Google's plans for a digital super-library have been put on ice by the New York courts as a Judge has rejected a proposed settlement between Google and book publishers. The search giant's plan was to scan and digitise every book ever written, including rare and out of print titles.
But the risk of authors not receiving payment for their re-published works became a contentious issue as some older works' copyright owners may be difficult to track down.
In this scenario, Google would benefit financially from selling access to these 'orphaned' works without paying any royalties at all.
Monopoly
In 2008 Google negotiated a deal with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers which would have seen the search giant paying out about آ£77m to the copyright owners of scanned books.
Judge Denny Chin, who previously delayed the hearing to wait for the amended settlement and ultimately rejected it, decided that this still didn't address all the relevant concerns including objections from Microsoft and Yahoo!.
He wrote, "While the digitisation of books and the creation of a universal digital library would benefit many, the [amended settlement agreement] would give Google a significant advantage over competitors, rewarding it for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission, while releasing claims well beyond those presented in the case."
Google the Librarian
Google is disappointed by the ruling but not put off. Managing counsel for the search giant, Hilary Ware, said:
"We'll review the Court's decision and consider our options.
"Like many others, we believe this agreement has the potential to open up access to millions of books that are currently hard to find in the US today.
"Regardless of the outcome, we'll continue to work to make more of the world's books discoverable online through Google Books and Google eBooks."
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Review: XTZ 99 Series
I was once lucky enough to go to Sweden to make a TV show about tractor pulling. Blokes go along, eat smoked eels, get drunk with true determination, then hoot and holler while mad tractors fling mud around, and some announcer shouts: 'Fuuuull Puuuull!' And this is because the Swedes truly adore their fine engineering for its own sake, as well as what it can do, whether it's six V8 engines strapped onto one shaft for the Lego-sponsored tractor pullers, or a Volvo that just simply starts first time at 20ثڑC below zero!
There is a fine core of speaker excellence coming out of Sweden, too, with real knowledge in the labour pool. The XTZ brand we see here is gorgeously built, and the drivers are all by SEAS (Scandinavian Electro Acoustic Systems), a Norwegian company that's been in the driver business since 1925, so it knows a thing or two.
A relatively new company, XTZ (distributed in the UK by Audio Sanctum) has drawn expertise of all sorts from making to selling, across the whole industry. And while in Europe the company specialises in selling direct, in the UK you can get delivery-cost-only free demos in your own home to effectively offer the same service as mainland Europe, but without the delays and costs of UK shipping times from there.
Sonic smorgasbord
What XTZ has done is to take the poshest SEAS drivers, enclose them in shapely Piano Black cabinets, and then with a terribly Scandinavian relaxed attitude, engineered them to be as close as possible to having universal appeal. Not for XTZ are the rules of placement and execution cast in stone.
On the contrary, each product in this 99 series is highly adjustable, starting with the plug holes. All speakers, for lower tones, need air space to bump against, a volume of breeze to use as 'acoustic suspension'. In fact, the 'Thiele/Small' parameter for the bounciness of a transducer cone's suspension assembly as a whole is known as the Vas – or equivalent volume of air to be as 'bouncy' as the driver.
They also tend to have (like a ruler held on a desk's edge and twanged), a resonant wobbly frequency they 'like' best. Using all these parameters, a clever speaker designer can port an enclosure get a big advantage.
You will have a 'tuned' frequency around which this port advantage accrues, and while the bass can be 3dB louder, at this point it'll drop away quickly below the tuned frequency. If you seal up a bass enclosure, the bass won't be as loud, but will drop as low as the driver's wobbliness allows, often deeper by far than a ported box can reach.
Deciding how and by what centre frequency to tune a bass-end enclosure can be very difficult. But what if you had lots of different sized ports, with foam bungs you can shove up them?
Then it gets really clever. This system's 99W12.16 subwoofer has two ports of different lengths. With two fat foam bungs you can stopper up both, either or neither hole, to offer up four different 'tunings', as described admirably in the well-written and only slightly Swedish/English manuals (which refers to the term 'Pondus' as a unit of weight…)
I plugged up just one port to offer the deepest tuning and then investigated the neat 99.25 bookshelf speaker. I had three.
At first I thought the centre was identical but with the badge put on sideways, but, crucially, the fabulous leaf tweeter has also been swivelled vertically, to match those on the surrounds. There are superior aluminium phase-plug-equipped 6.5-inch SEAS 'Excel' midbass drivers in each of the five enclosures.
The surrounds offer dual binding posts, joined until you choose to bi-wire or bi-amp, while the 99.36 towers have a triple still-joined set to offer up tri-wiring/tri-amping for their extra, deeper bass driver (also 6.5-inch but without a phase plug and far wobblier). They are fashioned from classic non-pressed paper, rather than the fabulous magnesium from which the mids are fabricated.
Unbunged and set to go
There are more ports to play with here: one on the 25s and three behind the 36s. You can again choose how to tune and play to your heart's content with foam bungs.
Likewise, each has two jumpers on the back (or four on the big ones) used to adjust tweeter or woofer levels. These are exactly like high-end car component systems where the passive crossovers have resistors you can place in and out of circuit. This makes complete nonsense of the +3dB setting, as these resistors can only offer variable attenuation, or different amounts of 'cut' of levels.
I set all to maximum, non-resisted and chose to run the all ports unbunged. During my audition I played some multichannel material from Linkin Park (a 5.1 DTS track on an ill-fated, but still worth snapping up DVD-A disc) and spun up The Polar Express on DVD.
The Park damn well rocked, and when the eponymous train arrives in Zemeckis' movie, the room was not only filled with hugeness, but also with plenty of well-placed steam train detail. And the preceding part, with its challenging and tweaky sections (a metal hubcap in the kid's room being hit; a steaming radiator...) was just superb in so many ways, from deep, throbbing, well-held bass to tinkling, delicate, detailed highs.
