Thursday, September 9, 2010

IT News HeadLines (Techradar) 08/09/2010

Techradar

Three next up to offer Samsung Galaxy Tab
Three has announced it will also be carrying the Samsung Galaxy Tab in the UK.
The network joins Vodafone as official stockists of the new Android tablet, but oddly will only be offering it on SIM only, one month rolling deals.
Customers will be able to get 1GB of data with 100 network minutes, 3000 texts and 1GB of data for £10 a month, or bump that up to 300 minutes for an extra £5.
Lite surfing
Data only plans are available too, with 5GB for £15 the most attractive option, although surfing snackers can drop down to 1GB for £7.50.
More important is the UK price though - a host of online resellers have the Samsung Galaxy Tab as costing over £600, although that price might change before launch.
With the UK release date of the Samsung Galaxy Tab set for October, at least we won't have to wait too long to find the answer - but surely the seven inch-screened device will be cheaper than the iPad?



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Qualcomm to power 1.5GHz smartphones in early 2011
Qualcomm has announced that its new 1.5GHz Snapdragon processors will be in devices by early 2011.
Speaking at Qualcomm's 2010 innovation exhibition, CEO and Chairman of Qualcomm Dr Paul Jacobs confirmed that both dual-core and 1.5GHz processors would be landing in the near future.
When asked when the faster chips would actually be landing in devices, Jacobs confirmed it would happen 'in the early part of 2011'.
Getting ready to rumble
Given that a number of phones are released at the end of Q1/the beginning of Q2, we should start seeing ultra-fast, low power devices in the near future.
One manufacturer that isn't likely to be part of the launch is LG, which recently announced it will be using Nvidia's Tegra 2 chips in its smartphones as it looks to the next generation of mobile handsets.
Qualcomm also confirmed that the first LTE phones, bringing faster speeds and higher bandwidth, powered by its 4G chips will be coming next year, with some 'data devices' appearing in 2010.



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Sony YayButtons website swipes at Kinect
Sony has revealed a new website which takes a swipe at controller-free gaming. Called YayButtons, the site explains the benefits of buttons in gaming and mocks the idea of getting rid of controllers.
Considering Kinect is the only controller-free gaming experience to be released in the near future, it's fair to say that Sony has Microsoft in its sights.
Controller-free gaming 'sucks'
The site is pretty simple in its execution: click the buttons on the Move controller and a long diatribe appears about why buttons are great.
"It turns out buttons are pretty important," explains the site. "Not like 'save the whales' important. More like 'not play games that suck important'."
Ouch.
This isn't the first time Sony has indirectly mocked Kinect. Its last ad campaign had Kevin Butler, VP of realistic movements, mocking how people 'box' without the use of a controller.
Microsoft announced its Xbox 360 Kinect bundle has a UK release date of 10 November for £300. Sony has yet to give a UK price for how much Move will cost when bundled with the PS3, but the european price was announced at GamesCon as €347.



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Exclusive: Google: Chrome OS still focused on netbooks
Google Chrome's senior product manager Anders Sandholm has told TechRadar that despite the rise of the tablet, the forthcoming Chrome OS is still very much focused on netbooks and not touchscreen devices.
Although the prospect of a thin cloud-focused touchscreen Google Chrome OS device may appear attractive, the internet giant is still very much focused on devices with keyboards.
"What we are focusing on is netbooks in terms of form-factor and providing a really good experience for that," said Sandholm.
Experiments
"Chrome OS is, of course, an open source project and there are different experiments in things like touch and other form-factors, so we are looking into that but there's nothing new to announce there."
Chrome OS is still on track to launch at the end of 2010, with the first devices likely to appear next year, possibly at CES 2011.
Sandholm told TechRadar that the team is working hard on making sure that everything is ready for the launch.
"The team is hard at work and ready to come up with the best possible end user experience," he added
"We want more than anything for Chrome OS to be a good experience. Installing the Chrome browser is easy, it's easy to use, fast and secure and we built those things into it.
"So, with Chrome OS, we want it to be easy to use, fast and, in terms of security, more secure in the [processes] that an operating system deals with."



