Advanced AI voice control 'just the start of a journey' for Kinect
Scott Henson, boss of UK games developer Rare, has revealed that the Xbox Kinect is "just getting started" in terms of technological developments.
Rare is currently working on the follow-up game Kinect Sports: Season Two. Many new Xbox 360 games are making use of Kinect's in built microphone and voice recognition capabilities, and Kinect Sports: Season 2 will recognise more player-spoken lines than any other game available at the moment.
Henson claimed that players will be able to speak naturally to their Xbox using Kinect and it will be able to "pick up the right phrases and no matter what the language is, no matter who it is."
Chit chat
But it will go further than that, with players able to have full conversations with gaming characters; Henson uses the example of a golfing game to explain:
"You'll literally say something like, 'you know caddy, I think I need something that helps me with the wind conditions.' Then the caddy will respond with, 'well, it could be either a six iron or a seven iron.' And you say, 'oh, I'd like the seven iron.' It'll be that natural of a conversation."
Further innovations to the Kinect experience include Kinect Fun Labs which will allow you to scan objects in real life and have them transformed into moving 3D objects on screen.
Don't stop believing
Henson didn't make any promises about the future of Kinect, but when asked about the possibility of our hands and bodies replacing the controller in a similar way to the 2002 film, Minority Report, where giant screens are controlled by hand movement, he said:
"We need to strike that balance between what's possible and what actually works and people can understand…Everyone needs that fun, but at the same time there needs to be this sense of progression and skill. It's a challenge. We welcome it with open arms."
The motion-sensing Kinect, which has become the fastest-selling consumer electronics device in history, has had a few issues since its launch last year, not least that it's almost impossible to use in a confined space.
"Every canvas has its borders. We just work with those borders in a way that keeps people immersed in the experience but lives within the realities and constraints of whatever might be someone's living room or situation. This is where software comes into play. We look at all kinds of things, from clothing type to lighting type," said Mr Henson on the issue.
With the Kinect SDK being released, it is definitely going to be an exciting "journey". Where it will take us, we do not yet know.
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Review: Canon PowerShot S95
The Canon Powershot S95 was released a little over a year after its predecessor, the Canon S90, was announced.
Building on a legacy of quality premium compact cameras, and with more and more entering the market, Canon have a lot to compete with nowadays, so does the Canon S95 still hold muster?
Update: See our video review below
Improvements on the Canon S95 include the addition of the HS system, a combination of a high-sensitivity 10.0 megapixel CCD sensor and DIGIC 4 processor, promising optimised low-light shooting. Manual control has also been upgraded, while HD movie recording has been added.For the first time in a compact, Canon's Hybrid IS technology which provides image stabilisation has also been incorporated. It's brought over the ability to shoot in RAW, the useful ring-control system and the same 6-22.5mm (35mm equivalent: 28-105mm) f/2.0 lens. In short, you're getting a fair old bang for your buck.
Bearing in mind that physically the Canon S95 is more or less the same as the PowerShot S90 (it's a touch smaller than the S90 and now uses the same coating as found on the Canon 7D semi-pro DSLR in a bid to improve grip), first impressions of the camera are good.
The sleek body and metal finish lend it air of class, while its miniature size belies its impressive stats. The little brother of the Canon G12, this is probably one of the only high-end compacts on the market that is truly pocketable. As well as adding to the sleek design, it's nice not to have a fiddly lenscap to keep track of such as on the likes of the Panasonic LX5.
Photographers familiar with Canon's IXUS range will be at home with the buttons and layout on the back of the camera, while the scroll wheel and mode dial are more reminiscent of their DSLR range. The buttons are fairly well laid out and easy to use on the back of the camera, however the closeness of the 'ring function' and 'on/off' button on top of the camera was sometimes frustrating.
The mode dial itself is a little stiff, but some may like this as it means it won't slip out of your favoured mode as it glides in and out of a pocket. Although it's obviously streamlined, the shutter button could do with being a little bit more beefy and less delicate, as it is it seems to get a little lost on the top of the camera and isn't very satisfying to push.
The Canon S95 brings over the ring function from the PowerShot S90, a turnable ring around the base of the lens which you can use to change a variety of functions including aperture, ISO, exposure, white balance and zoom. In practice, I found it most useful to use this for ISO as there is, annoyingly, no dedicated ISO button elsewhere on the camera (although you can set the shortcut button to this if you wish).
It's odd that there's no dedicated movie record button either, as the Canon S95 boasts 720p HD video recording. Not only does this mean that you can't film in creative modes (with the exception of miniature mode), but it's a little fiddly having to flick the mode dial around when you're in a hurry.
The flash is a little clunky, and relies on electronic operation by pressing a button on the scroll wheel, which again can slow things down if you want illumination in a hurry, it also feels a little cheap compared to the rest of the body.
The 3in PureColour II G LCD screen is large and bright, and performed well when we used it on a sunny day. You can bring up a histogram for on-the-fly levels checking as you shoot, albeit meaning you have to put up with grid guides too.
One of the key concerns with any compact is start-up and write times. In other words, how quickly can you go from switched off to picture taking. With the camera set in AV mode, it took around a second to boot up, with another couple to focus and take. Not exactly lightning speed, but it should do for most situations.
Write time when set on RAW+L is pretty quick, and if you wanted to speed it even further you could always switch off the preview.