For the money, this system really represents astonishing high-end value – don't let the direct sale nature put you off an audition. Yes, the styling isn't going to win any awards, but the tunability and sound quality is excellent.
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Dixons joins Nintendo 3DS midnight UK launch party
Dixons Retail has announced that it will be opening up its Oxford Street Currys store for a midnight launch of the Nintendo 3DS.Doors will open in London 23.45 on 24 March and the Birmingham flagship store will also start letting customers in from 23:30.
As with the HMV midnight launch, there's a bit of an incentive for everyone to get there a little bit early.
According to Dixons, the first 150 customers to enter either the London Oxford Street's Currys Digital or the Black store in Birmingham can pick up the new Nintendo 3DS console at a cut-down price of آ£179.
They will also get a آ£75 voucher book, آ£5 off of selected Nintendo 3DS games, آ£15 off of Wii Fit and آ£20 off a Wii console.
3DS launch
As 24 March is a school night, we're expecting the line-up to consist purely of adults wanting to get their 3D kicks and not children who have saved up their hard earned for the latest console.
Yeah, right.
If you are still a little unsure as to whether you should brave the mild spring-like weather and queue for a handheld gaming device, then check out the TechRadar Nintendo 3DS review.
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In Depth: iPad 3 rumours: what you need to know
The UK iPad 2 release date is mere days away, but the rumour factory's already moved on: it's predicting iPad 3 specifications including chips, cameras and retina displays - with a little bit of help from mysterious, unnamed people who can't possibly be identified.How very convenient. So what's the word on the street about the next iPad?
The iPad 3 release date is September 2011
This is the biggest rumour of all: an iPad 3 mere months after the iPad 2. An unnamed Apple employee says that the iPad 2 was a bit of a rush job, and "the third generation iPad is the one to make a song and dance about."
Respected Apple watcher John Gruber added fuel to that particular fire by strongly hinting that the iPad 3 release date will be in September.
Gruber, who was musing about the HP TouchPad's potential summer release said: "Summer feels like a long time away.
"If my theory is right, they're not only going to be months behind the iPad 2, but if they slip until late summer, they might bump up against the release of the iPad 3."
If Gruber is right about this and the iPad 3 features in an Apple autumn line-up, then it looks like Apple is going to start offering a new iPad every six months.
The iPad 3 UK release date is a mystery
With Apple apparently unable to meet demand for iPad 2, we'd expect a staggered release date for the iPad 3 too: if the US gets the iPad 3 in September, we'd expect the UK iPad 3 release date to be in October, or possibly even November. Apple won't want to miss the Christmas period, but the US comes first.
The iPad 3 specs include a dual-core processor
It's possible that the iPad 3 will have a brand spanking new processor, Apple's A6, but if the rumoured release date is correct then time is awfully tight: we'd certainly expect to see an A5, not an A6, in the iPhone 5 when it turns up this summer.
Apple may well surprise us, of course, but we'd expect to see the same processor and graphics as the iPad 2 in the iPad 3: an A5 processor with PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics. This one comes down to the iPad 3 release date: if it's 2011, expect an A5. If it's 2012, expect a faster A6.
The iPad 3 features include a retina display
This was widely predicted for the iPad 2, but of course the current iPad doesn't have a double-resolution display: for now, that's something you'll only get in the iPhone 4. Could a Retina Display be one of the features Apple didn't quite get into the iPad 2? Could be! It's the very first thing on our iPad 3 wish list.
The iPad 3 hardware could include an NFC chip
Apple's very interested in Near Field Communications, and one particularly tasty rumour at Cult of Mac suggests that the iPhone 5 will use NFC to take over nearby Macs, enabling you to use your data and settings with a flick of the wrist. Since the iPad 3 will follow the iPhone 5, if NFC's in one it'll probably be in the other too.
The iPad 3 specifications will include more storage
The iPad 2 has the familiar 16/32/64GB storage options, but as flash storage comes down in price a 128GB option for the iPad 3 isn't impossible - although that might depend on the current horrible situation in Asia, where the tsunami has caused chaos in parts of the electronics industry.
The iPad 3 features could include a Thunderbolt port
Two generations of USB-free iPads suggest that Apple just isn't interested in adding one, but the new Thunderbolt port found in the 2011 MacBook Pro could be another story: it's a combined accessory/display connector with astonishingly fast performance.
The iPad 3 may live in the cloud
This has been talked about and leaked about for so long that, on the same principle that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, it's bound to come true eventually: a cloud-based MobileMe for storing your stuff on Apple's servers. A new iPad with iOS 5 and a new MobileMe would be lots of fun.
The iPad 3 specs might include an SD card slot
This was widely predicted for iPad 2 and, like the retina display, didn't materialise. One for version 3, perhaps? Using a separate adapter to read camera cards is rather inelegant and clunky.
The iPad 3 specification should include a better camera
The rear-facing camera on the iPad 2 isn't brilliant: an iPhone 4 camera and flash would do nicely.
The iPad 3 price might be higher than the iPad 2
The iPad 2 didn't herald a price hike, but if the iPad 3's coming in September we don't think a massive iPad 2 price cut is very likely - which suggests that if the iPad 3 does appear then, it might be more of an iPad Pro - with a price to match.
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Jobs: 'No plans' to ditch iPod Classic
Steve Jobs has responded to speculation that Apple is set to do away with the iPod Classic in a short email which states that there are 'no plans to' kill it.One iPod Classic fan emailed the illustrious CEO after the last "all-new" iPod line-up included refreshes of every iPod but the Classic.
Back in September, the anonymous fan wrote, "Hello, I've heard a LOT of speculation that Apple is looking to kill the iPod Classic because it wasn't updated on Sept 1st, and that a lot of people would rather Touch. The iPod Classic is probably the best iPod in the line. PLEASE DON'T KILL IT!!!"
Much love for the Classic
Steve Jobs, never one to beat around the bush, simply replied, "We have no plans to."