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Review: Intel Core i7 970
Six cores, 12 threads, one billion transistors and a whole lotta processing power. That's the Intel Core i7 970. It's a fabulous technological achievement. But can it really be worth nearly £700?
Admittedly, the Core i7 970 is a bit cheaper than Intel's top six-core chip, the Core i7 980X. But it's still a tough ask given that AMD will sell you its own six-core Phenom II X6 1055T CPU for around one third the price. What the AMD chip doesn't give you, however, is the very latest technology. The Core i7 970 sports literally the most advanced PC processor die on the planet.
Part of the 970's advantage comes down to microprocessor architecture. Known as Nehalem, it's as good as it currently gets thanks to features such as HyperThreading, a triple-channel memory controller and the super-fast QPI interconnect.
The Core i7 970 is also hewn from Intel's latest 32nm silicon. That means the chip itself is physically smaller than most current quad-core processors including Intel's own Core i7 870 and AMD's Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition. In theory that means it should be cheaper to manufacture. For now, Intel isn't passing on those cost savings to customers.
There's no doubting the sheer power of the Intel Core i7 970. Try this for starters. In our HD video encoding benchmark it bangs out nearly 42 frames per second. That absolutely blows away both the quad-core Intel Core i7 875K (27 frames per second) and the six-core AMD Phenom II X6 1090T BE (26 frames per second).
It's a similar story in the professional 3D rendering test. The 970 is miles ahead. Arguably even more impressive are the game and file decompression results - benchmarks that do not normally favour CPU parallelism. The Core i7 970 is usefully ahead of the Core i7 870 and more than 50 per cent faster than the Phenom II X6 1090T.
In performance terms, therefore, no compromises are required. That's because the 970 backs up its hefty parallelism (six cores and 12 threads) with a 3.2GHz clockspeed. Whatever the workload, it's damn quick. In fact, the only CPU that operates in the same ballpark is the Intel Core i7 980X, which is of course a slightly higher clocked version of the same six-core processor die.
The one area where you might expect all those cores and threads to cause a problem is overclocking. But even here the Core i7 970 puts on a decent show, ramping up to 4GHz courtesy of nothing more than an air cooler and some voltage tweaks. It's all very impressive until you remember the price. It's possible to buy a very nice desktop PC, complete with processor, graphics and screen, for the cost of this CPU.
We liked:
In a word, performance. Whether it's games, media encoding or just multi-tasking, the Core i7 970 has delivers rude amounts of it. But what else did you expect from six of the most advanced processor cores money can buy. The damn thing even overclocks well.
We disliked:
In a word, price. Awesome as the Intel Core i7 970 is, it's also awesomely expensive and simply poor value compared to quad-core processors costing one third the price. In fact, if you're willing to spend this much, you may as well go all the way with the Core i7 980X.
Verdict:
A six-core masterpiece in 32nm silicon. Shame about the grand-master pricing, though.
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Review: AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE
It's about time AMD released a properly new processor architecture. Until that happens, it's stuck with execution cores that largely date back to 2003. With that in mind, can the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition really be a plausible performance processor?
AMD has certainly made life easier for its top quad-core chip by pricing it competitively. The Phenom II X4 965 BE is cheaper than Intel's entry level quads, the Core i5 750 and Core i5 760. However, at 3.4GHz the 965 is clocked much higher than the Intel opposition.
However, the 965's biggest challenge might just be the cheaper of AMD's new six-core processors. The Phenom II X6 1055T is yours for an extra £10 or so. That's awfully tempting. Of course, what the 1055T doesn't have is an unlocked CPU multiplier. That's an enthusiast-friendly feature that usually makes for easier and more effective overclocking and could tip the balance in favour of the quad-core 965.
Survival for AMD's Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition is all about careful positioning in the price lists. Going by our multi-threaded benchmarks, you'd think AMD has nailed it. Compared to the more expensive Intel Core i5 750, the 965 returns almost identical figures in our HD video encoding and professional 3D rendering tests. Result.
That, however, is where the good news largely ends. Intel's more modern processor architecture makes for smoother gaming performance, despite the Phenom's clockspeed advantage. Likewise, the Core i5 750 completes our file decompression benchmark nearly 25 seconds faster.
Thing is, the Intel chip is not only more expensive itself, it also tends to come with higher overall platform costs. Put simply, Intel motherboards cost more. But that's not a charge you can level at the six-core AMD Phenom II X6 1055T. It drops into precisely the same AM3 CPU socket and motherboards as the 965, levelling the playing field for the two AMD chips.
More to the point, the 1055T cranks out quite a bit more performance in our HD video encoding and pro rendering benchmarks. The six-core chip definitely makes more sense for a video editing rig. The 1055T is also a little snappier in our file decompression test.
Admittedly, the higher clocked 965 does turn the table in the World of Conflict timedemo, proving that more cores often doesn't equate to better gaming performance. It's also a better overclocking chip, with this latest C3 stepping of the Deneb core hitting 4.1GHz to the 1055T's mere 3.65GHz. But as an all-round computing solution, this quad-core 965 Black Edition has been usurped by AMD's new six-core processor.
We liked:
The 965 Black Edition is AMD's most expensive quad-core processor. But it's so aggressively priced, it's yours for under £150. At 3.4GHz, the 965 is clocked pretty aggressively, too. All of which makes it very competitive with Intel's cheaper quad-core chips. Add AMD's cheaper platform pricing into the equation and the deal only looks sweeter.
We disliked:
The biggest problem for the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition comes from within. It's AMD's new six-core Phenom II X6. £10 or so seems like a good deal for a pair of extra cores. More generally, the Phenom architecture is nearing end of life. And it shows.
Verdict:
A solid quad-core processor, but the end is nigh. AMD's newer six-core is better value.
Follow TechRadar Reviews on Twitter: http://twitter.com/techradarreview
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Review: AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE
It's about time AMD released a properly new processor architecture. Until that happens, it's stuck with execution cores that largely date back to 2003. With that in mind, can the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition really be a plausible performance processor?
AMD has certainly made life easier for its top quad-core chip by pricing it competitively. The Phenom II X4 965 BE is cheaper than Intel's entry level quads, the Core i5 750 and Core i5 760. However, at 3.4GHz the 965 is clocked much higher than the Intel opposition.
However, the 965's biggest challenge might just be the cheaper of AMD's new six-core processors. The Phenom II X6 1055T is yours for an extra £10 or so. That's awfully tempting. Of course, what the 1055T doesn't have is an unlocked CPU multiplier. That's an enthusiast-friendly feature that usually makes for easier and more effective overclocking and could tip the balance in favour of the quad-core 965.
Survival for AMD's Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition is all about careful positioning in the price lists. Going by our multi-threaded benchmarks, you'd think AMD has nailed it. Compared to the more expensive Intel Core i5 750, the 965 returns almost identical figures in our HD video encoding and professional 3D rendering tests. Result.
That, however, is where the good news largely ends. Intel's more modern processor architecture makes for smoother gaming performance, despite the Phenom's clockspeed advantage. Likewise, the Core i5 750 completes our file decompression benchmark nearly 25 seconds faster.
Thing is, the Intel chip is not only more expensive itself, it also tends to come with higher overall platform costs. Put simply, Intel motherboards cost more. But that's not a charge you can level at the six-core AMD Phenom II X6 1055T. It drops into precisely the same AM3 CPU socket and motherboards as the 965, levelling the playing field for the two AMD chips.
More to the point, the 1055T cranks out quite a bit more performance in our HD video encoding and pro rendering benchmarks. The six-core chip definitely makes more sense for a video editing rig. The 1055T is also a little snappier in our file decompression test.
Admittedly, the higher clocked 965 does turn the table in the World of Conflict timedemo, proving that more cores often doesn't equate to better gaming performance. It's also a better overclocking chip, with this latest C3 stepping of the Deneb core hitting 4.1GHz to the 1055T's mere 3.65GHz. But as an all-round computing solution, this quad-core 965 Black Edition has been usurped by AMD's new six-core processor.
We liked:
The 965 Black Edition is AMD's most expensive quad-core processor. But it's so aggressively priced, it's yours for under £150. At 3.4GHz, the 965 is clocked pretty aggressively, too. All of which makes it very competitive with Intel's cheaper quad-core chips. Add AMD's cheaper platform pricing into the equation and the deal only looks sweeter.
We disliked:
The biggest problem for the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition comes from within. It's AMD's new six-core Phenom II X6. £10 or so seems like a good deal for a pair of extra cores. More generally, the Phenom architecture is nearing end of life. And it shows.
Verdict:
A solid quad-core processor, but the end is nigh. AMD's newer six-core is better value.
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Justin Bieber makes up '3% of Twitter'
Like some unwanted, infectious disease which is spreading at a vast rate, Justin Bieber is taking over Twitter and now has hold of 3 per cent of the site's infrastructure.
This is according to Dustin Curtis (@dcurtis), a well-established website designer who has been speaking to the folks at Twitter about the site.
According to his Twitter page this week, his man on the inside at Twitter told him: "At any moment, Justin Bieber uses 3% of our infrastructure. Racks of servers are dedicated to him."
Let's reiterate: there are racks of servers dedicated to a guy who doesn't know what German is.
Serving the popular
And that's not all, there are also servers for "most of the popular users," according to Dustin Curtis. And who are the most popular users? Well, there's Oprah Winfrey (@oprah), Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) and Conan O'Brien (@Conanobrien).
So, it seems if you want to be a big-hitter on Twitter you need your own dedicated server farm and a whole bunch of people who hang off your every tweet.
To be fair, when you have a way with words like Bieber ("love all u beautiful girls. i see u..and i thank u") we can completely understand why there is a server dedicated to you.



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New Apple iPod video reviews shown off by T3
Gadget aficionados T3 have got their hands on the latest Apple iPods and posted their early video reviews of the kit.
T3, who sit next to TechRadar at Future Publishing, put the Apple iPod touch, the latest iPod nano and the new iPod shuffle through their paces, with the devices going on sale today.
"Apple didn't fail to surprise us with the new iPod line-up," said T3's Rhi Morgan
Pick of the bunch
"By far the pick of the bunch is the Apple iPod touch; the addition of the camera on the front and the back, along withthe retina display, makes it the music player of the moment.
"The iPod nano is bound to split opinion, with its miniscule size and the omission of the camera and click wheel, some will love it and some are bound to hate it."



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Review: AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
Feeling lucky today, punk? We reckon that's the question you need to ask yourself before taking a punt on the AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition.
Based on AMD's flagship Deneb processor die, the 720 has the full 6MB compliment of L3 cache. It also runs at a reasonable 2.8GHz frequency. As a Black Edition chip, it even has an unlocked CPU multiplier for easy overclocking. Not bad for a chip priced well under £100.
There is, however, something missing. AMD has disabled one of Deneb's four cores. The Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition is a tripler, as indicated by the 'X3' moniker. It's here that your luck will be tested because it's possible to unlock the hidden core in the BIOS of most AM3-socket motherboards.
When it comes to core unlocking, there are no guarantees. But with just one hidden core, your odds are at least better than the AMD Phenom II X3 550 BE, which has two hidden cores and double the chance of one being broken.
We were hoping to make this review a tale of two halves. The first was to be a story of the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition in standard triple-core trim, the second was to include revelations of a fourth core freed from its digital shackles.
But like the other two AMD chips with hidden cores (that's the Athlon II X3 435 and Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition), the triple-core 720 disappointed. The fourth and final core in our review sample is a dud. At least it proves AMD doesn't try to influence the press by handing out carefully vetted samples.
Anyway, the result is thatthePhenom II X3 720 BE must make a case for itself purely as a triple-core chip. Unfortunately, that's a tough ask. As an all-rounder, the 720 is reasonable. It's notably faster than the dual-core Phenom II X2 550 BE in multi-threaded software such as video encoding. Similarly, it has the edge over AMD's bargain-priced quad, the Athlon II X4 620, in games.
The 720 also overclocks fairly well, hitting 3.8GHz on air cooling and a tweak of the CPU voltage settings. Problem is, while the 720 isn't awful at anything, it also falls well short of excellence across the board. In a word, it's mediocre. If you are a hardcore gamer, the high-clocking Phenom II X2 550 BE is probably a better bet. For everyone else, the quad-core Athlon II X4 620 makes more sense and costs less.
We liked:
With Intel sticking to even core counts, it was almost inevitable that AMD would step in with some triple-core chips. The Phenom II X3 720 BE certainly makes for an interesting triple-core option and is worth a look if you're looking for a true all rounder with a very low price tag.
We disliked:
If you know what you want from your PC, odds are you won't like the triple-core 720. Adequate at all things, it's not great at anything. Whether it's gaming or encoding, there are better chips for the money. And remember, there are no guarantees when it comes to unlocking that hidden fourth core.
Verdict:
AMD's triples look good on paper, but somehow don't add up to the sum of their parts.
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In Depth: Motherboard buying guide: motherboards explained
Is your PC past its best? Slow to start, a sluggish performer, just not up to the demands of modern applications?