One of the big plus points of the Canon S95 is the ability to shoot in Canon's raw .CR2 format. This is a great feature, and one that will be appreciated by all serious photographers.
Another high point is the lens. It's nice and bright at f/2.0 and thanks to the inbuilt image stabiliser, even shooting handheld at ISO 80/100 in a dimly-lit church provided usable and mostly steady results.
The Canon S95 doesn't have as many creative options as something like the Panasonic LX5, but the couple that it does have are quite fun. Fish-eye mode does a reasonable job of recreating an ultra wide angle lens, while miniature mode blurs the top and bottom of the frame for a tilt-shift type effect.
'Nostalgia' on the other hand desaturates the image on a sliding scale from slightly to completely greyscale and ups the grain to recreate a filmic look. Unfortunately, you can't shoot in RAW when using the creative modes, which is a shame as you might want to go back and use a normal version of the image at a later date.
It would have been nice to be able to change the autofocus point from the centre, rather than relying on half-press and reframe. This is something you should expect from a camera of this price, and is offered on similar high-end compacts from other manufacturers, such as the Panasonic LX5 and the Sigma DP2, so it's disappointing not to see it here.
Overall image quality is good. Colours are punchy and sharp. The auto white-balance can struggle a little in some conditions, another good reason to shoot in RAW. Distortion at the wide-angle end of the zoom range appears to be at a minimum and we also saw little evidence of fringing.
ISO can be increased in increments ranging from 80-3200. Noise only started to creep in from ISO 640 and was only distractingly noticeable from ISO 800 onwards – a solid performance from a compact.
Canon PowerShot S95: ISO 200
Canon PowerShot S95: ISO 400 - 100% crop
Canon PowerShot S95: ISO 640 - 100% crop
Canon PowerShot S95: ISO 1000 - 100% crop
Canon PowerShot S95: ISO 1250 - 100% crop
Canon PowerShot S95: ISO 1600 - 100% crop
Canon PowerShot S9: ISO 2000 - 100% crop
Canon PowerShot S95: ISO 2500 - 100% crop
Canon PowerShot S95: ISO 3200 - 100% crop
For £100 more you could pick up the Canon Powershot G12, released at around the same time. For your extra money you'd get a larger zoom range (5x with the Canon G12 vs 3.8x with the Canon S95's 28-105mm equivalent), an optical viewfinder, a vari-angle LCD screen and better battery life.
In our Canon G12 review, but to compare the specs on paper, it would seem as if the smart money would be on the Canon G12. £100 for all those extra features does seem like quite a good deal, but bear in mind this effectively takes you from a discreet pocket-friendly camera to a bulkier and heavier design perhaps slightly more suited to compact upgraders than as a handy DSLR backup.
It's also worth considering that the Canon S95 uses exactly the same sensor and ISO range as the Canon G12 while also offering a larger aperture on its lens (f/2.0 compared with f/2.8).
Aperture priority, ISO 80, 1/250 sec at f2.0, pattern metering (click to see full-res image)
Shutter priority, ISO 200, 1/60 sec at f2.0, pattern metering (click to see full-res image)
Aperture priority, ISO 250, 1/200 sec at f8.0, pattern metering (click to see full-res image)
Macro mode, ISO 800, 1/50 sec at f2.5, pattern metering (click to see full-res image)
Aperture priority at fully wide, ISO 80, 1/160 sec at f8, pattern metering (click to see full-res image)
Aperture priority at fully zoomed, ISO 100, 1/250 sec at f8, pattern metering (click to see full-res image)
Miniature mode, ISO 80, 1/1000 sec at f2.2, pattern metering (click to see full-res image)
Nostalgia mode, ISO 80, 1/1000 sec at f3.2, pattern metering (click to see full-res image)
Fisheye mode, ISO 1600, 1/50 SEC at f2.0, pattern metering (click to see full-res image)
The Canon S95 is a great little camera that enthusiasts will love. It's small, fits in the pocket and is classily designed as well as shooting good quality images.
DSLR users looking for an everyday camera to shoot with the on the fly will appreciate the high image quality this offers in a neat package.
That said, it's pricing is, at the moment, a little expensive for what you get, and a couple of niggles (like the lack of selectable autofocus points, no ISO button, no movie button) begin to make other premium compacts, such as the Panasonic LX5 which answers many of these problems well, seem more attractive for serious users.
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Review: Canon G12
The latest in its G-series range of high-flying compact cameras, Canon's PowerShot G12 replaces the flagship PowerShot G11 just a little over a year after the latter was released.
The G11 received rave reviews on its launch, and the Canon G12 offers some interesting new features over its predecessor. In our in-depth Canon G12 review we test the articulated screen, ISO range, image quality and more in this latest Canon compact camera.
Update: See our video review below
The king among Canon compact cameras, the top-range PowerShot G series has long been the Holy Grail for those who wanted the manual features of a DSLR but couldn't afford to commit to the larger, more expensive format.However with prices plunging and basic DSLRs available for around £350, the PowerShot G12 has its work cut out for it.
Bristling with dials and buttons, the Canon G12 is clearly built for photographers who know what they're doing, and its maximum ISO 3200 sensitivity and articulated screen give it an edge over DSLRs. But can its image quality convince?
