology is not dependant on source, so it's available for anybody," adds Arnold.
"It's not what I would classify as a gimmick, because it will increase anyone's viewing pleasure."
Sharps Aquos Quattron range has a UK release date for the end of April or the beginning of May and final prices will be confirmed closer to launch.
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Exclusive: Vodafone UK reassures HTC Magic users over virus claims
Vodafone UK has responded to claims that its HTC Magic phones can be bought complete with viruses.
A worker for online anti-virus firm Panda Security bought a Magic from Vodafone in Spain, and wouldn't you know it, found three different types of malware on their device.
These came in the form of autorun files that once mounted to a Windows PC would cause all sorts of havoc.
Keep calm and carry on
However, Vodafone UK has told TechRadar that British users, and the wider Vodafone community, have nothing to worry about:
"The device involved in the incident was purchased by a customer of Vodafone Spain and is currently being investigated.
"The early indications are that this was an isolated local incident," said the spokesperson.
"Vodafone UK has received no reported security problems customers using the HTC Magic, although we continue to monitor the situation closely.
"We take our customer's security and privacy extremely seriously and will take further action to protect our customers should it be necessary."
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Review: HP Pavilion dm3-1020EA
HP's Pavilion range comprises the majority of its consumer laptops and combines high-end designs with stunning usability and features. Its Pavilion dm3-1020EA is a compact and smartly designed portable that makes a stylish and capable travel partner.
At just 1.9kg, it is light and portable and its smooth, curved edges and sleek design let it slip easily into your hand luggage.
Its fantastic 276-minute battery life makes it perfect for people who work on the commute, allowing nearly five hours of mobile use.
A high-quality look throughout the entire chassis is provided by a combination of black plastics and brushed aluminium. These resilient materials also make it tough and able to withstand the rigours of daily use.
This level of quality continues across the user interface. The spacious keyboard delivers fantastic usability via the popular isolated-style design. All keys are firmly attached and move smoothly and accurately. The shiny metallic touchpad and mouse buttons are equally usable.
Where the dm3-1020EA really stands out is its bright and vibrant 13.3-inch LED screen. Image quality is stunning, with impressive sharpness and an excellent display of colour and contrast. Its glossy Super-TFT coating is more reflective than we would like, but this is a minor flaw.
Graphics performance isn't very good, but this is common with compact laptops such as this. Nevertheless, the integrated ATi graphics card provides ample power for watching movies, playing the most basic games and even photo and video editing.
Home and office abilities are less capable. Despite being a dual-core chip, performance is bettered by most other laptops at this price point. You can run most office applications and browse the internet with ease, but don't expect to multi-task with any degree of speed with this machine.
Average connectivity
Network connectivity is also less capable than we would have liked – or expected – from such a portable device. 802.11g Wi-Fi and 10/100 Ethernet provide average wireless and fixed connection speeds.
It should also be noted that, due to the slim chassis, there is no integrated optical disc drive (ODD) for CD or DVD access. An external USB drive is provided for use at home, but you won't be able to pop a disc into the side of this laptop for entertainment on the move.
Despite some very minor flaws, the Pavilion dm3-1020EA is nevertheless a stunningly designed, highly usable and eminently portable machine.
While its lack of an integrated ODD is unfortunate, this is still a great mobile device and one that is very easy to recommend.
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Review: Klipsch Icon 5.1 System
American speaker manufacturer Klipsch is famed for its horn speakers, due to their clarity, power, definition and, most of all, sheer size. Its legend-model, the Klipschorn, is like a triangular sideboard. But this 5.1 set of Icon speakers is more living room-friendly, and intended to marry up to modern flatscreen TVs, so adopts a kind of horns-lite approach.
Available in two pretty but subtle veneer finishes, each of these medium-sized boxes features a cleverly-designed polymer assembly in its face that squirts the high frequency audio all around with a greater efficiency than any normal dome tweeter ever could.
Think of them as speakers for those who want sexy, top-end performance without their room dominated by massive boxes. Which is quite a lot of us, probably.
