IT News Head Lines (Techradar) 26/04/2012

In Depth: UltraViolet: what you need to know

UltraViolet: what you need to know

When it comes to the home, the movie industry is in a state of flux. No longer is the business model as simple as cinema first, disc second; there's now a myriad of ways consumers can get their film fix from the sofa.
Hollywood hasn't exactly been quick in offering consumers a 'one size fits all' approach to their movie buying needs but that's slowly changing with the introduction of UltraViolet. It's a service that has the backing of 75 companies, with the hope that it will become the main method for consumers to own a movie.
All these companies come under the umbrella of the DECE (Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem) consortium.
The problem is: the idea has been around for some time. And we all know that something that's been mulled over for a long time is usually a sign that things are, well, problematic.
When it comes to UltraViolet, however, the idea is sound. But it's a long way from being a perfect execution.
At its heart, UltraViolet is a simple digital locker system. Sign up to the service – it's free – and you will be able to access the movies you buy on a variety of devices.

From disc to digital

Interestingly, the idea is not to push people away from discs and onto downloads. Blu-rays and DVDs are very much part of the UltraViolet ecosystem – even if you don't buy a disc and just go down the road of just purchasing a digital copy, UV allows you to burn that content to disc without fear you are breaking any copyright laws.
This disc acts as a ticket to the license of the movie you have purchased, so you can view it anywhere and on any device, obviously with a number of caveats.

Currently, all but one of the major movie studios is behind the concept of Ultraviolet. The distributor which has not signed up is Disney. It has its own plans for a digital keychest that doesn't sit well with what UltraViolet offers.

The movie distributors backing UltraViolet
Warner Bros
Paramount Pictures
Sony Pictures
Lionsgate
Roadshow Entertainment
Twentieth Century Fox
NBC Universal
BBC Worldwide

How does it work?

UltraViolet works in a similar way as Digital Copy used to. You buy a Blu-ray or DVD with the UV symbol and from the disc you can access that content online.
That's because you get a digital proof of purchase that you can add to your account. Once this is linked with the account, you have access to the digital stream and a download. You can have up to five people on the account but there is a limit to how many streams you can have going at once.

As this is trying to combat piracy, UltraViolet gives you the ability to stream three things at the same time and there may well be territorial restrictions to what you can stream where.
When it comes to how many times you can download content. Well, UV is putting this in the hands of the distributor so there's no hard and fast answer for that one.
UltraViolet will work with most smartphones and tablets and all you have to do is download an app but this is where it gets more than a little confusing.

Stream team

The app you need won't be strictly a UltraViolet app but instead whichever streaming service is linked to the place you bought the disc from.
So if it's Tesco in the UK, then you will get free streaming of the movie from BlinkBox. If you bought the disc from, say, the Dixons Group, you would have to stream the movie through Knowhow, its own service.
All the retailers signing up UV have said that they will make it as clear as possible to the customer where they will get their content from – even if from the offset it sounds a tad confusing.
The DECE has likened this to the way you can get money from any bank. So, if you have a Barclaycard you can still go to a NatWest cash machine and so on.
When you sign up to UV, BlinkBox, Knowhow and the like are meant to be your cash machines, spewing out digital copies of movies for you whenever you purchase a disc from them.

Fox: "UltraViolet is a serious work in progress."

UltraViolet has launched in the UK but discs won't actually be out until June. Sony Pictures is the first to release discs with UV and you will see the service Jack & Jill, The Vow and 21 Jump Street.

And herein lies another problem for UltraViolet – five major studios back it but only one so far is using it (in the UK at least). Fox has said that it is looking closely at the service and that it is "a serious work in progress" so expect something from them soon.
By the time the discs come out, the DECE should have agreed on what file format it will allow downloads of the movie to be in. This CFF (Common File Format) is a bit of a sticking point for some of the DECE and it does mean that the discs out in the US with UV on board don't and won't give consumers the option of a download.

When we'll get UltraViolet

This isn't to say that the US isn't behind UltraViolet – there's a lot more going on that brings hope to the service.
This includes the introduction of disc to digital upgrades at Wal-Mart. Essentially, for a price you can take your old DVDs to a store and they will give you a download of the movie for a nominal fee.
It's small steps like this which prove that UV could actually work. Couple this with some high-profile launches coming later in the year - Jaws on Blu-ray being just one and hardware set to get UV branding another - and UltraViolet is set to become a household name.

While Hollywood is reaping benefits from the likes of Netflix and Lovefilm, it still makes most of its money from people actually buying movies.
UltraViolet isn't a perfect solution but it is a solution and this is the closest most of Hollywood has gotten to agreeing on the way forward for movie buying that rather shakily bridges the gap between downloads and discs.
With 75 companies on board is it too big to fail? Definitely not; but it will be interesting to see how consumers react come June.

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News in Brief: One More Thing: Will HTC make a Facebook phone? In 2012?

History repeating - Hello and welcome to 2010. HTC might make a Facebook phone. Normal 2012 service will now resume. Olympics! Drought! Double-dip recession! Possible tornado like in that film Twister! [Digitimes]
Windy – You know when this wind-powered car invented by a Chinese farmer would come into its own? In that film Twister. [Dvice]
READI or not – Nasa has started testing a GPS system that will find the exact epicentre of major earthquakes in the US. It's a bit like in that film Twister with those little flying sensors that go up into the tornado, except with more actual tech and less excitement. Once Nasa has found the epicentre, it can work out the magnitude and whether there's any likelihood of after effects like tsunamis and the like. [The Verge]
Olfactory hallucination – We just made tits of ourselves in the office by smelling an iPhone headphone jack while charging it just to see if the Chinese are on to something when they say it smells like pineapple. It doesn't. You owe us our dignity, China. [Kotaku]
6D – Sky's so into 3D that it's thinking of launching a second dedicated channel, this one especially for sports. We imagine it'll be called Sky Sports 3D. Imagine that film Twister in 3D. That'd be brilliant. [Pocket-Lint]
Oppo-tunity knocks – Soz Motorola, soz Huawei, there's a new 'world's thinnest' phone in town. Or there will be when Oppo gives it a name and some specs – all we know at the moment is that its 6.65mm thick. We'll take two. It's how we'll stay in touch on the tornado trail. [Engadget]
Image credit: Engadget
Over the seas of Skype - The one thing the PS Vita was missing was a feature that could allow friends and family to interrupt you at the very trickiest part of a game. It has it now, in the form of a Skype app that will run in the background and auto-pause a game if a call comes in while you're playing. [Skype]
Hard knock life - The jury's out on whether or not Jay-Z still has 99 problems, but Farmville ain't one – not now that he's got a Facebook game of his very own. To win at Empire you just have to make all the excellent decisions Mr Z has made himself, and hopefully see your character progress from rap-battling hustler to entrepreneur to business mogul. LIVE THE DREAM, as the game suggests. [Mashable]
Hollywood hack – This guy Chris Chaney had no formal hacking experience and he still managed to weasel his way into a whole load of celebrity Gmail accounts using only his smarts, Google and some branded energy drinks. Want to know more? Have a read of this excellent feature from GQ – and maybe change your security questions afterwards. Hollywood, incidentally, is where the studios that backed that film Twister are based. [GQ]
Think of the children – Remember in that film Twister, when… no, this one's got nothing to do with that particular 1996 classic. Apparently parents are helping kids set up Facebook profiles despite that rule about having to be 13 to do so being there for a reason. Mobile phone companies have also been told to do more to stop kids sexting. Exactly what they should do hasn't been made clear. [AP]
Bonus tech video of the day – It's that film Twister! No, wait, sorry, it's not. It's a camera showdown between the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S2.
YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHqln5R7h4w

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Updated: Nokia Lumia 900 UK stock delayed until May 14

The Nokia Lumia 900 release date in the UK has been pushed back, with reports suggesting that demand in the US is to blame.
Although Nokia has not revealed an exact UK date for the Lumia 900 beyond the second quarter of 2012, Phones4U had the handset available for pre-order on its site with a release date of April 27.
However it looks like the mobile retailer has got its stock estimation wrong, as a Nokia spokesperson told V3; "The overwhelming demand for the Lumia 900 in the US has, unfortunately, had a small knock-on effect on product availability in the UK.
"The Lumia 900 is now expected to be available from Phones4U around May 14."
Update: Nokia has apparently changed its mind and rejected the notion (put forward by Nokia) that the Lumia 900 has been delayed, according to Pocket-Lint. It has said the phone was always set to launch in Q2 2012, and as such will be bang on time. It probably just hated the word 'delay' being bandied about.