Of course, this email, which MacRumours is convinced is legit, is now six months old and Apple may well have had a change of heart; the iPod Classic's future may yet hang in the balance.
With the company's tradition for announcing iPod refreshes in September, we have got a bit of a wait before we find out for sure.
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Review: Sony SMP-N100
There must be plenty of readers who have spent the best part of a grand on a cutting-edge full HD TV, only to discover that its replacement model is 'network-enabled'. Increasingly popular, this feature enables you to stream video from various websites, install widgets and play video content, music or photos stored on devices connected to your home network. The Sony SMP-N100 is a networkable media player with the same XrossMediaBar user interface used in the brand's network-laden Bravias. You connect the modestly-priced N100 to your home network (either by Wi-Fi or Ethernet) at one end and to your 'obsolete' TV at the other.
HDMI is the preferred connection here, but component and composite are provided as alternatives. Digital audio, meanwhile, is available via HDMI and a standard optical port. Turn on the compact and glossy black box for the first time, and a wizard guides you through the basic installation.
Wireless/wired network configuration is, as with other more advanced aspects of player setup, accessed via the XMB. The non-backlit remote also has Sony's signature, but its layout could be improved.
Copy cat
Also familiar to some will be the choice of content. It's pretty much a carbon-copy of what Sony's current Smart TVs are offering. And it's here that the N100 scores over the myriad of rival networked media players.
None have the brand's tried-andtested GUI, or the variety of content (too much to list here) that it allows you to select. The N100 even supports iPlayer in HD, Demand Five (great for Neighbours fans) and the LOVEFiLM VOD service. Alas, there's currently no support for online photo albums such as Flickr or internet radio stations.
All of the content is organised into categories: music, video and photos. In addition to the online providers, you'll find any available servers on your network; uPnP and DLNA are supported.
The variety of video codecs offered is fair, but only DivX/XviD and MPEG1/2 can be accessed via a network. The rest can only be played by shoving the relevant content onto a USB storage device and plugging that into the front panel port provided.
The device handles the ubiquitous MP3 and uncompressed WAV, but WMA and AAC have to be fed in via USB and FLAC isn't supported at all.
Power consumption: Watts
Standby: 0W
We measured no energy consumption when this Sony was powered off.
Playing: 8W
Uses minimal energy. Very green.
Photo-wise, the N100 can only handle JPEGs, which are replayed in HD and look superb on a decent screen. I was very impressed with how well iPlayer fared, too, especially in HD. No playback glitches suggests that a sensible amount of buffer memory is built into the player.
Some XviD encodes did, however, suffer from the odd 'freeze' or lip-sync error that proved too large for the player's onboard correction to deal with.
Overall, though, the N100 exceeds my expectations with ease.
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Review: Packard Bell EasyNote TS
It would be fair to say that we were a tad skeptical when we got our first look at the Packard Bell EasyNote TS. It's ostensibly a pretty laptop without much obviously going for it bar its shiny lid, so we were a little bit dismissive – that's the sort of stock response we reserve for anything in the sub-آ£500 bracket.Perhaps – and this does take a certain degree of humility to say – we shouldn't have been so hasty. Because while it's not up to the lofty 3D standards of the Sony Vaio F Series and it doesn't have the leg-melting power of the high-end Apple MacBook Pro, the EasyNote TS is a mid-range performer at a low-end price, and absolutely the sort of laptop we'd be happy to welcome into our own homes.
And we see a lot of laptops, so that's no mean feat.
Packard Bell was kind enough to send us the Ebony Black edition, perhaps to save our blushes at carrying around a coloured laptop, and having fully inspected the daisychain pattern – which also spreads over the wrist rest on the front of the case – we'd had to rescind our earlier assumption that this is in any way 'girly', at least on black; it's an utterly unisex pattern. Honest. It's a bit Louis Vuitton, if anything.
There's a pretty nifty chiclet keyboard spread across the entirety of the EasyNote TS, with a numerical pad, which is truly unusual for a laptop. It does mean the main typing surface is pushed over to the left of the unit, although the gesture-enabled trackpad (which is slick, responsive, and has a scroll section cleverly separated from the main body by a raised area) has been moved to match, which we applaud.
Specification
It's important to separate the model we're testing here from other machines that also carry the EasyNote TS name, notably the HR100, a hefty Intel Core i7 monster kicking about at the high end. The HR040 on test here opts for the much more reasonable Core i5-2410M, a cutting edge Sandy Bridge-class mobile processor running at 2.3GHz. This is, it's worth noting, exactly the same processor as the cheaper of the new 13-inch MacBook Pro models – which is quite the performer – and the Sony Vaio S.
Both, we'd like to note, smaller and lighter than this hulking monster of a machine, although there's something to be said for running an energy-saving CPU in a larger machine, especially considering the rate at which Intel's current generation runs. The difference between this and an i7 might be significant, but we didn't feel hard done by.
Predictably, given its price point, Packard Bell hasn't gone the whole hog and stuck a GeForce card inside the HR040; you're stuck with the (actually rather good) Intel HD Graphics 3000 chipset built in to the processor.
This pipes into a 16:9 15.6-inch LED LCD – slightly wider in form that your average 15-inch laptop screen, but absolutely perfect for watching TV or DVDs on thanks to its mainstream widescreen format.
Inside there is the usual cavalcade of mid-to-low-end features: a 500GB hard drive, certainly not an unreasonable capacity of storage, along with 4GB of DDR3 – less than the 6GB the Core i7 model goes for, but enough that you won't be noticing any significant system slowdown even at a high load.
There's a USB 3.0 port, HDMI out, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, and a DVD drive – not Blu-ray, sadly – to round things off.
Packard Bell's pack-in software is worth a mention; the full version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 comes bundled with every machine in the range, which is a really nice bonus, although the rest of the installed shovelware isn't worth much of a look.
