Interview: Exclusive: We talk to Todd Jackson, the man in charge of Gmail and Buzz
TechRadar caught up with Todd Jackson, product manager for Gmail and Google Buzz, for an exclusive interview at the recent South By South West Interactive (SXSWi) conference in Austin Texas.
TechRadar: In the panel Gmail: Behind the Scenes, Gmail engineer Jonathan Perlow said that Google had been working on Buzz for four years before it launched…
Jackson: For many of the projects that we do in Gmail, we'll try something and for whatever reason maybe it will work or maybe it won't work and sometimes we come back to the projects later. For example some of the labels work that we launched about a year ago had been an ongoing thing.
We'd always thought from the beginning of Gmail, how could we improve labels, how could we make them more accessible to people. So that's something we often do, it wasn't unique to Buzz in any way. We often try a project several times before we get something that we really like. It's part of our philosophy around iteration.
TR: But four years ago, the seed was there?
Jackson: Yeah, I think the thing that was most interesting to us originally was we had chat in Gmail and we wanted people to be able to share status messages in chat, and then the next logical thing was we wanted to be able to let people reply to status messages, because before Buzz there was no way to do that.
You could post a status message but it could never turn into a conversation. So that was one of the early experiments that we tried before. But for whatever reason there were other projects that we decided were more important - the biggest project we did was the entire re-write of Gmail's JavaScript architecture which has allowed us to do more projects concurrently.
But for a time two or three years ago the entire team was working on that and so we weren't as able to work on certain different projects. Since that major rewrite we've been able to revisit some of those projects and bring them to life.
TR: What is Buzz actually for? Is it Google Wave in my inbox, is it Twitter? A lot of people I talk to have no idea.
Jackson: Then we have to do a better job communicating that to people. The way we see Buzz… so first of all, within Gmail, we want to solve all the ways that users want to communicate. We started with just email and then we added chat and then we added video chat. And this sort of passive social sharing is another way that people obviously want to communicate and so we want Gmail to be a good tool for that. But if people can't figure out what it's for then that's something we need to do better at.
How we envision it is for people to be able to share all kinds of stuff on Buzz – interesting news that they are reading, photos that they just took, places they went to, chat status messages that turn into conversations, and we want that to be a really easy and fluid experience inside Gmail where we know a lot of people are a lot of the time.
So that's our vision for the product – I don't think we're there yet, it's something that we are continually working on and launching new features – we just launched some features that are enhancements to Buzz and you're going to see us continue to work on it and adding new features to serve this vision that we have where people will be using it as a major communication tool.
TR: So that's why it's in Gmail and not a standalone app like Google Wave?
Jackson: We know that people like having an integrated communication experience. Sometimes you get an email and you want to reply by chat rather than email and we see those same opportunities with Buzz, the fluidity of transitioning between the ways we communicate. I think it's a totally fair criticism that we're not there yet but it's something that we're going to continue to try to do better.
TR: So will Buzz stay within the mail client or will we see Buzz clients either from Google or third parties?
Jackson: We think those kinds of opportunities are really interesting. We keep it pretty close to the chest in terms of what future products we are working on, but we want people who don't use Gmail to be able to use Buzz and so we're trying to address that. And we love the idea of third-party developers contributing to Buzz, so that's another thing that we are thinking about. There already are Buzz APIs available – they're currently read-only and we want to provide more full APIs and see an ecosystem.
TR: So it could be apps or it could be posting to Buzz from, say, Blogger…
Jackson: We're interested in all kinds of things…
TR: In another panel at SXSWi Google software engineer Brett Slatkin talked about how you might have a WordPress blog that pulls comments into Buzz, and that posting to Buzz would push those comments back out to WordPress. How's that coming along?
Jackson: It is very early but we are actively working on these things. We want Buzz to be interoperable with all these different communication products that aren't done by Google. And we want Buzz to be a leading example of some of these open APIs and open protocols. Because the way that we see it is that users want to use all these various different products, we don't want to lock them into Google products, but we want Google products to work really well and seamlessly with the other things they are using around the web.
TR: So would you urge Twitter, Facebook, and Microsoft to think the same way?
Jackson: That's certainly up to those companies. We believe that open standards are the way to go because it creates the most value for users. For example, one of the things that Brett said was 'back in the day before SMTP email standards came about you could only chat within AOL or whatever other company was around and that's sort of the way things are with social networks these days, so it's something that we would definitely like to see change.
TR: Regarding the privacy issues that plagued the launch of Buzz, do you think that the tech industry thinks it's perfectly natural to want to share everything and don't understand that in the real world people don't want to share as much?
Jackson: I don't think that's an excuse. I think that we are building products for millions of users and that we have to launch things that millions of users are comfortable with. I do think within the tech industry and people who use a lot of these products, there is more of a common understanding that if everyone shares their stuff the community benefits.
We did a recent usability study within Google about photos and one of the things we heard people saying was 'I don't really want to share my photos publicly but I want everyone else to.' So it's a really interesting thing that if everybody shares a little more openly then everybody benefits.