Heroic horns
I love some bits of technology more than others. I worship the simplicity of my dishwasher and what it does so reliably, and I hate my Thomson PVR with a passion. It has so often corrupted files of programmes I enjoyed, I now fear never seeing a series all the way through.
I was therefore thrilled to get Season Two of Heroes on Blu-ray for Christmas, as I lost it part way through during its terrestrial broadcast. Of course, it is so much better on BD, with the DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. Bullets fly and stop, glass shatters and men streak by with a whoosh. At least they do with the Icon system.
Klipsch is speaker-biz aristocracy, masters of the dark art of the compression-driven horn. Simply put, these have megaphones of purity in front of the specially-designed tweeters. Not familiar domes but compression-driven diaphragms that work on the same sound-squeezed and-directed principle as the professional speakers used by studio and live sound engineers.
As this technology relies on the rules of physics, pertaining to the wavelengths of the sound being made, bass horns are often big enough for a small family to hide inside for weeks. What's more, tweety compression driver horns are absurdly efficient and spread the sound out like warm butter.
It means that for very few watts, these speakers, like all of their brethren, are improbably loud. In turn, this means your amp works less hard, leaving it more bass-end headroom.
8in wonder woofer
Horn speakers rock but can often be let down by weedy subwoofers. Thankfully, the woofer that came with this set, despite being the mere 8in driver version (there's a 10in, too), absolutely stonks.
The XW-300D has an insane amount of cone travel. It's a sealed box, too, so can go as low as the wobbliness of the woofer allows, rather than resonating mostly at a port-tuned frequency. It was deep, throbby, tight and melodic, and beautifully controlled by a decent amp.
Klipsch has bought into licensed BASH technology, a kind of digital hybrid bass amplification (all about the power supply switching inside) that offers more grip for the watts. It worked a treat with Heroes, as the sound mixers are always giving it some basso profundo to impress the viewer.
These Icon speakers are beautifully put together, using Allen-headed bolts to their rears around the ports – rounded-end, ovoid slots which allow a large amount of carefully-tuned air to puff in and out. These afford some real power output to the small glassfibre based cones that look like they shouldn't be able to do what they do.
Also, in the case of the bigger boxes, you get a set of well-made steel spikes to anchor them to the deck. There are rubber pads for the centre and surrounds, with the latter also getting two 'P' holes on the rear for wall-hanging.
Apart from the subwoofer, they all use magnetic attraction to hold their grilles in place with Neodymium discs embedded within the grilles and the cabinets. They stay in place well and the cabinets look far better without any ugly fixing holes.
The finish is superb but understated, and I gather takes several layers of sanded lacquer to make them look so svelte. Even the outrigger bits at the base of the towers look good. Put simply, the finish of this Klipsch set is gorgeous.
The woofer is high-tech but a doddle to setup. It has a panel control on the top to access all the stuff you need to do (volume, EQ, lowpass and phase) via up/down and left/right buttons, an 'enter' button and a backlit LCD character display. It has a sophisticated set of abilities, and you can save your own settings under 'Movie', 'Music' and 'Night' labels. There's even a 60Hz 'music' EQ setting and a 30Hz centred 'depth' EQ as well.
More than a feeling
I am an admitted lover of audio you can feel, but I do enjoy accuracy above all else. I'll forgive a small scale if it's simply related to price, like cars and top speed. And this system is like a Toyota Prius, sucking absurd amounts of go from each and every bit of fuel. That efficiency is a big part of the Klipsch story and the Icons especially.
I had some fun with Heroes' DTS-HD soundtrack, as it's amazingly crafted. I watched several discs' worth – and quite a lot at night – and found that while it couldn't begin to do the majestic might and scale of a high-end all-floorstander system and weapons'-grade sub, it was brilliant at audio placement and bizarrely good at low volumes.
Those toy-like horns actually deserve the deepest respect for sheer weasel-like cunning. Wherever you sit, you will be within the magical 80-80° spread these horns achieve, and that means that the energy in the detail-carrying high frequencies will always reach you in the right amounts, so you get the 'director intended' mix. I enjoyed them hugely, even if they were a bit less in-your-face than my taste. Anyway, that's my taste.