The much-heralded social networking software, for which there is a specific hotkey on the keyboard, is frankly rubbish. It seems to be limited to Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and nothing else, as if they were the only social networks in existence. Which they're not.
Alongside this is a selection of ad-supported games, such as Plants vs Zombies and Bejeweled 2, and a useful backup tool.
Performance
The low-end EasyNote TS is isn't a rip-roaring games machine however you spin it. There's no chance of it trumping a Core i7 gaming laptop, such as the Dell XPS 15.It's not quite an all-powerful media box either; it does the important bits, but lacks a Blu-ray drive or the 3D gimmmick of a Sony Vaio F, and its speakers, mounted above the keyboard, are a little bit weedy. But it is the most reasonably specced آ£500 laptop you'll find.
Let's start with the keyboard, for that's the real obvious draw when looking at the EasyNote TS open. The chiclet design is actually very effective, with little travel on the keys and a good amount of space between them.
It's not quite as consistent as the keys on the 15-inch MacBook Pro; certain areas feel a little spongier than Apple's brilliantly designed keyboard, but we can't fault it for speed or accuracy. Whether you feel you really need a number pad is a matter of taste.
The screen is sharp and vibrant, but it suffers from the common flaw of low-price panels; a general inconsistency of brightness and an optimal viewing angle that's actually shorter than the panel itself. There's no good spot; either the top of the screen is washed out, or the bottom is.
This is a shame, because Intel's HD Graphics 3000 system actually does a strong job at pushing pixels around, even if it's not quite up the the same level as the highest end of discrete GeForce or Radeon chipsets.
It's in the same silicon package as the Sandy Bridge Core i5-2410 processor, and this clearly has its advantages; performance in 3D games is pretty decent, beyond what we'd expect from internal graphics, although you'll need to keep the resolution low in newer games.
Basically this is a slickly presented machine that performs at its level, but feels a rung higher. It's not Packard Bell that's made the big muscle advancements, it's Intel; its selection of silicon steroids are really doing the trick.
The Sandy Bridge processors are a vein-popping leap ahead of everything that went before, and this particular chip runs cool, fast, and the battery lasts an impressive length of time for such a large notebook.
Benchmarks
3DMark 03 1024 x 768: 10,669
3DMark 06 1280 x 768: 3,070
Battery life: 4hrs 48m
Verdict
There hasn't really been a reason to upgrade in the past few years, particularly if you can't afford the high end. But the EasyNote TS, which comes in at a resolutely mid-range price, is proof that the line between laptop levels is blurring, and the overall level rocketing up. It's fast enough, it's classily designed, it feels solid and it behaves well.
We liked
Presentation is a real strong point here. The keyboard, while very slightly inconsistent, is reminiscent of much pricier machines, such as the Apple MacBook Pro. The trackpad, with its gesture control and multi-touch capabilities, does its job admirably without getting annoying. This is a well-designed package overall; the case is glossy and classy, and the whole thing is put together well.
But out of everything, we really liked the processor. Intel's Sandy Bridge range is a true example of next-gen chip design. It's blisteringly fast, handles graphics well and, in the case of the Core i5 on offer here, it runs coolly and efficiently. Let's not beat around the bush: this is a reason to upgrade on its own. The fact that this machine doesn't cost the earth is the icing on the cake.
We disliked
Nothing is perfect; no matter how much we clenched our teeth and scrunched our eyes up and wished really hard. The on-chip Intel HD Graphics 3000 didn't reach past the level of a two-generations old discrete graphics card. That's way ahead of integrated graphics chipsets of the past, but it's not quite a world-beater.
And the screen. The poor, poor, low-cost widescreen panel, with its non-existent perfect viewing angle. We just want to give it a cuddle.
Verdict
This is a great machine at a great price. The Sandy Bridge processor inside is astonishing, the case is built well with an excellent full-size keyboard, and if you can forgive a few cut corners, this is an ideal non-gaming laptop.
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Review: Jamo D500 THX Select2
To be fully THX approved, every single aspect of the system that plays a movie has to meet the THX criteria – and pay a fee to wear the coveted badge. The certification on the Jamo D500/D500 SUR speakers is proudly reproduced in their printed manuals.It's THX Select2, signalling they are a bit less intense than Ultra2 and designed to better suit European living spaces.
The surround speakers are smallish slab-like boxes in two variants. A sealed left/centre/right (LCR) called D500 with five drivers, and a D500 SUR for use as a side or rear with the same number of speaker units in it, but differently arranged and a bit quieter.
In the D500 LCR, you find two workman-like drivers to do the bang and the low register, one on each side of the front face beneath the Jamo/THX double-badged cloth grille. There are also two 3-inch midrangers, and a high-efficiency tweeter nestling in between.
But what matters most is the THX Select2 certification, which decrees that thine rears shalt be diffuse dipolar types. So, on the D500 SUR, there is a single 5-inch driver under the grille firing forwards, plus a 3-inch and tweeter firing out of each end of the cabinet, along the walls in a dipole up and down, diffuse style.
The sealed box woofer, called D650 (for its peak wattage) is pretty and simple, with its blue LED-framed volume knob on the front. You get a 12V trigger socket on the back for systems control and there's a nifty room boundary compensator knob to go with the continually variable phase.
So if needs be, you can put the woofer in a corner, yet tame any mad room-boom thus induced with this control. This keeps bass better defined. You can set this by clever use of a real-time analyser in a full THX install, or simply do it by ear, as I did.
The amp in the woofer is a BASH design and that means bigger grip than the wattage might suggest. The 12-inch speaker oozes power and control. The manual tells you that just one of these subs will hit the THX Select2 spec. (For an Ultra2 system you will need two of them).
Spinning up some five-channel music, I quickly became dissatisfied. My taste runs more to the sitting-onstage-looking-out-at-the-audience sonic scenario, but THX is more suited to the classical live music recording where you will want only room ambience and even the shifting of feet and audience coughs rather than focused effects.
