Interview: Libre Office is taking off 'like a rocket'
Libre Office
Michael Meeks is a long-time OpenOffice, now Libre Office, contributor and employee of Novell, now Attachmate.We caught up with him to get the inside perspective on the massive changes they, and desktop Linux as a whole, have gone through in the past few years.
Linux Format: Given everything that has happened with Attachmate buying Novell, who do you now work for?
Michael Meeks: Gosh, that's a really good question. The public-facing brand would be Suse. That's where I report in to. The company is managed as four different units.
LXF: Because they split out Suse and Novell?
MM: Absolutely. Novell and Suse are now separate. So, in terms of the legal ramifications of how the merger was completed, I don't think that really matters. What matters is the entity that we are, and that is Suse.
LXF: Right. We find the idea that they've separated Suse exciting. They're clearly putting a lot of emphasis on that brand again.
MM: Yes, there are a lot of differences there. You'll find that, traditionally, employees were trying to be a Novell employee, but now there's a much greater emphasis on trying to identify with Suse.
So, in terms of attitude, I think there's a feeling of liberation and freedom. We can do cool things, and we're not constrained by some central, interlocking product management matrix.
LXF: The other big story is the Libre Office/OpenOffice split. How are things going with Libre Office?
MM: Like a rocket. It's extremely encouraging to get patches on the list, day after day after day - new people we haven't seen before.
LXF: We're well aware of all the speed-ups and so on, but have you got anything planned in terms of new, user-facing features? The interface is quite old-fashioned, for instance.
MM: Sure, sure. There are many things we can do to improve our usability, I'm sure of that. But there are dangers to big directions that you sit down and put a big team on. We're doing a lot of small shifts, which add up to big things.
As journalists, you probably have to write per word. One feature we're introducing is interactive word count; so you can open up word count, stick it on the side, and it will update as you type.
LXF: That's great!
MM: Other things: getting your projectors right, making it easier to deal with styles, with headings and footers. Polishing what we have - and making it smaller, faster and easier to use - is working.
LXF: All of these features are there, they've just been difficult to access and use…
MM: Yes, I think there's quite a long legacy of box-ticking product management there: we need this feature, so we'll minimally implement it and move on to the next thing, rather than making it easy to use and attractive.
LXF: Let's talk about the desktop more generally. What's the future of desktop Linux, Libre Office, and other desktop applications, in a world where people are moving to the web, to tablets and so on?
MM: That's interesting, because the world's always been swinging between these two poles. When I first started programming, I was using a green screen, serial terminal, which was very much cloud. The computer was out there somewhere, and it came slowly to you. And then, of course, PCs became so cheap and so ubiquitous and everyone switched to PCs. Then the server just became something for communication and collaboration.
Now, people are trying to drag us back to 'the web is everything, and everything should be hosted in the server room' again, 'it's safer and cheaper' and so on. So, there's a pendulum there, and depending on the economics of it, it swings from time to time.
LXF: The cost of a broadband connection?
MM: Yeah, of course. My take is that I don't see this trend. It doesn't really make much sense to put desktop applications on the cloud.
If you see where people are going with their online offerings, they're all trying to make them offline as well. That solves the deployment and management problem, but that's not such a huge problem on Linux, because there has always been nice packagement.
LXF: One of the other big advantages, however, is data security. We're technical guys, but we think that our data is almost certainly safer with Google than on our hard drives…
MM: I think there's a valid point there, but it's difficult to know. We've seen outages and data losses in the cloud, too. There's a great hope that it will be better, but I see no reason why you can't just sync your data remotely. That is, if we can make the desktop applications good enough.
LXF: One thing that we talk about in the office a lot is the idea of collaboration vs competition. In light of the need to create great applications, does this repeated effort not make you cry?
MM: Yes, to a certain degree that does make me cry. However, when you look at collaboration vs. competition, and the matrix of options that go in to making a successful community, my personal take would be that copyleft is a key part of that.
The worst behaviour is to develop a feature internally and release it with a product. I've been in companies that've done virtually everything wrong, including this, because it gives you the value add.
That's been the reality of the OpenOffice project for some time. We think a big element of fixing that is getting copyleft licensing, and that's what we're sticking out for in Libre Office. And, so far, it's working. Linux as a whole has switched to Libre Office.
Since a huge part of our development momentum comes from the Linux world anyway, this is great. If you want to attract developers to create free software on Windows, Linux is the place to start. It fills an important role of seeding and teaching people about freedom.
LXF: While we're on the topic of freedom, what's your take on the ethics of free software? Why should people use free software?
MM: The feeling of sharing, and working in community with other people; and the depth of interaction, friendship, and the fun that you have, is unparalleled - so I think there's something intrinsically good happening there.
LXF: In that regard, free software's certainly advantageous compared to proprietary software. So perhaps proprietary software's not evil, but free software is better?
MM: I'm not completely unconvinced that proprietary software is evil: it's exploiting network effects, people's lack of understanding in what they're doing. You buy an iPhone, and what you're doing is not just getting a device - it's not a morality-free zone. There's a whole spectrum of things, like what happens in Foxconn, and the ecosystem, too: are you encouraging developers to write for this platform, and does Apple treat its developers reasonably?
LXF: Reversing that, it provides an interesting argument for using free software. It creates an audience for free software developers to write for, it supports an ecosystem.
MM: I think that's important, yes. One of the major contributions that companies in our industry make is writing code and contributing it to the community. So, when you choose which Linux distribution you use, I think you need to choose one that contributes effectively and in a positive way to the whole ecosystem. If the choice is between two free distributions, you should ask which one is going to help increase contribution upstream.
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Tutorial: Get started with Messages for Mac Beta
Get started with Messages
By now you've no doubt heard about OS X Mountain Lion, Apple's upcoming update to OS X Lion. Among the many new features that provide a far more iOS-like feel is Messages. This turns the humble iChat application into a more iCloud-focused messaging centre that stays in sync across all of your devices.As part of its testing of the new platform, Apple has made a beta version of Messages available as a free download for anyone to use. Of course, beta software isn't the most robust and you may encounter some glitches, but if you want to get a taste of Mountain Lion before it arrives then this is the best way to do it.
You'll need the latest update to OS X Lion to run Messages Beta, as well as an iCloud account or an account with another messaging service such as Google Talk. To fully appreciate the benefits of Messages, however, an iCloud email address and an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch are best.
As long as your Messages account is using the same iCloud account as those on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, your conversations will be available on all of your devices.
For example, if you begin a chat on your Mac and then want to resume it while you're away from your computer, iMessages on your iOS device will show the same conversation and show any additional messages you might have received. When you return to your Mac, these messages will have been updated so your chats will always remain in sync.
This goes for photo, video and file attachments too. iMessage can be set up from the Settings app within the Messages section. The email address you supply will initially need to be verified for use .
In this tutorial we'll show you how to download and install Messages Beta on your Mac as well as how to add your existing iCloud and instant messaging accounts.
1. Download the Beta
First download Messages Beta from Apple's site. Make sure your Mac is running the latest version of OS X by running Software Update from the Apple menu and install updates as needed. Next, go to the Message Beta webpage and, when the file is downloaded, locate and run the Messages installer to continue. Once the software is installed, you will be asked to restart your Mac.