You could just buy something else, but a cheaper option may be to upgrade your existing system, and nothing delivers quite as many powerful possibilities as a new motherboard.
Choose the right motherboard and you'll be able to install more modern CPUs, for instance. Better design, enhancements like 6Gbps SATA ports, and support for new standards, such as USB 3, can help to make a major difference in performance (as long as you've devices to take advantage of them). And you could get a host of extras: more expansion slots, extra USB ports, embedded graphics maybe, better sound, Gigabit LAN ports and more.
Of course you'll have to find your dream motherboard, first, and with hundreds of models on the market that's no easy task. You'll need a way to cut the choice down to something more manageable, and the best way to start that process is by selecting a processor.
CPU options
Every motherboard provides a CPU socket, which holds your processor in place, connects it to the motherboard, supports a heat sink, and so on. Intel and AMD have different socket types, and also modify them over time, so there are plenty to choose from.
If you plan to use your old CPU with the new motherboard, of course, the decision is already made: you'll need to buy a motherboard with a compatible socket. (Not sure what you're using? Download and install HWiNFO32, run the program, select your CPU under Central Processors and check the "CPU Platform" entry.) Though beware: if this is an old motherboard type, buying something similar will seriously limit any opportunities for enhancing your PC in future.
Otherwise, though, you get to choose the CPU socket that best suits your needs. If you're thinking of buying a basic Intel CPU, a Core i3 or Core i5 processor, then a motherboard supporting the LGA1156 CPU socket would be a good choice.
If you're spending more money, buying a Core i7 CPU, then LGA1366 support is probably what you're after. And if you simply want the cheapest replacement possible, then an LGA775 motherboard will support Core 2 Duo and Celeron 1000 processors, but don't expect any new features: these boards are effectively obsolete.
Your AMD choices are a little simpler, fortunately. If you intend to use an up-to-date AMD CPU - the budget Sempron 140, mid-range Athlon II (after the 920/ 940) or high-end Phenom II - then you'll want a Socket AM3 motherboard. Older CPUs like the Athlon II 920/ 940 or Phenom will require a Socket AM2+, perhaps a Socket AM2, but again, these designs are discontinued and you should avoid them if at all possible.
Phenom ii x4 965 cpu
AFFORDABLE POWER: AMD's Phenom II X4 965 CPU delivers decent performance for under £150
Wondering which CPU will suit you best, how much it might cost? Check our processor reviews to find the best deals
Chipset
The next step in choosing your motherboard is to select a chipset. This defines many of the features you'll get on a board - does it have integrated graphics, for instance? - and can seem very complicated. But don't get confused by the jargon, once you get down to the basics then it's quite simple.
If you opted earlier for an LGA1156 motherboard, for instance, then models based on the Intel H55 chipset generally deliver good performance and can be overclocked well. They also include integrated graphics, so you won't need a separate card (although you can add one later, which may be a good idea as the board's graphics aren't fast enough for serious gaming).
LGA1156 motherboards are also available using the Intel H57, Q57 and P55 chipsets. The H57 and P55 are notable as they support ATI CrossFire (you're able to install multiple graphics cards), though other limitations mean this won't necessarily offer great performance.
If you'd selected an LGA1366 motherboard previously, then it's an easier choice: the Intel X58 chipset is your only option.
AMD AM3 boards come in two main flavours. If you need onboard graphics, then select either the AMD 880G or 890GX chipsets (the latter is faster and offers more options); otherwise you can choose between the budget AMD870, and the high-end 890FX. Buy the best you can afford.
If you're a keen gamer and plan to install multiple graphics cards then you'll also need to make sure that your motherboard is up to the challenge. It should support CrossFire if you're aiming to use ATI graphics cards, SLI if you'll be buying Nvidia.
If you selected a more basic CPU socket, though, an LGA775 or AM2, then we wouldn't be too concerned about chipsets. What will matter to you are the features you get, and so that's what we'll look at next.
Zotac geforce gtx 460
PRICEY: The Zotac GeForce GTX 460 is a great graphics card, but it's £200. A board with integrated graphics could save you plenty of cash
Read our MSI 880GMA-E45 review
Read our Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R review
Read our AMD 890 FX-based ASRock 890FX Deluxe 3 review
Motherboard features
While chipsets provide a basic reference design for your motherboard, there's nothing to stop manufacturers playing around with this. And they do. All the time.
So knowing that a board has, say, an LGA1156 chipset, doesn't necessarily tell you how many ports it will have, how many expansion slots, which USB standards it supports, or anything else.
What you need to do, then, is decide the features you'll expect from your board, as well as the CPU and chipset, and that will help you pin your options down to just a few candidates.
If expansion really matters - you want to install a couple of NVIDIA graphics cards, say - then two PCI 16x slots will be required. But you should also read the small print to see how many "lanes" - electrical connections - each slot has. These are used to transfer data, so less lanes means reduced speed: you'll want both slots to have at least 8 lanes to get decent performance.
USB 3.0 support is something else to look out for, promising a theoretical 10x speed increase over USB 2.0. You'll need USB 3.0 peripherals to take advantage of it (though you can use USB 2.0 devices on a 3.0 PC), but they're already arriving. If you want to help future-proof your PC then this a feature worth having.
SATA 6Gbps looks similarly impressive, doubling the bandwidth you'll get from a standard 3Gbps SATA II connection. This doesn't mean your SATA hard drive will appear to double in speed, though - the benefits depend on the drive itself, its controller design, your applications and more. If your drive is old then it may offer little, if any advantage, but buy a new drive in the next few months and it'll be a very different story. Again, SATA 6Gbps is worth getting for future-proofing.
And don't forget the basics.
Like RAM, for instance. If you're upgrading from an old system then it'll probably use DDR2 memory. Modern boards require DDR3, though, so you'll need to account for that in your budget. And if you're planning to install a 64-bit operating system then (finally) you'll be able to access more than 4GB, so it may be worth looking at the RAM capacity of each board.
DDR3 ram
RAM CHECK: Make sure your chosen motherboard supports the type and capacity of RAM you want to fit
Next, think about how many regular PCI-E slots you need, how many USB or Ethernet ports. What about drive support? If you're planning to use old IDE drives then look for boards that can cater for that; otherwise check how many SATA ports are on offer.
Consider your audio needs: do you want a board with full 7.1 digital surround sound output, or will simple stereo be enough?
And, finally, don't forget the motherboard form factor, the motherboard size: it would be very useful if it actually fit in your old case. ATX (305x244mm) is the standard, but there's also Micro-ATX (170x170mm), Micro-ATX (244x244mm) and E-ATX (305x330mm).
Put this all together and you should have a lengthy list of requirements: now it's just a matter of finding some matches. Pay a visit to our motherboard reviews for in-depth coverage of the latest releases, easy product and price comparisons. Or simply search your favourite online store with keywords describing what you'd like - "LGA1366", "X58", "USB 3.0", say - to quickly highlight the motherboard that's right for you.