Cinematic soundtracks showed the system's ability much better. Iron Man 2 on Blu-ray delivered an immediate slap to the senses. It was huge and wonderful fun. This setup has some real oomph, but the sheer detail, articulation and effortless sonic placement is even more impressive.
The weight of the sound as you see Iron Man flings himself out of a military transporter was tangibly in the room, hitting me pleasantly in the sternum. The real skill of these THX speakers is their ability with detail and accurate placement of sound elements while under massive pressure. When a lot is going on, the director can still grab your attention with incidental sounds.
So, they sound brilliant, are gorgeous in their rich piano black finish and at آ£1,750 they're a bit of a bargain, too. Yes, Teufel's Select 2 system is آ£300 cheaper, but it's only available online – you can get a demo of this system before you buy.
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Review: Brother MFC-J6910DW
Brother's new range of A3 inkjet multifunction devices brings us three models: the entry-level MFC-J6510DW; the mid-range MFC-J6710DW; and this, the high-end MFC-J6910DW. As you might expect, they're based on the same form factor and print engine, with the more expensive models adding new features. The entry-level model has a آ£300 RRP, with the most expensive device going for آ£450, so they're not expensive for new A3 printers. If you shop around online, you can actually pick them up for under آ£250 and آ£350 respectively.
But can this top-of-the-range model put in a top-of-the-range performance, and is it worth the extra آ£100?
Like the rest of the range, the MFC-J6910DW is as compact as is possible for an A3 printer, but is still pretty bulky. It's 51cm wide by 49cm deep and weighs 18.5 kg, so make sure you have enough desk room or a suitably strong shelf before investing in one.
Like the entry-level MFC J6510DW, this high-end device can be connected to your computer or home network using USB 2.0, Ethernet or Wi-Fi. It uses four ink tanks, with cyan, magenta and yellow coloured inks being joined by an extra-large black tank.
It can scan in A3 at 19,200 x 19,200dpi, print up to 6,000 x 1,200dpi and also photocopy, fax and scan to PDF. It has a 35-sheet ADF and, unlike the entry-level model, offers two paper trays so you can load A3 and A4 paper at the same time. These trays are telescopic, fitting A4 paper natively but expanding to hold the larger A3 size when necessary.
Once again, the 250-sheet paper trays are joined by a media sheet feeder at the rear, which unfortunately only takes one sheet at a time.
Duplex and PictBridge printing is catered for, and you can print from a USB stick or the usual variety of memory cards. An upgrade unique to this most expensive printer in the range is that the 8.3cm LCD is now a touchscreen.
But apart from second paper tray, the MFC-J6910DW doesn't give you much else over the entry-level model; we certainly couldn't recommend it ahead of the mid-range device, which also has twin trays.
But the printer's main drawback is its workmanlike print quality. Although perfectly adequate for day-to-day use, it lacks the stellar clarity and vibrancy needed for high-end photo and art projects, which is a key target market for A3 printers.
Text printing looks a little grey and washed out, and if you look closely, there's a slight bleeding around the characters' edges. Default-quality photo printing on plain paper looks bleached and a little banded, though at high quality using photo paper, results improve.
The prints aren't as vibrant as you'd get from a Canon or a HP Photosmart, and they're a little over-red, but their overall quality is agreeable at this price.
At four and a half minutes to print a best-quality A4 photo and two minutes, 37 seconds for our 20-page text document, we've no complaints about the speed.
With the entry-level model available for under آ£250 if you shop around, the new Brother range of A3 multifunction printers is definitely affordable. This top-of-the range model is based on the same print engine, but offers a few more features, such as a touchscreen and a second paper tray.
We liked
The controls are instinctive, the second paper tray useful and it's pretty robustly built. You can connect through USB, Ethernet or Wi-Fi, scan and copy up to A3 in size and although it's still heavy and bulky, it's as compact as an A3 printer can possibly be. It's pretty fast, too.
We disliked
Although serviceable, print quality is workmanlike rather than spectacular. Its text printing is fine for a letter to your bank manager, but compared to a leading printer with pigmented black ink, it's a little washed out. Photo printing lacks vibrancy and is a little over-red.
Verdict
At this price the Brother MFC-J6910DW is good value for money, but if you're looking for an A3 multifunction printer for high-end photo printing and art projects, it might not meet your expectations. It's got a good feature set, but unless you're really keen on a touchscreen, the mid-range J6710DW might be better value.
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HTC outs updated HD7S Windows Phone 7 handset
HTC has served up a modest update to its primary Windows Phone 7 device with the new HD7S handset.The HD7S, as the name suggests, is a slight upgrade to the HD7 device, which launched with Microsoft's new operating system last autumn.
The tagged-on 'S' stands for the new Super LCD screen , while there's a new version of WP7 that will feature copy and paste out of the box.
Aside from that, everything else remains the same. It still boasts the 1GHz processor, a 4.3-inch screen, 16GB of internal storage and a 5-megapixel camera.
US-only?
The main purpose of the upgrade might be to show some love to US network AT&T. The HD7 was only previously available on T-Mobile USA.
The HD7 has been available in the UK exclusively on O2, but sales of Windows Phone 7 handsets haven't exactly set the world on fire. We can't see this handset changing matters if it arrives in Blighty.
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HTC outs updated HD7S Windows Phone 7 handset
HTC has served up a modest update to its primary Windows Phone 7 device with the new HD7S handset.The HD7S, as the name suggests, is a slight upgrade to the HD7 device, which launched with Microsoft's new operating system last autumn.
The tagged-on 'S' stands for the new Super LCD screen, while there's a new version of WP7 that will feature copy and paste out of the box.
Aside from that, everything else remains the same. It still boasts the 1GHz processor, a 4.3-inch screen, 16GB of internal storage and a 5-megapixel camera.
US-only?
The main purpose of the upgrade might be to show some love to US network AT&T. The HD7 was only previously available on T-Mobile USA.