2. Enter your details
Launch the Messages app. Click through the opening screen until you're asked to enter your Apple ID. Fill in your email address and password into the fields provided or click the Create Apple ID button if you don't have one. Next you'll be asked to include any other chat accounts such as Google Talk and AIM.
3. Additional accounts
Messages should automatically use existing iChat accounts associated with your Apple ID; check this by clicking on Preferences from the Messages menu. From here you can click on the accounts tab to view all of the accounts you've set up to work with Messages, and add or remove accounts using the plus and minus buttons.
4. Send a message
You can now use Messages to chat to contacts regardless of whether they are using their Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Click the New Message button at the top-left of the screen then click the plus button at the top-right to add a contact from your Address Book that you wish to chat to. Type your message and hit Enter.
5. Emoticons
In the same way you can add emoticons to iChat and SMS messages, Messages enables you to do the same from your Mac. Click the face at the right of the message input area to view a menu that includes the images and their corresponding trigger symbols. Emoticons can be viewed on all devices using iMessage or Messages.
6. Pictures, videos and files
To send a picture or video in a message, simply drag and drop the file onto the message input area. You can even include documents and other file types. The recipient sees images and video on any of their devices as if it were a normal picture or video message. They can also open other file types using compatible apps they own.
7. FaceTime
At any point in a Messages chat you can initiate a simultaneous FaceTime call from within the app by clicking the button at the top-right of the interface. From here you can select which assigned address or phone number you're chatting to, and use it for FaceTime before the FaceTime interface appears and begins your call.
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Google Maps launches cubic tilting game
A few months later than promised, Google brings maps to the world of play in an effort to promote its navigation service.
Teased back in January for a February release, the Google Maps tilting game, called Cube, launched meekly under the technology radar.
It was discovered by Fusible when checking in on the registered domain, and has since begun to spark a renewed interest in the far-reaching capabilities of Google's maps services.
The game spans eight levels which take intrigued navigators from Paris to San Francisco to Japan to the interior of Mall of America.
Players roll through each of these locales as a blue ball (signifying humanity) on a tilting cube, finding paths through traffic, shifting landscapes, and London's infamous subway system.
From A to ubiquitous
After conquering Cube, players are navigated to links offering even more insight about Google Maps.One video shows off a real, physical prototype of the cube, complete with barber shops, Google-enabled phones, a bowling alley, and a typically plucky soundtrack.
It's a small example of Google's recent marketing efforts pushing for consumers to adopt Google-ready phones and tablets.
Another link will take committed mappers to a collection of interactive demos for Google Maps, explaining particularly the underutilized customization tools in the service.
Saving locations, planning trips, and defining new destinations (Wikipedia approval style) are among the activities displayed here.
Consumers may not have been clamoring for deeper navigation experiences, but this recent bout of edutainment certainly cements Google's domination in the digital mapping space.
For intrepid mappers looking to seal their own place in Google Maps history, the current record play-through of Cube is 2:45.
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Tutorial: How to customise your iPhoto slideshows
How to customise your iPhoto slideshows
Slideshows are a great way to show off your pictures, and they're really easy to set up in iPhoto. There's a range of preset themes to choose from which take care of all the settings. The presets are good, but they can be a little overpowering. Fortunately you can set up slideshows manually and have more control over the final result.There are two ways to create a slideshow in iPhoto; it's important to understand the differences so that you can choose which way you want to do it.
In both cases you start off by choosing the photos to include. You then select all the photos and press the Slideshow button on the bottom toolbar. This prepares the slideshow and displays a settings panel split into three tabs, labelled Themes, Music and Settings.
The Themes tab is where you choose one of iPhoto's preset slideshow designs, while in the Music tab you can browse your iTunes library for music to play in the background. But it's the Settings tab where you control the individual properties of the slideshow, and this is what we focus on in this tutorial.
The important thing to understand about using this Slideshow button is that your settings aren't saved. You can make all the same adjustments, but they're forgotten as soon as the slideshow is finished.
You can save your adjustments as the new default setting, but that's not quite the same - it's likely that you'll want to use different slideshow settings for different sets of photos.
To do this, you need to use the File > New Slideshow command. This creates a new slideshow in the source panel on the left of the screen, in the Slideshow section at the bottom. This slideshow also acts as an album, so you can drag in new images as you go along and delete those you don't want.
When you select this new slideshow, you'll see all these photos displayed in a filmstrip running along the top of the screen. Underneath are buttons for Themes, Music and Settings. From now on, any changes you make will be saved as part of this slideshow.
You can create as many of these slideshows as you like, each with different collections of photos and each with its own particular settings or design.
Organise images
When you select a slideshow in the source panel, the images are shown in a film strip at the top. You can change the order the slides are shown in by dragging their thumbnails in the filmstrip. As you drop an image into position, the rest shuffle up.
Choose music
Press the Music button, bottom-right, to display the Music Settings panel, then open the drop-down Source menu to locate the music you want to use. iPhoto comes with a selection of tunes built in, but you can also choose from the iTunes library on your Mac.
Set duration
Click the Settings button. This is where your decision about music makes a difference. You can either set a fixed duration (display time) for each photo or, if you've chosen a track to play in the background, you can fit the slideshow to the length of the track.
Track length
Check the Transitions box and have a look at the choices in the drop-down menu. The Dissolve transition is used by default, but the Fade Through Black transition is also effective. The transition will be previewed in the dialog, where you can adjust its properties.
Choose titles
Note the All Slides and This Slide tabs at the top of the panel. You can choose different settings for different slides, though mixing too many different transitions can look amateurish. Choose whether to display information with your pictures, such as Titles and Descriptions.
Title slides
Do you want a title slide? These are added to the start of the slideshow and are superimposed over the first picture. You can't change the position of the title, but you can change the font used by selecting the text and then using Cmd+T to display the Fonts panel.
Scale photos
That's the main slideshow settings sorted out, but there are a couple of options that relate to the way the images are displayed. Scale photos to fit screen is important - it gets rid of any black bars at the sides of images. Note that this does depend on the playback device…
Choose screen size
By default, iPhoto assumes you'll be running the slideshow on our Mac, which has an aspect ratio of 16:10. If you're creating a slideshow for a widescreen TV or widescreen monitor, choose 16:9. You can also choose a ratio to fit an iPhone or an iPad screen.
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In Depth: A week in Minecraft: a game or a way of life?
A week in Minecraft
Less a game and more a way of life, Minecraft is all about digging, building, exploring and crafting in a gigantic world.This world is made up of blocks - soil, sand, stone, and many other materials - and you have complete freedom to build structures using these blocks in an area that's eight times the size of the world's surface.
The game keeps track of every single change you make (which produces massive save game files - 100MB upwards is the norm). By combining items, you can make new things, such as the wool-and-wood combination we tried, which made a bed.
Minecraft has two game modes: Survival - where you have to eat and protect yourself from monsters, and Creative - where you can work safely on huge buildings to your heart's content.
The game is written in Java and runs on Linux, Windows and Mac OS, and has already reached a whopping four million sales. So we decided to spend a week checking it out...