For normal people with rooms up to a decent size, this set is a high-quality option at a tempting price – including a five-year warranty and free shipping when ordered from Klipsch's website. It also specs a bigger array of Icons with more potent fronts and a larger woofer if you want.
And if you need to fill a real cinema, it makes plenty of speakers that size, too…
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Sony signs major studios for PSN HD movies
Sony has signed up the big six Hollywood studios to provide high def movies for the PlayStation Network this week.
The latest PSN high def announcement was made at this month's Games Developers Conference.
Sony has inked deals with 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount, Sony Pictures (obviously), Universal and Warner Bros. to deliver HD movies for the US PSN.
A significant milestone
"Securing high definition content from these studios is another significant milestone further validating PlayStation Network as a complete entertainment network in the home. PlayStation Network is the first and only service to deliver high definition home entertainment from all six major studios, directly to consumers for download," said SCEA's PSN marketing head, Peter Dille.
"PlayStation Network continues to offer the most comprehensive catalogue of HD movies to PlayStation Network members that realize the wide-ranging entertainment power of the PS3 system."
At launch, the new content will be available in the US only, with Sony planning to launch soon in the UK.
New titles available on the US PSN this week include:
· 20th Century Fox – "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian", "Jennifer's Body" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (on March 23)
· Disney – Disney Pixar's "Up", Jerry Bruckheimer's "G-Force" and Disney's "Earth"
· Paramount – "Star Trek", "Paranormal Activity" and "Zoolander"
· Sony Pictures – "This Is It", "2012″, "District 9″ and "Zombieland"
· Universal – "Inglourious Basterds", "Couples Retreat" and "Public Enemies"
· Warner Bros. – "The Hangover", "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and "The Wizard of Oz"
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BT boss hits out at government's online piracy plans
The boss of BT has criticised the government's plans to cut-off persistent illegal file-sharers from their internet accounts, suggesting that fining them would be a far more progressive option.
British Telecom's Chief Exec, Ian Livingston, has teamed up with a number of other key industry figures and written a letter to the Financial Times urging that changes be made to the Digital Economy Bill.
Unnatural justice
Plans to cut off filesharers go against what Mr Livingston refers to as 'natural justice' and instead he wants to see those accused of filesharing either pay a fine or fight their case in a court of law.
ISPs will no doubt see this as a preferable option to the current suggestions in the Digital Economy Bill, which, if ratified, will essentially see them being forced to cut off their own customers.
The BT boss said that this alternative approach would "create a fund" and "you get some good, rather than getting some hurt out of people infringing copyright".
Via BBC
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Google Apps Marketplace launches
Google has officially announced Google Apps Marketplace – hoping to build an ecosystem that allows businesses that use its paid-for Google Apps services to find and purchase a wide range of cloud software tools developed by specialists.
One of the key reasons behind Microsoft's success over the years has been its flourishing ecosystem, and with Apple's App Store revolutionising both the mobile phone market third-party software market places, it makes sense for Google to attempt to bring the two concepts closer.
"We've found that when businesses begin to experience the benefits of cloud computing, they want more," explains Google.
Wider variety
"We're often asked when we'll offer a wider variety of business applications — from accounting and project management to travel planning and human resources management. But we certainly can't and won't do it all, and there are hundreds of business applications for which we have no particular expertise.
"In recent years, many talented software providers have embraced the cloud and delivered a diverse set of features capable of powering almost any business.
"But too often, customers who adopt applications from multiple vendors end up with a fractured experience, where each particular application exists in its own silo. Users are often forced to create and remember multiple passwords, cut and paste data between applications, and jump between multiple interfaces just to complete a simple task.
"Today, we're making it easier for these users and software providers to do business in the cloud with a new online store for integrated business applications.
"The Google Apps Marketplace allows Google Apps customers to easily discover, deploy and manage cloud applications that integrate with Google Apps."