And we are trying to help users understand that and also give them the controls – privacy equals control and giving people the tools they need to be in control of the information they share. But in general we think it's better for people to be sharing more openly because it benefits other users.
TR: In the US Gmail is third by market share. What's the objective with Gmail now – topple Hotmail?
Jackson: We tend not to focus too much on competitors, we focus on users, and the needs that they have. Growth is one of the things that we care about. We hope that more and more people will use Gmail – and not just that more people will use it but that people will use it more often.
This is something that Larry and Sergey, the founders, tell us – focus on usage not users, because the people who are using your product the most, the most active demanding users are the ones who are going to be helping inform you about what the future is.
The leading edge users are where everyone else is going to be two to three years later. So they are the ones that can help push your product to where it needs to be for the future, so we're really focussed on innovation.
TR: But if you are looking to grow, stuff like a lack of folders can be a deal-breaker for new users…
Jackson: We worked on this recently with our project where we improved labels. We wanted them to be accessible for people who are familiar with folders. We believe that the label model is a good model because it allows something to be in multiple labels. If I receive an email that's from my family but it's about a vacation I want it to be both in the 'family' and the 'vacation' label.
At the same time we realised that most people just didn't get labels. All our research showed this. And so we did this big project to improve them – while still keeping them as labels we wanted to make them familiar to people who use folders so you can drag and drop, you can 'move to' – which is essentially moving something out of one label and into another label so we made them sort of, still implemented as labels under the covers but look and feel and behave like folders so that users who are familiar with folders could use it.
And after we launched this we saw the usage of labels go way up and we saw the number of people doing the traditional label commands go down a little and the amount of people doing the 'move to' and the folder-like commands go way up.
TR: Why isn't the search in Gmail as good as Google's web search – you need to be much more accurate with your search queries in Gmail.
Jackson: Gmail works on pretty much exact string matching. There's an incredible amount of knowledge that's baked into Google web search and we're trying to incorporate more and more of that into Gmail. So you will see improvement in that area in the future. It's one of the bigger back-end projects that we're working on right now.
TR: So we'll see search suggestions such as 'did you mean?'
Jackson: Similar. You have to make sense in a mail context. We refer to this as 'stemming' – certain terms that are the stem of a longer term. It's a basic property of web search. And things like synonyms and bigrams and anagrams – all that stuff we want to work well in Gmail. It doesn't work yet but it's something we are working on.
TR: So when will that be implemented?
Jackson: We try not to be too forward looking with what we announce. The reason is that oftentimes because of the fits and starts that projects have… imagine if four years ago we told you that we were working on Buzz.
Projects happen organically at Google and they are very engineering driven and sometimes they start and stop and resume later. And we also don't like to tease users – we want to announce it to users at the moment that it's ready for them to use it.
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Apple asks developers for first iPad apps
Apple has begun to accept submissions for iPad apps to be released at launch in the US on 3 April.
iPad devs are now submitting their wares to Apple for approval to ensure that their new iPad applications are ready for consumers to snap up on day of launch.
We expect a much higher quality of app for the iPad, with Apple's recent culling of nonsensical 'cookie cutter' apps pointing the way for its future strategy.
Deadline for iPad app developers is Saturday 27th of March.
Bonkers security requirements
Rather weirdly, BusinessWeek reports, that those few lucky developers who actually have the iPad device in their possession (as opposed to developing on emulator software like most) have had to sign a series of agreements that require some very harsh security arrangements to allow them to keep hold of the iPad before launch.
Devs are forced to promise to keep the iPad isolated in a room with blacked-out windows, and the iPad must remain tethered to a fixed object.
Apple will not send them an iPad until the potential partners send photographic evidence that they will comply with these requirements.
"This is pretty standard Apple over-protected-ness," said one leading iPad developer TechRadar spoke to today, who asked not to be named in case Steve Jobs sent his iNinjas round in the dead of the night.
One word. Bonkers!
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Batman storms Game BAFTAs
Batman: Arkham Asylum won the best game of 2009 at the Videogame BAFTA awards in London this month.
Eidos/Rocksteady's sublime game based on the dark knight scooped two Video Games Awards and Uncharted 2 took four, and Nintendo's creative powerhouse Shigeru Miyamoto was honoured with an Academy Fellowship.
Batman: Arkham Asylum was nominated for eight of the 13 awards and along with Best Game took the BAFTA for Gameplay, which anybody who has played the game will no doubt agree was fully deserved.
Star-studded ceremony
Sony's superb Uncharted 2 was up for ten awards and won Story, Use of Audio, Action and Original Score. LittleBigPlanet for PSP won the best Handheld, Flower won Artistic Achievement, Wii Sports Resort Family won Social Game And Family, and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 took the GAME Award of 2009, perhaps the most important of the lot, as that one is voted for by the public.
The ceremony was hosted by comedian Dara Ó Brien, who was at least aware of who Shigeru Miyamoto was, with Nintendo's creative chief honoured with the Academy Fellowship.
