Hands on: BBC News app review
The BBC announced earlier that the BBC Trust wouldn't stand in the way of the corporation developing apps for smartphones.It seems it had an inkling of this happening, as the Beeb has immediately announced the free BBC News app for iPhone and iPad.
Those on other platforms shouldn't despair though - because of the corporation's commitment to universality, we suspect development for other platforms isn't far behind. Indeed, the BBC has confirmed that BlackBerry and Android applications are coming later in the year
If you can't see BBC News on your iPhone or iPad's App Store, you need to search for 'bbcnews' as a single word, neither 'bbc' nor 'bbc news' seems to bring it up currently.
We've given the iPhone version of the app the once-over below, so read on to see what we made of it. There is an on-brand splash page, but it pops up and disappears so quickly on the iPhone 4 that we couldn't screen grab it!
The main page
This is what the main page looks like (you can reorder this, see below). It's clean and crisp with a breaking news ticker, though the graphics are a bit ropey on iPhone 4 - it's not been developed for iOS 4 it doesn't seem.
You don't just get that selection of stories though, you can swipe right to left to move the story bar in the individual areas.
The bottom of the front screen breaks up into categorised subject areas along the same lines as the BBC News website.
Watch live TV
The bottom of this page then enables users to submit their own pics from their Camera Roll as well as tip BBC News with stories.
Using the live button in the top left of the app, you can watch a live stream of BBC News. Crucially, videos also work in article stories, too - so no problems with not having Flash.
Once the stream launches, just tap again to get rid of the menu bars, as with all iPhone videos.
Re-order your app
Tapping the edit button in the top right of the main page takes you to this screen - the top of the list shows the subject areas that comprise the article rows on your main screen. This screen uses the standard iPhone controls for re-ordering a list - you can promote or relegate a subject area as we've done here. This customisation will be welcome, but we'd like to see it even more granular than this.
Article page
The article page is fairly standard fare and there's certainly nothing new here. You can move between articles using the arrows provided, while the video is playable as we mentioned earlier.
Using the buttons in the bottom right you can also change the text size.
The share control in the bottom left enables you to email off a link or post the piece to Facebook or Twitter.
Overall, the BBC News app isn't anything to write home about. It's certainly not as nice to use as the Sky News app, for example, even if it does offer greater content choices. A must-download? Yes, but it certainly won't be the be all and end all of news on your iPhone.
Got an iPad? This is what the app will look like for you.
And this is what it looks like in portrait mode.
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Samsung Galaxy S advert pokes fun at iPhone
The latest Samsung Galaxy S ad has taken a less than subtle, but very amusing, swipe at the Apple iPhone. The advert for Samsung's well-received new smartphone features bars of network characters making up the Ls in the world Hello.
The ad seems to have been prompted by Apple recently explaining away the reception problem in its latest iPhone 4 handset by insisting that every phone suffered from the same problem, something that, as you may imagine, was not very well received.
Poking fun
And Samsung has not resisted the opportunity to have a crack back at the Apple handset with their advert.
For the record, TechRadar's Samsung Galaxy S review handed the phone four and a half stars, with phones editor Gareth Beavis saying: "The Samsung Galaxy S is the best smartphone Samsung has made so far, and it's easy to see in the build quality and sheer functionality of the device."
And the Korean firm has clearly got a sense of humour as well.
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Apple confirms white iPhone 4 delays
Apple has finally come clean and admitted it's having some manufacturing issues with the white iPhone 4, meaning long delays.Jobs' Lot has issued a statement about the handset, which will bring dismay, gloom and depression to all those waiting for the alternative version of its iPhone 4:
"White models of Apple's new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year.
"The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected."
More popular
We're not surprised the black iPhone 4 is more popular as it's actually available to buy, but we're confused as to why it's harder for Apple to simply change the colour of the chassis.
Rumours that the white version of the iPhone 4 will run seven per cent faster than the black version, with longer battery life and higher internal storage, are unsubstantiated at the moment.
Christopher Phin, Deputy Editor of MacFormat, agrees that this will disappoint users:
"It will disappoint many who were excited at the prospect of owning the white iPhone, but it'll just increase its cachet when it's finally released. Until then, there's always Tipp-Ex."
Perhaps the wait is not the phone itself, but for a white Bumper - after all, which self-respecting Apple fan would want to mix and match his or her colour scheme?
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Review: Microsoft Windows Live Sync
This isn't the first time that Microsoft has tried creating a syncing service. You may remember the old Live Sync, a FolderShare-based synchronisation service that was finally replaced by Live Mesh. As for Live Mesh, it's still around, letting you keep folders synced across several PCs and mobile devices using cloud services and peer-to-peer exchanges.