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Virgin Media offers 'Spring Green' Sony Ericsson Spiro
Virgin Media has announced that it is now offering the Sony Ericsson Spiro, and has the exclusive on the 'Spring Green' coloured version of the phone.
The Walkman branded phone is offered on PAYG, and will cost £49.99 when bought with £10 of airtime.
Customers trading in an old mobile phone can also take advantage of Virgin Media's £100 airtime offer.
2MP camera
The Spiro brings a fairly low grade set of specs including a 2MP camera, pre-installed Facebook and Twitter apps and an FM radio.
The phone has a 2GB SD card thrown in – and can take cards up to 16GB.
Of course, for many people Spring Green is very close to the wild cabbage that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall gets over-excited about, although technically speaking, fact fans, it's precisely halfway between cyan and green, we're told.
So if you like green and white phones and are in the market for a sub £50 PAYG option then this is now available from Virgin Media.



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Gary Marshall: Why Google TV faces an uphill struggle
One of my favourite TV programmes was Casualty. I didn't like it for the acting, though. I liked it because of the hilariously protracted accidents in each episode. "I'll just hammer this nail in with an UNEXPLODED BOMB!" this week's trolley fodder would announce, with the inevitable explosion following shortly afterwards.
"I think I'll leave this really sharp kitchen knife sticking out of the steering wheel as I drink and drive!" another would say. "I think I'll attempt to combine the worlds of TV and computers!" a third would offer.
Oops. That last one wasn't Casualty. That was Google.
Google wants to bring its super search'n'ads systems to the humble television, transforming the way we consume content from the couch.
We've seen this programme before, and we know how it ends.
For cutting-edge technology firms, television is the electronic Afghanistan: all the major powers have attempted to tame it, and all the major powers have ended up in protracted, painful and ultimately pointless conflicts.
Microsoft tried it with Media Center, and latterly with Xbox 360. Apple tried it with Apple TV and the new! Improved! Apple TV. And now Google's going to have a go.
To its credit, Google is attempting to throw absolutely everything at Google TV. It will let you see statistics as you're watching sports. It'll have a web browser. It'll give you YouTube. It'll be controllable from Android handsets and iPhones and it'll have voice search and Twitter and Flickr and Android Market and a customisable home page and a free horse.
It'll be rubbish.
There are several reasons for that. For end users, the problem is that Google's adding complexity, not taking it away. TV's pretty simple: turn it on, press up to change channels up, and down to go down.
DVR stuff like pausing and resuming live TV's pretty simple, too, and even Sky's horrible HD interface is fairly easy to navigate. Adding the entire internet into the mix - something that apparently requires a QWERTY keyboard in your remote - takes that simplicity away. It's yet another box, yet another remote, yet another thing for your partner to get annoyed about when he or she can't get the TV to work properly.
The second issue is that Google may not get the content. Apple's TV rentals only come from two US broadcasters - Fox and ABC - because broadcasters worry that Apple could become as powerful in TV as it currently is in music.
It seems that Google is finding a similar lack of enthusiasm: the Wall Street Journal reports that TV networks "remain reluctant to partner with a service they believe encroaches on their turf." The WSJ suggests that some networks are investigating ways to block Google TV, not to support it.
It's the same over here. First of all, there's the BBC: do you think licence payers want ads around their iPlayer? Rupert Murdoch just stuck his newspapers behind a paywall and charges £35 per month for his Sky Sports iPad app. Reckon he'll want Google sticking its ads on Sky?
The BBC, BT, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV and others are working on Project Canvas, a single standard for UK internet-delivered TV. Reckon they'd rather Google built the platform and made the money?
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. If this were an episode of Casualty, Google would be planning to chainsaw a tree from a pogo stick.



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Movie industry 'launching cyber attacks' on pirate websites
The managing director of Aiplex Software has admitted that his company has been used to deliver DoS attacks on websites which host illegal torrents.
Girish Kumar of Aiplex Software, which is based in India, explained that his company is hired by the movie industry to deliver copyright takedown notices and if these are ignored, then they bring out the big guns – hitting the site with a DDoS attack.
Speaking to the Age.com, Kumar explained: "Most movies are released on Friday morning at 10am in India. The movie is released in the morning [and] by afternoon it's on the internet.
"What we do is we see all those links on the net. We find the hosting [computer] server and send them a copyright infringement notice because they're not meant to have those links.
"If they don't remove [the link] we send them a second notice and ask them [again] to remove it."
If that doesn't work, then a DDoS attack is sanctioned of the computer serves which is hosting the site, according to Kumar.
Respecting copyright
"How can we put the site down? The only means that we can put the site down is a denial-of-service [attack].
"Basically we have to flood [the site] with millions and millions of requests and put the site down."
Kumar continued: "Generally speaking 95 per cent of providers do remove the content.
"It's only the torrent sites – 20 to 25 per cent of the torrent sites – that do not have respect for any of the copyright notices."
Aiplex Software works mainly for Bollywood studios but one of its clients Fox STAR Studios, part of 20th Century Fox.
Given that DDoS attacks are illegal in the UK - the BBC had its knuckles rapped for its Click programme showing off what a botnet would do - it would be interesting to see if there are other companies in other parts of the world practising this behaviour on behalf of the big-name studios.