The HD7 has been available in the UK exclusively on O2, but sales of Windows Phone 7 handsets haven't exactly set the world on fire. We can't see this handset changing matters if it arrives in Blighty.
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HTC announces US-only Evo 3D handset
HTC has launched its first mobile phone with a 3D screen, using the same glasses-less, auto-stereoscopic technology featured on the Nintendo 3DS console.The HTC Evo 3D, which is a US-only release and likely to remain that way, enables 3D movies, 3D games and the ability to capture and view 3D pictures and video in HD.
The Evo 3D looks like somewhat of a super-phone with 4.3-inch, 960x540 screen that's almost as detailed as the iPhone 4's Retina Screen, a dual-core Snapdragon 1.2GHz processor and Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
4G too? Yep
The Evo 3D will run on the Sprint Network's 4G WiMax network, for super-fast mobile broadband and will house a whopping 1730mAh battery to keep things going underneath the hood.
There's also dual five-megapixel cameras that can shoot 720p 3D video and 1080p 2D video.
Like the 3DS, users can turn the 3D-effect on and off with a switch, or move the content to a 3D ready TV using a HDMI cable.
The device, due out this summer, is part of the continuing Sprint-HTC hook-up and is unlikely to make it to the UK, but we'd be hopeful of seeing the same 3D tech housed in a future release.
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HTC announces US-only Evo 3D handset
HTC has launched its first mobile phone with a 3D screen, using the same glasses-less, auto-stereoscopic technology featured on the Nintendo 3DS console.The HTC Evo 3D, which is a US-only release and likely to remain that way, enables 3D movies, 3D games and the ability to capture and view 3D pictures and video in HD.
The Evo 3D looks like somewhat of a super-phone with 4.3-inch, 960x540 screen that's almost as detailed as the iPhone 4's Retina Screen, a dual-core Snapdragon 1.2GHz processor and Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
4G too? Yep
The Evo 3D will run on the Sprint Network's 4G WiMax network, for super-fast mobile broadband and will house a whopping 1730mAh battery to keep things going underneath the hood.
There's also dual five-megapixel cameras that can shoot 720p 3D video and 1080p 2D video.
Like the 3DS, users can turn the 3D-effect on and off with a switch, or move the content to a 3D ready TV using a HDMI cable.
The device, due out this summer, is part of the continuing Sprint-HTC hook-up and is unlikely to make it to the UK, but we'd be hopeful of seeing the same 3D tech housed in a future release.
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Echostar SlingLoaded HDS-600RS launches
Echostar has announced the arrival of its latest digital TV recorder – the HDS-600RS.The recorder comes complete with Freesat and SlingPlayer capabilities, which means that you can view content from the recorder on you iPad, iPhone or Android devices and you get HD channels to boot.
According to Echostar, the HDS-600RS is a fully-featured media entertainment centre. This is because it is equipped with a 500GB hard disk drive, two TV tuners, the ability to upscale SD content (from 576i to 720p & 1080i) and a HD EPG guide.
For the SlingPlayer functionality to work on mobile devices, however, you do need the SlingPlayer mobile app – something that is sold separately.
Feature focus
Other features include a USB2.0 port, 2x RF inputs, Ethernet, Scart and HDMI. Alongside the full integrated SlingLoaded TV Anywhere functionality, there is also the BBC iPlayer app on board.
The Echostar HDS-600RS UK release date and pricing is still to be confirmed, but Echostar has announced that a new website will also be launched (www.myechostar.com) to provide consumers with product information, support and details of where to buy the HDS-600RS.
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Echostar SlingLoaded HDS-600RS launches
Echostar has announced the arrival of its latest digital TV recorder – the HDS-600RS.The recorder comes complete with Freesat and SlingPlayer capabilities, which means that you can view content from the recorder on you iPad, iPhone or Android devices and you get HD channels to boot.
According to Echostar, the HDS-600RS is a fully-featured media entertainment centre. This is because it is equipped with a 500GB hard disk drive, two TV tuners, the ability to upscale SD content (from 576i to 720p & 1080i) and a HD EPG guide.
For the SlingPlayer functionality to work on mobile devices, however, you do need the SlingPlayer mobile app – something that is sold separately.
Feature focus
Other features include a USB2.0 port, 2x RF inputs, Ethernet, Scart and HDMI. Alongside the full integrated SlingLoaded TV Anywhere functionality, there is also the BBC iPlayer app on board.
The Echostar HDS-600RS UK release date and pricing is still to be confirmed, but Echostar has announced that a new website will also be launched (www.myechostar.com) to provide consumers with product information, support and details of where to buy the HDS-600RS.
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No 3D-only games for 3DS, says Nintendo
The Nintendo 3DS may have made headlines for its 3D capabilities, but Nintendo is steering the console away from games in which the 3D element is essential. When quizzed over the disappearance of prototype games in which the 3D display had to be active in order to see crucial elements of the game, Nintendo 3DS platform producer Hideki Konno said:
"We want to get software out to as many people as possible, and there are some people who just can't see 3D. We're moving away from any stance that says if you don't use the 3D functionality you can't play this game."
A dimension too far
Set to launch in the UK on 25 March, the console has a nifty 3D slider which allows users to set how three dimensional the game play is, as well as switching it off completely.
While the 3D gameplay is a nice touch in some games and the inclusive stance is both understandable and fair, it seems a shame not to embrace the technology with a few pure-3D games.
Never mind, eh? There's always the augmented reality and crazy flying head-shooting game to keep 3D enthusiasts busy.
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No 3D-only games for 3DS, says Nintendo
The Nintendo 3DS may have made headlines for its 3D capabilities, but Nintendo is steering the console away from games in which the 3D element is essential. When quizzed over the disappearance of prototype games in which the 3D display had to be active in order to see crucial elements of the game, Nintendo 3DS platform producer Hideki Konno said:
"We want to get software out to as many people as possible, and there are some people who just can't see 3D. We're moving away from any stance that says if you don't use the 3D functionality you can't play this game."