Differences to the outgoing G11 are rather thin on the ground. Externally, the Canon G12 body is about the same as it's ever been, although you won't find us complaining. It's still well-adorned with dials and switches, and while that's intimidating to beginners, for those comfortable using a manual mode it's an absolute godsend.
For instance, on lesser compacts - and even many low-end DSLRs - changing the ISO requires that you give the menu system half a dozen prods. The Canon G12 has a manual ISO dial right on the top, with the mode dial sitting on top of that in a kind of wedding-cake arrangement.
On the left-hand shoulder there's a dial for adjusting exposure compensation, while the back of the G12 features a secure, solid-feeling jogwheel for scrolling through the menu system.
One addition to the Canon G12 is a dial on the front of the camera, which is designed to be used by your shutter finger to dial in shutter speeds or aperture settings. It's arguably quicker to find and use than the solitary wheel on the back of the G11, as it requires you to move your shooting hand less, and is very useful in manual mode, with the front dial operating shutter speed and the rear wheel changing the aperture.
Like the G11, the Canon G12 has a 3in, 461,000-pixel screen, and it remains one of the best examples you could wish to see. It's bright and extremely sharp, which is makes it superb for checking focus and making adjustments to your settings.
It's so good, in fact, that the presence of a tiny, cramped optical viewfinder above the monitor is a mystery. It's too small to be even moderately helpful: use the LCD instead.
Buy a Canon G12 and you'll have spent well over £400, so it's only fair to expect superlative image quality. Like the G11, the PowerShot G12 has a 28-140mm f/2.8-f/8 lens and offers exactly the same ISO range – from 100 to a sky-scraping 3200.
Between ISO 100 and 800 there's precious little difference in our test images. While the Canon G12 is never going to trouble even the cheapest of DSLRs, it's streets ahead of lesser compacts and is roughly on-par with more expensive cameras, such as the micro Four-Thirds Olympus E-PL1.
After ISO 800, our test images begin to soften noticeably, but while our test images taken at ISO 3200 are demonstrably softer and noisier than shots taken at lower settings, there's no argument from us that the Canon G12 is a superb low-light camera.
And, in the event that you find a situation in which high ISOs are undesirable, those with Canon accessories will be pleased to note the hotshoe on top of the camera, which is compatible with all manner of Canon Speedlite and wireless flash transmitters.
Adding to the Canon G12's suitability for low-light performance is the fast lens – f/2.8 not only means you can take pictures in severely reduced light, but it also lends the PowerShot G12 well to nature and macro photography, offering the ability to make use of greatly reduced depth of field.
Our outdoor shots bear out the conclusion that the Canon G12 is capable of some excellent results. It's arguably better at handling chromatic aberration than the G11, with leaves against a high-contrast sky resisting purple fringing extremely well. We also found that the PowerShot G12's lens was sharp throughout the range of available apertures. It's a hugely competent performer.
ISO Test
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
Test images
See full-res imageThe Canon PowerShot G12 does well in macro mode, offering the ability to make use of greatly reduced depth of field: 1/100sec at f/2.8, ISO 100
See full-res imageThe Canon G12 is better at handling chromatic aberration than the Canon PowerShot G11: 1/30sec at f/8, ISO 100
See full-res imageThe Canon G12 boasts a versatile zoom range with the same 28-140mm f/2.8-f/8 lens as its predecessor, the Canon PowerShot G11, which you can see evidenced in this close-up of the building obscured by trees in the centre of the image above: 1/20sec at f/8, ISO 100
The list of differences between the Canon G12 and the older G11 is a short one, but a crucial change has been made in how the PowerShot G12 records video. Where the Canon G11 offered only an anachronistic 640 x 480 mode, the Canon G12 gets with the times. You get 1,280 x 720p, 24fps recording, which is a significant step up.
It isn't perfect, though. The Canon PowerShot G12's H.264 recording is good, but video enthusiasts will prefer AVCHD, as offered by Panasonic's high-end compacts. There's also no way to access the Canon G12's formidable manual modes, which is frustrating.
You can't even access the optical zoom while recording – presumably on the grounds that the camera would pick up the noise of the motors. On the plus side, the PowerShot G12's optical image stabilisation works fantastically well, even at the lens's full 140mm zoom.
If you're in the market for a new camera and don't want the bulk of a proper DSLR – or even a smaller mirrorless camera such as the Sony NEX-3 – the G12 fits the bill extremely well. The manual modes and dials on offer, while daunting to beginners, will be hugely appreciated by anyone who's grown frustrated by the mistakes their compact makes in manual mode.
However, although the Canon G12's image quality is as good as it can be for a camera with a 1/1.7in sensor, it still can't match the quality from a DSLR, which is a major problem for photographers.
The difference between the Canon PowerShot G12 and something like the Canon EOS 1000D might not be hugely apparent when images are viewed zoomed out, but start cropping – particularly at higher ISOs – and you'll soon appreciate the benefits of a larger sensor.
And with the likes of the Canon 1000D, around £100 less than the G12, the choice is made muddier still. The 1000D doesn't offer HD video recording and takes longer to configure thanks to fewer body-mounted dials, but it does record better images up to its maximum ISO 1600 sensitivity. The fact that it's compatible with the formidable range of Canon EF and EF-S lenses is another major plus.