Day 1: Arrival
Our new life began on a hill next to a swamp - or perhaps a jungle. Either way, there was lots of water around and a few trees. And mushrooms, too. We couldn't see any signs of human life, but we kept hearing noises that we suspect were being generated by animals. It's all a bit weird, and to make matters worse, we haven't got any tools with us - just our bare hands.After a bit of scrabbling around, we discovered we could gather bits of grass and dirt, and keep them with us on our travels. As the day progressed, we began to get hungry, and our only option was to kill a chicken we came across using our hands.
It wasn't pleasant, and eating the raw meat didn't do us much good, but we stayed alive.
Night-time came, and it was utterly horrible: all sorts of vile monsters appeared, hell-bent on killing us. First, there was a strange sort of zombie-like creature going for our throat, and then a skeleton firing arrows, and big black spiders with red eyes. we tried fighting them with our hands and got injured badly in the process.
Out of desperation, we dug a hole in the ground to escape, but some hissing green monster followed us in, exploded and left a huge crater. We barely slept.
Day 2: Acclimatisation
The start of the day went well: we gathered wood from the trees and used it to make some tools - a sword and a pick-axe. They're not very strong, but they'll do for now. They also make it easier to kill animals for food, so at lunchtime we walked into a forest and found some wild pigs. Our hunger level is staying under control.The big question bothering us all day was: where are we going to sleep? We can't just wait for the monsters to kill us - we need to fashion some kind of shelter that's more substantial than the hole we dug yesterday.
Fortunately, after a bit of walking we found the entrance to a cave, and with our tools we could extract some chunks of stone. Our tools didn't last very long, but we got enough stone to build a small igloo-like shelter.
Just before night-time, we found a sheep, killed it and took its wool. Combined with the remaining bits of wood we had, we hacked together a simple bed and had a tolerable night's sleep. But we kept hearing the monsters outside…
Day 3: Exploration
We decided we couldn't stay there any longer, so we gathered our things together and set off on a journey. After a few hours of trudging through the swamp, we came across a deep forest, which led into a hugely mountainous region.It was striking, but the rain was horrendous. It took us another few hours before we arrived in a really dry, desert-like area. There was nothing there but the odd cactus.
By the evening, we were back in woodland and found a cave. After knocking down a few trees and combining the wood with some stone, we made some stronger tools. We were feeling pretty confident with our stone sword and stone axe, although they were heavy. After setting up our bed in the cave, we slept well.
Day 4: The village
Seemingly without hope, we kept walking and walking, and then saw something in the distance… a building! A real sign of humanity after three days. It was a small village in the middle of a prairie, and although the inhabitants seemed reluctant to talk to us, we felt much happier being there than in the outside world.We made a huge mistake in the afternoon, though: there's a well in the village, filled almost to the top, and a man was in it. We tried to free him by breaking open the side of the well, but it just spread water over much of the village. Why weren't we thinking?
In the afternoon, we headed out to gather more wood and stone, and then came back and started building a proper little house for ourselves in the village. It's nothing special, and we have no lighting yet, but it's a good place to store our bed and equipment. We feel as if we're making real progress here.
Day 5: Confidence
Set off early and found some cows near the village. A bit of sword-work later, and we had some good beef and leather. We're not much good at making clothes, but we hacked together a simple leather tunic that should give us protection against any night-time monster attacks.At lunchtime, we carved up a chunk of wood to make a bowl, and used some of the mushrooms we'd gathered to prepare a stew. Together with the beef, we were feeling healthy and full. With our stone sword, pick-axe, tunic and food supplies, we're building up confidence, so in the afternoon we took a walk out of the village, dropping bits of stone behind us so that we could find our way back.
After going through some swampland, we found the sea, so we swam for a while and saw a huge island with a cavern in the distance. We'll explore that tomorrow.
Day 6: Fire!
What a day. After breakfast, we headed to the cavern, which was even more enormous when we got close to it. After an hour's climbing up the mountain, we reached the entrance to the cavern, which was pitch black; so we crept inside and then… there was a fizz, a huge explosion, and everything went black.The next thing we remember was being back in our bed in the village, except without all of the bits and bobs that we had been carrying. But the lure of the cavern tempted us back, and once we reached the entrance again, we saw all of our items lying around - our sword, our food, our bits of stone and wood.
It must've been one of those green monsters that attacked us, but don't they just come out at night? Perhaps they live in the darkness of the cave… Anyway, we ventured boldly onwards and found some seams of coal, which we extracted using our pick-axe.
Back in the village, we combined the coal with wood to make some torches. We've placed these inside our house and around the village, and although we're going to bed quite early tonight, it seems that all of this light is stopping the monsters from getting too close to the buildings.
Day 7: Reinforcement
We're really liking it here, but the village needs to be safer. We went out to gather stones to build a wall. This took most of the day, but we now have a barrier around the village, broken up by a few doors we made out of wood, so no monsters can get inside in the night. It feels really safe and will let us do some work when it gets dark, such as planting seeds to grow wheat for bread.As an experiment, we dug a tunnel inside the village, using our torches to light the way, and deep underground we came across some traces of iron. There's a smelting furnace in the village, so we'll have to see if we can make some better items.
We've been hearing rumours in the village of magic spells and potions, too, so we'll have to investigate that further.
We can barely remember ourselves from the first day - that terrified, helpless guy lost in an alien world. Now this world feels like ours, and we're learning to control it better all the time.
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This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
The endless conveyor belt of tech has been moving fairly rapidly of late, and this week it was the turn of Intel's Ivy Bridge CPUs and Amazon's Kindle Touch to take centre stage.
Check out our in-depth reviews of these products and more...
Amazon Kindle Touch review
There's no doubt that the Kindle Touch is a great ebook reader. It's not a question of whether we recommend it or not – we do – but whether it's the right Kindle model for you. For academic use, we recommend the Kindle Touch over its £89 sibling. It's so much easier to search, highlight and annotate using the touch interface that it's no competition. Similarly, if you like to buy a lot of books on your device on the go, the fact that there's a 3G option could sway you.
However, if you just want a simple high-quality ebook reader for taking everywhere in your bag and reading your library, the cheaper, smaller, lighter £89 Kindle might be the way to go. You won't be disappointed with either.
Intel Ivy Bridge review
In Intel's Tick-Tock parlance, Ivy Bridge is a Tick and that means a new process. In simple terms, it's the 22nm follow up to Intel's searingly successful 32nm Sandy Bridge processors, which launched a little over a year ago. What Intel hasn't done, however, is add any more cores. The top Ivy Bridge model, like the Intel Core i7 3770K, sticks with four cores, just like existing 2nd Gen mainstream Core i7 chips for the LGA1155 socket.
The truth is, this Intel Core i7 770K is barely any faster than existing Sandy Bridge chips like the Core i7 2600K. Given how well optimised Sandy Bridge already is, that's not a surprise. That said, we had hoped the new 22nm process would enable higher overclocks, much lower power consumption or maybe a bit of both. On this first viewing, it doesn't deliver much of either.
Panasonic TX-L47DT50B review
Flying pretty high up the 2012 Viera range, the Panasonic TX-L47DT50 is jam packed with enthusiast-friendly features. It's also unquestionably the best-looking Viera TV ever made.