You'll find the new Live Sync very familiar. You can select folders to be synchronised between PCs and up to 23GB of SkyDrive storage in the cloud.
PC-to-PC sync uses a peer-to-peer protocol, allowing you to sync far more than the 2GB cloud storage limit. We would recommend just using Live Sync's PC-to-PC tools for passing files between network-connected PCs, and then using SkyDrive for any files you want to make sure you can access anywhere.
One thing to note though – unlike Live Mesh, there's no indication in Explorer if you've shared files. You'll only be able to see which folders you've shared in the Live Sync client, making it easy to misread your syncing settings.
Cloud bursting
Setting up synchronisation is easy. Just pick the folder you want to synchronise and the PC where you want it to go, and files will start flowing, with the destination folder automatically created on the target PC.
You can also use the cloud-based SkyDrive service to share synchronised folders with family, friends or colleagues. It's a simple way of building collaborative workspaces that ensure everyone has the same files, whether you're planning a wedding or writing a sales proposal.
One useful new feature simplifies something many Live Mesh users had to set up by hand. Live Sync gives you a quick way of synchronising key Office settings (including templates, signatures and custom dictionaries) and Internet Explorer favourites. If you've ever had the pleasure of moving settings between PCs, you'll certainly find these new features a big help.
You're not limited to Windows, either; there's a Mac OS client out now for Live Sync, as well as the possibility of extra mobile clients in the future.
Remote view
Live Sync isn't just for transferring files. It also gives you a way of getting to a PC desktop from anywhere on the internet. Click the 'Remote' link on the desktop client to get access to a shared PC desktop, or use the connect option from http://devices.live.com.
Both give you the same remote desktop view, with full control of the remote PC. There's some image degradation, with fonts looking jagged, so don't expect a full fidelity desktop. You do get the option of scaling the image, though, so if you're on a small screen netbook you can get access to the full desktop of a hefty desktop PC.
The web option is the most interesting, as it brings your remote PCs right into the browser. You will need to use Internet Explorer for a remote connection over the web, as the control needed is only supported in 32-bit versions of IE6 or later.
We also recommend dropping down to Aero Basic for a speedier connection, as the browser desktop connection is a little slow, even over a local network.
With more and more people using more than one PC, Live Sync looks likely to become an important tool for making sure that all your files are just where you want them – no matter which machine you're using.
The addition of optional cloud storage with SkyDrive also means it doesn't even have to be your own machine. It's just a pity that some features didn't make the transition from Mesh to Sync.
Related Links
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In Depth: Firefox and Chrome are playing catch-up, says Internet Explorer team
Despite the rumours (and the leaked slides), the Internet Explorer team is in no hurry to name a date to expect the beta of IE9 let alone the final IE9 release date, but it's still months away. If the impressive performance of the IE9 Platform Preview is down to hardware acceleration, how will IE compete with Firefox 4, which is already in beta and has its own GPU acceleration?
Quite happily, thanks, says Rob Mauceri, group program manager for IE, pointing out that the hardware acceleration in IE9 is a lot more comprehensive.
Firefox's hardware acceleration - layers - is, according to Joe Drew of Mozilla, "designed to accelerate only portions of the web; this means that, in the common case, we will render most of the web page using software, then do only the hardest/slowest part using the GPU directly".
IE9 accelerates much more on the page, says Mauceri. "When it comes to HTML5 and the scenarios around graphics and media, what's important in IE is that you have the browser that is fully hardware accelerated and that means across all different types of graphics and text that are put on the screen.
"We're using the GPU as we render all the text and graphics and video and images. To do that, we had to think through re-architecting the browser across multiple subsystems."
IE9 vs Firefox 4
Using the IE9 test suite with Firefox 4 beta (and turning on hardware acceleration), Firefox 4 is almost as fast as IE9 on some tests, like the aquarium full of fish; it runs into problems on the canvas-driven Amazon book application, though. The Canvas tag is hardware accelerated in IE9 says Mauceri: "you really need to do that at an architectural level for it to have the same kind of impact."
SPEEDY IE: On Microsoft's speed test, the IE9 preview does run a little faster than Firefox 4 beta (with hardware acceleration enabled) but Firefox's results on the Amazon canvas sample app are more disappointing
The Firefox 4 beta doesn't turn on hardware acceleration by default. Drew says: "We have committed to turning on certain parts of hardware acceleration in developer previews, but that's not a guarantee of those bits shipping in Firefox 4. We're going to try hard to ship some form of acceleration, though."
Hardware acceleration is one of the core features of IE9, says Mauceri. "When you look at the total computing power of a modern PC, today's browsers are using 10% of that power. Till you move into using the GPU you're really not taking advantage of most of the hardware."