The delay could be deadly

Update: Phones4U has confirmed that it will be the first UK retailer to stock the Nokia Lumia 900, in both black and 'exclusive to Phones4U' white. If you pre-ordered the Lumia 900 before April 16 at Phones4U you'll also get a free set of Nokia Purity by Monster in-ear headphones.
Phones4U has updated its Nokia Lumia 900 pre-order page to reflect this news, but the later the phone launches, the more it may struggle to sell, as it could be arriving at the same time as the hotly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S3.
Carphone Warehouse had originally put up a pre-order page for the Lumia 900 back in January with an arrival date of June, but this was promptly removed by the vendor, claiming it was "put up in error". It now has a new Lumia 900 pre-register page, saying that the handset is expected in May 2012.
The Lumia 900 offers up a single core 1.4GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 4.3-inch AMOLED display, 16GB of internal storage, 8MP camera with LED flash and 720p video recording and it runs Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.

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Online tool helps solve hiring headaches

The Government has launched a new online toolkit and employment mythbuster document, to help guide start up businesses through the process of hiring their first members of staff.
The new online toolkit launched by Employment Relations Minister Norman Lamb, provides first-time employers with a step-by-step guide through their obligations when taking on a member of staff.
The Government's new Taking on an Employee toolkit, which can be found on the Business Link website, takes employers through the process of hiring their first member of staff and explains the core legal obligations in five easy to read steps.
The toolkit includes information on;

• Setting pay
• Getting the right insurance
• Understanding tax requirements
• Checking employee's eligibility to work in the UK.

In addition, an employing staff mythbusters document has been published which aims to address some common misconceptions about hiring a member of staff. This document includes helpful advice on registering with HMRC, anti-discrimination laws, dismissal rules, setting up payrolls and probation periods. Also available from the site will be information about Government support, financial and otherwise, to encourage employers to take on their first employee.
The tool was produced after the Government analysed feedback from the Red Tape Challenge initiative. Employers suggested that the current guidance was too complex, that the information on how to do this was not readily available and that it was unclear as to where to find this. This toolkit combats these problems by clearly outlining what an employer must do, why they must do it and how they can take the action to comply.
Employment Relations Minister, Norman Lamb said:
"For many one-person businesses there is a belief that the process for taking on their first member of staff can be a daunting and overly complicated process. And with no one easily accessible source of guidance it can really feel burdensome. The Taking on an Employee toolkit aims to tackle this problem and will help empower our sole-traders, our one person businesses, to take that next step.

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Motorola wins hearing as it battles to ban Apple devices

Motorola Mobility has taken a step towards an import ban on Apple devices after a court ruled that the Cupertino firm had violated one of its patents.
Google moved to acquire Motorola Mobility at the end of last year, with its main aim to secure the vast number of patents the company owned which would allow it to defend the Android mobile platform from rivals.
The complaint was initially filled by Motorola Mobility in October 2011 and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has now found that Apple has indeed violated one of the patents.

Apple still ripe in Germany

The patent in question refers to 3G technology, but ITC judges did not find Apple guilty of infringing on a further three patents which were raised in the case.
Interestingly Apple has already appeared in court in Germany accused of violating the same patent, only for judges to rule that Apple had done nothing wrong.
So what does this mean? Well you can be sure Apple will waste no time in flexing its legal strength as it mobilises its army of lawyers, and with the German case to refer to, it's feeling pretty confident.

Apple: "We believe we will have a very strong case on appeal"

Speaking to Bloomberg, Apple spokesperson Kristin Huguet said: "We believe we will have a very strong case on appeal".
There is the possibility that the ITC will decide to ban US imports of Apple products, including the new iPad and iPhone 4S, but this would be a hugely controversial move and something which would need approval from a specialist appeals court and Barack Obama himself before it could be enforced.

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Updated: iOS 6 launch likely as Apple confirms WWDC 2012 for June

Fresh from bathing in a pool of cash, Apple has confirmed the dates for WWDC 2012 as June 11 – 15.
Update: WWDC 2012 has now sold out. How long did that take? A little under two hours.
There's no real hint of what will be on the agenda for the developer conference's much-anticipated keynote speech, but as it's a software-based event, we're crossing our fingers for an iOS 6 reveal.
There may also be some new Mac software, although it would be very hot on the heels of Mountain Lion. Mac OS Thundercat, anyone?

Infinite Loop

There's also a chance, albeit slim, that we'll see the iPhone 5 unveiled at the June event, although we would be surprised if that doesn't land in October like the iPhone 4S.
But the MacBook Air and Pro lines are up for a refresh fairly soon, so they could be making a debut at the event too.
Tickets for the conference come with the not insubstantial price tag of $1,599 (about £992 plus plane ticket to San Francisco), and are limited to five per organisation.
The good news for the cash-strapped is that videos of the keynote sessions will be available shortly after the event.
Of course, TechRadar will be on hand reporting any exciting news from the main keynote, likely hosted by Tim Cook, so keep your eyes trained on us for updates as they come.

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Gartner: Gestures and voice control won't take over the TV

Gestures and voice control aren't things we'll be seeing on our TVs. That's according to Gartner principal analyst Paul O'Donovan.
Instead, O'Donovan believes such methods of interaction will use phones and tablets as go-between devices rather than using Kinect-style gestures or voice control directly with the TV.
O'Donovan was speaking about the connected home during the Future World Symposium, taking place at Wembley Stadium. "There's a lot of talk about voice control and gesture control on the TV. I don't think that will be on the TV, I think that will be a function of the phone working with the TV."
Talking about the public's attitude to the connected home, O'Donovan said: "Today is very much about how can I connect to the internet rather than how can I connect to my TV – although that's coming."
"Things like iCloud are going to become much more personal and where you have third-party content you'll be able to share them on any device anywhere in the world. There's a huge variety of devices that lead to the Internet of Things, where almost anything has an IP address."

• Internet of Things: how it will change the world

"It encompasses TVs, phones, tablets, eHealth, energy management – these are all going to end up as part of the cloud." O'Donovan added Gartner believes there will be 3bn wireless chipsets around in 2015 – "I'm not going to say how many in 2020 but it will be considerably more than 3bn".
"It's important to point out that we are all people and although [the tech savvy] are good at understanding these technologies, the vast majority are not."

Social networking and the TV

O'Donovan also talked about what he called video-based network households, primarily in developing countries. "These are brand new – they weren't previously PC-based households." He talked about many of these homes having a BitTorrent P2P box that plugs directly into their broadband connection. "That is very common."
"With connected TVs, it's about how manufacturers differentiate flat panel displays. The way to differentiate them is by whose icon you have on your Smart TV."
O'Donovan moved on to talk about how people interact with social networking while watching TV. "I think the point about the TV is that it's definitely an object people share in the home. People sit in front of their TV with it on using their mobile device. They may be tweeting about things going on on the TV – they are doing something else with their hands.
"Smart TVs will not be used for social networking; nobody sharing TVs in the room will be using their TVs for social networking, that's for personal devices.
"This is common across all countries. The mobile device can start to source content for the TV and be a remote control for the TV."
The Gartner analyst also added that now Intel has withdrawn from connected TV, ARM is set to reap the benefit. He added that well over 70 per cent of sets sold would pack ARM chips.

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1/3 of Brits now own an ebook reader

A new survey has revealed that a third of Brits now own an ebook reader, a stat that has risen by 21 per cent compared to 2011.
By comparison, reading printed books as an activity has fallen by 4 per cent according to the digital entertainment survey commissioned by Wiggin, although it still rides high as an activity engaged in by 43 per cent of the survey's respondents.
Add to that the fact that 38 per cent of people still have no plans to start reading ebooks, and print might not be quite as dead in the water as people seem to think.

A truth universally acknowledged

The stats come by way of the 2012 Digital Entertainment Survey from Entertainment Media Research and media law firm Wiggin, which surveyed 2,500 British people aged between 15 and 64 in March this year.
The ebook reader might be enjoying itself as the gadget du jour, but piracy in the ebook world could be on the up as a result, with 31 per cent of consumers who read ebooks admitting that they download pirate copies of books.
This could be down to confusingly high ebook pricing, a matter that is currently the subject of several debates and lawsuits as major players like Apple have been accused of price-fixing in their digital bookstores.