If you're rigidly set on buying a compact, the Canon G12 is just about the best you can buy – but keen photographers should carefully consider whether they shouldn't just bag a DSLR instead.
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Polaroid reveals analogue and digital roadmap
Polaroid has outlined its plans for more cameras to come in the next few years, including a new instant analogue camera along with a Lady Gaga 'Grey Label' branded digital camera with inbuilt printer.
Speaking to PhotoRadar, Polaroid's European VP, Michael Thomas, who has worked for the company for the past nine years expressed how he felt disappointed when Polaroid closed down their analogue division in 2008.
"I couldn't really understand why. Yes, sales were declining but there was still big demand and a big market for the product," he said.
What followed was a huge backlash which saw an online campaign to stop the closure, and eventually, the Impossible project managing to resurrect film production independently.
Back in 2009, Polaroid re-entered the instant printing market with its Pogo printers, which used ZINK (zero ink) technology and was capable of producing 2x3 inch prints.
Polaroid is now, according to Michael, keen to re-establish the channels that were lost when the company bowed out of analogue. "There were whole swathes of people who used Polaroid in a professional capacity that really missed the instant analogue printing. People like the police, fashion designers and TV continuity editors."
A good example of this kind of tie in is Clarks, which now offer a free Polaroid Two, one of the company's digital cameras with inbuilt printer, print to document a child's first pair of shoes.
Michael also points out while there has been a whole generation of people that haven't grown up with instant prints, but it is this group of 15-23 year olds that are proving to be the target audience for their products.
The Polaroid 300 was released last year, a new analogue film camera that produces instant 2x3 inch prints. The company is now working on a new analogue camera that will be capable of producing 3x4 inch prints – the same size as the new Z340 digital camera with inbuilt printer that was announced earlier this week.
Lady Gaga
It was back in 2010 that Lady Gaga was announced as Polaroid's Creative Director, but it's only now that we are seeing the first products from the new 'Grey Label' range which she heads up.
Michael is quick to point out that she's not just a figurehead for the brand, "She has spent a lot of time working with the research and development guys, and has always had a great love of Polaroid," he says.
A new printer, the GL10, which is capable of connecting to Bluetooth enabled devices, such as mobile phones, was announced last week and, according to another Polaroid representative, Lady Gaga has been involved with the design, look and feel of the product.
Next up in the range is a new digital camera with inbuilt camera, to complement the newly released Z340. According to Michael, the GL30 release date will be at CES 2012, the world's largest consumer technology trade show taking place in January.
Relevance
But for anyone thinking that Polaroid is a brand which is consigned to the history books, Michael is keen to emphasise the big plans the company has for the future.
"Polaroid had a place in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, we think today even in the digital world it still has a place. Polaroid is all about giving people the ability to share and capture instantly. 'Retro' is really cool now, and we think the brand is as relevant today as it was then."
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Pixeet 360 panoramic iPhone lens launched
Pushing the iPhone's camera to the limit has become a favourite pastime with many amateur iOS snappers, with a wide range of photographic apps available on the market.
However, even with the best panoramic apps such as Occipital's superb 360 Panorama it is still often tricky to get really decent 360-degree pics, without lots of time and trial and error.
How to take better panoramas
Which is why the new Pixeet 360 Panorama lens is likely appeal to a large swathe of the iPhone photography user-base, as it immediately lets you get better panoramic shots with ease.
Pixeet has developed an innovative-looking fish-eye lens and case alongside its own Pixeet 360 app to help the most amateurish of amateurs still quickly knock out awesome looking panorama pics from their iPhone.
The app also lets you create quick, on-the-go panoramas by just quickly shooting a mere four photos and then stitching them together to create the believable illusion of a widescreen picture.
Users can also share their panoramic pics online via the app or check out what other Pixeet 360 app users are shooting with the new lens and app.
The Pixeet 360 is available right now for 49.90 Euros over at the Pixeet site.
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AMD considers dropping low-end discrete graphics
AMD's focus on its Fusion accelerated processing units could see the processor giant ditching its low-end Radeon graphics cards.
The Fusion architecture combines the CPU and GPU on a single chip, negating the need for a dedicated graphics card.
Interim chief executive Thomam Seifert told analysts and investors that "parts of this business will be cannibalised and the low-end discrete GPUs will be replaced with Fusion-type products."
Long-term
Seifert didn't set a timescale for the move away from discrete graphics, but did say he was looking at the long-term future of the company.
AMD bought graphics card company ATI in 2006, and immediately started working on the Fustion platform. The acquisition saw the ATI name gradually replaced with AMD's on graphics cards.
A move away from discrete graphics cards and chips makes sense - but only if it's timed correctly. Adding a graphics card - no matter how cheap - to your PC is a guaranteed way to boost performance, particularly in gaming.
But as Fusion takes off low-end GPUs will be rendered redundant. The question is if Fusion will take off, and whether or not AMD can afford to lose the cheap and cheerful end of the graphics market.
Seifert pointed out that AMD doesn't make a huge revenue from its low end graphics card, and seems confident that the move will work out. "This is all goodness for us," he said, "because it replaces low-cost margin revenue with high-gross margin revenue."
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Spotify may face US ban over patent case
Spotify is being sued in the US by a company called PacketVideo, which claims the service infringes on one of its patents.
If the lawsuit holds up, Spotify could face a ban in the US or be forced to cough up hefty licensing fees.