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Review: Mark Levinson No.326S Pre-amplifier
What better time than the new era of austerity for us to discover how much difference a really good pre-amplifier can make to an already impressive high-end system. Mark Levinson was one of the first to build seriously engineered high-end amplifiers. We don't mean excessively large or massively powerful, although it was ahead of the power game, we mean Rolls Royce or SME-style build quality.
It's unusual for us to review a pre-amplifier on its own, but the new No.326S is such a phenomenal sounding piece of equipment that we had to tell you about it.
In truth, this product has rearranged our notion of what really counts in a high-end system and that doesn't happen very often.
Steel shield
At present, the No.326S is the only pre-amplifier in the Mark Levinson range, which seems a little incongruous in the context of its power amps which top out at £40K (for a pair of No.53 monoblocks), a matching reference preamp is on the way to plug that gap, but this compact beast is probably up to the job.
It has been painstakingly designed to keep all forms of noise away from the power supply and hence the audio signal itself.
This is achieved with shielding in the form of steel boxes encasing both signal processing circuitry and the power supply itself. It is dual-mono right back to the mains transformer – there are two of these, but not for each channel – one is for the control circuitry.
Internally it's separated into three sections: power supply, signal processing and control circuitry. Incoming AC is heavily filtered using noise suppression and isolation techniques of the variety usually found in external power filters, all of which is designed to keep the signal as clean as possible.
Mark levinson no.326s preamp internal
The PCB itself is made of Nelco, which replaces Arlon in the previous incarnation and is said to have even better dielectric (insulating) properties. In practical terms, it's an extremely flexible workhorse, with seven inputs in both balanced and single-ended varieties and for each of these you can set the gain and dial-in a name of your choice, so long as it doesn't exceed seven characters.
What's more, doing so is remarkably intuitive and we managed it without a manual (all too often extra facilities means extra complication, but with the dot-matrix display this preamp is as easy to use as it is to enjoy, well almost).
Another very nice touch is the way that the volume is faded down and then up when changing inputs, which gives you a few microseconds to switch back if the next source is too loud. Of course, if you've set input gain properly this shouldn't happen too often, but there are always rogue recordings with silly levels.
Volume is indicated in tenths of a decibel (above 23dB, 1dB increments below that) which seems a little bit on the fine side – it makes changing level with the remote a bit slow – but these steps come into their own at the top and bottom of the range where small increments are more useful.
If you want to reduce volume quickly the mute button is the best bet, especially as you can dial in just how much attenuation you want.
There are two volume attenuators inside the box, one for each channel, continuing the dual-mono theme. Useful features include a mono setting for older recordings – the Beatles mono box set sounds significantly better than its stereo counterpart for instance – and polarity or phase inversion, both available on the remote handset.
Extra miles
The supplied remote is a comfy lump with a rubber pad on the underside so that it doesn't slip off the sofa, plus it has a reassuringly heavy build that exudes nearly as much quality as the unit itself.
But not quite, there is something about the quality of metalwork, fit and finish of Mark Levinson products that puts them at the top of the tree. Maybe it's because they were among the first to go the extra mile in this department, but whatever it is, it's certainly reassuring when you are being asked to shell out the readies.
Everything from the matte-finished buttons and knobs to the anodised metalwork of the chassis exudes quality and durability. The RCA phono sockets are made to M-L's design and are a shade smaller than usual, which is very nice when you have extremely tight-fitting plugs to deal with, as is often the case with high-end cables.
Mark levinson n0.326s preamp rear
In terms of value, the No.326S looks pretty strong, it's very expensive granted, but it is built with utmost attention to detail by a company with a track record for making some of the best amplifiers in the business. Bowers & Wilkins does all its listening and tuning using a pair of Mark Levinson No.33 monoblocks and has been doing so for years.
Wonder drug
Our first impression with this preamp was not necessarily positive, because it seems to remove all the edges from the sound, smoothing things out and giving the impression of reduced detail.
But it's not very long before it becomes apparent, that what has been removed is hash in the high frequencies, essentially noise that most amplifiers add to the signal in such a subtle way that it seems like part of the music, but once it's taken away the amount of musical and spatial detail that comes through is nothing short of astonishing.
It's not just audiophilia either, by which we mean it's more than sound effects like sparkly highs or bone-crunching lows against an 'inky black' background. It's more of the notes, more of the acoustic, more of the production and more of the music.
It's surprising that any one component can do all this, let alone the one that changes the volume, yet this is clearly a very difficult thing to do really well otherwise the No.326S wouldn't stand out so dramatically.
Led Zeppelin III is one of our favourite albums, it captures the band as it reached its creative peak and is remarkably well recorded to boot. The preamp delivered Bonzo's chugging beats and Percy's voice at its finest, while focussing on the remarkably inventive compositions of Page and Jones.
All the microdynamics are there to be enjoyed alongside the compressed vocals that seem so small compared to the band. This was a revelatory experience and one that continued with every familiar album. It literally makes you cast your troubles aside and live for the music, which can't be bad at any price.
Sonic gold
What also makes this component worth its weight in sonic gold is the incredible three dimensionality it can produce, its uncannily clean sound which allows you to play at silly levels without discomfort and a world-beating sense of timing.
Bass lines are reproduced with a coherence and precision that is all too rare and this foundation means that rhythm and melody are delivered in a totally coherent, fluid fashion. This and the ability to show you the fine details of the recording in the context of a gripping overall presentation makes the No. 326S an addictive bit of kit.
Okay, so the price is high, but the rewards are truly the stuff of a music lover's dream.
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In Depth: How to buy the best new hard drive upgrade
If you're looking for a PC upgrade that will have a dramatic effect, then nothing will deliver quite such immediately obvious results as a hard drive upgrade.
Boot times should fall dramatically, for instance. Your system startup is heavily dependent on your hard drive as Windows and your apps are loaded into RAM, and moving to a solid state drive could see your PC fire up in half the time that it does now.
Apps will launch more quickly, too. Anything that makes heavy use of the drive will run faster; you should find it easier to run multiple applications at the same time; and if you're currently short on hard drive space, then a 1TB drive (1,000 GB) could be yours from under £50.
And of course a bigger hard drive means you can store more stuff on it.
There are a whole host of affordable hard drives around, too. Which is the best hard drive for you? It all depends on your needs.
Performance
If you'd like your new drive to be both spacious and fast then the best option is to buy a conventional hard drive. The capacity of whatever you're looking at will be plain, but performance is less obvious, however there are several indicators you can look for that will give you a general idea.
Mechanical hard drives store data on platters, for instance, circular discs that rotate at high speed. The quicker they spin, the faster the drive is likely to be. A few 3.5" desktop drives have spindle speeds of 5,400 rpm; most run at 7,200 rpm for better performance; some work at 10,000 rpm, usually delivering great speeds but at significantly higher cost.
Another factor is the "areal density" used by a drive, the amount of data it can squeeze onto a platter. The higher this is, the more data a drive can read or write for a given mechanical movement, and the faster it is likely to be.
To compare the areal density of drives, just check their specification and divide capacity by the number of platters. So most 2TB hard drives use four platters, for instance, 500GB per platter; but Samsung's new EcoGreen F4EG requires only three platters, each holding 667MB, giving it a natural performance advantage.
Hard drives will also have an amount of cache memory (typically 32MB although 64MB caches are becoming more common), where they store frequently required data. It's quicker to fetch information from cache than the platter, so the more memory a drive has, the better.
And every drive has a host of low-level statistics surrounding it, but a particularly important one to check is the seek time, the average time it takes for the drive heads to move to a required location. As with all of these comparisons, a lower seek time doesn't guarantee better performance - it's not as simple as that - but it will give you a general indicator of how fast the drive should be.
The 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black can be yours for under £70
Western digital caviar black
Read our Western Digital Caviar Black review
The Western Digital Caviar Green is a conventional hard drive with a very exceptional capacity, an amazing 2TB
Western digital caviar
Read our Western Digital Caviar Green review
Solid State Drives
If performance is your absolute highest priority, then you may want to forget about old-style mechanical technology and buy a solid state drive (SSD), instead. This replaces the spinning platters with fast flash memory, which has all kinds of advantages.
There's no annoying seek-time delays, for example. A fast 7,200rpm drive might take 13ms to locate a particular item of data, but an SSD should be closer to 0.1ms.
Read and write speeds are also faster, though not to such a dramatic extent. (You probably won't see any real-life task run much more than twice the speed it did before.)
SSDs are also silent, generally use less power, and also run much cooler than hard drives, so you may find your system fan doesn't have to spin quite so hard, or often.
Sounds great, right? But there are problems. Flash memory is relatively expensive, which means SSDs typically have low capacities and high prices. You can buy a standard 1TB hard drive for under £50, for instance: a much smaller 120GB SSD will typically cost you £200 to £300, so perhaps six times the price.
And SSDs have shorter lives, too - the memory effectively wears out with repeated use. There are technologies to minimise this, and you shouldn't see any issues for years, but it's still a concern.
If you can afford one, though, a quality SSD is definitely worth buying. Install Windows and a few important applications on it, leave everything else on a regular hard drive and you'll still notice the difference - it's the perfect addition to a power PC.
To compare SSDs for performance, look for figures like maximum read and write speeds, maximum sustained write speeds, perhaps the number of IOPS (input/ output operations per second). SSDs are particularly prone to odd controller issues, though, so in-depth testing of a drive is essential to find out how it really behaves. Be sure to check out our hard drive reviews to discover which SSDs are worth every penny of their premium price.
The Kingston SSDNow V Series 30GB drives are relatively cheap, perfect for a RAID setup
Kingston ssdnow
Read our Kingston SSDNow V Series review
It's an incredibly fast SSD, but the OCZ Vertex 2 delivered only 120GB for a launch price of £264
OCZ vortex 2
Read our OCZ Vertex 2 review
Read our group test of the 12 best solid state drives
Interface issues
Whatever you're buying, it's important to consider the drive's interface, how it connects to your PC.
If your PC is a few years old then it may only support the IDE interface - bad news, as it's now obsolete. There are still a few compatible drives available, so an upgrade should be possible, but you won't be able to use the latest technology: IDE just isn't fast enough.
More modern PCs and drives use the speedier Serial ATA (SATA) interface, instead, but this comes in three main versions. The first (SATA I, or 150) could handle speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps; the second (SATA II, or SATA II), by far the most commonplace today, supports 3 Gbps; the very latest (SATA III, or SATA 600), appearing on many new motherboards, supports 6 Gbps.
If you have SATA 150 (check your system documentation), then you'll be able to connect drives using the other standards, but there's little point - you won't get the full performance benefit.
If you have SATA 300, like most people, then you've a huge amount of choice. Look for an SATA 300 or 600/ 6 Gbps drive that provides support for TRIM (a performance-boosting command built into Windows 7 and available in other tools) and native command queuing (a technology that optimises read/ write commands to improve speeds).
If you have SATA 600, then it still currently makes sense to use SATA 300 drives, especially of the regular mechanical variety. Most can't take any advantage of the extra 6 Gbps bandwidth.
Should you be looking at high-end SSDs, though, it may be a different story. They can deliver significant burst speeds and should benefit from the newer interface. Look for SSDs supporting SATA 6Gbps to allow the best possible performance, and check the controller, too: Marvell and SandForce controllers are some of the fastest around.
Powerful SandForce controllers help many OCZ SSDs to deliver the best possible performance
OCZ agility 2
Read our OCZ Agility review
Crucial's RealSSD C300 128GB is so fast that it'll benefit from running on an SATA 6Gbps PC
Crucial realssd
Read our Crucial RealSSD C300 review
Comparison complications
Buying a hard drive on capacity alone is simple. As soon as you factor in performance, though, life becomes very much more complicated.
We've pointed you at some of the issues you need to consider, for instance, and they'll give you a general idea of how a drive will perform, but there are no guarantees.
Consider drive A, for instance: SATA 6 GBps, seek time of 13ms, 64MB cache. It should be faster than drive B, SATA 3 Gbps, seek time of 15 Mbps and a 32MB cache, right? But this won't always be the case, because there are all kinds of other issues, like the choice and implementation of the drive controller, that can't be compared in any simple way.
There's no substitute for reading the views of an expert who's tried out a drive in a variety of real-life situations, then, and that's exactly what you'll get on our review pages. So by all means use your own comparisons to produce a shortlist of likely drives, but after that, head off to our hard drive reviews section for the low-down on which models really deliver.
There are hundreds of drives out there - let our SSD reviews help you to identify the best deals
Seagate's Momentus XT 500GB is part mechanical drive, part SSD. How does it perform? Check our review
Seagate momentus xt
Read our Seagate Momentus XT 500GB review
Looking for an external drive? Read our group test of six 2TB monsters