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Microsoft forcing users to update to Windows Phone 7.5

Microsoft has moved to push all users onto the latest version of Windows Phone in order to 'focus its resources'.
Those phones running Windows Phone 7 (not the update, known as Mango or Windows Phone 7.5) will no longer be able to access, update or review apps until they finally bite the bullet and upgrade to the new version.
It seems a pretty reasonable request, seeing as Microsoft has made sure that any phone bought on WP7 can be updated – plus we've seen no word of the update ruining any phone at all.
The only downside is the fact the update will take rather a long time – if you've not performed it yet, best settle down with a cup of tea and a good book before you start.

Zune to be gone

In addition to the lockdown on older models, Microsoft has decided to jettison the ability to download apps through its desktop Zune software.
It's made the move, according to the official blog, because "as a general rule, [Microsoft likes] to focus our engineering efforts where they matter most", meaning it wants to pour more resources into its web-based Marketplace.
Users who consistently eschew downloading apps on their mobile will be pleased to know they can still push them from the web through this portal – and Microsoft is at pains to state you can still download music from the desktop app and update your phone there too.

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Hobbit in 48fps gets mixed reception but Dark Knight Rises audio 'fixed'

Footage from The Hobbit made its debut at CinemaCon this week but it failed to woo the crowds.
There's been much talk about how The Hobbit is being shot, with Peter Jackson cranking out the movie at 48fps – double what most cinemagoers are used to.
At CinemaCon in the US some raw footage of the movie was shown and the results, according to those who have seen it, are underwhelming.
The main problem seems to be that the footage looks too real and feels like it has been slightly sped up.
According to the LA Times – amusingly within the 24 Frames movie section of the site – projectionists who attended the event were not convinced, with one explaining: "It looked like a made-for-TV movie. It was too accurate – too clear.
"The contrast ratio isn't there yet – everything looked either too bright or black."
Another, unnamed like the previous projectionist, said: "The question is if people want to watch movies that really look real or not. I was expecting a subtle difference, but this was dramatic."
The consensus seems to be that the CG was stunning but real actors actually looked a little out of place when shot this way.

Enhanced clarity

Peter Jackson has been very vocal about using the 48fps frame rate and has admitted it does take some getting used to but believes it offers "hugely enhanced clarity and smoothness".
In his video message to the crowds at CinemaCon he encouraged all cinema owners to show the film in 48fps – which will mean many will have to update the software on their projectors to achieve this.
It wasn't just projectionists who were uncertain about the look of the movie. SlashFilm editor in chief Peter Sciretta also had issues with the footage but did note that as this was raw footage, the post-production process may solve some of the problems.
"The change from 24 frames per second to 48 frames per second is HUGE," said Sciretta.
"It completely changes what every image looks like, the movements, the tone, everything is different. It looked like a made for television BBC movie.
"It looked like when you turn your LCD television to the 120 hertz up-conversion setting. It looked uncompromisingly real – so much so that it looked fake."
Considering The Hobbit is a fantasy, maybe making it look real isn't such a good idea.
Moving away from The Hobbit, Warner Bros also showed off more The Dark Knight Rises footage and it seems like the audio issues that dogged the 10-minute IMAX intro have been resolved.
IGN is reporting that the footage shown off at CinemaCon comes complete with crystal clear Bane voice – which will be a relief to all who couldn't quite make out what he was saying when he was in a noisy plane that was crash landing and speaking through a rather large mask.

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In Depth: Hands on: Google Drive review

Hands on: Google Drive review

"Just like the Loch Ness Monster, you may have heard about Google Drive. It turns out, one of the two actually does exist." That's how Google introduced the long-awaited Google Drive.
It was first rumoured way back in 2006 as a complimentary service to Gmail - then two years old - and it was even suggested the two may share storage. Now, we've seen numerous tools launch that fill this gap - SugarSync and Dropbox to name a couple of players, while there's also Apple's iCloud and Microsoft's SkyDrive of course.
But Google has now taken the plunge and announced the 5GB service along with apps for Android devices as well as Mac and PC. The Google Drive Sync tools for Mac or PC put a folder on your PC or Mac that acts like a, er, dropbox.
iOS apps are coming soon according to Google.

• Google Drive vs Microsoft SkyDrive

You can choose to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month. When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account storage will also expand to 25GB. If you're a Picasa Web Albums convert, you'll be rather pleased to know that the storage is shared.
It certainly seems that Google has changed its tune about adding subscriptions to services such as Drive. Would it have asked for payment for going over 5GB of storage in an era before iCloud, for example? Has Apple made it acceptable to pay?
Firstly, it's important to say that we're still playing around with Drive, so we'll be adding to this article throughout the day.
When you first sign up, you'll see the below message introducing you to the service.

Then you're thrown into Drive, which at first glance, looks rather like Google Docs. That's because once you sign up for Google Drive, you no longer see Google Docs. Your documents are in your drive. This can seem a bit confusing for those of us who - like all of us on TechRadar - use Google Docs to collaborate on numerous documents.
That's because it's only your OWN documents that appear in the 'root' of your drive (called My Drive) - the rest are consigned to a Shared with me window.
However, the key thing is that you can also drag files or folders shared with you to My Drive for easy access.
The initial screen also has a banner inviting you to download the Google Drive Sync software for Mac or PC - more on that shortly.

Here's the Shared with me folder. Note you can easily create folders at will to sort your documents and files.

We think the UI needs a lot more work. It's like a retread of Google Docs at the moment and Google surely needs to do work here. It is possible to see mini previews of your documents but, while the file name information is displayed when you mouse over, it doesn't quite go far enough for our liking.

Uploading to Google Drive

Getting files into your Google Drive is fairly easy, just like in Docs. You can also see your quota within this menu. You'll also note that you can upload a folder if you're in Chrome..

...but in other browsers you just get a menu link telling you to use Chrome to upload folders. Thanks for that.

The first time you perform an upload (and on subsequent occasions if you choose that option), Drive will ask if you would like to convert documents to the corresponding Google Docs format (we said no).
Annoyingly, you can't natively edit Office documents within Google Drive; you will need to convert them first.
However, thanks to a third-party app from nivio, it is possible to edit them within your drive. Google has built Drive as an open platform, so expect a whole bunch of third-party apps in the Chrome Web Store - some have appeared already and we'll be compiling a full list of these for you very soon.

It will also ask you if you want to convert images and PDFs to text - it uses OCR to extract this detail from your files. Thereafter you can search for a word from the text of the actual article.
Uploading articles shows the following dialog box - if you've ever dealt with files on a Chromebook, it's a bit like that. Oh, you haven't?

You also get more detail on who has modified documents shared with you.

You can reorder your Drive documents however you want - we find last modified suits our needs best.

Google Drive Sync app for Mac and PC

The app installer works like just about any other - there's no Google Magic at work here - and it installs itself to the system tray on a PC.

Essentially, Google Drive installs a Google Drive folder within your user folder. This will all be very familiar to you if you use Dropbox. And, like Dropbox, synced files have a tick on the icon.

The system tray icon (gives you access to key Google Drive information such as your quota as well as a quick link to your Drive on the web.

The Preferences dialog box is the most interesting thing about the Google Drive Sync app - you can choose to sync selected folders if you wish - powerful. You can also choose whether or not you want the app to sync your Google Docs files.

So that's it. Google Sync is a great addition to Google armoury of apps and everything does work seamlessly. However, the Docs-style interface is a bit old hat and can be confusing; it's just a file list and needs a bit more thought we think. There's a reason that PCs and Macs use icons. The mini previews are good, but they're not quite intuitive enough.
However, if you already use a file synchronisation service there's no reason to switch - unless you don't get enough data for free. SkyDrive now provides 7GB, which is obviously more than the 5GB Google does. But while SugarSync now gives away 5GB for free, Dropbox is stuck on just 2GB. This needs to be increased. And soon.