The claim has popped up a mere two weeks after Spotify launched in the US, with PacketVideo claiming that the Spotify is violating a patent is has for a "Device for the Distribution of Music in Digital Form" and says that it informed Spotify of the patent in May.
Patent trolls?
Both the Luxembourg and UK divisions of Spotify have been brought into the complaints by the California court.
The big question is, might this case see Spotify face a permanent ban in the US unless it reaches an agreement with PacketVideo?
TechRadar has contacted both companies for further comment, and a Spotify rep gave us the following statement today:
"In just under three years, Spotify has become more popular than any other music service of its kind. This success is, in large part, due to our ownhighly innovative, proprietary hybrid technology that incorporates peer-to-peer technology.
"The result is what we humbly believe to be a better music experience - lightning fast, dead simple and really social.PacketVideo is claiming that by distributing music over the Internet, Spotify (and by inference any other similar digital music service) has infringed one of the patents that has previously been acquired by PacketVideo. Spotify is strongly contesting PacketVideo's claim."
No response to date from PacketVideo. But patent cases can rumble on over several years, so don't hold your breath for the definitive answer on what exactly is going on just yet.
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In Depth: Sony S2: what you need to know
If two heads are better than one, does the same apply to screens?
Sony clearly thinks so, because its forthcoming S2 tablet boasts not one but two touchscreens.
So is the S2 a gimmick, or a gamer's perfect portable? Let's see.
The Sony S2 specs are interesting
While most of the Sony S2 specifications are fairly typical - dual-core Tegra, Android Honeycomb (Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has been rumoured, but that seems unlikely), twin cameras - it has one very big and very obvious extra: a second screen.
Instead of the ten-ish inch screens we've become familiar with, the Sony S2 has a pair of 5.5-inch touchscreens. That makes it more portable than most - you can fold the S2 and chuck it in a pocket - and it also makes it more interesting than a typical tablet.
The Sony S2 features could depend on what you're doing
As we reported in our Sony S2 update earlier this year, the Sony S2 features could vary from application to application: because the twin screens can operate independently the Sony S2 could split media between its screens, or it could use one screen for controlling the other, or games could use one screen for action and one screen for maps, inventory and so on.
It'll be interesting to see how that works with movies: will you have to squint at a single screen, or put up with hinges halfway across the picture?
Sony isn't letting anyone near the damn thing
When Sony showed off the Sony S2 tablet to the press earlier this month, nobody was allowed to see it in action. "We were only allowed to eyeball the lifeless slate from outside the confines of a perspex box," we duly reported back. Our impressions? "It didn't seem much bigger than a Nintendo 3DS".
The Sony S2 release date is in September
Like its sibling, the Sony S1, the Sony S2 will be available in John Lewis, Sony Centres and no doubt the usual online suspects from September. However, while the Sony S2 release date is in September, we don't know exactly when: you'll be able to pre-order the S2 from 1 September, but Sony hasn't said when you'll actually get to take your shiny new tablet home with you. We can't imagine you'll have to wait long, though, as Sony won't want to lose any sales in the incredibly lucrative pre-Christmas shopping season.
The Sony S2 UK price probably won't be cheap
The S1 price hasn't been announced yet, but Sony is a premium brand and the Sony S2 specs are pretty hefty, so we're not holding our breath for Tesco Value prices. Early rumours suggested a price in excess of £500, but Sony won't be drawn on that just yet. It's probably a good idea to start saving, just in case.
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Lonely Planet and SendMyPostcards.com team up
Lonely Planet Images and Sendmypostcards.com have announced a partnership.
The deal allows customers to use the Lonely Planet Image library to create personalised postcards.
Customers can use images from the global image gallery, Facebook, Flickr or their own camera, phone or computer to create a postcard which is sent to the recipient in the UK.
Lonely Planet Images is a digital image library with a collection of over 300,000 downloadble travel photographs taken by some of the world's best travel photographers.
An image collection for sendmypostcards.com includes major tourist attractions, every scenes, popular destinations and little known places off the beaten track.
Customisation
Cards can be further customised by a selection of handwriting style fonts and unique messages for the front of the card.
The service costs €1.79 for the printing and postage of a single postcard, and can be created while on the go. The product aims to cut out the hassle of finding the correct stamps and postboxes while on holiday.
According to Sendmypostcards.com, an estimated 135 million postcards are sent and received per year in the UK and Ireland, with summer holidays proving to be the peak period.
A free trial of the service can be found over on the Sendmypostcards.com website.
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EA boss claims 3D gaming is giving 'poor returns'
EA boss John Riccitiello has claimed this week that the publisher sees little current demand for 3D gaming, with poor returns to date from the investments the company has made in 3D console and PC game development.
The gaming exec said that EA was "not here to drive a market" when discussing what he thought to be the slow uptake of 3D TVs in the home.
What customers want
"We are here to react to what customers want," said Riccitiello. And what gamers want (according to the hive-mind at EA HQ) is mobile and social gaming, not high def 3D console gaming.
Following EA's recent buy-out of leading mobile and social gaming developer PopCap, Riccitiello added: "We really see high returns in these markets…and very poor returns focusing on 3D, so we are allocating our resources toward new innovations."
Riccitiello added that most of the games industry's console development is focused on making games in 3D already, hence there is no need for a massive extra investment to produce stereoscopic 3D gaming content, unlike the current situation in the TV industry.