A dimension too far
Set to launch in the UK on 25 March, the console has a nifty 3D slider which allows users to set how three dimensional the game play is, as well as switching it off completely.
While the 3D gameplay is a nice touch in some games and the inclusive stance is both understandable and fair, it seems a shame not to embrace the technology with a few pure-3D games.
Never mind, eh? There's always the augmented reality and crazy flying head-shooting game to keep 3D enthusiasts busy.
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TechRadar wins top Experian Hitwise award
TechRadar has been named as the UK's biggest IT Media site in Experian Hitwise's 2010 awards. Experian Hitiwise's respected annual awards name the most trafficked sites in the UK, and TechRadar picked up the top spot for IT Media in the 'News and Media' category.
In the category 'Hardware', we placed fourth, behind Apple, Dell and Acer's sites, and in 'Electronics', we were second behind Acer (in both categories, the highest placed editorial site).
Comprehensive
"It's been a fantastic year for TechRadar. We've been growing very fast and working very hard in an extremely competitive sector. It's great to have had our number one status so comprehensively underlined by Hitwise," said Nick Merritt, TechRadar's publisher.
Experian Hitwise measures the largest sample of internet users - 25 million worldwide, including 8 million in the UK.
"This sample size allows clients to understand internet behaviour and competitive activity through data that is unmatched in timeliness, depth and breadth," Hitwise explains.
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Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 officially unveiled
Samsung has today unpacked its 8.9-inch tablet, the imaginatively named Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9.The Honeycomb tablet comes with a 1280 x 800 resolution display, 1GHz dual-core processor and front- and rear-mounted cameras.
All that is packed in to a chassis just 8.6mm thin, causing Samsung to bill its Galaxy Tab range as the 'world's thinnest mobile tablets'.
Size is everything
The company has also shaved a few millimetres off the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1's hips, now also coming in at 8.6mm thin.
The larger slate now weighs slightly less and has a reduced rear-mounted camera rocking 3MP rather than the previous version's 8MP.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9's camera is a similar 3MP affair, with WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, gyroscope, accelerometer, digital compass, ambient light sensor and GPS.
The new, smaller tablet is available in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB models and comes with TouchWiz for Honeycomb, as detailed on a leaked information sheet earlier today.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 UK release date and pricing is yet to be officially revealed, but the 10.1 Wi-Fi is on sale in the States in June, with the Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wi-Fi to follow in 'early summer'.
There's no word on when we'll see the upgraded 10.1 hit either but SlashGear is reporting that Vodafone will be offering the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 exclusively in Europe.
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Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 officially unveiled
Samsung has today unpacked its 8.9-inch tablet, the imaginatively named Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9.The Honeycomb tablet comes with a 1280 x 800 resolution display, 1GHz dual-core processor and front- and rear-mounted cameras.
All that is packed in to a chassis just 8.6mm thin, causing Samsung to bill its Galaxy Tab range as the 'world's thinnest mobile tablets'.
Size is everything
The company has also shaved a few millimetres off the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1's hips, now also coming in at 8.6mm thin.
The larger slate now weighs slightly less and has a reduced rear-mounted camera rocking 3MP rather than the previous version's 8MP.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9's camera is a similar 3MP affair, with WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, gyroscope, accelerometer, digital compass, ambient light sensor and GPS.
The new, smaller tablet is available in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB models and comes with TouchWiz for Honeycomb, as detailed on a leaked information sheet earlier today.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 UK release date and pricing is yet to be officially revealed, but the 10.1 Wi-Fi is on sale in the States in June, with the Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wi-Fi to follow in 'early summer'.
There's no word on when we'll see the upgraded 10.1 hit either but SlashGear is reporting that Vodafone will be offering the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 exclusively in Europe.
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TechRadar wins top Experian Hitwise award
TechRadar has been named as the UK's biggest IT Media site in Experian Hitwise's 2010 awards. Experian Hitiwise's respected annual awards name the most trafficked sites in the UK, and TechRadar picked up the top spot for IT Media in the 'News and Media' category.
In the category 'Hardware', we placed fourth, behind Apple, Dell and Acer's sites, and in 'Electronics', we were second behind Acer (in both categories, the highest placed editorial site).
Comprehensive
"It's been a fantastic year for TechRadar. We've been growing very fast and working very hard in an extremely competitive sector. It's great to have had our number one status so comprehensively underlined by Hitwise," said Nick Merritt, TechRadar's publisher.
Experian Hitwise measures the largest sample of internet users - 25 million worldwide, including 8 million in the UK.
"This sample size allows clients to understand internet behaviour and competitive activity through data that is unmatched in timeliness, depth and breadth," Hitwise explains.
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Updated: Play.com admits customer information breach
Play.com, one of Britain's best known online retailers, has suffered a security breach that has compromised customer's email addresses and names. Play has issued an email to customers admitting the problem and blamed its third-party marketing communications company for the leak.
That may be little comfort for customers who assumed their data was being kept secure when they handed it over to the retailer, but it does at least mean that financial information such as credit card details have not been compromised.
UPDATE: Play.com's CEO, John Perkins, has released the following statement:
"On Sunday 20 March some customers reported receiving a spam email to email addresses they only use for Play.com. We reacted immediately by informing all our customers of this potential security breach in order for them to take the necessary precautionary steps.
"We believe this issue may be related to some irregular activity that was identified in December 2010 at our email service provider, Silverpop. Investigations at the time showed no evidence that any of our customer email addresses had been downloaded. We would like to assure all our customers that the only information communicated to our email service provider was email addresses. Play.com has taken all the necessary steps with Silverpop to ensure a security breach of this nature does not happen again.