Its Freesat tuner is ideal for lapsed Sky subscribers or free-to-air viewers unable to access Freeview come the completion of the digital switchover in the UK. Its multimedia and smart TV talents are diverse, and its classy look finally puts Panasonic on a design par with many of its rivals. It might not raise the bar in terms of design, usability and features but it keeps Panasonic up with its rivals. You'd be hard pressed to guess that Panasonic has no previous form in the 47-inch LCD sector before this year.
Sony Alpha a57 review
Costing £700 in the UK or $800 in the US, with a kit lens, the launch price of the Sony Alpha a57 seems a little steep, particularly given that you can pick up the 24.3MP, GPS-enabled Sony Alpha SLT-a65 for roughly the same price, or even less if you shop around online. That said, once the newcomer has been on the market a short while, the street price will no doubt settle at a more realistic point, bringing it more into line with its DSLR rivals such as the Nikon D5100 and Canon EOS 600D. When it comes to features, however, we don't feel at all short changed.
Olympus SZ-14 review
Although there may be a few issues that could be improved upon, such as the non-standard USB interface and the iESP metering system's propensity for overexposure, the Olympus SZ-14 still represents good value for the price.
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Kindle Fire helps Amazon top Q1 estimates
Amazon announced its first quarter earnings, which beat profit estimates thanks to strong Kindle Fire sales.
First the bad news: Amazon's profits are down overall at $130 million net income compared to last year's Q1 net income of $201 million.
Amazon attributes the drop to the company's various investments, such as fulfillment centers, web services infrastructure and video content rights.
Here's the good news: that the $130 million, which translates to 28 cents per share, beats the online giant's first quarter estimate of reaching 6 cents per share.
Meanwhile, revenue grew 34 percent to $13.18 billion, beating expectations set for $12.91 billion.
Kindle Fire Amazon's best selling e-reader
The Kindle Fire was the star of Amazon's first quarter, taking the top spot as Amazon's best-selling item.As a result, Amazon saw a 17 percent increase in media sales that are mostly attributed to customers filling their new Kindle Fire with digital movies and books.
Looking ahead, Amazon is estimating revenue in its second quarter to grow between 20 to 34 percent, or between $11.9 billion to $13.3 billion.
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House passes controversial cybersecurity bill CISPA
The House of Representatives quickly passed controversial cybersecurity bill CISPA yesterday.
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act is designed to encourage the government and corporations to share information on internet security and threats to prevent cyber attacks from foreign entities.
It passed in Congress with a bipartisan vote of 248-168.
However, civil liberties groups say that the bill's measures are too broad.
Critics state the bill enables internet service providers to monitor any of a customer's private communications, including email and instant messages, and share that information with the government without a warrant or court order if it is believed to relate to cybersecurity or national security.
Information shared in this way could then be retained by government agencies and used for investigations outside of the bill's scope.
The bill enables internet service providers to monitor any of a customer's private communications.
An amendment was added to the bill shortly before it passed which expanded the bill to protect the sharing of information pertaining to investigation and prosecution of cybersecurity crimes, protection of individuals from serious bodily harm, and protection of minors from child pornography.ACLU opposes CISPA's passing
A coalition of civil liberties groups including the ACLU, Center for Democracy & Technology, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation issued a statement against the bill's passing:"CISPA's 'information sharing' regime allows the transfer of vast amounts of data, including sensitive information like internet use history or the content of emails, to any agency in the government including military and intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency or the Department of Defense Cyber Command. Once in government hands, this information can be used for undefined 'national security' purposes unrelated to cybersecurity."
CISPA bears similarities to the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act that were introduced earlier year.
SOPA and PIPA came under fire by widespread online activism inspired by online privacy concerns. As a result of the mounting pressure, Congress delayed a vote on both bills.
CISPA will now move to the Senate, which is already reviewing a separate bill that places cybersecurity matters with Homeland Security rather than shared between government agencies and corporations.
The Obama administration has threatened to veto CISPA if it passes the Senate.
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Microsoft acts quickly to fix Hotmail password bug
Microsoft says it has fixed a bug within its Hotmail email service, which had allowed hackers to easily reset passwords and take control of accounts.
The software giant, which has 350m users signed up for webmail accounts, released the fix amid fears that accounts were being easily compromised.
The bug, discovered earlier this month, sparked reports of hackers offering to carry out the password switch on any account for as little as $20 (£12).
YouTube videos highlighting how to perform the hack, mainly in Arabic, had also started to surface.
Quick fix
Microsoft has issued a statement to say the loophole has now been closed and that Hotmail account holders need take no further action."On Friday, we addressed an incident with password reset functionality; there is no action for customers, as they are protected," the company said.
Security firm Sophos has blogged on the subject, pointing out that it's unclear how many accounts have been burgled.
"What isn't known is just how many of Hotmail's 350 million users might have been impacted by the serious security vulnerability - Microsoft certainly isn't saying," the company wrote on its Naked Security blog.
"But if you're worried, there's an easy way to check. Hacked Hotmail accounts would have had their passwords changed to something else - so if you are no longer able to access your Hotmail account it's possible (although by no means definite - there may be other reasons, of course) that your email account fell victim to this attack."
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Budget Sony Xperia ST21i Android 4.0 device leaks
The first images of the so-called Sony Xperia ST21i smartphone have reached the web.
Greek site Techblog has uncovered the snaps of a 3.2-inch device emblazoned with the new Sony-only logo, along with a host of specs which place the device firmly in the mid-range arena.
The handset will reportedly boast an 800Mhz Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM, a rather modest 3-megapixel camera and a run-of-the-mill 640x 480 screen resolution.
Android ICS out of the box
According to the report, wide-set device will have the advantage of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich right out of the box.That's something many of the current crop of Xperia devices from Sony, including the Xperia P and Xperia U cannot claim.
Those devices are launching with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, with an ICS update scheduled for later in the year.
There's no word yet on a potential release date or price for the ST21i but we certainly can't imagine Sony will be charging top dollar for this handset.
Earlier this week, however, we reported that the Xperia P may launch as soon as May 7th.
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Nintendo will offer digital versions of Wii U and 3DS games as it battles iPhone
Nintendo intends to combat Apple's ever-increasing encroachment on the gaming market by offering digital versions of games sold through retail stores.
The Japanese giant announced its first losses in 30 years on Thursday, with the iPhone's dominance of the handheld arena thought to be a factor in underwhelming Nintendo 3DS sales.
Now the company plans to let gamers choose between a physical copy of new games or a digital copy which can be downloaded onto the device by activating a 16-digit code, loaded onto the SD card.
The first game to go on sale using the new system will be New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS, which is launched in August and sees the company adopt a similar approach to the PS Vita.
Fighting back in 2012
The move is seen as lowering the risk for retailers, who won't have to contend with as many unsold discs and cartridges, while it also impacts the second hand-games market despised by studios.The first annual losses encountered by Nintendo (about $533m, £329m) make the next twelve months absolutely crucial.
The company expects sales of the 3DS to fight back and reach expectations, while the Wii U launch later this year will surely be do or die for the company.