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Fox reveals its movies are to be distributed digitally 'within two years'

It was revealed at CinemaCon in the US this week that Twentieth Century Fox is to move to a digital distribution model within two years.
The death of 35mm film is inevitable in what's increasingly becoming a digital market but there are still many independent cinemas that haven't made the move because of how expensive it is to replace old projectors with shiny new digital ones.
Fox is the first major studio to announce its digital distribution plans, but this is almost certainly going to open the floodgates for more Hollywood studios to go down the digital-only route.
The announcement was made at CinemaCon, not by Fox itself but by National Association of Theatre Owners president and CEO John Fithian, who said that the company sent letters out to cinemas in late 2011, explaining its intentions to go fully digital.
"Last year, I stood on this stage and predicted that domestic distribution of movies in the format of celluloid film could cease by the end of 2013. That prediction is becoming a reality," explained Fithian.
"As a letter from our friends at Fox confirms, no one should rely on the distribution of film prints much longer.
"And we know that most other distributors share that belief. Given this reality, the entire industry continues our efforts to bring the promise of digital cinema to all exhibitors."

Big screen rules

Filian was joined on stage by Motion Picture Association of America chairman and CEO Chris Dodd who revealed that cinemas were working closely with the MPAA to make sure that video on demand services don't eat into their profits.
"We are not just improving and reimagining our product," explained Dodd.
"We are also evolving our business model, experimenting with new offerings that will allow consumers to purchase the content they want to see and view on the platforms they want to use, at a price that's right for them.
"That in no way changes the simple fact that the best way to see our movies is in your theatres, in the dark, on the big screen.
"I believe that very passionately, but more importantly, the studios I represent do as well."

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Yet another Samsung Galaxy S3 leak breaks cover

Here's a not-final dummy-unit of the Samsung Galaxy S3 that may or may not look something like what we're going to see from Samsung on May 3.
Actually, the unit in question is quite clearly not what we'll see hitting our shelves post-May 3, given that its plastered in notes and is generally agreed to be a dummy house for the much-anticipated smartphone.
What's inside is probably more likely to be accurate - although fat lot of good it does us, unless any of you happen to have x-ray eyes and can hop a plane to China, infiltrate the manufacturing plant it came from and have a shufty at the handset for yourself. If so, call us.

Back to reality

The software shown is Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), with Samsung's TouchWiz overlay, complete with Twonky Server app (Samsung's Airplay solution?).
It looks likely that the Galaxy S3 will have some kind of buttonage going on too, with the unit playing host to a home button just as in our favourite leak to date.
It's worth noting that the picture that originally surfaced on Chinese forum Mobile01 has since been taken down - make of that what you will.
The trickle of Galaxy S3 leaks has become a torrent in the past weeks, with tipsters and hoaxers and covert Samsung marketing execs (note: unsubstantiated) having a field day with the internet's anticipations.
We've been tracking them all in a handy photo album over on Facebook, as well as gathering up every morsel of speculation in our Samsung Galaxy S3 rumours article.
If that's not enough to keep you going until the launch event on May 3, then get thee to our video round-up below - and never fear, we're sure there'll be more leaks to tide you over as well.
FutTv : g038uW6kpIxJ3

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Buying Guide: Which is the best Vodafone phone?

If you wanted to take a test drive, we'd recommend getting down to your local showroom. If you wanted free bees, similarly we'd say get down to your local honey farm. Or you could go speak to Vodafone.
We've not lost the plot, we promise. Test Drive is Vodafone's way of optimising your monthly plan to suit you. This comprises of 3 months unlimited data use, with the goal being to guide you towards the most suitable plan thereafter.
FreeBees are, guess what, not what they appear. It's a play on words. Who'da thought? The idea being that PAYG customers gain rewards with every top up.
Top ups come with a 30 day reward, from international calling to texting, internet and calling packages. The size of the reward is linked to the value of the top up.
On top of this comes more "rewardz", in the form of "instant rewardz" or "pointz". In a bit of a Ronseal moment, these do exactly what they say on the metaphorical tin.
Every top up comes with a texted code, which you can cash in for DVD rentals, sweets or flowers, or points that can be collected to turn into something bigger from iPods to Bowling.
For all customers, Vodafone VIP and Vodafone Sure Signal are available too. VIP brings along presale tickets to a variety of events from Fashion Shows to F1 and Festivals. Sure Signal on the other hand, brings a guaranteed 3G signal to your home via your internet connection.

• See the best Vodafone deals from the TechRadar Phone Store

To make the most of all this, you'll probably want a top notch phone, so what do they offer?

Samsung Galaxy S2

We don't mean to keep mentioning the S2, but that's nigh on impossible really. We've said it before and we'll say it again, but packing such a superb, crisp display, high end 8MP camera with a nippy 1.2GHz dual core processor into a body less than 8.5mm, keeps the S2 at the top almost a year after release.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy S2 review here

HTC One X

The HTC One X has bounded onto the scene, and with its HD screen, NFC capabilities and quad-core processor it really is one of the top phones of the moment.
It's running the latest version of Android in the shape of Ice Cream Sandwich, plus one of the best cameras on the market - capable of shooting 99 photos in a row and taking snaps while recording in 1080p HD. In short, one of the best phones around right now.
Read our full HTC One X review

Nokia Lumia 800

In a mutually beneficial relationship, one providing the software, the other the hardware, Nokia and Microsoft have come together to provide the Lumia 800. Taking Nokia back up the smart phone ladder with its Carl Zeiss 8MP camera, funky colours and Windows Phone 7.5, the Lumia 800 is a phone many would be proud to own.
Read our full Nokia Lumia 800 Review here

Apple iPhone 4S

Smart phones are made or broken depending on the number and quality of its apps, something Apple has in abundance through its strictly controlled iTunes store. That said, they need to be displayed properly, which is where the excellent Retina display comes in. Apple also use their own dual core processing chip to make sure it all runs smooth.
Read our full Apple iPhone 4S Review here

BlackBerry Bold 9900

Touch screen phones aren't for everyone, so continuing in true keyboarded BlackBerry style is the Bold 9900, (though it is touch screen too). Unlike some previous devices, the screen is responsive and shows off BB OS7 well. Behind all that comes NFC technology and a fast processor so it will still be going strong at the end of your contract.
Read our full BlackBerry Bold 9900 Review here

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

It might not come with the Google branding, but in every other respect the Galaxy Nexus is a true Google phone. Running pure Android has its advantages, not least future software updates. In the present however, we have the superb Ice Cream Sandwich running on a super sharp screen, with NFC, a cracking 5MP camera and a fast dual core processor to keep things running smoothly.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Nexus Review here

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Valve finally looking to launch Steam on Linux?

Linux users are finally going to get a piece of the Steam pie, with Valve apparently confirming it is to launch on the platform.
There's been much rumour and speculation about Valve developing Steam for Linux but the company has been its usual laconic self in actually announcing anything concrete about its plans.
Considering it only hit Mac in 2010, it's well known that Gabe Newell and the rest of the team at Valve don't release builds until they are absolutely ready to.
According to Michael Larabel of Linux benchmarking site Phoronix, Valve is definitely launching on Linux soon and he has seen what's coming.

Letting off Steam

Larabel is expected to write more about the service today and post some images, but he did use Twitter to tease some information about Steam for Valve.
He noted that the company is working on Linux-compatible titles and Phoronix also reported back when the Mac version of Steam launched in 2010 that there were traces of a Linux client within the build of the Mac launcher.
The Steam rumours are coming thick and fast this month, with the company also seeming ready to start creating its own hardware.
While there the appearance of a job post to validate this, news that Steam had met with Tim Cook to discuss an Apple partnership were wide of the mark but believable – so believable the folks at Steam thought it had happened as well.

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Review: Sony Walkman NWZ-B173

It feels like a long time since the Sony Walkman was the king of portable music, with the Apple iPod stealing its thunder.
The Sony Walkman NWZ-B173 isn't going to revolutionise the MP3 player market, but it's a decent budget player with a few nice features.
A charge of just three minutes provides 90 minutes' playback - whilst a longer charge gives around 18 hours.
A built-in USB interface is a nice touch that makes plugging it into a PC incredibly quick, and adding files is done via dragging and dropping in Windows Explorer, no need for proprietary programs or iTunes annoyances here.
A small LCD screen shows you where you are, and it's easy enough to navigate through the menus.
Holding down a button gives the bass a boost, but there doesn't seem to be much of a difference.
Annoyingly, pressing that same button turns on the 'Zap' mode - which plays snippets of your music for you to choose a song you like. Not only is it pretty pointless, it is preceded with a loud voice that says 'Zapping in'.
Sound quality is good, though the included headphones are a bit on the uncomfortable side to wear.