The full list of winners is as follows:
Action Game: Uncharted 2
Family & Social Game: Wii Sports Resort
Use of Online: FIFA 10
Artistic Achievement: Flower
Best Game: Batman: Arkham Asylum
Gameplay: Batman: Arkham Asylum
Handheld: LBP PSP
Multiplayer: Left 4 Dead 2
Original Score: Uncharted 2
Sports: FIFA 10
Story: Uncharted 2
Strategy: Empire: Total War
Use of Audio: Uncharted 2
BAFTA Ones To Watch Award (presented by David Braben): Shrunk! by The Butterflyers
GAME Award of 2009 (voted for by the public): Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Second place was Assassin's Creed 2, and Uncharted 2 took third.
Academy Fellow: Shigeru Miyamoto
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In Depth: Easily find stuff on your Mac with LaunchBar
Although superficially similar to Spotlight, LaunchBar predates it by a number of years, and its roots are actually in NeXTSTEP, the precursor to Mac OS X. The impetus behind the app was its developer wanting a single access point for all kinds of information.
In 2001, LaunchBar for Mac OS X arrived, and recently version 5 was unveiled, offering a number of exciting new features, many of which make Spotlight look rather redundant by comparison.
Getting started
When you first open LaunchBar, the app explains there's a clash with Spotlight. This is because LaunchBar by default uses Command+[Spacebar] for activation, like Spotlight, and CTRL+[Spacebar] for its own Spotlight search.
Since LaunchBar doesn't search within files, we recommend keeping the standard Spotlight shortcut intact, disabling LaunchBar's Search in Spotlight option (within the Shortcuts section of its preferences) and setting Search in LaunchBar to Ctrl+[Spacebar].
Once you've set this up, Ctrl+[Spacebar] can be used to activate LaunchBar, as well as abbreviations used to search for applications, documents and other data on your Mac.
However, the abbreviations used needn't have initial characters from an item's name: although ADD should bring Address Book to the top of the results list, AB can also be used.
If an item doesn't appear at the top of the results list, scroll down the list and select your item with Return – LaunchBar will, after one or two launches of an item, adapt to your chosen abbreviation. To cancel your abbreviation and type something else, press Esc.
LaunchBar can also automatically remove your abbreviation after a time, which can be defined via the Retype Delay slider in the General preferences.
LaunchBar settings
We're going to explore some workflow scenarios with LaunchBar, but prior to experimenting with those, we recommend you check out the app's settings. Via LaunchBar's preferences, you can define the number of visible rows during abbreviation searches and browsing (Appearance), determine what happens when certain actions are run (Actions), and decide how you want the calculator to work (Calculator).
With the last of those, we recommend unchecking Switch to Calculator when typing a digit. Another thing to be aware of with LaunchBar settings is the app's index. Spotlight indexing is largely an all-or-nothing affair, but LaunchBar initially has a smaller index.
You can adjust it by going to Index > Show Index to open LaunchBar's Index window. Here, you can select data types from the sidebar and use the Index tab to turn items on and off.
The Options tab often has settings for determining the scope of the search. Via the Schedule menu, you can also set how often your index is updated. Or, use Command+0 to manually update your index, Command+2 to update Address Book items and Command+4 to update Home folder items.
1. Work with categories
Although Spotlight enables you to search by types of data, this must be done in a Finder window, and it takes more than a few clicks to define a search for permanent use (via a smart folder). LaunchBar offers dozens of categories, a full list of which can be viewed by going to Index > Search Index and selecting Categories from the sidebar.
To see categories in action, invoke LaunchBar and type PN. The first result should be Phone Numbers. Press Return and the phone numbers in Address Book will be listed.
Another abbreviation enables you to filter the list. This technique works for many kinds of data – PL should bring up your iTunes playlists as a choice, ALB provides quick access to iPhoto albums, and types of images can be searched via JP (for JPEG), TI (for TIFF) and PSD (for Photoshop documents – although this one in our case required 'training' LaunchBar, since it appeared some way down the list).
02. Use actions
LaunchBar provides actions other than launching via Return or revealing an item in Finder using Command+Return.
On selecting (but not activating) an item, hit Tab. This starts an action, and subsequent abbreviations and selections determine what happens to the item.
For example, open a web page in a different browser to your default: type a period (.) to access Open Location, type your URL, hit Tab and choose your browser via an abbreviation (such as FF for Firefox). Return opens the URL.
You can also load a selection from Finder into LaunchBar to move or copy it. Do this by dragging the selection to LaunchBar or by selecting it in Finder, activating LaunchBar and using the shortcut Command+G. Tab then enables you to start defining an action – type a few characters and select a folder (such as PIC for Pictures). Hit Return and a menu will show options for file manipulation – 1 for Move, 2 for Copy. Press the relevant key to choose an action.
Alternatively, speed up the process by using Command+Return to move your item to the destination or Option+Return to copy it there. It's also possible to rename an item within LaunchBar by using Command+Shift+R to enter the Rename dialog.