A strange rumour on Friday suggested the company might actually attempt to build Android into the new Wii U. If that happens we'll eat our Wii Balance Boards, sideways. However, we guess anything's possible?
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Is the stylus back in style?
Like cowboy boots and 2D video games before it, the smartphone stylus appears to be on the verge of a comeback.
Stylus-based screen control interfaces went out when touch-screen technology debuted in 2007, as Steve Jobs' masterwork was the first mobile device to successfully utilize finger-based touch controls.
But Samsung's Galaxy Note, the large 5.3-inch Android smartphone that could easily be mistaken for a small tablet, could lead the charge to bring the stylus back into consumers' hands.
Samsung's stylus-equipped Galaxy Note sold more than 5 million units, and with a rumored expansion to T-Mobile that number is likely to continue to rise. So it's no surprise that imitators are popping up.
And they may copy the device's stylus as well as its size.
Chinese device maker ZTE's head of handset strategy, Lv Qianhao, reportedly said last week, "We want to come up with the next generation of a Galaxy Note-type product - a combo product of handsets and tablets."
Other rumors peg HTC with a Note competitor slated to be introduced later this year.
The big phone/small tablet could sport Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 chip, 1 5-inch 1080p HD display, updated HTC Sense software, and a Scribe digital pen stylus.
The stylus makes sense
The Samsung Galaxy Note's relatively large touch screen is enhanced by the addition of a stylus, despite the negativity surrounding the little pens since Steve Jobs's infamous Macworld 2007 speech introducing the iPhone."Who wants a stylus?" Jobs said. "You have to get them and put them away, and you lose them. Yuck."
Maybe consumers have become more responsible with their mobile electronics since then, however, as the Galaxy Note is doing quite well.
The device's advanced S Pen stylus allows for unique input methods that can turn it into a versatile sketchpad and more on the go.
Third-party manufacturers have been crafting special stylus devices for use with Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad for years, so the demand is clearly there, even in Apple's traditionally hive-minded market.
With more device makers jumping on Samsung's stylus bandwagon, the question then becomes: will Apple ever follow suit?
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Samsung goes quad-core for the next Galaxy S smartphone
Samsung is getting serious with the power of their Samsung Galaxy S3, as the company just announced that it'll pack a quad-core CPU.
The next successor in Samsung's Galaxy S line of smartphones will be officially unveiled in May, and until then even the name is under wraps.
But the company already announced that it will be their most powerful smartphone ever.
The phone will feature the Exynos 4 Quad chip, built using Samsung's innovative 32-nanometer manufacturing process. The Exynos 4 Quad will reportedly run faster than 1.4GHz.
Quad-core power
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is the second smartphone ever to enter the quad-core races, preceded only by the well-reviewed HTC One X (which lost its quad-core when it came to the states).The 32-nanometer Exynos 4 Quad will be significantly more powerful and efficient than the older 45-nanometer Exynos 4 Dual, allowing for twice the processing power at only 80 percent the battery consumption.
In a statement, Samsung said the "processor is a crucial element in providing our customers with a PC-like experience on mobile devices. Samsung's next Galaxy device, which will be officially announced soon, offers uncompromised performance and ground breaking multi-tasking features."
More specs
Thanks to the Exynos 4 Quad chip, the Samsung Galaxy S3 will be capable of recording and playing 1080p video at 30fps, with the possibility of HDMI 1.4 output.The Galaxy S3 will likely boast a high-quality camera to take advantage of the new chip's quad-core capabilities.
The Exynos 4 Quad processor is base on ARM's Cortex A9, as the latest ARM processor, the Cortex A15, has yet to emerge commercially.
Perhaps the most important development of the new Exynos 4's quad-core processor is that it is "pin-to-pin compatible" with older Exynos 4 dual-core devices.
It will be easy for smartphone and tablet makers to adopt it into their next devices, so expect to hear a lot more about the Exynos 4 Quad in the coming months.
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Valve excited for Steam on Linux, not so much for Windows 8
Linux users are used to getting short shrift when it comes to popular applications and games making the transition to their favorite open-source platform, but it turns out the folks at Valve are not only big fans, they're extremely committed to porting Steam and its Source Engine in a big way.
The folks over at Phoronix headed to Valve's offices in Bellevue, Wash. for some face time with co-founder Gabe Newell, the man paving the way for the arrival of Steam on the Linux platform.
Not only does the company already have a team of Linux developers already hard at work on the port, they continue to hire others in an effort to accelerate those efforts.
Word began to spread in 2010 of a Linux port for Steam and its Source Engine, but many gamers dismissed it as too good to be true - until now.
Linux or bust
As Valve's managing director, Newell only recently became personally involved with the project, which will likely be released first in beta form and initially limited to Left 4 Dead 2.Phoronix's Michael Larabel got a hands-on look at Valve's progress on the Linux port and walked away quite impressed.
"This Linux work just is not some half-assed attempt by [Valve] to make it look like they are a Linux-friendly organization," Larabel explains.
"Gabe's vision to support, embrace, and promote Linux are amazing, assuming they execute, which looks to be very high probability at this point."
Less enthusiastic about Windows 8
It turns out that Newell is an enthusiastic supporter of Linux - but he was far less excited about the course Redmond is currently charting with Windows 8."[Newell's] level of Linux interest and commitment was incredible while his negativity for Windows 8 and the future of Microsoft was stunning," the report reveals.
"I plan to try out Windows 8 simply to see if it's as bad as Gabe states and because he's curious about my opinions of this latest Microsoft operating system."
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New iPad Mini release date, news and rumours
The new iPad has been and gone, sporting a chunkier and heavier build than the iPad 2, which left some wondering: what's with all the extra weight?
However, it looks like Apple may be about to aid those conscious of extra grams in their bags, as rumours hot up about a potential iPad mini (or iPad nano, if you prefer) arriving later this year.
As the Amazon Kindle Fire steals the budget tablet show and with more small, cheap tablets on the horizon, such as the Google Nexus tablet, Apple may well want a bite of the, well, apple.
Back in 2010, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that smaller screened tablets were not "sufficient to create great tablet apps" and would be "dead on arrival", so rumours suggesting a new iPad mini is in the works reveals a potentially new direction for the firm in its post-Jobs era.
Believe it or not, there's certainly a lot of chat surrounding the iPad mini, so we've scooped it all up, mushed it all together and expelled it into a handy round up, allowing you to keep track of every twist and turn.
New iPad mini release date
There's not even an official sign from Apple that the iPad mini/iPad nano is even in the works, so a release date for the tablet is even more up in the air.Although if the rumours turn out to be true, we can expect Apple to start rolling out the iPad mini very soon after a extraordinarily over-hyped launch event.
According to a Digitimes source the iPad nano could start production in the third quarter of 2012.
Analyst Shaw Wu says the "exact timing" for an iPad mini release date "is difficult to predict", but said its launch is a "question of when, not if." Pretty confident then, are we, Shaw?
A report straight out of China suggests that key Apple manufactures Foxconn and Pegatron have started to receive orders for the new iPad mini. It goes on to say the factories will have 6 million units ready for a launch in Q3 of 2012.