Hardware acceleration has been in all the IE9 platform previews. "The approach we take is to go really deep on the fundamental parts of rendering text and graphics through the browser. A key part is that we turned it on by default from the beginning so we're getting good feedback across all kinds of hardware configurations and drivers really early on."
GPU ACCELERATION: When IE9 runs an HTML5 web app, the GPU and CPU take turns to update the page; Microsoft says Firefox won't use the GPU as much to take the load off the CPU
That matters because getting GPU acceleration to work isn't always straightforward, points out Lionel Menchaca from Dell (who has been praising IE9's hardware acceleration on the Windows Blog).
"To Dell," he told TechRadar, "it means working with a lot of our GPU manufacturers to make sure their drivers will enable hardware acceleration. You've got to have a certain driver revision to get acceleration of the video card," he cautions, "and not all graphics cards are capable of it, although that's going to improve over time. The next step is factory installing those driver levels."
And Microsoft's experience in working with Direct3D and Direct2D will be an advantage, he predicts. "It's fair to say Microsoft has a heritage in those kinds of things and has an expertise in working with driver revisions."
Firefox 4 will have one big advantage, though. Drew points out, "layers works on video cards and operating systems that don't support D2D, like Windows XP".
Playing catch-up
In some places, other browsers are just catching up to IE, says Mauceri. Firefox's new HTML5 parser uses a separate thread from the one handling Firefox's interface; "moving some processes into separate threads – that's what even IE8 did by running every tab in its own isolated process," claims Mauceri.
And Chrome's first steps into native code (with the Native Client plugin letting you run x86 code inside the browser rather than just JavaScript) are nothing new. "We have had a native code model in IE for many, many years through ActiveX and that's been pretty successful in terms of what people been able to build on it; some plugins on ActiveX are really broadly deployed and widely used all over the world."
With HTML5 promising what you need a plugin for today, native code may not be the best direction for browsers to go, points out Mauceri.
"For developers we've heard again and again how important it is that they can be confident that what they write is going to run across all browsers and that's not something you get out of any specific native code implementation".
Google's native code is less to do with web browsers (or competing with IE) and more a way to turn Chrome into an operating system (and competing with Windows), he believes. "When you look at what they're trying to do with Chrome OS, it makes sense that they would want the ability to run native code; Windows of course runs native code!"
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BBC News apps finally get go ahead
The BBC has finally been given the go-ahead by the BBC Trust to launch smartphone apps - meaning it can extend its reach of its news service.The BBC News application will launch on the iPhone and iPad from today, with BlackBerry and Android applications coming later in the year, according to Erik Huggers, director of the BBC Future Media & Technology:
"We know that increasing numbers of you want to access BBC output on-the-go and the rapid growth of internet-connected mobiles and smartphones in the market means we can cost-effectively provide our content and services on these devices, and this is a really important way for us to deliver online services in the future.
All the info
"The first class journalism that you expect from the BBC is now available to you in a way that is simple, personalised and optimised for mobile devices."
Users will be able to view the applications in both landscape and portrait, and have access to live streaming of the news channel, as well as regular updates to headlines and news stories.
The BBC Trust has been assessing the option of putting smartphone applications together from the BBC, to make sure it doesn't infringe on anti-competitive rulings.
Fingers crossed we'll be seeing more than the BBC News app out there - we want a heavy dose of BBC Sport every day too.
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Virgin Media offering £15 Clash of the Titans VOD offer
Virgin Media will offer movie Clash of the Titans on its video on demand service three days before it goes on general DVD sale, but viewers will pay £14.95 and receive a hard copy in the post. In an interesting new sales model, Virgin Media and Warner Bros UK appear to be testing the waters with early access and premium prices, offering VOD access for 48 hours and then a DVD through the post.
It remains to be seen if consumers believe £15 to be an excessive amount to pay for a DVD and a couple of days' grace, but it's certainly an interesting concept.
For those just wanting the on demand version – it will be available for £3.95 from Virgin Media through its usual mechanism.
Delighted
Aleks Habdank, director of on demand television and strategy at Virgin Media said, "We're always looking to bring the best films to our customers and we're delighted to be offering them the first screening of Clash of the Titans on demand in the home.
"Virgin Media has a long track record of innovation and we're actively exploring new commercial deals that make the most of our TV on demand platform.
"Clash of the Titans is a fantastic addition to our service and, with over 500 movies on demand and now the chance to buy a Hollywood blockbuster on DVD, film fans will never be stuck for choice."
Online retailers are currently selling the DVD for around £10, with a Blu-ray version available for £15.99.
So, if you have £15 to spare, don't want to buy the Blu-ray, are really keen on watching the film in your living room a few days earlier than your friends can, and like getting parcels containing plastic rectangular cases then this just might be for you.