50 for starters
The marketplace has launched with 50 companies' wares, ranging from Intuit Online Payroll to project management software JIRA Studio.
"Once installed to a company's domain, these third-party applications work like native Google applications," adds Google.
"The Google Apps Marketplace eliminates the worry about software updates, keeping track of different passwords and manual syncing and sharing of data, thereby increasing business productivity and lessening frustrations for users and IT administrators alike. That's the power of the cloud."
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Review: Canon PowerShot A3100 IS
With the PowerShot A3100, it's fair to say Canon has the entire spectrum of compact cameras covered.
From the excellent - and very cheap - Canon A490, all the way up to the top-end Canon G11, anyone in the market for a new compact camera will be able to find something they like.
The top and bottom ends of the price spectrum are easy, though. If you want DSLR-style performance and quality, prepare your bank manager and buy either the G11 or the excellent Nikon P6000. There are only a few truly decent cameras under £100, so that choice is easy as well.
Things get sticky in the middle, though. If you've got around £200 to spend the competition is fierce and the choice bewildering. Manufacturers know that's the sweet spot for consumers and so for a camera to succeed it has to be excellent.
The Canon A3100 wades into the fray with a formidable specification list. Its 12.1MP sensor is a good start, and its 4x optical zoom, stabilised lens and big TFT on the back all make it a serious contender. But cameras like the Ixus 105 are just as serious.
The A3100 doesn't actually make the best first impression.
Call us spoiled, but we're used to cameras at this price being a little sleeker - the A3100 has slightly tubby dimensions and we can't say we're fans of how it feels in the hand.
The screen on the back protrudes inelegantly from the back of the camera, and while we agree that looks aren't everything, the A3100 isn't overly charming for a camera that costs the better part of £200.
It atones elsewhere though. The 2.7-inch TFT has a resolution of 230,000 pixels, and is excellent. It's crisp and bright, and we had no trouble using it outside. And, while the menu system will be familiar to anyone who's used Canon's compacts before, it's easy to pick up and use from scratch.
You choose the camera's mode via a dial on the top. All the usual suspects are here, including a fully automatic mode, and a scene mode offering nine settings for tricky situations such as bright snowy landscapes or night shots.
There isn't exactly a surplus of manual modes, although you can at least set white balance manually, or set your own exposure compensation from plus or minus two stops.
But for more complex effects, such as blurring light trails on a night shoot, you have to select the closest scene mode to the one you want and trust the camera to get it right.
One unexpectedly effective addition is the A3100's face detection mode. This offers a fairly negligible advantage over the standard mode for portraits you take yourself - it makes sense to simply frame and focus a shot yourself - but the addition of the self-timer is a stroke of genius.
Set the A3100 up and set it to face self-timer mode and the camera will take a picture when it thinks a new face has entered the frame. If you've ever wreaked merry havoc attempting to navigate a tripod trying to include yourself in a timer shot, the A3100 has the answer. The system worked effectively in our tests.
Luckily, trusting the A3100 is something we were happy to do during our time with it.
Images taken at ISO 100 were the match of any compact camera, with excellent colour and detail reproduction.
Moving the ISO up through the range inevitably reduces image quality, and the A3100 treads a careful path between giving image noise free rein and detail-destroying noise reduction.
At its top setting of ISO 1600 our images are clearly suffering from a marked softness, but with a little care it should be possible to get printable images as long as you don't crop too heavily.
At lower ISOs there's plenty of potential for zooming in after the fact - the A3100's 12.1MP sensor produces 3,000 x 4,000 pixel images.
Impressively, the lens showed very little chromatic aberration, even in typically difficult high-contrast situations.
It's not a spectacular piece of glass, offering a focal range of 35-140mm (35mm equivalent). That's fine for most standard situations, but will offer frustration if you want to get up close to a building, or take decent pictures at a wildlife park.
On the plus side, the lens's conservative specifications mean there's no distortion to speak of.