By default, only the filename is selected to avoid accidentally removing the extension, although Tab enables you to adjust that as well.
03. Explore app data and settings
In many cases, apps within a LaunchBar results list can be explored further (to see all running apps, use Command+R). If this is the case, you'll see a right-facing arrow next to the item's name.
The right cursor arrow enables you to access data and settings. For example, type SAF to bring up Safari as the first choice, and then press the right arrow. You'll see bookmarks and history options, enabling you to access and filter those things within LaunchBar. Typing IT should bring up iTunes, and navigating within shows as the first option what's currently playing.
Beneath are various categories – playlists, artists, albums – which can be navigated using the cursor keys. Return selects a track and loads it in the background. If you rate iTunes tracks, you should also check out LaunchBar's automated best-of lists – BO brings up the item.
These can be filtered by album or artist, and by default include songs rated 4 or higher. This setting can be edited in the iTunes Library section of the Index, in the Options tab.
04. Use multiple clipboards
Open some web pages in Safari. Select and copy a few different chunks of text. Also Ctrl-click a couple of images and select Copy Image from the contextual menu. Press Option+Command+\ and LaunchBar will display your clipboard history.
Each clipping item has a name and some additional information – typically the app the clipping was copied from, along with a word or line count for text. Browse the list using the cursor keys, hit [Spacebar] to preview an item, and Return to paste it into an active document.
To speed things up, use Command+\ as a shortcut; hold Command and use the arrows to navigate the list. Release Command to paste an item.
You can amend these shortcuts and other options in the Clipboard section of LaunchBar's preferences. Capacity can be upped to 40 items, and you can set up an ignore list, which stops LaunchBar copying from listed apps.
There's also a ClipMerge option: by default, press Command+C twice and copied data is merged with the current clipboard – tricky to master, but a powerful feature once you have.
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Review: BenQ W1000
After lagging behind flat tellies for a few years in terms of affordability, projectors are rapidly getting cheaper. BenQ's return to the fray with the W1000 DLP projector puts excellent Full HD home cinema firmly within reach of those that want big pictures, but don't want to pay out extortionate amounts of cash.
Considering its sub-£1,000 starting price (it's a mere £999 bargain hunters), the W1000 crams some pretty advanced circuitry into its svelte white casing. BenQ has not spent too long on its design, however, so this DLP product very much resembles an office projector.
Inside there's evidence to the contrary: a high speed six-segment colour wheel and full HD resolution makes it a candidate for using with Blu-ray and HD games consoles.
The six-segment wheel is very important as it's likely to lessen the 'rainbow effect' that can cause some viewers to see seriously distracting colour banding during projections.
Inside its petite shell is BrilliantColor processing (to boost mid-tone hues), 3D Color Management (enabling endless calibration) and Unishape technology, which links up with the colour wheel to pump up the lamp's brightness when necessary.
That's crucial because some DLP beamers do struggle with bright footage, although the W1000 claims both a high 2,700:1 contrast ratio and a reasonable 1,800 ANSI Lumens brightness. The manufacturer also states that the lamp will last for up to 4,000hrs, which is on a par with most rivals.
Unusually for a projector, the W1000 does have a 3W speaker (albeit almost invisible) on its rear panel, which is very handy, though isn't going to shake the walls down.
The PC-style audio in/out minijacks also hint at BenQ's heritage in making business projectors.
Of more use in a home cinema outfit are the W1000's dual HDMI inputs, which combine with component video ports to create a trio of hi-def inputs. Although a USB port is present, it can't hook up memory sticks or cameras.
Ease of use
The W1000 creates a great first impression by being incredibly small. Being easily stowable is a tremendous selling point, but the install process is not so appealing. A drop-down leg beneath the front fascia can be extended and hidden at the touch of a button, while a flap on the top gives quick access to the lamp, but that's where the useful features end.
It lacks manual lens shift, which makes correct positioning easier. Keystone correction alone is not enough, nor is the W1000 easy to place; situated just over a couple of metres away from the screen, it produces an image of only around 70in.
It's not often that we test a projector with a control panel on the unit itself, but the W1000 hosts buttons to access and navigate onscreen menus, as well as to change the source and switch between various picture modes.
If you'd rather take a seat, the orange backlit remote is as comprehensive and as well designed as any we've seen. It's also very quick, which makes navigating the thoughtfully laid out, onscreen menus a pleasant experience.
Delve into them and you find the W1000's 3D Colour Management feature, which proves useful. It's also possible to change the levels for saturation, gain and hue for all primary colours via the remote. Add to that tweaks for colour temperature, white peaking and the usual sharpness/contrast/ brightness settings and the W1000 is something quite unusual if you're after a customised experience at little cost.
All your tweaks can be saved and assigned to specific buttons on the remote. Preset picture modes are not exactly plentiful with 'cinema', 'dynamic' and 'standard' settings only, though an eco mode is also on hand that prolongs the lamp's life.