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Top ten time-saving tips – Word

Our top ten tips to help you save time in Microsoft Word 2010
Most of these tips will also work in Word 2007

1/ Resetting Word's copy and paste options

If you're cutting and pasting copy in Word you'll soon find that you are laboriously setting or resetting the text to match the formatting of the current document.
To avoid having to choose formatting options every time you paste text, click the File tab, followed by 'Word Options', then move to the 'Advanced' section.
Under the 'Cut, copy and paste' heading, use the dropdown menu to choose your new default setting for format pasting.
We also recommend that you untick the box labelled 'Show Paste Options Buttons,' by doing that you also prevent the formatting options pop-up from being displayed in the future.

2/ Compare two documents

Word includes a tool that allows you to compare two documents to each other and for you to selectively mark up the document with the differences between the two documents.

Display the Review tab of the ribbon, click the Compare tool and then choose Compare. Word displays the Compare Documents dialog box, you then select the original document and the new edited document and the sort of mark-up you require.
If you want to select what sort of changes are marked then select the More button. When you have finished click on OK and Word makes the changes and shows the two documents side by side.

3/ Moving your formatting from one computer to another

If like us you have desktop and a laptop, then you'll want your copy of Word to be the same on both devices, including all those changes you've made to the Quick Access Toolbar. Luckily, you can copy your preferences for your toolbar from one computer to another.
For Word 2007
Use Explorer or your choice of File tool to navigate to 'C:\Users\[Your Username]\ AppData\Local\Microsoft\ Office'. If you can't see AppData then you need to select Tools, and Folder Options. Select the View tab and select "Show hidden files, folders and drives" and select OK.
Here you'll find a file called 'Word.qat' – this can be duplicated for backup purposes, or copied to the same directory in another computer
For Word 2010
If you are using Word 2010 then the QAT file no longer exists. Instead, Word uses a file called Word.OfficeUI. You can find the file in the same directories where the QAT file was stored in Word 2007. Again, just copy the file from one Word 2010 system to another and you should be OK.
You should note that in Word 2010 the Word.OfficeUI file contains more than just the Quick Access Toolbar configuration changes. It also contains information about your changes to the Word ribbons. So if you copy the file from one system to another, then the target system will have the same QAT and ribbon customisations as the source system.

4/ Finding another word for…

One of the tools that Word provides is a full thesaurus. You can use this tool to find alternate words with the same meaning (synonyms), words with the opposite meaning (antonyms), or related words. Related words are typically similar words based on the root of the word you specify.
To find a related word, follow these steps. First position the cursor on the word you wish to check then press
Shift+F7
Word displays the Research task pane at the right side of the screen, with the thesaurus information displayed.

If related words are available for the word, you will see the Related Words choice in the task pane. Click on Related Words, and in the Related Words list, select the desired related word. Click the down-arrow to the right of the related word and choose Insert.

5/ Quick scroll through documents

Word has quite a lot of undocumented commands and the auto scrolling option is one of the better ones
First click the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options, select the Customize Quick Access Toolbar then choose "All Commands" from the "Choose Commands From" drop-down box on the left.
In the list of available commands at the left side of the dialog box select the AutoScroll command.
Click Add. Word will move the command to the right side of the dialog box. You should probably also add the "Options" option as you'll be using this frequently and it's so much easier to just click on the File Options tab. Now click OK.
To use your new command, simply click on the command on the Quick Access Toolbar. When you do, the mouse pointer changes. Move the mouse pointer up or down and the document starts scrolling in that direction. The distance you move the mouse pointer up or down controls the speed at which scrolling occurs. To exit the scrolling mode, you can either press the Esc key or click the mouse button.

6/ Adding special symbols

If your keyboard hasn't got a Euro symbol, or you want to type a temperature in degrees, then you're going to need the special symbols dialog box.
Position the insertion point where you want the special symbol inserted. Move to the Insert tab on the ribbon interface, click Symbol, in the Symbols group and Word will display a short list of various symbols you can insert. If your symbol is on there, then just click on it and it appears in your text. If you can't see it then click on More Symbols, and Word displays the Symbol dialog box.

It's worth looking at the Symbol dialog box as this also gives you a list of the shortcuts for the special symbols, for example;
€ = ALT+CTRL+E
© = ALT+CTRL+C

7/ Edit HTML without the formatting

Word includes a feature that allows you to open HTML documents and have them appear on your screen just as they would appear in your browser. However if you want to use Word as an HTML editor program you need to make a few changes.
Click the File tab on the Ribbon interface then click Options and word displays the Word Options dialog box. At the left side of the dialog box click Advanced. Scroll through the options until you see the General section. Then select the check box on "Confirm File Format Conversion On Open" and click on OK.
Now, whenever you open a document with an HTML extension, Word will display a Convert File dialog box. The box will ask you how you want Word to treat the file you are opening, by default the HTML Document option is selected, however by selecting the Text Only option, Word will then treat the file as plain text, without doing any formatting.

8/ Skipping numbering on a title page

Setting up a page number is quite simple to do in Word, but by default it will number every page including title pages. To avoid this, first set up page numbering, by choosing the Insert Tab and selecting Footer, and then selecting the type of page numbering you want.

Next move to the Page Layout tab before clicking the button in the lower right-hand corner of the Page Setup section. This will bring up the Page Setup dialog box with the layout tab selected, next tick the box labelled 'Different first page', before clicking OK.

9/ Jump to a page

Scrolling through a document to a specific page can be time consuming particularly on large documents, but there's a much quicker way, if you know the page number of the place you want to be.
Press F5. Word displays the Go To tab of the Find and Replace dialog box. On the left side of the dialog box, make sure that you indicate you want to go to a page (this should be the default choice).
Enter the page number to which you want to move, click on Go To, or press Enter.

As well as a page you can also jump to sections, line numbers and a number of other options, just select the option and enter the name of the section or the line number etc.

10/ Switching to the old Word format

For some the Office Ribbon interface is the digital equivalent of Marmite, you either hate it or you love it. If like us you were a pre-Office 2007 user you're more likely to be a hater than a lover so the opportunity to go back can't be missed.
While you can't switch back to the original layout, you can at least get rid of the ribbon and here's how you do it.
First right-click anywhere on the ribbon and then tick or un-tick the 'Minimize the Ribbon' option and the menu will magically disappear to be replaced with the tab headings. This menu can also be accessed by right-clicking on the down arrow icon at the end of the Quick Access Toolbar.
The third option is to double-click one of the tabs at the top of the ribbon to toggle the ribbon on and off. Finally, you can always use the keyboard shortcut – simply press [Ctrl]+[F1].
It's also worth noting that the ribbon can quite easily be hidden by accident, so if this has happened, these tips can be used to show and hide it as required.
Have you got any hot tips and tricks? We'd love to hear them if you have.

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Buying Guide: Best camera backpack: 10 tested

Photography backpacks explained

Backpacks distribute weight more evenly and naturally than a conventional camera bag: you'll not only be carrying the load with both shoulders, but much of it will be supported on the rear of your pelvis.
You'll also avoid a single strap's tendency to slip off your shoulders, which can be annoying at best, and a calamity at worst.
Huge backpacks for massive kit collections tend to be expensive, and have other drawbacks too. For example, they're often too large to take as carry-on luggage when flying.
Here, we look at sensibly priced options at about £100 or less. They're big enough to stow a lot of kit, but small enough to take anywhere, whether you're travelling by trains, planes or automobiles.

Which type of backpack?

Just how much camera kit do you have, and how much of it do you need when out and about? It's the first thing to consider when choosing a backpack, because designs fall into two main camps.