The movie mode is nothing special, unfortunately. 30fps and 640 x 480 is the top setting, which means budding Spielbergs will need to rein in their aspirations somewhat.
It's something of a shame, particularly when cameras such as Canon's own Ixus 120 IS cost around £30 more but throw in 720p, 30fps video recording.
Some of Canon's compact cameras, such as the top-end G-series, are the stuff of legend.
The A3100 doesn't make quite the same impact, but that doesn't mean you should discount it.
At just £150 (at launch), there's plenty to like. It doesn't lack resolution, or image quality, and while the features list might not be a mile long, nothing important is missing - although it would be nice to see HD video filtering down the line to lower-end compacts.
We liked:
The A3100 offers enough resolution to allow cropping and re-framing of images, while the screen on the back is an excellent example of the type. It's also extremely easy to use.
We disliked:
Did we mention the lack of a decent video mode? We're also not wild about the A3100's design, which while inoffensive is hardly going to turn many heads. It's also not spectacularly comfortable to hold, although for £150 we're willing to overlook these quibbles.
Verdict:
If you're unbothered by the lack of HD video, the A3100 is a superb camera for the money.
Spend around £30 more and you'll get a more impressive lens and HD video, but for most casual snappers the A3100 is all the camera you'll need.
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Britons spending nearly £200m on MMOs
British gamers spent nearly £200 million on MMOs like World of Warcraft according to the latest research.
The Today's Gamers MMO Focus Report by TNS and Gamesindustry.com suggests that 1.5 million people in the UK spend an average of £10.50 a month on massively multiplayer online games.
The total of £195 million is more than Germany (£165m) and France (£145m) but a drop in the ocean compared to the US – where $3.8 billion (£2.55bn) was spent.
Subs, micro-payments and cheating
Around £79 million, 41 per cent of the total was spent in monthly subscriptions, £16 million in annual subscriptions and £24 million on buying games and expansion packs.
Micro-payments accounted for £38 million, the same amount spent by people buying up virtual currency (aka cheating).
"Micro-payments on the free-to-play games plus subscriptions for the rest make MMOs lucrative - if you can convince gamers to pick your MMO over the others," explained MSN's Jane Douglas.
"They only have so many hours to sink into games like these, so competition is tough."
UK ftw!
CVG's editor Tim Ingham believes that the UK's obsession with MMOs sends out a strong message, and is intrigued by the impact of the free-to-play Runescape .
"Okay, so this doesn't paint a picture of us as the globe's sexiest nation," he said, "but look on the bright side - at least, for once, we're top of a European league table that doesn't feature binge drinking, obesity or teenage pregnancy.
"Despite Lord Of The Rings Online's best efforts, there's really only One MMO To Rule Them All in Blighty: Warcraft's domination of the market is still colossal.
"However, it's very interesting to see Runescape rise through the ranks of WoW's wealthier pretenders to woo the British public.
"It's a free-to--play MMO: The perfect tonic for a skint nation with plenty of unemployed hours on its hands."
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Google adds wiki-like features to Google Street View
Google is to give users of Street View the chance to edit the service to make it that little bit more accurate.
An 'edit marker' feature has been added, which would allow you to change where businesses are.
So, if you look at Street View and find that the marker for a shop or pub nearby you isn't quite right, then you can lift it up and change its location.
"Sometimes you may find a place in Google Maps that isn't quite positioned where it should be," says the blog.
"Let's say you know that your favourite pizzeria is near the corner but the marker for it appears further down the block. You want all hungry pizza-cravers to be able to find this great spot, so you want to make sure the marker leads them directly to the storefront."
Move marker
The blog continues: "You could use our map editing feature (the 'move marker' edit) to move it to the right place, but moving the marker to the right location is not always that easy, especially in denser urban areas, if the only reference you have are maps or satellite images because you can only get a view from above.
"So now we have added one more very handy reference for making a map marker edit: Street View images. It makes the edit much easier."
This wiki approach is something that Google seems to be embracing more for its services like StreetView.
Just last week, Google also announced that you could also edit the information given to businesses flagged up on Street View.
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