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India announces £23 laptop to arrive in 2011
The Indian government has announced that will soon be offering students a £23 touchscreen laptop, stating that it will be pushed out to higher education institutions in 2011. Speaking in New Dehli India's human resource development minister Kapil Sibal revealed that the development was done, and that talks were already underway with global manufacturers.
"We have reached a (developmental) stage that today; the motherboard, its chip, the processing, connectivity, all of them cumulatively cost around $35, including memory, display, everything," he told a news conference.
Linux-based
The £23 laptop is based on Linux and will come with web browser, PDF reader and, intriguingly, video conferencing facilities.
There are also plans to extend the capacity of the device and ultimately to drop its price to a staggering $10 in the coming weeks.
The development work was done by the Indian Institue of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science.
It obviously isn't the first time that low cost internet device has been mooted, with the One Laptop Per Child project aiming to do just that.
But, if the Indian government can provide a £23 laptop to even a small portion of its 1.2 billion population then the world will sit up and take note.
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New Tron: Legacy trailer debuts at ComicCon
The new Tron: Legacy trailer has debuted at ComicCon in San Diego, showing off more flash lights and stretchy suits than ever.The tech world is mandated by gadget law to slaver over the prospect of a new Tron film, and the trailer for the new film, coming in December this year, shows that the CGI effects are certainly looking up to scratch.
Merchandising opportunities
Special kudos should go to those in the effects department who managed to de-age Jeff Bridges so successfully, and the updated costumes, complete with a new set of electroluminescent tape to bring the look into the new century, have a similar effect.
The new film is obviously bringing with it a wide range of merchandise and tie-ins - the coolest device is clearly the Razer mouse and keyboard.
Plus you'll also be able to order a full Tron suit in the near future - a company has acquired to the rights to help you look like an illuminated beacon on your motorbike.
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Weird Tech: Bristol leads world in developing pooing robot
Just what we need. A pooing robot. Next year's must-have Christmas gift. Researchers from the University of Bristol have decided that simple batteries are not good enough and have taken it upon themselves to create Ecobot III - which draws its power through "digesting" sewage water and then dumping the waste.
Ecobot III, also known as the BREADbot (Bio-Regulation and Energy-Autonomy with Digestion), draws power from 48 Microbial Fuel Cells that are refilled with digested nutrients that flow through an artificial stomach, then after 24 hours it does a poo.
Imagine the hilarity in the lab when that happened for the first time. There's a video of the robot in action on the Uni's site, although you don't actually get to see it having a poo. Not that we were hoping to see that. We did not discover this news by Googling "pooing robot".
Not Tetris is Tetris
The game Not Tetris is more kind-of-is-Tetris in appearance - only with all-new modern physics to ruin it. But ruin it cleverly and in an interesting way.
PHYSICALLY ABLE: You can download the game if you like
The resulting bizarre mash-up of a game doesn't involve any line disappearing business or traditional rules, it simply presents players with the challenge of heaping as much rubbish up in the game screen as possible, while marvelling at "how far" we have "come".
No robot poo in kitchen area
If the first thing you do upon entering a restaurant is glance nervously toward the kitchen to quickly assess the cleanliness of both premises and staff, you can now go through your obsessive compulsive hygiene checks before even leaving the house - thanks to new iPhone app Scores on the Doors.
NON-GREASY SPOONS: Sort by date if a dead rat was last found in the water tank
The maker of the app has been offering an online database of food hygiene ratings compiled by local authorities for some time, and now lets fashionable clean freaks scour the records of local eateries through the iPhone. You're even able to search its database by locality, if an officially recognised extremely hygienic preparation area is your #1 criteria when eating out.
You're sounding rather angry today, Dave
ToneCheck is a new automatic grammar checking tool that attempts to work out if your email voice is sounding too aggressive. It's basically a little plug-in for Outlook that scans your messages before you send them, popping up advice that you might want to delete some of those expletives before sending your email about the UNBEARABLE milk situation in the kitchen on the second floor to poor old Sally in human resources.
DELETE THAT SECOND FXXX: And always end with a kiss
There's a free demo on the maker's site, but it uses pre-written example text - you're not allowed to test it out with your own innovative swearwords.
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Cineworld offering Aviator 3D specs
Cineworld is giving some of its customers the chance of watching 3D movies in a little more style, with the cinema chain selling Aviator style passive glasses. From today, visitors to Crawley, Didsbury, Glasgow Renfrew, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Wandsworth Cineworld cinemas will be able to purchase 3D specs that aren't quite so reminiscent of the Blues Brothers.
And, people who already wear glasses will be delighted to know that clip-on versions are available as well.
£13 to stylish
The glasses will cost £13 or £4 for the clip ons, and will allow you to sit smugly in 3D cinemas mocking those poor bespectacled peers that haven't got your sartorial elegance.