For a camera with several lenses and accessories, you're best off with a backpack that devotes its entire main compartment to photo gear. Good examples are the Lowepro Vertex 100 AW and Tamrac Expedition 6x. These have cavernous camera compartments with a wealth of adjustable dividers.
They're capable of accommodating one or two DSLRs (both with attached lenses) plus several other lenses, flashguns and photographic accessories. Once fully loaded, they should still be small enough to fit aeroplane carry-on criteria, but you'll need to keep an eye on the weight.
Some airlines are quite stingy with their carry-on weight allowance while others are much more relaxed, stipulating only that you must be able to lift the bag into an overhead compartment by yourself.
Growing hugely in popularity, the other option is to go for a split backpack, which has a smaller photo section (generally at the bottom) plus a separate compartment for stowing all your daily essentials.
They're great for a day out, but you'll typically need to limit the camera kit you take to a DSLR with attached lens, two or three other lenses and a flashgun.
Some backpacks, such as the Crumpler Cupcake, are available in both full photo and half photo options, to best suit your needs. We're reviewing the full photo bag in this group test.
When you're away for a day or two, a laptop computer comes in very handy and also makes the ideal tool for reviewing and editing your shots. Many airlines only allow one item of hand luggage and, even if you're just staying on dry land, it makes sense to keep all your valuable and fragile kit in one place.
All but three of the backpacks on test feature a separate laptop compartment. In most cases, this can accommodate a 15-inch laptop. Disappointingly, though, the specifications only generally allow for 15-inch laptops with an old-fashioned, 4:3 aspect ratio screen, so if you have one of the more popular 15.6-inch widescreen designs, it's not going to fit.

Front, back and sides

For hiking and climbing, it's useful to go for a design that features additional chest and waist straps for firmly securing the backpack to your body. Otherwise, the backpack can move around and catch you off-balance.
Either way, one of the frustrations of many photo backpacks is that you have to take them off your shoulders and lay them down on the ground in order to remove your camera. It's time consuming and the back of the backpack can get muddy in mucky conditions, right on the surface you wear on your back.

Some newer designs of backpack make life easier, with a side opening for access to your camera and attached lens. This makes access much quicker and you'll sometimes be able to easily grab your camera after just slipping off one of the shoulder straps.
Another idea, as featured on the Crumpler Cupcake Full and Manfrotto Veloce V backpacks, is that the main compartment unzips and opens at the rear of the bag, instead of on the front, so the surface that you wear remains uppermost when delving into the bag. It's neat for clean-freaks.
It's easy to think that if something won't fit in your backpack, you'll have to leave it behind. But it's often easy to attach bits of kit to the outside of the bag. For example, all the bags here but the Crumpler Cupcake and Tamrac Adventure 9 have fasteners for lashing a tripod to the outside of the bag, so you can carry one while still having both hands free.
The Manfrotto bag (as you might expect from a company that's famous primarily for tripods) features both internal and external tripod carrying facilities, plus a pocket for the tiny Manfrotto MP3-D01 camera support.
The Tamrac Expedition 6x really goes overboard with its MAS and SAS (Modular/Strap Accessory System) extras. The former enables you to fit large items such as lens pouches to the sides of the bag, while the latter is good for adding small pouches for mobile phones and so on to the straps.
Even without these add-ons you can often hook a pouch onto a bag strap, for a monster zoom lens or other accessory that won't fit inside. It's especially useful when you only occasionally want to take a big lens with you, instead of lugging around an extra-large bag all the time.

Crumpler Cupcake Full

Crumpler Cupcake Full - £95 (about $150)

Seemingly taking its design cues from a turtle, the Crumpler Cupcake Full is, design-wise at least, a very well-rounded affair. The upside of this is minimal risk of catching the edges of the bag on people or objects in the close quarters combat of a rush-hour commute.
The downside is that, even in this 'full photo' version where all of the main section is given over to camera kit, stowage space is quite shallow around the sides and top of the main compartment. Even so, you can squeeze in a large 70-200mm f/2.8 lens along with your camera and kit lens, plus a further couple of lenses and a flashgun.
There's no slip-on rain cover, but Crumpler's '1000d Chicken Tex Supreme hyper performance fabric' is tough and very shower-resistant, and there's also a waterproof internal lining. Access to all compartments, including camera and laptop sections, plus two organiser pockets, is via a single zip that runs around the back of the bag.
A secondary mesh cover zips over the camera section, to minimise the risk of camera kit falling out accidentally, although this does reduce access speed. All in all, the Crumpler Cupcake Full is a well enough constructed backpack, but its outright volume unfortunately ends up being compromised by that curvaceous design.
Score: 4/5

Hama Katoomba 170RL

Hama Katoomba 170RL - £70 (about $112)

Uniquely among our test group, the Hama Katoomba 170RL uses a 'slingback' design, featuring a single shoulder strap that you wear across your body, in the same style as a messenger bag. A neat trick is that you can slide the shoulder strap to one side or the other, depending on whether you prefer to dress to the left or right.
Carrying weight feels reasonably well distributed between the chosen shoulder and your lower back, and stability is further aided by a secondary chest strap. Even so, when the bag is fully loaded it lacks the comfort offered by a conventional two-strap backpack.
Divided between a lower camera section and an upper multi-purpose compartment, space for camera kit is always going to be a bit limited. It'll take a DSLR with kit lens, a further three lenses and a flashgun, but that's all you'll squeeze in. Anything bigger than a typical 70-300mm f/4-5.6 won't fit.
One bonus point is that the side-opening photo compartment makes it very easy to slide the Hama Katoomba 170RL around on your shoulder and gain quick access to your camera without having to take the backpack off altogether. There's no laptop compartment here, but little extras include a couple of memory card holders and a slip-over rain cover.
Score: 3.5/5

Kata DR-467i Digital Rucksack

Kata DR-467i Digital Rucksack - £80/$80

Curvy but not quite as rounded as the Crumpler Cupcake, the Kata DR-467i is a bag of two halves. The lower segment happily plays host to a DSLR with attached kit lens, three additional lenses and a flashgun.
As usual, you can substitute the flashgun and pack an additional lens, the maximum size of any lens being a typical 70-300mm f/4-5.6. The upper half is a hold-all for day trip essentials, but it's larger and more accommodating than that of the Hama 170RL.
There are three additional external pockets on the front of the bag, for bits and bobs, plus a laptop section at the rear. The latter has its own zip, so you needn't open any of the other internal or external compartments in order to get at your computer. The divider between the lower and upper main sections can also be unzipped and removed if required.
One of the things we like most about the Kata DR-467i Digital Rucksack is that the photo section at the bottom hinges out after you've undone its zip. This makes accessing all your camera kit particularly quick and easy. The back of the bag is quite hard, with relatively little cushioning, so it's not particularly comfortable to wear. At least it's compatible with the Kata Insertrolley frame, giving the option of rolling it around on wheels.
Score: 4/5

Lowepro DSLR Video Fastpack 250 AW

Lowepro DSLR Video Fastpack 250 AW - £80/$120

One of the newest backpacks in Lowepro's well respected range, the Lowepro DSLR Video Fastpack 250 AW is a split camera bag and daypack. The upper section is capacious, with some useful organiser pockets and a removable soft pouch for stashing battery chargers and for organising cables.
Down below, there's quick side access to your DSLR and whichever lens is currently attached. Open the flap fully and you can reach in to grab three additional lenses and a flashgun. But the flashgun section is very slimline, only suitable for a bounce-type model with its head in the upright position, so you can't fit in an extra lens instead.
By removing the central divider, you can just squeeze in a body with a chunky 70-200mm f/2.8 lens fitted, but there's only enough depth for separate lenses of up to 70-300mm f/4-5.6 in size.
As with most of Lowepro's 'AW' bags, a waterproof rain cover extends from the bottom of the bag. Even without using this, the bag is very shower-resistant. A tripod carrying system comes fitted on the side and, unlike many other backpacks, the laptop compartment can accommodate a 15.6-inch widescreen model. It's a top-quality item, comfy to carry and great value at the price.
Score: 4.5/5

Lowepro Vertex 100 AW

Lowepro Vertex 100 AW - £100/$200

Well suited to wet climates, the Lowepro Vertex 100 AW has weatherproof zips on its camera and laptop compartments, plus a slip-over rain cover that stows away in the bottom of the bag.
The camera compartment runs the full height of the bag and is big enough to take two DSLRs with fairly small lenses attached, plus up to four other lenses and flashguns. As usual, the laptop compartment annoyingly isn't quite tall enough for a 15-inch widescreen device.
Unlike the Lowepro DSLR Video Pack 250 AW, there isn't a side-opening system for quick camera access - but a plus point is that there's a sliplock system loop on either side. These make it easy to add Lowepro's lens pouches externally, for carrying extra lenses or other accessories as and when you need to. A simple Velcro locking system is easy to use and very secure.
The tripod attachment system is similarly robust, using a pull-out fastener at the top and an additional loop you can slide up and down the front of the bag. For even greater security, there's an extra tripod foot holder, which you can loop onto the bottom of the bag. Two external pockets on the front make it easy to organise the loose ends or your kit, one of which has a memory card organiser.
Score: 4.5/5