Apple has announced its annual WWDC event running from June 11-15, which sold out in just two hours, and there's a chance we could see the Cupertino firm announce the iPad mini there, possibly alongside the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 - but then again, we could also see Apple launch a new ice cream factory, such is the chances of all three of those happening.
New iPad mini price
Apple is known for its extravagant products, launch events and pricing policies, however the iPad mini may herald a new era for those who long for an Apple device, but simply can't part with an arm and a leg to buy one.It's thought that Apple's idea behind the iPad nano is to tackle the budget end of the which, where the Amazon Kindle Fire is currently king, and a Digitimes source predicts it could land with a very reasonable sub £200 ($249-$299) price tag.
New iPad mini display
As the name suggests, we're looking at an iPad which will be sporting a screen smaller than the stock 9.7-inch display found on the first three Apple tablets.In February we saw a report from the Wall Street Journal claiming a source from an Apple component supplier had confirmed it was testing a smaller screen for Apple, in the region of 8-inches with a similar resolution to the iPad 2.
At the start of March, Digitimes reported that the new iPad mini would actually come with a 7.85-inch display – a tad bigger than the 7-inch screen found on the Kindle Fire.
April saw Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu reveal that Apple had been testing devices with screens ranging from 4 to 12-inches and highlighted that the 7.85-inch format would be most likely "when, not if" the iPad mini is launched.
Wu also predicted the iPad nano would sport the same resolution as the original iPad and iPad 2, at 1,024 x 768 – meaning developers wouldn't have to tweak their apps.
New iPad mini early verdict
Well, we're still unsure whether Apple will go down the iPad mini route. Steve Jobs made his stance on smaller tablets quite clear and it would be a daring move by the Cupertino-firm to go against its popular former boss.The budget tablet market is one which is definitely growing, and one which Apple is currently not part of, so it won't be too much of a surprise if the firm does decide to go down this route.
We'd love to see a new iPad mini come to market, as it would certainly give Amazon and co a run for their money... plus it would be intriguing to see what Apple would do with the smaller format.
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News In Brief: One More Thing: Panasonic's new plasma is too big for your eyes
Notorious BIG – Forget your 42-inch TV at home, Panasonic has gone and trumped you and all your mates by creating the world's-first 8K 145-inch plasma. It's so big that you can only watch big things on it. Like the movie Big, The Big Lebowski or Mr Big from Sex And The City movies. Or Big Trouble In Little China and anything with Jason Biggs in it. There's not much word on the thing but it is rumoured that the remote is the size of a hippo. A pygmy hippo but definitely a hippo. [The Verge]
Hip-hopping mad – Videogames are so addictive that even if you are a famous rap star you can't escape their allure. Don't believe us? Then take a look at this video of rap stars swapping pithy beats for pixels. It's rapping with a capital C. [Kotaku and Patrickscottpatterson.com]
Game off – Zynga has posted a significant loss in its latest results showing that Farmville and the like aren't bringing in as much money are they used to. In total, the games company lost $85 million in the quarter. Apparently the company is blaming a dodgy crop of corn and the fact that somebody forgot to build a fence round Farmer Giles' sheep. [The Verge]
A little bit of camp – TomTom has announced a new app for those who like to take their campervan for a spin. Depending on the size of your Winnebago, the app will adjust timings to suit your haulage. It will also tell you where the nearest chemical toilet facilities are. It still doesn't explain why sporks exist, though. [PR]
Don't all rush – Google has shown off its playful side yet again by announcing a new Easter egg for the search bar. Type in Zerg Rush and a ton of Os coming crashing down, decimating the search page. It's a nod to StarCraft, apparently. We prefer the Easter egg where you type a song name, followed by 'torrent' and you get the tune for free! [Google]
Sound of the police – The Metropolitan Police has announced - on Twitter, no less - that it wants all of its 32 boroughs to be tweeting by the summer. We originally read this as 32 borrowers – as in the little people – which sounded a lot more exciting. But as we were more than halfway through writing this tech nugget we thought we would continue. [Twitter]
It's all a little CD – It's official: the CD is not dead! Far from it actually, if you are DVD4Music, a company that's just announced it is selling some rare SACDs. SACD obviously stands for 'super awesome CD'. And what SACDs are being re-launched we hear you cry? Well, there's the soundtrack to Chicago and My Fair Lady and a whole load of Dire Straits. There's also Pink Floyd, Queen and The Eagles – but as these are fairly credible artist we thought it wouldn't be as funny if we mentioned them. Oh… [DVD4Music]
Star trekking – Want to watch the original series of Star Trek but just don't have the time? Then watch a video of all the episodes at once. Yes it's as illogical as it sounds but still great fun. [Fark]
iPad for your pad – The iPad has become the Apple product that surpasses other Apple products as the first Apple product people have owned. The iPhone and iPod are currently knocking on people's doors and handing out 'size doesn't matter' leaflets to anyone that will take them. Essentially they've become the Cameron and Clegg of tech. [NPD Group]
Satellite of love – The UK is going to get closer to the sun than ever before by creating a massive satellite primed with a massive heat-shield that's set to do some probing. And there's us thinking that was what the Leveson Enquiry was for… [BBC Newsround]
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7 Days in Gaming: Max Payne 3 wheels our desk over to Skyrim DLC
We've spent the week seeking out desks with wheels on, just so we can replicate the trailblazers at Valve – but fortunately we managed to find time to wheel ourselves over to the office news fountain to capture the best of the gaming news in the small disposable plastic cup we call 7DiG.
We've always wondered what it would be like to work with the people who created Gordon Freeman's dialogue and got us labelled 'bloody sniping scumbags' in Team Fortress 2, and now we have startling insight due to the brilliant, quirky and ever-so-slightly-depressing-in-a-jealous-kind-of-way Valve employee's handbook. [PDF Flamehaus]
We'll probably be calling our Snow Elf 'N'Safety' if the rumours about Skyrim DLC are true. We can't help get a bit excited about all the vampire improvements – but we'll also bit a little bit dismayed if that giant mudcrab that was demoed at GameJam doesn't make the cut. [CVG]
7DiG spent some time playing through a big ol' chunk of Max Payne 3 this week – and we really like the fact that it made us feel like an awesome action star despite our frankly weedy third-person console shooter skills. Fortunately our gaming PC is more than capable of playing the PC version which means we can ramp up the skill level beyond 'pathetic loser'. [RockStar]
Fancy seeing the Bioshock Infinite trailer recut with the Inception music? Go on then
Bad news everyone – for those people who are wondering how many pennies to leave rattling in their piggy banks in order to grab a Wii U when it arrives, it sounds like you'll have to wait beyond E3 to find out. Booo! Also - Nintendo made a loss for the first time in 30 years. Double booo! [Nintendo]
Good news everyone – rather than working on a 21st century version of Sim Brick Maxis is apparently working on Sim Ocean. Hit space bar to make wave – repeat. [CVG]
Apparently enough people in the Valve offices have wheeled their desks over to the Open Source section - probably in a cupboard somewhere - to plan out Steam for Linux.