Head of Cineworld Marketing Communications, Luke Roberts comments, "We're really excited to be the first cinema chain in the UK to offer our customers a trendy way of enjoying 3D films.
"For our more fashion focused customers, we hope that the 3D aviator glasses offer them an on-trend eye wear option at the cinema."
On-trend 3D eyeware – who'd a thunk it?
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HP plans to move Palm into the background
HP CEO Mark Hurd has once again been chatting about the future of Palm within the company following its acquisition, stating the company may become a sub-brand.Speaking to German site FAZ.net, he confirmed that despite HP's decision to buy Palm for the software, the brand won't die, but will likely move into the background.
This means it will rank alongside the likes of Compaq, also owned by HP, and continue its presence in the market.
Hurd did still point out that HP was looking to promote webOS, but made sure to state it would use the platform for phones as well as printers and slates.
webOS 2.0 on its way
Palm is still carrying on as if nothing has happened, it seems, as its former CEO Jon Rubenstein - who still works on Palm within HP - says that a new version of the platform is coming later this year.
webOS 2.0 could be launched with new hardware as well, with Palm and HP both looking to get the platform on slates and phones as soon as possible.
And Rubenstein couldn't resist a little dig at the industry incumbents by pointing out that any new device will most certainly be running Flash.
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Apple begins iPhone 4 Bumper refunds
Apple has started the process of 'fixing' the iPhone 4 by refunding all customers who have bought a Bumper case for their device.Apple is simply putting the money back into users' accounts (presumably those who registered and paid by credit card) without even asking for a claim.
This means that those people who are looking to get back money but aren't sure how to do it are in a good place financially - well, to the tune of around $29 if you bought them in the US.
Solving the problem
Apple is offering free cases for the iPhone 4 in a bid to 'solve' the reception issues plaguing the device, but also stated that anyone that's bought a Bumper so far would be getting their money back,
Apple wasn't clear in its press conference about when the automatic refunds would be coming for those that have already purchased the Bumper, but the automated emails appear to have begun already.
Of course, you could just be more ironic than using the Bumper and check out these cool 'End Call' stickers...
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Apple deems America's Next Top Model pornographic
Apple has once again gone a little bit haywire in its app approval process, deciding that a mirror application is pornographic or obscene.DLP Mobile, the developers of 'Mirror App' have got in contact with TechRadar to highlight the issue, after they submitted the app for review and were told the included screenshots of Lyudmila Bouzinova, from America's Next Top Model, were "obscene, pornographic, or defamatory."
However, as you can see, the pictures don't show anything that couldn't be seen on pre-watershed TV, highlighting how stringent the app approval process is getting.
Objectionable content
Apple said it was 'objectionable for certain age groups' - and asked the developers to make the necessary modifications and re-submit the application.
The duly removed the picture of Bouzinova, and the application (which uses the front facing camera to show an image of the user) was accepted.
What do you think? Do you reckon the screenshots are pornographic or obscene... or is Apple just taking things a little too far with the approval process?
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Opinion: Facebook: the power and dangers of 1 billion users
Mark Zuckerberg was recently quoted as saying Facebook "was almost a guarantee" to hit 1 billion worldwide users.With a current user base topping 500 million, and a market leading presence in all but four countries worldwide, this statement is anything but hyperbole. What is more, its implications are simply huge.
Facebook provides a wide range of services to its userbase; for all the hype Farmville is but one of them. At its most basic Facebook is a communications tool. It lets Person A contact Person B. With 1 billion users this simple premise becomes something else entirely.
With 1 billion people you can be sure the person you are looking for is on Facebook. If they aren't then they aren't on the internet full stop. The traction that 1 billion users would provide would quickly suck in those who had resisted creating accounts so far. You would almost need to create an account for fear of being left out in the cold.
So why bother with Gmail or Yahoo chat? Your friends, parents, and partner are on Facebook, so it's simply easier to do everything within the same friendly blue landscape. All Facebook needs to do is add VOIP and video chat to its, still occasionally flaky, text chat service and it becomes an all encompassing communications tool. No need for separate accounts, separate directories, and different protocols.
It sounds far fetched, but is it really? The, totally unscientific, poll I conducted in the office showed that all concerned felt Facebook messaging had replaced email for personal use to some degree. The more users in the Facebook fold, the more persuasive this argument becomes.
The downside
So what's the harm? Well, we have already seen Facebook's slightly slipshod handling of people's privacy. How well can it be trusted with all of your emails? I'm sure it could find lots of juicy data in there for the marketing firms.
Even more worryingly Facebook is closed shop to all intents and purposes. Getting a backup of your data isn't easy. You may be relying on Microsoft or Google to look after your email, but this feels significantly more reliable than Facebook.