Manfrotto Veloce V

Manfrotto Veloce V - £90/$100

An intriguingly versatile piece of kit, the Manfrotto Veloce V works equally well as a split daypack and camera pack, or as a full photo backpack. If you choose to use the top section for your camera and attached lens, rather than for assorted travel paraphernalia, you get the bonus of quick access via a top opening section.
This is secured with a zip and large secondary metal fastener. You'll certainly know if you've left the latter undone, because it bounces around and makes a noise rather like a cowbell. By taking out a couple of internal dividers, the Veloce can accommodate a DSLR fitted with a large 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.
Put your camera into the lower section and it benefits from an additional flap that fits into the body's handgrip, keeping it firmly locked in place during transit. As well as being able to take up to four regular sized lenses, a full-length inner section offers ideal space for a long super-telephoto lens - or one of Manfrotto's smaller tripod models. You can't sub-divide this space, however, because there's no Velcro facing for attaching dividers to.
The Veloce's build quality is very good but, as with most of the backpacks on test, the laptop compartment is just not big enough to take a 15.6-inch widescreen model.
Score: 4/5

Tamrac Adventure 9

Tamrac Adventure 9 - £90/$150

A capacious backpack, the Adventure 9 combines a separate daypack and photo section, but you can knock these through into one large compartment by undoing the Velcro-fixed central divider. In regular two-section mode, the bottom half has plenty of room for a DSLR with fitted 70-300mm lens and four other lenses (or three plus a flashgun).
The compartment is noticeably deeper than many, and has no problem taking a big body, such as a Canon EOS 7D, complete with attached battery grip. Small models, such as a Canon EOS 1100D, can actually feel a bit lost.
For those who like to be compartmentalised, there's a wealth of memory card and battery organisers, built into the internal sides of the cover flaps, plus a 'pop-off pocket' ideal for mains chargers and cables. Straps are available for lashing a tripod to slots on the underside of the pack, but these have to be purchased separately.
Another clue as to the larger-than-average build is that the backpack has an extra section for a 17-inch laptop, which can easily take 15.6-inch widescreen models. With its well-fitting harness, complete with chest and waist straps, the Tamrac Adventure 9 lives up to its name. There's no slip-on rain cover but it's very water-resistant, right down to its weatherproof zips.
Score: 4.5/5

Tamrac Expedition 6x

Tamrac Expedition 6x - £110/$220

Big, beefy and rock-solid, the Tamrac Expedition 6x is supremely sturdy - although it's twice as heavy as some of the backpacks on test. There's room for a DSLR with fitted lens, plus up to a whopping 10 other lenses, flashguns or accessories. It's equally suited to carrying two DSLRs (both with lenses attached) along with a smaller range of extras. The provision of eight Velcro-attaching dividers makes the possibilities almost limitless.
Size isn't so generous when it comes to the laptop compartment, which can only accept compact models with screen sizes up to 14 inches. However, there are plenty of other small compartments for stashing memory cards, filters, batteries and the like.
The tripod attachment system on the front of the bag is particularly effective, and straps are available for carrying it underneath instead, if you prefer.
Like the Tamrac Adventure 9, there's no rain cover supplied, but water resistance is very good, coupled with weather-proofed zips on smaller compartments and weather flaps that cover the zips on the larger sections. With plenty of padding and wide-ranging adjustable straps for shoulders, chest and waist, the backpack is comfortable to carry even when fully loaded.
Score: 4.5/5

Think Tank Photo StreetWalker

Think Tank Photo StreetWalker - £100/$150

Ideal for travelling time lords, the Think Tank Photo StreetWalker seems bigger on the inside than the outside. Despite a refreshingly slimline, lightweight build, it has masses of room for a big camera body and large attached lens, such as a 70-200mm f/2.8.
For more normal configurations, the Velcro-attaching partitions accommodate a DSLR with attached standard zoom, an additional seven lenses or flashes and small accessories. Two internal organiser pockets are supplemented with four external pockets for life's little extras.
Build quality is supreme, and there are neat design flourishes. Tripod attachment straps and the waistband are removable, so needn't dangle down when not in use. There's also a camera strap available as an optional extra, so you can hang the weight of a heavy camera and lens combination from the shoulder straps instead of around your neck. Carrying comfort is exemplary.
Because the bag is designed to neatly fit a large lens mounted on a camera, if and when you want to use that option, one side of the main section is wider than the other. This also ensures an equally good fit for both thinner and fatter lenses (complete with lens hoods).
Score: 4.5/5

Vanguard UP-Rise 45

Vanguard UP-Rise 45 - £80/$140

Some clever trickery has gone into the design of the Vanguard UP-Rise 45. Not only does the backpack feature a partition for separating the camera kit area from the upper compartment for everyday stuff, but you can move the divider up and down to make more room where you need it most.
There's also a large, separate front compartment and, if you still need extra room, a handy zip enables the bag to extend in the same way that's often used in carry-on luggage bags. This gives you an extra 6cm of depth in the camera compartment for unusually bulky lenses.
The camera section opens at the rear of the backpack, but there's also a quick-access opening at the side, enabling you to grab your DSLR and whatever lens is currently attached. The opening is sealed with a zip, Velcro panel and a locking clip, which appears to be a belt-and-braces approach, and then some. Despite all this, however, the seal isn't good enough to keep out grit in a dusty breeze.
There's a full range of additional features, such as a waterproof cover, tripod fasteners and waist belt, all of which stash away neatly into pockets in the bag's overall construction, so they're kept tidy and out of sight when not in use.
Score: 4/5

Verdict: best photography backpack

Before we reveal which photography backpack we like best, let's recap five points to remember when buying a camera kit bag:
1. Chest/waist straps add stability and security when hiking or climbing.
2. A slip-on rain cover is useful if you're out in heavy rain for long periods.
3. Side-access systems make it easy to get at your DSLR and attached lens.
4. You'll generally need to remove one or two dividers if you want to pack a big lens such as a 70-200mm f/2.8.
5. Main openings at the rear, instead of the front, of the backpack are great if you need to put the bag on muddy ground.

For full photo backpacks, the Tamrac Expedition 6x offers the most space and versatility of all the photography rucksacks we tested here. It's well made and so is our top choice overall, although the laptop compartment is small and you have to buy the rain cover separately.
For a smaller camera kit collection, our second and third choices are the slimline yet roomy Think Tank Photo StreetWalker and the chunky Lowepro Vertex 100 AW.
For split backpacks that can accommodate photo gear and travel items, it's close between the Lowepro DSLR Video Pack 250 AW and the Tamrac Adventure 9. Both can take 15.6-inch widescreen laptops. The Lowepro's design features a neat side-opening system, great protection in foul weather, and is fantastic value at £80 in the UK and $120 in the US.

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LG: We've turned a corner

LG has claimed that it has turned a corner, with its latest financial results showing a return to profitability for a company that has been battling net losses for the prior six months.
LG's profit of KRW 243 billion – which equates to $214 million or around £133 million – has been a huge relief to a company that has struggled of late.
"LG today announced that after two consecutive quarters of net losses, the company has turned the corner… a direct result of the company's efforts to innovate in all key business units and focus on high-performing products," read the company's global statement.

Sluggish European market

Despite falling sales in a 'sluggish' European market, LG's home entertainment arm performed admirably and home appliances recorded a near 50 per cent increase in year on year performance.
In the company's troublesome mobile phone arm things were definitely improving, although significantly short of last year's corresponding period.
"Overall revenues declined 14 percent year-over-year…as a result of declining feature phone sales but smartphone revenue increased due to the popularity of Optimus LTE and Optimus Vu: in the home market," added LG.
"The company expects to strengthen its smartphone line-up even more in the second quarter with the introduction of its L-Style series and quad-core smartphones."
Although it has never been anything other than outwardly optimistic about its smartphones – LG will be well aware that the decline of feature phones means that its handsets need to start capturing the public's attention.
But in the meantime, it will at least be celebrating a return to profitability and hoping that it is green shoots of recovery that we are seeing and not just weeds.