Nintendo has had to slash the cost of its glasses-free stereoscopic 3DS handheld this week, reportedly now losing money on every 3DS handheld sold.
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Week in Tech: Is Mango too little too late for Windows Phone?
It's been an exciting week in the world of mobile devices: Microsoft's Mango, the latest version of Windows Phone, is en route to manufacturing - although it'll be a few weeks before we get it.
As Chris Smith points out, it's been a long wait. "The upgrade was announced in May, so by the time the autumn comes around Mango will be around 6 months in the making," he says. "Get a move on, guys!"
There's a lot in Mango - "The Windows Phone Mango update brings 250 new features to the operating system, including Internet Explorer 9 integration and app multi-tasking," Smith says - and of course, we've got an in-depth guide to the whole thing. But is it good enough to put Microsoft on top of the mobile world?
There's no doubt that Windows Phone is getting massively spanked by Apple and Android, and Gareth Beavis wonders "whether Microsoft is doing enough to really become a front running mobile OS provider." Mango should have shipped a long time ago, he argues, and the focus should have shifted to Tango, the brilliantly named successor to Mango.
Beavis argues that the problem isn't with the technology. "I think the approach is spot on, as by focusing on the UI and intuition of the phone, rather than the raw functionality, you're giving the handsets the best chance of attracting the new smartphone user that has a play with a phone in the shop, and that's a very important demographic indeed."
Where are the handsets?
The problem is with the play-in-the-shop bit. Where are the phones? "It's perplexing to see no new handsets from the big manufacturers already - I was really hoping to have a good 10-15 phones to choose from on the market to show people Microsoft was serious about the project... come on HTC, Samsung et al: let's see some cool Windows Phone models in the near future."
Perhaps Microsoft's partners have been too busy mucking around with Android: Samsung might not have a slate of Windows Phones to impress you with, but it's doing a fine job flogging Android devices such as its Galaxy smartphones and Galaxy Tab tablets. The Galaxy S2 won our prestigious phone of the year award, one of several triumphs for Android, which bagged the Best OS award by eight votes to one.
While Microsoft bets its mobile future on Mango, there's another new entrant in the mobile OS war - or at least, there might be. Mozilla has unveiled plans to create a brand new open operating system that it calls Boot To Gecko.
The aim is "to pursue the goal of building a complete, standalone operating system for the open web", but our columnist Gary Marshall warns that that's an enormously difficult thing to pull off.
"No matter how good your tech," he writes, "you need to persuade handset manufacturers to build devices running it; you need to persuade mobile phone operators to stock and support it; you need to persuade app developers to code for it; and you need to persuade end users to buy it. Fail to win over any one of those groups and you might as well stay in bed."
He continues: "That's Nokia-scale stuff, BlackBerry-scale stuff, Microsoft-scale stuff, and even those firms are finding things difficult in mobile... Mozilla's right when it warns that the mobile web is becoming increasingly closed. But I can't help thinking that unless it gets a Google-sized backer, it's planning to bring a spud gun to a tank battle."
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Office for Mac 2011 with Lion features coming 'in months'
Microsoft has revealed that Office for Mac 2011 will be updated to incorporate Mac OS X Lion features, with the upgrade arriving in a matter of months.
Pat Fox, from Microsoft's Office team blogged that the software would be getting Auto Save, Versions and fullscreen mode support.
He also explained that the wait for the new software will be "measured in months not days", meaning a release date is still a little way off; not brilliant news for users who have already upgraded to Lion.
Word processing
Meanwhile, he confirmed that Office for Mac 2004 "will not (ever) work on Lion", due to the absence of the Rosetta code needed to make the Lion OS compatible, adding that "Now would be a great time to upgrade to Office for Mac 2011 if you're upgrading to Lion!"
Mac users getting frustrated with repeated crashes in Lion can download a new update for Communicator for Mac, however, which should solve some issues.
The update should be pushed through on Microsoft AutoUpdate in the next few days.
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Has the iPhone 5 been spotted in the wild?
Given we're likely around a month away from the iPhone 5 being announced, the rumours are really starting to fly - but this could be a big one.
A mystery Apple device has been spotted in the wild, and looks every bit like it could be the iPhone 5.
A chap on a train in San Francisco (well, we think it's a train judging by the photo - but let's be honest, that's not the bit we're assessing here) was spotted playing on an Apple phone, with covert photos taken and sent in to 9to5 Mac.
According to the nosey tipster, he got a good look at the device the guy was using, and said he wasn't able to see a front/home button.
Bigger screen, thinner phone
The screen was a lot larger, although the chassis remained the same size, corroborating theories Apple will be making an edge-to-edge display - plus the device was thinner than the iPhone 4.
The phone was curved, again as rumoured, and the edges were rounded metal 'like a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1' - which all seems to fit with the design specifications for the iPhone 5 being bandied about at the moment.
We're not sure if this makes it more real or not, but the user was apparently trying very hard to cover the apple logo on the back of the phone - let's hope, for Jobs' sake, that didn't make the signal drop.
So, complete bunkum or another iPhone spotted in the wild before launch? Either way, we're not far away from the announcement, so you can expect plenty more rumour, myth and speculation throughout August.