Picture
Out of the box, the W1000 makes a decent stab at House of the Flying Daggers on Blu-ray, though some time spent tinkering with the 3D Colour management menus proves worthwhile, yielding some of the most natural colours we've seen at this price.
It's so realistic that there's rarely any need to toggle on the W1000's BrilliantColour feature. It does boost brightness and the saturation of the colours, as demonstrated by extra vividness in the palace walls, as well as in the characters' colourful costumes, but if anything, it's suppression of the all-round cinematic tone is rarely needed.
While bright enough to be used in some degree of daylight, the W1000 isn't perfect. We noticed some blurring during the many fastmoving fight scenes of our test disc, as well as some picture noise.
It isn't the sharpest picture we've seen from a DLP projector, either, but when it comes to contrast, deep and detail-strewn blacks are common, though hardly reference-grade. Unfortunately, in contrast-heavy scenes below deck in Master & Commander we noticed the rainbow effect, which does detract from the regularly impressive picture quality that lies at the core of the W1000.
Value
Aside from its robust pictures, the W1000's chief extra feature – it's built-in mono speaker – proves very useful. Although best kept for emergencies only, the sound quality is just about acceptable for dialogue, chiefly because there's no hint of distortion even at high volumes.
Although blighted by rainbows and the occasional blur, this heavily customisable projector is a great value product that overcomes its less-than-flexible setup to impress with well-rounded HD pictures.
BenQ has come up with a good first attempt at a budget full HD lightbox that just about justifies its price.
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Review: Panasonic DMP-BD45
Panasonic has always been ahead of the game in the Blu-ray market, but just recently, rivals such as LG, Samsung and Sony have been gaining ground with a slew of impressive, feature-packed players. So the brand has come up with a retort in the form of a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art Profile 1.1 player.
The DMP-BD45 is an entry level deck designed to give 'casual movie viewers' the chance to own a Panasonic Blu-ray spinner at an attractive price point by sacrificing BD Live support.
While Profile 2.0 is not mandatory, it could be a risky move, given the ever-decreasing prices of BD Live-capable players – but not everyone uses the feature.
Features
The Profile 1.1 spec does enable you to watch BonusView picture-in-picture commentaries. We've got used to BD Live as the norm, so it's strangely nostalgic to find a deck that doesn't support it.
Rear panel connections are sparse – another symptom of the deck's cost-cutting ethos. There's no Ethernet terminal, of course, and no multichannel analogue outputs for receivers without HDMI inputs.
Despite its bargain price, the BD45 features the same picture processing found on players higher up the ladder. This includes the newly tweaked version of Panasonic's P4HD system, which polishes the picture and handles duties such as upscaling, diagonal processing and motion detection. It's joined by the PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus, for a more accurate colour palette.
Rounding up the features are support for Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio via HDMI (bitstream and linear PCM), 1080/24p output, a range of picture presets (including the Detail Clarity sharpener) and playback of BD-R/ RE Freesat recordings made on Panasonic's Blu-ray recorders.
Ease of use
Panasonic's bold and colourful onscreen design is easy to follow, and most of the time you can navigate without expending much brain power. You start from the Functions menu, which is organised into clear, icon-based lists.
But the important setup menu is hidden in a separate submenu at the bottom, which is problematic. After selecting the option, we had to wait for the deck to handshake with our TV and receiver before the Setup menu finally appeared.
It's also slightly annoying to have to stop the movie to access the Functions section, but in its favour, the main menu is clearly laid out and features an extensive array of options. The remote is terrific, boasting the same big, chunky buttons and clear, unmistakable labelling as previous versions. The fact you can use the core controls without looking is always a good sign.
Sadly, disc loading isn't as impressive. Our Spider-Man 3 disc dawdled to the Sony Pictures logo in one minute, while owners of Terminator Salvation have to wait for one minute and 18-seconds to see some moving video. At least you only have to wait five seconds for the deck to boot up, thanks to the Quick Start mode.
Picture
The BD45's Blu-ray pictures look sensational. With the sampling Terminator Salvation disc, it retrieves an astonishing amount of detail, lending real clarity and texture to the dusty desert surroundings of post-Judgement Day Earth.
The image is solid and stable, with no digital nasties to sully those P4HD-polished pixels, and when set to 24Hz on a compatible TV, smooth movement is the order of the day. Check out the swooping jet planes tearing through the canyon.
The picture also boasts mesmerising depth, thanks largely to the punchiness and solidity of blacks. Colours neither feel washed out nor garish, testament to the deck's precise colour processing. A routine run-through of test patterns on the Silicon Optix HQV disc backs this up.
The BD45 doesn't put a foot wrong, skilfully keeping jaggies at bay, while switching between various video cadences with aplomb and resolving detail with scalpel-like sharpness.
Sound
It doesn't matter whether you transfer them as a bitstream or PCM, Terminator Salvation's hi-res soundtrack sounds fantastic via HDMI: crisp, bassy and expansive. Plenty of subtle detail scatters from the speakers and dialogue is clearly voiced.