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Asteroid mining backed by Google, James Cameron

Our space-faring future is another step closer with the announcement of an asteroid mining venture called Planetary Resources.
The ambitious independent space program hopes to establish robotic mining on near-Earth asteroids, bringing back valuable resources to Earth.
While the plan may sound like far-flung science fiction, Planetary Resources garnered the attention of sound investors including the likes of director/deep sea explorer James Cameron and Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt.

Finding water, among other resources, could essentially turn the asteroids into outer space gas stations...

Within the next 24 months, Planetary Resources plans to launch its first Arkyd line spacecraft as a prospecting telescope to seek out mineral-rich asteroids that can be targets for mining excavation.

Mining for platinum and H20

Platinum will be one of the key resources sought in space. The hope is that asteroid mining will yield an abundance of this rare and useful metal.
Water will also be a high priority for excavation. Valuable not only for being necessary to survival, water also acts as a key oxidizer for rocket fuel.
Finding water, among other resources, could essentially turn the asteroids into outer space gas stations, enabling deeper space travel and exploration.
While space mining isn't exactly a new idea, it has been far too costly to be feasible on any significant scale.
Planetary Resources claims to be at an advantage, due to independent backing rather than relying on government funds.
Co-founders Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis have a history of making a success out of science fiction having successfully run Space Adventures, which offered commercial space flight trips to the average Joe millionaire.

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Samsung Galaxy Note bound for T-Mobile?

While the Samsung Galaxy Note – the identity-confused hybrid of a smart phone and a tablet – is currently exclusive to AT&T, published reports sniffed out some hints that point toward the device expanding to T-Mobile.
The first clue comes from a Wi-Fi certification that popped up for a Samsung device with model number SGH-T879.
As it happens, all Samsung devices with T-Mobile follow the model formula SGH-Txx9.
This particular model is also listed with a screen resolution of 800 x 1280, which may suggest smart phone orientation rather than a tablet like Samsung's Galaxy Tab.
If that's the case, the Galaxy Note is Samsung's only smart phone running at that resolution.

Pictures surface

Screenshots were then found that were supposedly taken from a SGH-T870 device.
Most notably, the screenshots indicated that the device's build number was identical to that of the AT&T Galaxy Note.
A T-Mobile Galaxy Note likely wouldn't sport its AT&T cousin's LTE support, instead favoring HSPA+.
And, with an HSPA+ enabled international version of the Galaxy Note already available, little would need to be changed for it to run with T-Mobile.
With its gorgeous screen the Galaxy Note is undeniably an attractive device. But, its unconventional size still seems to puzzle many as to whether to treat it as a tablet or a smart phone.
Maybe by expanding to T-Mobile the Galaxy Note will finally find its audience.

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HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE details briefly appear on Verizon's site

Verizon slipped up yesterday and posted details on the upcoming HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE on its website
Although they promptly realized their mistake and took the info down, the internet is not quick to forget.
Before the information was taken down, numerous sites noted that the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE will have a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 4-inch qHD Super LCD display with a 960x540 resolution, the HTC Sense 4.0 GUI, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage with additional storage possible via a microSD card slot.
According to the leak, the Incredible 4G LTE will also feature an 8-megapixel camera on the back and a VGA camera in front. Beats Audio's mobile music equalizer will be included, as well.
Not to mention, of course, that the phone will run on Google's Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

Falling incredibly short

The leak listed the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE's price at $300 with a two-year contract, but with other top Ice Cream Sandwich devices like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and HTC's One S and One X holding the spotlight, will its specs be enough to shine?
Those devices have larger displays with sharper resolutions, as well as improved storage and processing power. Next to them, the Incredible may fall short.
The Droid Incredible's 4G LTE capabilities should help set it apart from much of the competition, but that may not last long, as LTE is quickly becoming the standard for mobile data connections.
Verizon reportedly declined to comment on the leak and whether the details revealed yesterday will match what consumers eventually see.
Indeed, some of that may have been placeholder information, so there's still plenty of time for them to upgrade the phone's specs before making an official announcement.

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Apple's second quarter earnings hit $39 billion (£24bn)

Huge sales of the new iPad and the continued success of the iPhone 4S have given Apple another record-breaking quarter.
Apple announced quarterly financial results for the fiscal second quarter of 2012 on Tuesday, with revenue of $39.2 billion (£24bn) and net profit of $11.6 billion (£7.1 billion).
The company's revenue eclipses Apple's own conservative estimates of $32.5 billion, not to mention Wall Street's more bullish $36.6 billion prediction.
The numbers marked Apple's best March quarter in its history.

iPhone: hold please?

Last week, Verizon Wireless announced quarterly iPhone activations of 3.2 million, and AT&T activated another 4.3 million handsets on its own network.
Those numbers are a far cry from the 37.04 million activated in Q1 FY12, but keep in mind those units moved during the pivotal holiday season.
While Apple didn't quite top last quarter's iPhone sales, it came much closer than anyone expected for a device that's now six months old: 35.1 million sold, an 88 percent unit growth over the same quarter last year.

New iPad in the mix

Apple doesn't break out its iPad sales, but the new iPad is clearly off to a great start, with 11.8 million tablets sold in the company's fiscal second quarter, a whopping 151 percent increase year-over-year, when it sold a then-record 4.69 million units.
The new Retina Display-enhanced model launched last month, which has since rolled out across the world far more rapidly than previous models.
"We're thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO.
"The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you're going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver."
"Our record March quarter results drove $14 billion in cash flow from operations," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO.
"Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68."

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Apple's second quarter earnings $39B (£24B)

Apple announced quarterly financial results for the fiscal second quarter of 2012 on Tuesday, with revenue of $39.2 billion (£ 24 billion) and net profit of $11.6 billion (£ 7.1 billion).
The company's revenue eclipses Apple's own conservative estimates of $32.5 billion, not to mention Wall Street's more bullish $36.6 billion prediction.
The numbers marked Apple's best March quarter in its history.

iPhone: hold please?

Last week, Verizon Wireless announced quarterly iPhone activations of 3.2 million, and AT&T activated another 4.3 million handsets on its own network.
Those numbers are a far cry from the 37.04 million activated in Q1 FY12, but keep in mind those units moved during the pivotal holiday season.
While Apple didn't quite top last quarter's iPhone sales, it came much closer than anyone expected for a device that's now six months old: 35.1 million sold, an 88 percent unit growth over the same quarter last year.

New iPad in the mix

Apple doesn't break out its iPad sales, but the new iPad is clearly off to a great start, with 11.8 million tablets sold in the company's fiscal second quarter, a whopping 151 percent increase year-over-year, when it sold a then-record 4.69 million units.
The new Retina Display-enhanced model launched last month, which has since rolled out across the world far more rapidly than previous models.
"We're thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO.
"The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you're going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver."
"Our record March quarter results drove $14 billion in cash flow from operations," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO."
Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68."
Via MacWorld

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Apple's second quarter earnings nearly $40B (£24B)

Apple announced quarterly financial results for the fiscal second quarter of 2012 on Tuesday, with revenue of $39.2 billion (£ 24 billion) and net profit of $11.6 billion (£ 7.1 billion).
The company's revenue eclipses Apple's own conservative estimates of $32.5 billion, not to mention Wall Street's more bullish $36.6 billion prediction.
The numbers marked Apple's best March quarter in its history.

iPhone: hold please?

Last week, Verizon Wireless announced quarterly iPhone activations of 3.2 million, and AT&T activated another 4.3 million handsets on its own network.
Those numbers are a far cry from the 37.04 million activated in Q1 FY12, but keep in mind those units moved during the pivotal holiday season.
While Apple didn't quite top last quarter's iPhone sales, it came much closer than anyone expected for a device that's now six months old: 35.1 million sold, an 88 percent unit growth over the same quarter last year.

New iPad in the mix

Apple doesn't break out its iPad sales, but the new iPad is clearly off to a great start, with 11.8 million tablets sold in the company's fiscal second quarter, a whopping 151 percent increase year-over-year, when it sold a then-record 4.69 million units.
The new Retina Display-enhanced model launched last month, which has since rolled out across the world far more rapidly than previous models.
"We're thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO.
"The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you're going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver."
"Our record March quarter results drove $14 billion in cash flow from operations," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO."
Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68."
Via MacWorld

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