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Review: Sony BDP-S480
Sony's BDP-S570 player was a runaway hit during 2010, hoovering up more awards than the clean-up crew at the BAFTAs – so the closely related BDP-S480 follow-up has a lot to live up to.
Cosmetically, it's only marginally different from its forebear. The player is extremely thin with a cute curvy front fascia and a stumpy little remote. The latter doesn't look particularly natty, but it feels fine in the hand. Don't lose it – the buttons on the BDP-S480's front panel are so small you may never find them.
Speed demon
Last year's Sony players offered the fastest disc-loading times in their class. This year's models are bit more ponderous, although our Tech Labs recorded a boot-up time of only two seconds.
The player also speeds ahead with its online connectivity. The familiar Sony XrossMediaBar seamlessly integrates with the brand's Bravia Internet Video portal, offering up a long list of Video on Demand TV services.
Unlike many of its rivals, Sony hasn't really embraced the concept of downloadable apps. Instead its virtual shelves are stocked with copious amounts of IPTV content – and for telly addicts and AVholics this is really good news.
Once connected to the 'net, there's a massive choice of stuff to peruse. BBC iPlayer and Demand 5 provide catch-up TV, there's news bites from Sky News and Eurosport, while general entertainment comes via LOVEFiLM, YouTube, Daily Motion, and Sony Entertainment Television. That's a whole night's viewing entertainment before you've even loaded a disc.
And, amazingly, it doesn't end there. You can also stream movies in either SD or HD from Sony's Qriocity Video on Demand service, or listen to music if you subscribe to a Qriocity Music Unlimited package (good luck with those credit card details!).
For extra net functions there's a web browser on board. While this lacks Flash support, it's nice to have to option for a quick Google.
Unlike the Samsung BD-D7500 and Philips BDP-7600 decks, Wi-Fi isn't integrated. For that you'll need to step up to Sony's BDP-S580 model. However, the brand will happily sell you a dongle. For £70. Or you could just use the Ethernet port.
One area where the BDP-S480 shines over last year's Sony BD players is file support. Media streaming has been given a big boost with the ability to play MKVs from a networked NAS, as well as AVCHD and AVIs.
Audio file compatibility covers MP3, AAC, WAV and WMA. Media support via USB is much the same, although you do get access to SRT subtitles. The deck failed to pull album art from our music server. However, if you spin a CD, it will go online and retrieve the sleeve from the Gracenote database, which is kind of smart.
Tech Labs
Power consumption: Watts
Idle: 6 Watts
Playing: 7 Watts
The low idle figure means your bills won't soar if you leave it on. Nor does power use rocket when the S480 is in full flight.
Audio jitter: ps
Analogue: 167
167ps is a good analogue jitter measurement, but we also recorded a below-par video jitter figure of 80ns.
Loading: Boot/Java
Boot speed and tray eject: 2 seconds
Tray in to main BD menu: 43 seconds
The quickest booting deck we've tested.
Super sonic
Picture quality from the BDP-S480 is predictably terrific. Blu-rays drip with fine detail and colour fidelity is gorgeous.
The player is also a great choice for music fans, being the only model here able to play hi-res Super Audio CDs. This multichannel music playback is stunning, easily giving this player an audible edge over others.
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Review: Samsung BD-D7500
This achingly petite BD player claims to be the world's smallest Blu-ray player and it's more of a lifestyle statement than a traditional AV component.
Available in trendy silver or gloss black, it's a remarkable example of 'Harry Potter' engineering. Because of its size, there are no rear-panel connections. Instead, outputs have been consigned to a small cavity on the undercarriage.
Consequently, if you use anything other than cheap HDMI cables you'll have to abandon any plans to rack this conventionally. Fat cables will lift the player clean off its feet.
Inside said cavity there's provision for a single HDMI output, digital optical audio and mini-jack AV out (a mini-jack to phono AV lead is supplied in the box), plus Ethernet. Wi-Fi is integrated.
If you are foiled by its thinness, you can use the cute, angled pedestal supplied. The player will also wall mount via brackets are supplied in the box.
There's a slot loader on the right hand side of the player with a USB slot for media playback or BD-Live storage to the left.
Samsung's user interface remains a treat to use, and is the most approachable. Animated menus guide you around, connecting to either networked devices or the brand's internet Smart Hub portal.
Presented here this version looks much like it does on the brand's TVs, bar the open web browser.
Tech Labs
Power consumption: Watts
Idle: 6 Watts
Playing: 7 Watts
A few Watts higher than the Panasonic DMP-BDT310. The increase in consumption when playing is only 2W.
Audio jitter: ps
Analogue: 175 ps
The highest measurements we have seen recently, but still a decent figure.
Loading: Boot/Java
Boot speed and tray eject: 5 seconds
Tray in to main BD menu: 46 seconds
Fast to wake up, but not as quick as the Philips' deck to load.
Full fat Apps
Samsung has created the richest online platform when it comes to general content. A fast growing apps store offers plenty of causal games plus left-field infotainment, such as How to Tie a Tie and Yoga Helper. There's also a big selection of streaming video options, including the BBC iPlayer, YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo and Acetracks.
Social media is covered by clients for Facebook and Twitter, with Picasa, AccuWeather and Google Maps, too. Also part of the Smart Hub package is a Your Videos section which is a kind of IMDb-lite. It would make more sense if you could stream movies from within it, but that's not an option (at present).