Switch to a CD and the results are less dazzling, lacking the sparkle we've heard from pricier players, but it's not bad for everyday listening. If sound is your bag, save up for the BD85, which boasts a whole host of audio enhancements.
Value
Panasonic's decision to launch a Profile 1.1 player so long after BD Live-ready decks have become the standard is a curious one. The company argues that the market has matured to the point where it can launch a Profile 1.1 deck at a 'mass market' price to attract buyers who don't care about web downloads.
Although we understand the thinking behind it, the price isn't low enough to completely justify that decision. You can find a few BD Live-capable players on the market that cost the same as the BD45, and some really outstanding players that only cost a little bit more.
Given the choice, even people with no current interest in BD Live right now would be silly to deny themselves the chance to go online in the future.
However if you absolutely must have a Panasonic Blu-ray player and there's a sub-£200 ceiling on your budget, then the BD45 still has a lot to offer – particularly picture quality, which is definitely up to the brand's usual high standard.
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In Depth: 6 reliable online backup services for your Mac
We know, we know: we're supposed to back up. Yet it's something that even some MacFormat writers neglect to do.
Despite our Macs being the home of thousands of personal and business files, many of us went for years without a backup. Everything from irreplaceable photos to invoices and tax returns could have been gone in the time it takes to say: "What's that light flashing for?"
Then along came Apple's Time Machine, which performed something of a miracle in getting us all to back up regularly. But it's not the perfect solution. Suppose, for example, your house catches fire; rescuing the cat will probably be a higher priority than remembering to get either your Mac or that drive you back up to out of the flames – and rightly so.
Thanks to fast, always-on connectivity though, there is a simple solution: backing up your machine safely over the internet to a server somewhere well away from your house or office. And thankfully, there are services around which make this a simple process – perhaps not quite as simple to use as Time Machine, but more secure and capable of saving you in cases of real disaster.
In this test we look at six services which can help you back up securely over the internet: Backblaze, Carbonite, CrashPlan, DropBox, SugarSync and Mozy.
If they can get me backing up securely and regularly, they can probably do the same for you.
Products on test
Backblaze: $5 p/month
Carbonite: $4.57 p/month
CrashPlan: $4.50 p/month
DropBox: $9.99 p/month
SugarSync: $4.99 p/month
Mozy: $4.95 p/month
Backup should be hassle-free and in the background
Backblaze is designed to be almost completely invisible to users. Once installed, it works in the background backing up every file on your Mac, with a few exceptions – notably applications, system files, and single files over 4GB in size. There's really nothing else for you to do.
CrashPlan's interface offers more options than any other service, which is to be expected given that in addition to backing up online to its CrashPlan Central service, it's also capable of backing up to a local hard drive.
Carbonite includes a very Mac-friendly restore assistant that walks you through getting your files back.
DropBox and SugarSync are designed mainly for synchronising files between computers, but can also be easily used for backup.
However, probably the easiest-to-use interface is Mozy's. Not only does it let you specify files and folders to back up, but it also uses presets that let you back up things like Safari bookmarks, keychains, and iCal calendars.
How well does each package cope with a Mac?
Macs have peculiarities. Resource forks and packages, for example, are unique to the Mac, and not every service handles them well.
Backblaze and Mozy offer good levels of Mac-friendliness. Not only do they handle all the quirks of Mac files, like packages, but everything is easily configured – in Backblaze's case through a System Preferences pane, while an application takes care of Mozy.
CrashPlan showed packages as folders rather than single files within its interface, but restored them correctly as packages. Carbonite, too, struggled a little with package files when viewed through its web interface, although they restored perfectly through the application.
Both SugarSync and DropBox have some problems with package files. Although backing up and restoring to the same Mac should work, since they treat packages as if they were folders, if a part of the package is changed on more than one machine it can cause issues.
How well do these products recover your files?
Backblaze aims to make recovery as easy as possible, even going as far as letting you recover data from a Mac to a Windows machine. You can also order files on DVD (for $99) or a USB hard drive ($189), which adds to your options.
Mozy, too, lets you restore from either the application or a web interface, or order DVDs. However, there's a small quirk: if you restore via the web interface, you could lose some metadata on files (such as date modified). If you restore through the application, though, this isn't an issue.
Recovering from CrashPlan or Carbonite is very easy too, with the option of restoring either from the app or through the web interface.
Recovery with both DropBox and SugarSync was incredibly simple too. When we installed the product from scratch, we just gave it our login details for the service and everything was sucked back down from the servers in a streamlined fashion – nothing was missing and everything worked.
Can you get to your files through a web browser?
All of the products on test enable you to access your files and restore them through a web interface, as well as their own client software.
Backblaze, CrashPlan and Carbonite's interfaces are simple, but effective – although it's worth remembering that none of them correctly display package files; showing them as folders rather than single packages is the workaround.
Mozy's interface, too, is on the simple side – but it correctly displays packages. Both DropBox and SugarSync include additional features in their web interface, primarily focused on sharing files via email or web link.