More bad new everyone – the PS Vita has hit a new all-time sales low in Japan, falling below 10,000 units for the first time. Context? 11,779 PSPs were sold – which is a bit of shame considering the PS Vita is actually a really nice piece of kit. [CVG]
As ever we'll leave you with a plethora of awesomeness from the other gaming sites around the Future net:
Official Nintendo Magazine:
New Super Mario Bros 2 ideas: 10 things we want to see
Wii U release date and price to be announced at E3 2012
Best Normal Pokemon
CVG
Why Black Ops 2 will be better than Modern Warfare 3
The 25 most heartbreaking moments in Nintendo history
New Halo 4 screenshots and concept art
Golden Joysticks
England v Germany Fifa 12 footage
God of War Ascension trailer
Medal of Hnor Warfighter gameplay interview
Nintendo Gamer
Nintendo's Iwata interviews Sony's Kaz Hirai
Ten of the most ridiculous NES covers ever created
Five alternative E3 2012 predictions
Games Radar
What are Bethesda's quality standards
Everday world problems that would not exist if everyone thought like a gamer
100 best games of all time
Official PlayStation
Dishonoured preview
Dead Space 3 and Army of Two 3 outed
Infamous 3: 6 things we want to change
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Buying Guide: Which is the best Orange phone?
Panther, Dolphin, Canary, Monkey, Camel and Racoon. You'd be forgiven for thinking we'd been on Safari, alas we're not THAT lucky.
As we squirrel away (see what we did there?) our hard earned dosh, we like to know that we get the best from our network. This tends to vary from person to person: cue Orange's slightly incomprehensible animal plans.
On a pay monthly contract, text-hungry users are presented with the Canary Plan, talkers could have the call based Racoon Plan, and then there's the Dolphin Plan, which adds in some data too.
However, should you want, as Orange suggest, "everything", it has created the Panther Plan. True to its word, included are minutes, texts, tether-able data, Wifi and what they call "swapables".
Simply put, these are extras that can be changed monthly depending on your preference. You can choose from Mobile TV options, Deezer music streaming, Game or Book downloads, Puzzles and more.
If that's not enough, available for every plan, for a fiver a month, are a range of optional extras including 500MB of data, Photo Messaging, Sat Nav, Gaming and Sky Sports Mobile TV.
Pay as you go users are similarly treated to a range of plans, each providing differing bonuses per top up, as well as a Phone Fund to contribute to your next mobile purchase, and the ability to top up from as little as 10p.
Oh and before we forget, there's Orange Wednesdays and Film Thursdays, available to all their customers. The premier being 2 for 1 tickets to the cinema, the latter, a free film download from iTunes.
So those are the plans, but what are the phones?
Apple iPhone 4S
Its unsurprising to see the 4S here really, given that Apple's device has taken the market by storm. Backed with an impressive App Store, the 4S brings greater functionality and faster speeds than previous iterations. This is all shown off beautifully on Apple's stunning, pin-sharp Retina display and its quick, smooth processor.Read our full Apple iPhone 4S Review here
Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray
They say big is beautiful, but as the adage goes, it's not about size, it's about what you do with it. Powered by a skinned Android Gingerbread (2.3) and an update to Ice Cream Sandwich incoming, the Xperia Ray can do a lot. Whether web browsing or multitasking, the 1GHz processor powers through nicely, and the clear sharp display shows off photos taken on the 8MP camera well.Read our full Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray Review here
HTC Sensation XE
Also positioning itself towards the top is, forgive us, the sensation-al XE. The first thing we have to mention is the sound. It might not be to everyone's taste, but the Beats Audio technology, that HTC has moved to acquire, adds an extra level to a quality phone. It also comes with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and Sense 3.6 to keep it up to date.Read our full HTC Sensation XE 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
Orange Monte Carlo
It's not very often that a network branded phone can make its way into a best phone list, but Orange have a low cost handset with a fair amount of technology. If you can accept some compromises, you're rewarded with a large responsive screen on top of a surprisingly smooth 800MHz processor. Bundled is also a MediaShare app which makes content streaming nice for beginners too.Read our full Orange Monte Carlo Review here
Samsung Galaxy S2
Mentioned once or twice before, the S2 has to make any list. Although fast approaching its first birthday, and being surrounded by some high end competition, we still love it. Vivid colours make media a dream, and multitasking has to be seen to be believed thanks to its lightning processor. It even looks amazing in its super slim chassis.Read our full Samsung Galaxy S2 review here
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Review: AVG Internet Security 2012
When you're best known for releasing a free antivirus product that is popular with both customers and critics alike, you face a unique dilemma with your paid-for version: what can you offer in your paid version that will convince people to upgrade and part with their money?
This is the situation AVG finds itself in, with its AVG Internet Security 2012 - priced at £40 in the UK and $54.99 in the US for one PC for one year - vying for market space alongside its very popular AVG Antivirus Free 2012.
The interface isn't quite as slick as its competitors', and a desktop gadget that is installed alongside it (like with Norton Internet Security 2012) is ugly and basic. However, it is easy enough to navigate through the many features and options.
This is where the main differences between AVG Internet Security 2012 and AVG Antivirus Free 2012 emerge. While the latter free offering is purely antivirus, the former offers far more features that you'd expect from its rivals.
Firewall, anti-rootkit and identity protection features are all present and correct. They're clearly explained and easy to set up as well.
However, among these features on display on the main page are the PC Analyzer and LiveKive applications. Although they appear to be part of AVG Internet Security 2012, clicking on them leads you to a page asking you to subscribe to the services separately. An understandable request, but it's never nice to be told that a feature you think you've paid for actually requires a separate subscription.
On the antivirus front, CPU usage was 10 per cent, which is pretty good, although there is a slight delay in opening and closing windows and sending emails while the full system scan is running.
Still, it completed a scan in a very fast 7 minutes, 41 seconds - one of the fastest times we've seen.
Recently, AVG Internet Security 2012 benefitted from a substantial service pack update. The main feature that is included with this update is the 'Do Not Track' function. If you've ever browsed for a product on one website, then gone to another website and found adverts for the product (or similar ones) popping up and seemingly following you, then you'll have experienced what AVG Internet Security 2012 is tackling.
While delivering targeted adverts to web users might not seem too bad, some people will be worried that their browsing information is being stored and shared without their knowledge or consent.
Another new feature is the Wi-Fi Guard, which protects you from unknown and unprotected wireless access points. As more and more of us are happy enough to join networks in bars, cafes, hotels and more, this is a welcome layer of protection.
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Government loans to young start-ups
The Government has finally announced more details for the youth start-up loans initiative with an offer of a grant of around £2,500 over 3-5 years.
The initiative announced in the budget this year, aims to bring parity to those young people who don't want to go to University but instead want to launch their own business, by providing student-loan like grants to young-people looking to start in business.
Full details of the scheme will be announced following the expressions of interest stage, which closes in two weeks, However the tender documents reveal that the scheme will consist of
- An average loan of £2,500
- Loan period of 3-5 years
- Up to 12 months repayment holiday
- An Interest rate of the Retail Price Index (RPI) + 3%
- An initial distribution of just £9 million - £1 million less than the figure promised in the budget.