"We would also like to reassure our customers that all other personal information (i.e. credit cards, addresses, passwords, etc.) are kept in the very secure Play.com environment. Play.com has one of the most stringent internal standards of e-commerce security in the industry. This is audited and tested several times a year by leading internet security companies to ensure this high level of security is maintained. On behalf of Play.com, I would like to once again apologise to our customers for any inconvenience due to a potential increase in spam that may be caused by this issue."
Security breach
"We are emailing all our customers to let you know that a company that handles part of our marketing communications has had a security breach," said Play's customer email.
"Unfortunately this has meant that some customer names and email addresses may have been compromised.
"We take privacy and security very seriously and ensure all sensitive customer data is protected. Please be assured this issue has occurred outside of Play.com and no other personal customer information has been involved."
Customers are urged to be vigilant – and keep an eye out for suspicious looking email contacts. We've contacted Play for its official stance on this incident.
Security team response
"While it is a good thing that Play.com issued a statement to let customers know about the security breach, it does not offer any information about what people should do if they notice any unusual activity on their Play.com account," said Mark Harris, VP of SophosLabs.
"The full extent as to what information has been leaked is not clear, but any security breach involving the loss of customer information is extremely serious – even though Play.com has stated that the breach occurred with a third party, they are ultimately responsible for the security of their customer's data.
"Play.com customers should exercise additional caution when accessing their emails, even if they appear to come from trustworthy sources. Sophos advises users of Play.com to err on the safe side and change their passwords on Play.com."
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Updated: Play.com admits customer information breach
Play.com, one of Britain's best known online retailers, has suffered a security breach that has compromised customer's email addresses and names. Play has issued an email to customers admitting the problem and blamed its third-party marketing communications company for the leak.
That may be little comfort for customers who assumed their data was being kept secure when they handed it over to the retailer, but it does at least mean that financial information such as credit card details have not been compromised.
UPDATE: Play.com's CEO, John Perkins, has released the following statement:
"On Sunday 20 March some customers reported receiving a spam email to email addresses they only use for Play.com. We reacted immediately by informing all our customers of this potential security breach in order for them to take the necessary precautionary steps.
"We believe this issue may be related to some irregular activity that was identified in December 2010 at our email service provider, Silverpop. Investigations at the time showed no evidence that any of our customer email addresses had been downloaded. We would like to assure all our customers that the only information communicated to our email service provider was email addresses. Play.com has taken all the necessary steps with Silverpop to ensure a security breach of this nature does not happen again.
"We would also like to reassure our customers that all other personal information (i.e. credit cards, addresses, passwords, etc.) are kept in the very secure Play.com environment. Play.com has one of the most stringent internal standards of e-commerce security in the industry. This is audited and tested several times a year by leading internet security companies to ensure this high level of security is maintained. On behalf of Play.com, I would like to once again apologise to our customers for any inconvenience due to a potential increase in spam that may be caused by this issue."
Security breach
"We are emailing all our customers to let you know that a company that handles part of our marketing communications has had a security breach," said Play's customer email.
"Unfortunately this has meant that some customer names and email addresses may have been compromised.
"We take privacy and security very seriously and ensure all sensitive customer data is protected. Please be assured this issue has occurred outside of Play.com and no other personal customer information has been involved."
Customers are urged to be vigilant – and keep an eye out for suspicious looking email contacts. We've contacted Play for its official stance on this incident.
Security team response
"While it is a good thing that Play.com issued a statement to let customers know about the security breach, it does not offer any information about what people should do if they notice any unusual activity on their Play.com account," said Mark Harris, VP of SophosLabs.
"The full extent as to what information has been leaked is not clear, but any security breach involving the loss of customer information is extremely serious – even though Play.com has stated that the breach occurred with a third party, they are ultimately responsible for the security of their customer's data.
"Play.com customers should exercise additional caution when accessing their emails, even if they appear to come from trustworthy sources. Sophos advises users of Play.com to err on the safe side and change their passwords on Play.com."
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Latest iPhone 5 rumours tip 4-inch display
A Chinese newspaper is reporting that the iPhone 5 will indeed offer a larger 4-inch screen and could yet include a NFC chip. The paper also says the rumour about the scratch-resistant metal casing for the iPhone 5, which will supposedly do away with reception issues that have plagued the iPhone 4, is for real.
China Times is also adamant that full production on the new iPhone won't kick in until the third quarter of the year – that's October onwards, which suggests that initial stock after the anticipated summer launch will be limited.
Nearby field communications
The paper has brought NFC back into the iPhone 5 mix after the Independent reported that Apple is holding back on contactless payments until an industry standard is established.
Rumblings that we'll see a larger screen on the new iPhone 5 have been rumbling for some time, with both 3.7-inch and 4-inchers having been mooted already.
Reports of delays to stock are also nothing new; an analyst has claimed that the launch of the new iPhone will be pushed back to September, which would seem to fit with China Times' information.
However, it's all speculation until Apple breaks its silence – or until Gizmodo finds another prototype iPhone in a bar.
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Latest iPhone 5 rumours tip 4-inch display
A Chinese newspaper is reporting that the iPhone 5 will indeed offer a larger 4-inch screen and could yet include a NFC chip. The paper also says the rumour about the scratch-resistant metal casing for the iPhone 5, which will supposedly do away with reception issues that have plagued the iPhone 4, is for real.
China Times is also adamant that full production on the new iPhone won't kick in until the third quarter of the year – that's October onwards, which suggests that initial stock after the anticipated summer launch will be limited.
Nearby field communications
The paper has brought NFC back into the iPhone 5 mix after the Independent reported that Apple is holding back on contactless payments until an industry standard is established.
Rumblings that we'll see a larger screen on the new iPhone 5 have been rumbling for some time, with both 3.7-inch and 4-inchers having been mooted already.
Reports of delays to stock are also nothing new; an analyst has claimed that the launch of the new iPhone will be pushed back to September, which would seem to fit with China Times' information.
However, it's all speculation until Apple breaks its silence – or until Gizmodo finds another prototype iPhone in a bar.
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