While most of the VoD is FOC, there is a subscription service in the form of Box Office 365. Not only is the player 3D Blu-ray compatible, it has 2D-to-3D picture processing onboard. Of all the various faux 3D processes available, Samsung's is probably the best currently available.
Media playback from USB covers all the bases. The deck decoded and played AVIs (with subtitles), MP4, MP3 and WMA, and had no problem with HD video in WKV wrappers. I had less success pulling content from a NAS across our network, with only AVIs available for streaming.
Picture quality from the BDD7500 is very good. There's a clinical precision to its images which is easy to appreciate, but it's less enticing as a CD player, though.
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Panasonic launches 'world's lightest' active 3D glasses
Leading 3D TV manufacturer Panasonic has announced the "world's lightest" active 3D glasses in Japan this week, which is great news for prescription specs wearers who want to invest in a new 3D TV sometime soon.
Panasonic's launched the comfortable new TY-EW3D series from Panasonic in Japan this week, which the company is claiming are the world's lightest active 3D glasses to date. Other manufacturers, notably LG, are pushing passive 3D glasses tech for the home, which require no batteries, although it looks like Panasonic is more than happy to continue to push active 3D for the foreseeable future.
Comfortable, light 3D specs
So how heavy are we talking? A mere 26g for the small and medium sized specs and 27g for the large size. It may seem like a miniscule amount of weight different to other specs out there on the market, but if you have to wear 3D specs over and on top of prescription glasses, the weight is a major issue.
Panasonic's TY-EW3D are active 3D, with the manufacturer also claiming a decent battery life of three hours of usage on a two minute charge, or 25 hours of usage on a half hour charge.
So far these have only been announced in Japan, but we hope to hear more on UK release plans and pricing from Panasonic UK very soon.
We also don't know whether they will be universally compatible or remain locked to Panasonic 3D televisions.
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Sky results show 30% growth for Sky+HD subscribers
Sky has announced that subscribers to its flagship Sky+HD service have reached 3.8 million, a 30 per cent increase year on year.
Despite some tough times with Rupert Murdoch pulling out of a takeover of the company, the annual figures for Sky are largely positive, with revenue up 16 per cent.
"A key factor in our performance is the bringing together of content and innovation to create an experience that customers are willing to pay for," said chief executive Jeremy Darroch.
Atlantic HD
"In an outstanding year onscreen, we have launched Sky Atlantic HD and Sky Living HD, while extending our leadership in high definition and 3D.
"Alongside great content, we are offering customers a better viewing experience with our full video on demand service, Sky Anytime+.
"Also, following the launch of Sky Go this month, all customers can now watch live TV on the move as part of their subscription."
Broadband growth
Helping Sky to that high are another 174,000 broadband customers in the last quarter, the highest growth rate in the past three years and enough to take the total number of subscribers to 3.3 million homes.
Television subscription is not growing at quite the same rate, but 40,000 new customers takes the running total to 10.3 million customers.
And the growth of Sky+HD will also be encouraging to Sky as it looks to rally following a difficult few months.
Interestingly, multiroom is one area that is not seeing any kind of major growth, moving from 2,121,000 in 2010 to 2,250,000 as of June this year.
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Sky sets up 3D production company, seals 3D deals
Sky has announced that it is setting up a 3D production company called Colossus Productions to develop original 3D programming for Sky 3D, as well as signed deals for 3D content from MTV, Discovery and Disney.
In partnership with Atlantic Productions (the company behind the brilliant Flying Monsters 3D), Colossus Productions will focus on 3D content – primarily for Sky 3D but also for sale to other platforms and countries.
"Sky has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Atlantic Productions and has a number of existing commissions in production, including a 3D series on plants currently being filmed at Kew Gardens, presented by Sir David Attenborough, and The Bachelor King 3D, a theatrical-release feature documentary, also with David Attenborough, that looks at the lives of penguins in South Georgia," explained Sky's release.
Commitment
"The co-investment with Atlantic Productions follows on from Sky's commitment earlier this year to increase the amount it invests each year in original UK programming by 50% to £600 million a year by 2014."
Sky's commitment to 3D has also been underlined by deals with some of the biggest names in television.
Disney, Discovery 3D and now MTV will all supply content for Sky 3D, alongside the current raft of 3D sport, arts and movies.
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Nintendo to make loss on each 3DS after price cut
Nintendo's decision to slash the price of its Nintendo 3DS handheld console following disappointing sales will mean that the company will make a loss on each unit sold.
According to the Japanes arm of Bloomberg, Nintendo's radical price cut – which CVG ascertained was likely to be about a third off in the UK – means that the gaming giant is making a loss.
Microsoft and Sony both accept losses on the consoles that they sell, with game licensing meaning that they can afford to take a hit on the hardware because of the profits from the software.
Traditionally profitable
Nintendo has traditionally taken the approach that profit should be made on the hardware as well – something that served it well when the Wii became a massive seller.
Nintendo's quarterly results stated that just 710,000 of the latest handheld had been sold, has as many as its predecessors in the DS range.
The decision to bring about a significant price cut represents a risk to Nintendo, but even for those that are not a fan of the autostereoscopic screen the new price point means that other improvements – like the analogue joystick – make it an attractive proposition.
And you can always turn the 3D off.
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