Usefully, you can also get to older versions of files through DropBox's interface – the number of older files kept depends on whether you're using the free or paid-for version.
SugarSync's web interface looks a little more spartan, but works perfectly well, and handily there's a mobilefriendly web interface too. But DropBox and SugarSync win here.
Which product offers the best value for money?
The pricing for Backblaze couldn't be easier. No matter how much data you store, it's $5 per month per computer.
CrashPlan's pricing is more complex, but still offers great value. A single machine can be backed up for $3.47 per month ($125 for three years), while a 'family plan' lets you back up all your household computers for just $5 per month.
Carbonite costs from $54.95 for a single year ($4.57 per month) to $129.95 for three years ($3.60 per month). Mozy's pricing, too, is very simple: $4.95 per computer per year, with some discounts if you pay for a year in advance or have many machines to back up.
If your backup needs are limited, Mozy also offers a free 2GB account. DropBox offers free and paid-for versions. You can get 2GB for free, and there are two other options: 50GB for $9.99 per month, and 100GB for $19.99 per month.
SugarSync's plans are flexible, running from $4.99 per month for 30GB to $24.99 per for 250GB.
What other services do these products offer?
CrashPlan is unique in this test, as it includes the ability to back up locally for free to either a hard drive or another computer, making it the only service in our tests capable of local and online backup. It also includes the ability to have status reports of your backup sent to you via email or Twitter.
DropBox offers its customers a sleek, fast iPhone application that lets you access your files from your phone. You can read – but not write – any file that the iPhone supports, as well as sharing any documents by sending a link through email. This is handy if you need to share your documents with someone, but don't have a local copy available.
SugarSync leads the pack in the mobile department. Not only does the service offer a sleek iPhone application, but there's also one for BlackBerry and Android.
Our winner
All the products on test are strong, and all have their own unique features. DropBox and SugarSync, for example, are syncing products that can also be used for backup.
Mozy has its handy backup sets, and is arguably the most Mac-friendly. Backblaze is incredibly simple to use, because it autobacks up everything.
Carbonite impressed us, combining plenty of features for fine-tuning what you're backing up with solid and reliable performance. And it does this without making the basics over-complicated.
If you're looking for a single backup solution, then CrashPlan is a great option. It's the only product capable of backing up both locally (handy for speed) and online (handy for security). If you use multiple Macs, then SugarSync is your best bet – you can combine backing up essential files with syncing them.
It just beats DropBox thanks to better price plans and features. But if backup is all you need, go for CrashPlan. It's not the most elegant service, but its ability to back up every Mac in your home for $5 per month makes it a winner.
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Review: Cello iViewer
Cello produces re-badged TVs for a number of companies including Littlewoods, Grattan and Next, while it also owns the Neon brand which is sold exclusively through Morrisons. The iViewer TV is currently exclusive to Marks and Spencer.
The main draw with this set is the iPlayer function that enables you to watch the BBC's popular online catch-up service. In fact, it's currently the only TV that enables you to do this without the need for a set-top box (Freesat is currently trialling a beta test version of iPlayer) or games console such as the PS3 or Wii.
Features
The TV's glossy black screen surround is unlikely to win any design awards, but it looks reasonably slick. It is, however, something of a fingerprint magnet, so it'll probably need a quick polish once you've finished setting it up.
Located on the side of a protrusion on the back panel, the connections are easy to reach, although we found that the power cable was a little shorter than we'd have liked.
The usual range of connections are present, including a rather miserly pair of HDMIs, where we would have preferred to find three. The Ethernet port and the supplied cable enable you to link up to a broadband connection for the iPlayer, or, alternatively, you can use the wireless USB dongle if you don't want too many cables hanging out the back of the screen.
Ease of use
The TV is easy to set up and even comes with a colourful and glossy quick-start guide, which takes you through set-up and the basic functions. Onscreen menus are clear and easy to use, if rather uninspiring, while text may be on the small side for some.
The EPG is clear with large print, although it appears rather functional. The remote control bears more than a passing resemblance to Sky's handset, sporting large well-labelled and comfortably spaced buttons with colour coding.
Along with a dedicated iPlayer button, there's also a large Source key at the top, something that's often hard to find, since on many remotes it's labelled with an ambiguous or obscure icon. This is handy as the iViewer doesn't automatically recognise and switch between inputs, so you have to do this manually.
At a touch of the iPlayer button, the TV's web options appear onscreen. You can then use the picture-led menu to choose between the on-demand service, Web TV or home media.
Firing up iPlayer displays the BBC's familiar black and pink browser, which is similar to what you get online, with options to search by programme category, channel, A-Z or a key word. You can also scroll through highlighted videos on the home page.
Web TV enables you to connect to YouTube, a small selection of online channels including Disney Movies Preview, CNN daily video podcast and Autocar magazine.
Picture
Pictures from Freeview broadcasts are rather soft and colours lack subtlety and the same can be said for iPlayer material. Matters improve when we switch to DVD and the picture becomes more than passable.