Then there is the issue of Facebook making money. Nothing is to say it won't start charging for some of its services. 10 pence an email? Sounds unlikely, I know, but with a captive audience of 1 billion and all those servers to pay for who knows.
Social proof
But generating revenue is a serious area for Facebook. Attempts to harness the business benefits of social media, with its 'Beacon' advertising system, didn't go well. To sum up, this advertising system collected data from external websites, sites users had visited or purchased from, and used this information within Facebook. Adverts could be targeted at users more precisely using the collected data, and related/relevant events posted to users' walls.
But the system was a huge failure as privacy concerns engulfed the concept and ultimately led to it being pulled. People just didn't like having their activities monitored in this way, even when they had opted or even logged out of Facebook.
Facebook had much more success with its 'fan page' functionality. This built on the existing 'groups' idea and allowed users to create 'fan' pages for products, companies, people, in fact pretty much anything they choose.
These pages are public, contain links, and allow updates to be sent out to 'fans'. Agencies can create fan pages for products, services, or clients for free and encourage their use and uptake.
But most importantly of all fan pages make use of a hugely important aspect of social media - friends and networks. And with a billion users or more that is a lot of friends, and some very healthy networks. If my friend joins a fan page I'm inclined to do the same. If someone I trust is discussing a service or product, then I may take a look. If someone in my network does the same I'd also pay attention, more than I would to a simple advert - that is the power of 'social proof' or 'following the crowd' in cruder terms.
Crowdsourcing
This idea of social proof leads us to that mainstay of social networking - crowd-sourcing.
Wikipedia defines crowd sourcing as "delegating a task to a large diffuse group". This has been demonstrated most recently by the UK government, who have setup a Facebook page asking users to suggest ideas for spending cuts.
Whilst many would argue this is nothing more than a publicity stunt, and simply the modern equivalent of being stopped in the street by a man with a clipboard, it's difficult not to worry about the Government of a sovereign nation using social networking to generate policy.
This is an extreme example, but if ever the "wisdom of crowds" was ever to be fully tested, the 1 billion users of Facebook seem like good candidates'. Let's just hope we don't lose sight of individual innovation and free thinking - that is, after all, what gave us our favorite social networking site in the first place.
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Samsung shows off THE 9 Series Blu-ray and speakers
Samsung has shown off a range of high-end cinema components to partner with its flagship 9000 LED 3D TVs, with the THE 9 Series including a 7.1 home cinema package and a novel 3D Blu-ray player. The Samsung 9000 series has wowed consumers with its ultra thin form-factor, and the company is keen to offer a range of good to match up to the television that don't spoil its mojo.
Home Cinema Choice has got a look at the prototypes for the THE 9 Series, and was told that the range was a completely new project.
"This is not an existing Samsung home theatre system with a high-grade cosmetic finish," marketing chief Russell Owens told HCC.
"THE 9 series is new from the ground up and is built from the finest components available. This is class leading home entertainment technology.
Unmatched
"This puts us in a position that no other consumer electronics company can match," he added.
"Only Samsung can produce cutting edge electronics with leading edge design in this way. Going forward THE 9 series will represent the best of the best."
The kit certainly looks the part, and you can see more exclusive photos over at HCC.techradar.com.
"The undeniably beautiful sound system comprises four tall boy speakers, a horizontal centre and two smaller height speakers," says HCC.
"The electronics, housed in the subwoofer, features Dolby Pro-Logic 11Z sound processing. The pedestal Blu-ray player loads discs in from a slot in the right hand side. "
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Review: JooJoo
Without the iPad, the JooJoo would have had a shot. When it was first announced, Apple wasn't close to confirming the existence of a tablet. The slates already on the market were both overpriced and terrible. Netbooks were popular, but far from comfortable. The idea behind the JooJoo, originally named the Crunchpad (and the subject of some very tedious legal mudslinging that we're not going to go into here), was for a low-cost tablet that would give you access to the web from your lap. And that's what it does.
There are no apps, except for web-based ones. There's no pretence at it being a dedicated computer. It really is just the web on your lap.
Unfortunately, the JooJoo is yet another demonstration of just how good Apple is at making kit. While it's far from unusable, it is clunky. It's slow. It feels cheap, unfinished and unpolished, and it doesn't come in at a low enough price to justify any of it.
The problems start as soon as you get your hands on it. The JooJoo is bigger than the iPad, and it has a wider screen, but it's much less comfortable to hold. The power button requires a fingernail or a pin to press properly.
The screen doesn't so much show fingerprints as proudly collect them to display to your friends. During testing, we were constantly reaching for tissues, and not because we were eating buttered toast while playing with the thing.