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Review: Castle Knight 2
Castle Acoustics was a Yorkshire-based company started in the early 1970s. Best known for its rich, real wood veneers and refined acoustic, the firm soon established a following from those appreciating a warm, full-bodied sound.
As with many of the British greats, however, Castle fell upon hard times at the turn of the millennium and came under the ownership of IAG (International Audio Group).
With IAG's impressive portfolio that includes Quad, Castle should be in safe hands and as if to prove the parent company's commitment, the all-new Knight range is voiced by IAG's Director of Acoustic Design, Peter Comeau – of Heybrook HB1 and Mission 780 fame.
It has to be said that neither of these speakers has the 'Castle sound', so the question is; have his talents been successful with tuning the Knight?
Slithers of tree
There's nothing especially innovative with the design, but such a conservative approach should suit the targeted audience.
Crucially, the Knight range uses high-quality wood veneer and is available in eight varieties. The veneers are genuine, book-matched and mirrored slithers of tree and not reconstituted pulp.
The cabinet itself is made from 15-millimetre MDF, with bracing across both planes. A flush-mounted rear bass port is fitted with a mesh to dampen the exiting air. The drive units consist of a soft-dome tweeter and fibre woofer.
Again, very conventional, but the decision not to select a metal dome tweeter is a wise move, as their occasional edgy characteristics would not have suited the Knight 2.
The woofer chassis is an ordinary pressed steel affair, but is magnetically shielded to allow for safe placement near magnetic recordings and CRT screens.
A bi-wirable crossover, with gold-plated terminals, completes the good first impressions. And with an above average sensitivity of 90dB, we expect the Knight 2 to present an easy amplifier load.
Knight attire
Given the price, the standard of finish is exceptional. Whereas rivals such as the Mordaunt-Short Mezzo 2 (£450) and Bowers and Wilkins 685 (£380) use vinyl wraps, the Knight 2 stands out with its real-wood veneering.
The full process, including sealing and waxing, apparently takes five days and in an ideal world the veneering would be extended to the inside of the cabinet, too, as this has a beneficial effect on the sound quality.
There are no complaints with the solidity of the cabinet, in which multiple bracing adds considerable weight and rigidity to these standmounts. Items such as the basic internal speaker cable show where costs have been cut, but this is an impressively engineered speaker.
Sense and depth
Castle fans will be relieved to hear that the Knight 2 has kept all the Castle Acoustics qualities intact.
The bass response errs on the side of taut control, rather than ultimate weight and is all the better for it. Sound staging is particularly spacious with vocals being especially well portrayed. Explicit but not aggressive, the Knight 2 strikes a very fine balance.
Against the Mezzo 2, you will find the Knight lacking a defining edge with, for example, drum beats, but the smoother balance will be ample compensation for most. Acoustic music suits these speakers with vocal texture readily revealed.
With classical music the Knight is one of the best speakers in its class. A true sense of space and depth creates a tension not usually found in this type of speaker and if you enjoy unforced realism, then you'll appreciate the Knight 2's subtle qualities of presentation.
Subtle charms
IAG deserves praise for not only producing a new speaker that looks like a Castle, but for producing one that emphatically sounds like a Castle, too.
In fact, we'd go further by saying that this is probably the best-sounding budget Castle speaker ever made. In addition to the traditional qualities of accuracy and refinement, the Knight 2 adds unforced detail and first-class soundstaging.
Whilst it won't be the first choice for lovers of high-octane dance music, everyone else will be more than satisfied by its subtle charms. The class-leading finish cements this as a classic Hi-Fi Choice recommendation.
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Review: Arcam rDAC
Over 20 years ago Arcam produced the Back Box standalone digital-to-analogue convertor. This was one of the first (for obvious reasons, the claim to exactly who was first is hotly contested) devices that could bypass the output of an existing CD player via an S/PDIF digital output and convert it to an analogue signal via a higher-quality output stage than the CD player had internally.
Consequently, the Black Box was highly regarded and sold well. During the late 1990s, research into jitter and a change in philosophy saw the DAC fall out of favour and Arcam's output at this time was comprised entirely of one-box CD players.
Now that a DAC renaissance is in full force, the company has returned to a keenly contested market with the rDAC. As the sub-£1,000 DAC market is looking rather busy these days, it's good to see that the rDAC is far more than a 'me too' product.
Central to its performance is the new Wolfson Microelectronics WM8741 chip. This is the successor to the WM8740, which has been central to some very strong CD offerings from Arcam, as well as Cambridge Audio and Rega.
Boasting improved signal-to-noise measurements and detail changes to filtering, the WM8741 gives the rDAC some very strong credentials.
Wireless dongle
Arcam has made use of an ongoing relationship with high-end digital manufacturer dCS, a company that has contributed to some of its star performers over the years.
This time, the relationship has gifted the rDAC, the patented dCS Asynchronous USB Technology system. This is a relatively new take on USB transfer and allows for increased performance from this increasingly common connection.
Given that a great many rDACS are likely to find themselves being connected via USB over anything else, this is good thinking on the part of Arcam.
Later on in this year, the final part of the rDAC's arsenal will become available in the form of wireless transmission. Arcam says that this will involve more technology from dCS and a wireless dongle. The transmission will handle everything up to lossless files and will open up another way of extracting audio from a computer, as well as making a great deal of sense if the rDAC is already connected into a particular computer via the USB input and you wish to use another computer 'on the fly'.
As it is, the wireless input light sits on the front of the rDAC, but cannot currently be selected. The wireless version will be £100 more than the version tested here.
Red to green
As well as the USB and forthcoming wireless, the rDAC sports a relatively conventional optical and coaxial digital input and a single RCA phono output. If you need more than one of each particular input, or are interested in a balanced XLR output, you will need to look elsewhere, but the Arcam's specification on the whole is competitive for its asking price when the Asynchronous USB input is taken into account.
Arcam rdac
The unit itself is small, but pleasant to look at and use and is styled as part of the Solo range – although it doesn't look so different from other Arcam separates to be visually at odds if placed with them. The chassis is all-metal and feels solid and well constructed.
Input selection is via a single button on the top of the unit. The input light glows red and then switches to green when a connection is established, which is a nice touch if you should need to fault-find a connection.
Another sign of impressive attention to detail is the USB connection. Connect the rDAC to a PC and it will display on the PC as an 'Arcam rDAC, rather than a generic USB component that so many of its key competitors will do.
Connection itself is fast and effective and our sample unit connected quickly and simply to a variety of PCs and Macs during the test period.
Good things in small packages
Sonically, the rDAC is a strong proposition. Connected over USB and given lossless or better files (although 24-bit/192khz files are limited to a transmission rate of 24/96), the rDAC is an enticing performer. It produces a natural and unforced presentation, entirely free from harshness or aggression.
Indeed, its performance is free from even the slightest sense of digital sheen or artefacts, which is a huge boost to long-term listening. Given that this naturalness is an intended outcome of the design of the Wolfson WM8741, it is good news to report that this appears to have succeeded in practice.
Vocals are well presented and believably real with the sense of space and decay vital for the suspension of disbelief. The rDAC will also present an excellent and well-judged soundstage, well in proportion to the recording being listened to.
Further good news is that switching to compressed music, be it the 320k MP3 of Spotify or music ripped to lossy AAC in iTunes stays involving and listenable. The rDAC is quick to reward the use of high-resolution files, but pleasingly slow to punish the use of compressed ones.
Switching over to the coaxial input does not change the behaviour of the rDAC in any substantial way, although this is as much a reflection of how good the USB input actually is, rather than any deficiency on the part of the coaxial input. The rDAC always remains natural and unforced and even poor recordings will not push it towards stridency or harshness.
Give the rDAC a typical modern recording with the levels turned Spinal Tap-style to eleven and it will manage to find the dynamics within it that have been compressed to within an inch of their life. This gets even better when you give it a CD recording which has been treated with a little more respect and the results are very nearly as good as high-resolution digital over USB.
The only real downside of this control and relaxed nature is that given a genuinely exciting recording, there is a sense that the rDAC is keeping some of the dynamics and force in check.
This is often apparent in the bass response which is fast and tuneful, but not as deep as some of the Arcam's key competitors. Those who need more excitement in their lives and are possibly willing to trade off a little of the Arcam's extremely forgiving nature with poor recordings, may be better served elsewhere. Alternatively, this is nothing some thoughtful system matching would not solve.
Market shake up
The rDAC marks a welcome return to an increasingly important product category from one of the original pioneers in the field. Just as importantly, the wait has also been worthwhile.
The arrival of well thought out and well-implemented Asynchronous USB at this price point is a welcome shake up to the market. That the rDAC has this and regular connections running through a desirable new DAC chip in a well-built box is even more welcome.
If you are in the process of going 'post CD' in your current system, then the rDAC is a must-audition product. It is able to achieve excellent results with computer audio and the lack of fuss or hassle – making it work with a variety of computers – bodes well for widespread compatibility.
Back in the realms of conventional hi-fi , the rDAC faces stiff competition from the large selection of very accomplished performers over more conventional digital connections, which means that it deserves a place on a slightly longer shortlist, but it certainly deserves a place nonetheless.
There has never been a better time, given the market trends, to be looking at the rDAC as an inexpensive boost to your digital replay.
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£429 Nokia N8 confirmed for September
Nokia has confirmed that its eagerly-anticipated N8 smartphone will go on sale 'this month' with a sim-free UK price of £429.
The date of 23 September has already been outed, but Nokia has now formally announced the UK release date timeframe.
"The much-anticipated Nokia N8 will be on-sale at the Nokia Online Shop for £429 SIM free or on contract from £35 per month," said Nokia's release.
And a store near you...
The Nokia N8 will also be apparently also be available from the likes of Carphone Warehouse, O2, Orange, Phones4u, T-Mobile, Tesco Phone Shops, Three Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone from Friday 1 October. Phew.
Mark Loughran, General Manager, Nokia UK, says, "The Nokia N8 is a great multitasker, packed with market leading innovations, which include the best picture and video capability available on a smartphone.
"The Nokia N8 is perfect for creating and sharing great content in high definition, using HDMI out to connect to your TV as well as hot-USB swap.
"We're making it fun and easy to capture and share memorable moments on the go."