Business and Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk said:
"We want to give young people the best possible chance to start and grow their own enterprise. This scheme is not just providing a small amount of funding, but is about looking at the bigger picture and we want to be able to offer a full package of business training and mentoring.
"We want providers to come forward and demonstrate how they will be best placed to deliver this exciting scheme. By encouraging more young people to get into business we will be able to boost their entrepreneurial spirit and help the future growth of the UK economy."
Stu Anderson, Project Director Shell LiveWIRE said:
"These loans offer the chance for many young people with little financial track record to access seed funding to get their ideas off the ground.
"There are thousands of young people with great ideas who find it hard to access funding because of this. This scheme not only offers a chance to finance an idea, but it also packages together support to ensure that they have the best possible chance of success in business."
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Opinion: Why QuickSync is Intel's secret weapon
Is it time to give up on traditional CPU performance and embrace alternative methods?
That's what I've been pondering of late thanks to Intel QuickSync video feature, reprised in its latest Ivy Bridge processors, the Intel Core i5-3750K and the Intel Core i7-3770K.
QuickSync, of course, is far from new. It's in Intel's previous Sandy Bridge generation of CPUs and therefore it's been around for over a year. But in raw performance terms, it was still the most impressive single feature in the new Ivy Bridge processors.
In part that's because Ivy Bridge brings very little extra in terms of plain old CPU performance, something that I see becoming more and more of a trend as Intel switches its focus to mobile and ultramobile computing. But there's more to it than that.
For my testing, I transcoded an hour-long full-HD episode of a certain swords and just-a-little sorcery that's proving popular at the moment. Using the four CPU cores in the 3770K, which is the fastest of the new Ivy Bridge chips, the task takes around 10 to 15 minutes depending on setting.
Not bad and probably four or five times faster than you might expect from a typical PC with a dual core chip with a couple of years under its belt. However, flick the switch on QuickSync and accelerate the work in hardware and the time tumbles to just a few minutes.
In other words, it's become quick enough to do as a last moment thing before you pop out the door. Fancy catching up on your favourite show in the train that day? No real planning required. If you remember that you wanted to do it at all, you've probably got time thanks to QuickSync.
What about AMD and Nvidia?
Of course, there are a few provisos. Intel does make more powerful PC processors than the 3770K. The Intel Core i7-3960X, for instance, has six cores and will give you around 30 per cent better performance in CPU-encoding mode. But that's still miles off the performance of the 3770K using QuickSync. And the 3960X is based on a server-derived architecture and completely lacks the QuickSync feature.It's also intriguing to note that QuickSync performance holds up pretty well in lower spec Intel processors. I've a pretty weedy Ultrabook knocking about that will transcode video at about half the pace of the 3770K in QuickSync mode. That means it's faster than that 3960X as it brute forces the job in its six cores.
The marketing suits at AMD and Nvidia would of course argue that they've been offering similar capabilities via their discrete graphics chips for yonks. Which is true. But not everyone has discrete graphics. Integrated graphics is where the market is at for the most part. Moreover, it won't be too long before the vast majority of client and consumer PCs have QuickSync capability in some form or vintage.
No the real problem with QuickSync is software support. It's gotten better since the disappointing pair of applications available at launch a year or so ago (here's a list of the most popular QuickSync applications.
But QuickSync will only be really effective fro most people when compatibility is virtually 100 per cent, when the whole thing is almost invisible to end users. It just works, no need to click boxes or check settings.
In the meantime, it's an absolutely killer feature for those in the know.
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Google Glass shown off again, new features revealed
Google Glass has been spotted in the wild once more, this time on the Charlie Rose Show in the US.
The augmented reality glasses system sounded like a pipe dream when it was first shown off by Google but this is the second time an employee has worn them in public.
There were some new features shown off in the interview, including some picture-taking functionality.
This time the wearer was Sebastian Thrun from Google X, the cooler and better name for what was Google Labs.
On the show, he apparently took a picture of the titular host with the Google Glass system and posted it straight from the device.
Through the looking glass
There's been no word on the full functionality for Google Glass, but having a camera built into the device is key to how the glasses will work – given they will be using augmented reality tech.According to Thorn, you will also be able to compose emails by talking to the glasses and have incoming messages pop up while you are wearing them.
The glasses are also thought to sit higher up on the face than a normal pair would but this is so your normal vision isn't impeded.
There's no Google Glass release date but it may well be sooner rather than later, given most people in Google land are seemingly giving them a go.
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Google Glass to bring camera tech to your eyes
Google Glass has been spotted in the wild once more, this time on the Charlie Rose Show in the US.
The augmented reality glasses system sounded like a pipe dream when it was first shown off by Google but this is the second time an employee has worn them in public.
There were some new features shown off in the interview, including some picture-taking functionality.
This time the wearer was Sebastian Thrun from Google X, the cooler and better name for what was Google Labs.
On the show, he apparently took a picture of the titular host with the Google Glass system and posted it straight from the device.
Through the looking glass
There's been no word on the full functionality for Google Glass, but having a camera built into the device is key to how the glasses will work – given they will be using augmented reality tech.According to Thorn, you will also be able to compose emails by talking to the glasses and have incoming messages pop up while you are wearing them.
The glasses are also thought to sit higher up on the face than a normal pair would but this is so your normal vision isn't impeded.
There's no Google Glass release date but it may well be sooner rather than later, given most people in Google land are seemingly giving them a go.
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Android struggling against Apple in the business sector
Apple's iOS devices are far more popular than their Android rivals when it comes to the business market, according a recent report.
A recent report from Good Technology looked at enterprise activations in the first quarter of the year, and found that Apple dominated the stats.
Oddly, the survey did not include RIM or Windows Phone devices and we suspect RIM will still be top in the enterprise market; however, the pack is closing in.
Apple takes 80% of activations
In the iOS to Android comparison the report found that almost 80% of new business activations at the start of 2012 were Apple devices, with the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 topping the charts.Smartphones are still the number one choice accounting for around 75% of the iOS and Android activations, but the tablet market is growing in both the consumer and business sectors, and we reckon this gap will close over the coming months and years.
According to the report it's the financial services sector which is leading the way, accounting for 36% of all the activations in Q1. The technology is still relatively expensive, so there it's no surprise that this money spinning area is the one splashing the cash.
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Google Glass to to bring camera tech to your eyes
Google Glass has been spotted in the wild once more, this time on the Charlie Rose Show in the US.
The augmented reality glasses system sounded like a pipe dream when it was first shown off by Google but this is the second time an employee has worn them in public.
There were some new features shown off in the interview, including some picture-taking functionality.
This time the wearer was Sebastian Thrun from Google X, the cooler and better name for what was Google Labs.
On the show, he apparently took a picture of the titular host with the Google Glass system and posted it straight from the device.
Through the looking glass
There's been no word on the full functionality for Google Glass, but having a camera built into the device is key to how the glasses will work – given they will be using augmented reality tech.According to Thorn, you will also be able to compose emails by talking to the glasses and have incoming messages pop up while you are wearing them.
The glasses are also thought to sit higher up on the face than a normal pair would but this is so your normal vision isn't impeded.
There's no Google Glass release date but it may well be sooner rather than later, given most people in Google land are seemingly giving them a go.
| |
Read More ...
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