When you switch it on, it'll either be fast to load, or it just won't. Battery life was between three and five hours, compared to the iPad's easy 10. The screen gets uncomfortably warm in use as well. Although far from too hot to handle, it's a far cry from Apple-grade engineering.
Hitting the web
Get to the web browser and things improve, slightly. You can't zoom into pages, and there's nothing like the iPad's wonderful system for double-tapping a column to focus on it. Text display is mediocre at best, and scrolling is often jerky.
Two sizes of keyboard are provided, and both work OK, but not ideally – press a button and then drag your finger off it, for instance, and the key stays pressed.
The page viewer however is pretty good, providing a decent version of the sites we went to, and it has the bonus feature of being able to handle Flash. Having the ability to drag the keyboard around the screen and out of the way of the box you're trying to type into is another excellent addition to the device.
Flash support is the JooJoo's trump card, but much of the time it just makes it clear why Jobs is so vehemently against it. Video playback is frequently slow and jerky, and don't get us started on what happened when we tried to watch high-resolution media – a video on www.blip.tv became a slideshow.
As for games, while point-and-click titles work fine, it's impossible to ignore that most just weren't designed for multitouch.
Two-fingered salute
Unfortunately, the JooJoo has interface issues as well. To bring up the main menu bar (which includes the URL field and navigation options), you need to swipe down on the screen. If it works, it brings up a fiddly, irritating bar that contains the options. All too frequently though, it doesn't.
To actually scroll a page, you need to use two fingers. That doesn't sound a problem until you have to do it a lot. Loads of these niggling issues get in the way throughout.
As an informal test, we handed a colleague who'd never used either platform both a JooJoo and an iPad to play with. After a few seconds of squinting, she had the iPad singing and dancing. But just closing a browser window on the JooJoo took several people poking and prodding at it, before they figured out that it involved an upward swipe. Everyone then asked if they could have another play on the iPad.
That really is the problem. The JooJoo would be fine without Apple's shadow falling over it. But when the two devices go head to head, it's not even a fight.
The JooJoo may be the cheaper option, but with the iPad's smoother operation, quicker performance, huge variety of apps and better media support, it's not the best value for money. Even if you only use the web browser, the iPad still remains our tablet of choice.
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Amazon results disappoint despite Kindle growth
Amazon may have sold 180 Kindle books for every 100 hardback books in the past month, but despite the burgeoning new market the company's quarterly results did not please the financial world.Even with growing sales and profit, shares in Amazon took a major hit after the online retailer's numbers came up short of expectations.
Amazon announced revenue of $6.6 billion for the second quarter of 2010, a 41 per cent rise year on year.
Profits were also up, with Amazon declaring a 45 per cent rise from the same quarter in 2009 to $207 million.
Shares down
But it wasn't enough in the world of high finance, and the company's share price tumbled because the numbers did not reach predictions.
The Kindle ebook reader featured heavily in Amazon's financial report, with the company stating that sales of ebooks were rocketing.
"Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than hardcover books," stated Amazon's release.
"Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the Company has sold 143 Kindle books.
"Over the past month, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the Company has sold 180 Kindle books."
"This is across Amazon.com's entire U.S. book business and includes sales of hardcover books where there is no Kindle edition.
"Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the number even higher."
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Amzon results disappoint despite Kindle growth
Amazon may have sold 180 Kindle books for every 100 hardback books in the past month, but despite the burgeoning new market the company's quarterly results did not please the financial world.Even with growing sales and profit, shares in Amazon took a major hit after the online retailer's numbers came up short of expectations.
Amazon announced revenue of $6.6 billion for the second quarter of 2010, a 41 per cent rise year on year.
Profits were also up, with Amazon declaring a 45 per cent rise from the same quarter in 2009 to $207 million.
Shares down
But it wasn't enough in the world of high finance, and the company's share price tumbled because the numbers did not reach predictions.
The Kindle ebook reader featured heavily in Amazon's financial report, with the company stating that sales of ebooks were rocketing.
"Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than hardcover books," stated Amazon's release.
"Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the Company has sold 143 Kindle books.
"Over the past month, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the Company has sold 180 Kindle books."
"This is across Amazon.com's entire U.S. book business and includes sales of hardcover books where there is no Kindle edition.
"Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the number even higher."
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Special edition Halo: Reach Xbox 360 bundle announced
Microsoft has announced a limited edition new Xbox 360 for the launch of Halo: Reach – the latest game in the popular franchise. The Halo: Reach Bundle, available exclusively at GAME and Gamestation in the UK, provides what Microsoft terms 'incredible value and a stunning way to celebrate the iconic franchise'.
The main Xbox comes in a silver design and comes with two matching standard but customised Xbox 360 controllers, and a Halo: Reach themed headset.