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In Depth: How to buy the best processor for your PC
Whether you're buying a new PC, or upgrading an old one, perhaps with a new motherboard, then your choice of processor will be critical. But there's a lot to consider if you want to get the best processor for your PC.

So what's the best CPU for you? Will you opt for AMD, or Intel, for instance? How much performance do you really need? How many CPU cores will it take to achieve that? What might you be able to achieve for overclocking? And how much is all this going to cost? Which processor is best for gaming? What's the best processor for Photoshop users? The list goes on, and on.
Fortunately, while there's a huge list of processors available, it's actually not that difficult to reduce the selection to more practical and manageable levels to decide which processor to buy. You just have to take the process step by step, analysing your needs and looking at the best candidates to fulfil them, and this begins by thinking about the age-old question: Intel or AMD?
Intel vs AMD
You might well already have chosen your preferred CPU manufacturer, of course. Maybe you always go with one particular company. Or perhaps you have your motherboard already, in which case the decision has been made already: you'll have to opt for whatever is compatible.
If not, though, selecting Intel or AMD will pose an interesting dilemma.
Right now, Intel is the performance king. Its Core i7 range is blisteringly fast and, initially at least, outperform anything that AMD has to offer.
This comes at a price, though - if you're looking for value, then AMD offers a much better deal. As we write, for instance, the quad-core AMD Black Edition Phenom II X4 965, one of AMD's fastest processors, can be yours for around £130. Intel's core i5-680 delivers roughly equivalent performance, but will cost you maybe £230. And becoming a speed king via something like Intel's Core i7-950 will virtually double the figure again: you can expect to pay £450 or more.
(These figures change day to day, but AMD will remain the value choice for the foreseeable future. If you already have a few CPUs in mind, check our processor section for reviews and more up-to-date price comparisons.)
It's also worth factoring in the price of the motherboard. Spending just £60 to £70 will give you plenty of possible homes for a high-end AMD CPU; opt for the best that Intel has to offer and you'll probably spend at least twice as much. (But again, visit our motherboard pages for up-to-date prices.)
If you want and need Intel's performance then things aren't quite as bad as they seem. Intel CPUs are generally a little more overclockable than AMDs, and something like the i5-750 (priced around £150 as we write) can be pushed a very long way.
But if you don't require that kind of high-end power (or you just can't afford it) then an AMD processor is the way to go. You'll still get plenty of speed when you need it, and will save a pile of cash, too.
Intel Core i7-930 review
Processor features
These days the CPU features that attract the most attention are the number of cores, and its clock speed. Both are simple concepts to understand, but you still have to be careful how you interpret them.
AMD's Black Edition Phenom II X6 1090T, for example, contains six cores, individual processors, which means the CPU can work on six separate tasks at the same time. And each of these runs at a very respectable 3.2GHz.
Meanwhile the Intel Core i7-860 has only four cores, and runs at a mere 2.8GHz. So you might, not unreasonably, expect it to be slower. However, it supports Intel's Hyper-Threading technology, providing an extra four "virtual" cores, and thanks to this, and a few other design decisions, it actually outperforms the Phenom II X6 1090T. So you can't rely solely on these figures to determine which CPU is best.
Still, as a general rule for processors from the same manufacturer, the more cores a CPU provides, the happier you're going to be. You won't see large speed increases from all programs - the popular LAME encoder is still single-threaded, for instance, so upgrading from a dual to quad-core CPU won't deliver any noticeable changes - but most apps that could benefit significantly from multithreading, now do so, and will take advantage of the extra processing power. And just about everything else will be upgraded over time.
Cores should be your first priority, then: you'll want a quad-core CPU at a minimum. After that, opt for the highest clock speed you can afford, or need, but don't worry about that quite as much. You can often ramp that up later with a little judicious overclocking.
Core i7
GOOD BUY: Quad-core i7 CPUs are excellent performers, easily outpacing the AMD competition
Intel Core i5-750 review
Socket set
Every processor comes sized to fit a particular "CPU socket", a component that connects the CPU to a motherboard. If you've chosen your motherboard already then you'll know what this is; if not, then now might be a good time to think about it, as your processor will need to be compatible.
If you're opting for an AMD CPU then there a couple of options. The cheapest is to go for a Socket AM2+ motherboard, but choosing Socket AM3 instead will get you support for faster DDR3 RAM. AM3 boards will typically also come with USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps, and prices are so affordable that it makes little sense to go for anything else.
If you're choosing an Intel Core i5 CPU then there's even less to think about: you'll want an LGA1156 motherboard.
But if you're splashing out on a Core i7 then it's a little more complicated.
You could buy a Core i7 CPU that also fits the LGA1156 motherboard. These are known as the 800 series, so they'll all have product numbers that are 800 and something: the Core i7-860, say. This will save you a little money, but the LGA1156 boards have some limitations, and for example are often lacking in PCI Express lanes, cutting your expansion possibilities.
The alternative is to buy a Core i7 CPU designed for LGA1366 motherboards, which means 900 series chips like the Core i7-930 or -940. Not only is the board more powerful, but it's also reasonably future-proof. High-end Intel releases like the 6-core i7-975 are already available in the LGA1366 format only, for instance.
If you're building a power system, need plenty of PCI Express power (perhaps to install multiple graphics cards) or want to ensure your system's future upgradeability, then, an LGA1366 board is the way to go.
But if a Core i7 CPU already feels more expensive than you'd really like to pay, and you're just building a regular system, then an LGA1156 board and processor will be fine. Avoid the PCI Express issues and there's little difference in performance, and you can put the money you save towards enhancing another area of your PC.
Motherboard
CHOOSE WISELY: Your choice of motherboard will define exactly which CPUs you can install
Intel Core i7-980X review
CPU options
We've reduced the original mountain of possible CPUs to just a handful, then, but to choose the right model from these you'll need to understand just a few more processor-related terms.
As we've mentioned, many Intel CPUs include a feature called Hyper-Threading, which allows each core to run two sets of instructions simultaneously. It can be a very effective technology - Intel Core i7 CPUs are essentially i5's with Hyper-Threading enabled - and you'll want to get it if you can.
Every Intel processor also contains an amount of embedded memory called a cache, which is used to hold regularly-used information. If the CPU needs this again then it can be fetched from the cache, which is far quicker than accessing system RAM. Look for descriptions like L2 (Level 2 Cache), L3 (Level 3 Cache) or "Intel Smart Cache" (which means L3) - the more your processor has, the better.
And it's a similar story with AMD CPUs, although less dramatic. Opt for a quad-core Phenom II X4 and you'll find they all have the same cache amounts, 2MB for L2, 6MB for L3. The 6-core Phenom II X6 increases L2 cache to 3MB, though, while will provide a useful speed increase in many situations.
What you might want also to consider, though, is the Phenom II's "Thermal Design Power" (TDP), the maximum amount of power it's likely to consume when busy running applications. This ranges from 65W (Phenom II X4 905e or 910e) to 125W (Phenom II X4 955 and higher); the low TDP CPUs are slower, but use less electricity and run cooler, making them better choices for media centre PCs where you want to keep fan noise to a minimum.
You should now have a better idea of what you want from a CPU, then - but you'll still need to find confirmation of exactly which model is best for you. And our processor reviews are a great place to start. There are over 100 reviews online, all filterable by socket, CPU type and more, and with instant price comparisons to hand you'll soon locate the best CPU deals around.
Intel core i5 750
NOT THE BEST: It's a great CPU, but the Intel Core i5 750 lacks Hyper-Threading, reducing its performance a little
Intel Core i7 875K review