Black levels manage to avoid the LCD pitfall of appearing grey, but any sense of detail is almost completely lost in the murky depths of the darkest scenes. Some haloing occurs on bright objects in dark scenes, and the backlight is slightly visible at the top and bottom of the screen, although this is hardly a rarity on affordable LCDs.
Images are generally smooth, although there is a substantial amount of blur on faster-paced scenes. The improvement is obvious when we switch to a Blu-ray disc. The vibrancy and shades of the colours is immediately increased, along with the level of detail and texturing.
However, black levels aren't much better and most of the detail is still impossible to make out. The car chase from the beginning of our Quantum of Solace Blu-ray looks impressive, with detail and texture proving particularly strong. However, a substantial amount of motion blur is visible around the speeding cars.
Sound
The speakers are reasonable enough for average daytime TV fare, but they come unstuck when it comes to movie soundtracks. A selection of sound modes including Music, Theatre and Voice, help to open up the sonics to a degree, but they tend to lack bass on the most dynamic film soundtracks.
And if the speakers are turned up too loud, they sound slightly tinny, but no more than a similarly sized screen of comparable price.
Despite the affordable price tag and excellent iPlayer function, this TV is let down by its picture performance weaknesses, most notable of which is its uninspiring black levels.
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Review: Sony Bravia KDL-40V5810
The Sony Bravia KDL-40V5810 Sits towards the bottom of Sony's current line up of TVs. This would signal a telly that's born into mediocrity with many other manufacturers.
However, the 40V5810's impressive specification would suggest otherwise, because alongside its Freesat HD tuner it also boasts the latest Bravia Engine 3 picture processing, Applicast internet widgets and green features that promise to make it kinder to the environment. Best of all, though, is the sub £800 asking price.
Features
The standard issue, glossy black exterior doesn't exactly set the pulse racing, but under the hood it's surprising just how feature-rich the 40V5810 actually is.
The 1080p panel and Freesat HD tuner let you enjoy every ounce of detail that the likes of BBC HD has to offer. Sony has also been generous by adding four HDMI ports, but perhaps most impressive is the presence of the well regarded Bravia Engine 3 picture processing.
The set's green credentials aren't bad either: in Eco mode it uses its light sensor to detect ambient light in your room and adjusts the screen brightness accordingly. There's also an automatic Power off feature that shuts down the set when it detects that it's been idle for a long time.
However, the TV lags behind the competition when it comes to internet and networking features, especially compared to those found on TVs from the likes of Panasonic and LG. It does offer internet widgets for viewing pictures, checking the weather forecast and reading internet news feeds, but there's sadly no support for internet video services such as Youtube.
The home networking features are also below par as the file format support is just too limited. For example, the set can only stream basic MPEG2 and AVCHD video files; there's no support for the popular DivX, Xvid and Maktrosa video formats that LG's keenly priced TVs now handle with ease.
Ease of use
The set's unfussy remote feels very comfortable to hold, and its intelligent button layout puts all the important controls, such as volume, channel choice and EPG access at your fingertips.
Most of the TVs functions are accessible via the Xcross Media Bar menu system that'll look instantly familiar to anyone who's used a PS3 or PSP games console, but you can also call up quick menus for picture and sound controls.
We like the electronic version of the manual stored in the screen's memory, enabling you to view it on the screen at any time and another clever addition is the Scene selection feature. This acts as a sort of super preset menu that quickly tweaks the TV's picture and audio settings for things like movie watching, sports or game play.
Picture
There's no doubting that the screen's core strengths lie in the picture department. The naturalness of its colours lend its pictures a realism that's lacking on many similarly priced rivals. What's more, the set's stunning black levels help it produce beautifully rich images that are full of contrast and have a real cinematic feel.
The darker, more brooding scenes in No Country for Old Men on Blu-ray looked superb. The Bravia Engine 3 works wonders, too. Not only does it enhance contrast and sharpness on HD sources, but it also helps wring the very best out of even the poorest SD feeds.
There are a couple of downsides, however. The TV lacks 100Hz processing so motion isn't quite as smooth as on some higher end sets, but to be fair, it still performs pretty admirably in this department for a telly in this price range.
The backlighting also isn't quite as even as it could be. In very dark scenes you can see slightly greyer patches at the edges. But again, this is hardly the first LCD to suffer from this, and unless you watch the opening of any of the Star Wars movies on a loop you're probably not going to notice it.
Sound
When it comes to audio, the 40V5810 puts in an impressively potent performance. It's got no problems kicking out a racket at higher volumes, the mid range is strong and there's enough bass to keep the sound nicely rounded.
We also liked the Voice Zoom feature which does a surprisingly good job of making dialogue sound more distinct. This can be especially useful at night when you're likely to watch TV at lower volume levels.
It may lack 100Hz processing and have a lacklustre design, but overall the 40V5810 is still impressive.
It has bags of features, excellent picture processing that works wonders with both HD and standard-def sources, and, unlike a lot of Sony TVs it doesn't have a wallet bashing price tag. So on the performance to price ratio we think it scores highly.
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