Bundle details
Also included in the bundle is a Standard Edition copy of Halo: Reach, a token for the Limited Edition Elite armour set, and an episode of "Halo Legends".
"Designed by Bungie, the Xbox 360 Limited Edition "Halo: Reach" Bundle includes all the features of the newly designed Xbox 360 console, such as a 250 GB Hard Drive and the fastest built-in Wi-Fi for the easiest connection to Xbox LIVE," explains Microsoft's release.
The bundle is available in limited quantities and only while supplies last, it has a price of £249.99, and a UK release date from all GAME stores of 14 September.
Delighted
Adam Davis, Trading Director for GAME and gamestation comments: "We're delighted to have secured this exclusive.
"Our customers in GAME and gamestation are already really excited about Halo: Reach and this limited edition Xbox 360 will be a must-have for Halo fans.
"The bundle offers amazing value and adds an extra dimension to one of the mostly hotly-anticipated launches of the year."
Separate controllers and headsets
As well as the new console bundle, Microsoft and Bungie will be selling the Halo: Reach Limited Edition Wireless Controller and the Halo: Reach Limited Edition Wireless Headset separately.
Available on 3 September for £39.99 the Halo: Reach Limited Edition Wireless Controller includes an Xbox LIVE token for an animated Covenant Banshee Avatar item.
The Halo: Reach Limited Edition Wireless Headset will also be available on 3 September for £34.99.
Halo: Reach launches in the UK on 14 September and will cost £49.99 for the standard game.
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Microsoft seals new deal with ARM
Microsoft has signed a new licensing agreement with British company ARM to use its architecture. The software giant has had deals in place with ARM since 1997, with the companies collaborating on software and devices 'across the embedded consumer and mobile spaces'
"Microsoft is an important member of the ARM ecosystem, and has been for many years," said Mike Muller, CTO ARM.
"With this architecture license, Microsoft will be at the forefront of applying and working with ARM technology in concert with a broad range of businesses addressing multiple application areas."
Phones and embedded
Microsoft's general manager KD Hallman explained that mobile phones and embedded devices that use ARM's designs run Microsoft products.
"ARM is an important partner for Microsoft and we deliver multiple operating systems on the company's architecture, most notably Windows Embedded and Windows Phone," said KD Hallman, general manager, Microsoft.
"With closer access to the ARM technology we will be able to enhance our research and development activities for ARM-based products."
Interestingly, there has been talk of Windows 8 potentially running on the ARM architecture, with Steven Sinofsky not ruling out the possibility to TechRadar.
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Facebook founder to guest star in The Simpsons
The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is to feature in The Simpsons. The US hit show has been animating guest stars for years, and Zuckerberg is now considered to be important enough to follow in the footsteps of Simon Cowell, Aerosmith and Stephen Hawking.
Apparently, the 26-year-old billionaire will meet Lisa at convention of entrepreneurs and give advice on how to run a Nelson's bicycle company. The episode will air in October in the US.
15 and a bit minutes
Zuckerberg will have to get used to seeing an aproxomation of his face on screen, with an unofficial film of his foundation of Facebook set to arrive in cinemas.
The film is called The Social Network, and is directed by David Fincher, but Zuckerberg is not keen on the concept.
"As an example of fiction, they wrote the movie and said that I was creating Facebook to get girls," he said.
"But I've been dating the same girl since even before Facebook."
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Microsoft reports record quarterly earnings of over $16 billion
It's that time of year when the quarterly financial results are revealed and latest to step up to the plate is Microsoft, reporting a record financial quarter with earnings in excess of $16 billion (£10.46 billion) for the quarter that ended on June 30 this year.Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 22 per cent on the same quarter last year and its yearly revenue of $62.48 billion was up 7 per cent on last year, both record financial results for the company.
Emerging market's growth
The company has sold 175 million Windows 7 licenses to date, with seven per cent more OS licenses sold than PCs, which means that plenty of people with older machines running XP or Vista have chosen to upgrade their OS instead of investing in a new PC.
Microsoft also noted that emerging markets such as India and China are largely responsible for the boost in Windows's 7's growth over the last year.
The Xbox division has continued to perform well, with over 1.5 million games consoles sold throughout the quarter and Xbox Live subscribers now totally over 25 million worldwide.
Transitioning to the cloud
"This quarter's record revenue reflects the breadth of our offerings and our continued product momentum," said Peter Klein, chief financial officer. "The revenue growth, combined with our ongoing cost discipline, helped us achieve another quarter of margin expansion."
"We saw strong sales execution across all of our businesses, particularly in the enterprise with Windows 7 and Office 2010," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer.
"Our transition to cloud services is well underway with offerings like Windows Azure and our Business Productivity Online Services, and we look forward to continuing our product momentum this fall with the upcoming launches of Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Kinect."
Via Microsoft
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