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Nikon unveils 'ultimate' Coolpix P7000
Nikon has announced a new the P7000, claiming it is the ultimate Coolpix camera.
The Nikon P7000, which is priced at £480 and has a UK release date of 23 September, boasts a number of features that would look more at home in a DSLR
Those include wide angle 7.1x zoom Nikkor lens giving a 28 to 200mm range with optical vibration reduction (VR), two ED glass elements and the Expeed C2 image processing system.
The Nikon P7000 also boasts a 10.1MP CCD sensor and a 3-inch high-res LCD screen.
Ultimate compact
Mark Pekelharing, product manager, consumer products at Nikon Europe BV, says: "The Coolpix P7000 boasts a raft of advanced features and ergonomics found in SLR cameras, making it the ultimate compact option for advanced SLR users and professional photographers who want high-quality images in a discrete and responsive body.
"Our professional customers have really helped to drive decisions about the feature set, and the results speak for themselves; great quality photography… anywhere".



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Nikon Coolpix S80 announced
Nikon has formally announced the Coolpix S80, promising tha the digital camera combines ease of use and great performance.
Priced at £329.99 and given a UK release date of 7 October, the Nikon Coolpix S80 brings a 5x optical zoom, Nikkor lens and HD movie capabilities.
Also impressive is an OLED touch screen to check out your pictures on and Touch Shutter tech to make focusing on an area easier.
Commitment
Mark Pekelharing, Product Manager Consumer Products at Nikon Europe, said: "The S80 demonstrates Nikon's commitment to lead the touch screen camera category.
"The chic, slim style and high-quality screen allows you to interact with your images with ease whilst its high-speed performance captures the perfect shot quickly and in clear definition.
"Providing substance as well as a unique sense of style, the S80 is the perfect camera for the fashionable photographer."
The camera will come in two colours: black and red.
Nikon also unveiled the Nikon Coolpix S8100, but the UK will not be seeing this model after the camera giant decided not to release it to the European market.



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£300 Xbox 360 Kinect bundle UK release date: 10 November
Microsoft has officially announced its first Xbox 360 Kinect bundle, with the innovative sensor, Kinect Adventures and the new 250GB Xbox 360 console priced at £299.99 and arriving on 10 November.
At just a penny less then £300, the Kinect bundle represents Microsoft's first real push for the family market with its child-friendly Kinect controller-free technology.
The impressive new kit makes for a radical different gaming experience, and will be taking aim at rival Nitnendo's Wii and the Sony PlayStation Move.
UK release date
With a UK release date of 10 November, the bundle includes the new Xbox 360 console, with its built in Wi-Fi, 250GB HDD and a sleeker design.
"Set up controller-free entertainment in your home with the glossy black 250GB console that boasts 802.11n built-in Wi-Fi, an internal removable 250GB hard drive and touch sensitive controls, states Microsoft.
"Plug in the Kinect Sensor to the dedicated port on the console and load Kinect Adventures where you can float in outer space, experience the thrill of roaring rapids and tackle mountaintop obstacle courses.
"Enjoy controller-free fun with any of the more than 15 games launching with Kinect and experience new ways to enjoy your favourite entertainment."
So, is £300 a price point that will entice families to buy into Microsoft's console and Kinect? Only time will tell.

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£300 Xbox 360 Kinect bundle UK release date: 10 November
Microsoft has officially announced its first Xbox 360 Kinect bundle, with the innovative sensor, Kinect Adventures and the new 350GB Xbox 360 console priced at £299.99 and arriving on 10 November.
At just a penny less then £300, the Kinect bundle represents Microsoft's first real push for the family market with its child-friendly Kinect controller-free technology.
The impressive new kit makes for a radical different gaming experience, and will be taking aim at rival Nitnendo's Wii and the Sony PlayStation Move.
UK release date
With a UK release date of 10 November, the bundle includes the new Xbox 360 console, with its built in Wi-Fi, 250GB HDD and a sleeker design.
"Set up controller-free entertainment in your home with the glossy black 250GB console that boasts 802.11n built-in Wi-Fi, an internal removable 250GB hard drive and touch sensitive controls, states Microsoft.
"Plug in the Kinect Sensor to the dedicated port on the console and load Kinect Adventures where you can float in outer space, experience the thrill of roaring rapids and tackle mountaintop obstacle courses.
"Enjoy controller-free fun with any of the more than 15 games launching with Kinect and experience new ways to enjoy your favourite entertainment."
So, is £300 a price point that will entice families to buy into Microsoft's console and Kinect? Only time will tell.



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iPhone control coming to Google TV
Google has confirmed that it will be integrating mobile phone control for forthcoming GoogleTV, and not just using Android phones.
Britney Bohnet, product marketing manager for Google said: "You'll be able to use your Android phone or iPhone as remote control and will be able to control [Google TV] using just your voice.
"Can you imagine searching for a channel using your voice? That's all going to be possible in just a few months."
Still no UK release date
While there's still no definitive UK release date for Google TV, Google is putting a lot of effort into it, including offering up applications as well:
"Soon we'll be bringing tens of thousands of the same apps you can get on your mobile phone to your TV, launching support for Android market in early 2011," added Bohnet.
CEO Eric Schmidt and other members of the Google team were speaking at the IFA closing keynote, where Google TV and improved voice search were shown off.
Google also confirmed it will be offering voice search for StreetView soon as well, on top of confirming that real time Voice Translation will be added to the Google Mobile suite in 'the next few months'.



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