First Samsung Galaxy Note gets Jelly Bean, now as hip as younger sibling
As promised back in December, Samsung has started to rolled out the Android Jelly Bean update and a host of 'Premium Suite' features for owners of the original Galaxy Note.
The Korean manufacturer is gradually furnishing owners of the 5.3-inch smartphone/tablet device with the update, with immediate availability depending on region and mobile network.
The update brings early phablet adopters the chance to parade the newest Android and Samsung-made features alongside those Johnny-come-lately Galaxy Note 2 owners.
Android 4.1 obviously brings the awesome Google Now app into play, while a host of Samsung Premium Suite features are also piggy-backing along for the ride.
Multi Window and Page Buddy
Original Galaxy Note owners will get the neat Multi Window functionality which allows users to use two apps simultaneously (i.e. sending an email and watching a video) without switching screens. It also brings Page Buddy, which launches a window featuring relevant apps when a user, for example, pops out the S-Pen or plugs in headphones. There's also a customisable notifications panel and the Smart Rotation feature that also proved popular on the Galaxy Note 2. It's little surprise that Samsung has furnished the device with the update. The Galaxy Note was insanely popular and proved a lot of people wrong with its stellar sales performance. The update, when it hits your part of town, will be available to download over-the-air or using Samsung's Kies desktop software.
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Report: Sony PS4 may be priced under £300 to give console a flying start
Reports on Monday suggest that Sony could offer the new PS4 console for under £300 when it launches, as expected, later this year.
The Times cites industry sources and leaked internal documents suggesting that the launch price will be way lower than the PlayStation 3's prohibitive £425 (60GB) when it arrived back in 2007.
The report said Sony is considering a lower entry point to give the console an instant appeal beyond the traditional early adopters, after the troubles the PS3 had snaring buyers in its formative years.
Reports emanating from Japan earlier this month suggested the PS4 could be priced as low as 40,000 Yen, which equates to around £275 in Sterling. Surely that's a 'best case scenario' for UK gamers?
Upping the social game
Meanwhile, with the hugely-anticipated launch event looming on Wednesday February 20, rumours and reports are continuing to arrive thick and fast. On Monday evening the Wall Street Journal said the console would expand on the PS3's social capabilities, allowing gamers to more easily share on Twitter and Facebook and post gameplay footage to YouTube. The report also claims that online multiplayer elements will involve playing against opponents on smartphones, tablets and dedicated gaming devices like the PS Vita. "Sony's new console may also allow users to compete against others using different hardware, such as smartphones and other portable devices," the report said. Will these rumours come to fruition when Sony takes the stage at the special 'Future of PlayStation' launch event in New York on Wednesday evening? We'll bring you all of the news as it happens.
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Pranksters hack Burger King's Twitter, say it had been 'sold to McDonalds'
Fast food chain Burger King shut down its Twitter account on Monday after hackers broke in and claimed the company had been sold to rival McDonalds.
The official account showed McDonalds' golden arches as the profile picture, changed the cover photo to McDonalds food, and switched the account name to reflect the 'sale' to the Big Mac purveyor.
In the biography page, the hackers mocked BK saying it had been "sold to McDonalds after the whopper flopped" and changed to location to "in a hood near you."
Ironically, after the attack, @BurgerKing's Twitter following rose from a rather measly 83,000 followers, up to 108,000.
Bacon double Anonymous burger
The account is now listed as suspended, presumably while BK tries to undo the damage. However, there's no undoing the embarrassment this will have caused the company. While the account was still live, the hacking collective Anonymous appeared to claim responsibility for the attack, citing #OpMadCow. Whatever that is. Burger King is yet to comment.
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Google+ boss promises 'insanely great cameras' on future Nexus phones
Future Google Nexus devices will boast 'insanely great cameras' according to the head of Google+ Vic Gundotra.
In a post on his Google+ page, Gundotra revealed he was struggling to decide on the camera equipment to take on a trip to the mountains, beyond his Android phone and prototype Google Glass unit.
Commenter Sizar Adam quite pertinently asked: "I hope that someday we will just carry our future Nexus and we won't worry about heavy cameras. Is that possible, Vic Gundotra?"
In response, the Google executive wrote: "We are committed to making Nexus phones insanely great cameras. Just you wait and see."
Tantalising
The tantalising post will raise questions about what the Nexus team has up its sleeve and which manufacturers it is working with to improve the camera tech on future own-branded smartphones. The most-recent device, the LG Nexus 4, boasted an 8-megapixel camera, which "could have been better," according to the in-depth TechRadar review. "We found it to be good in a variety of situations. It won't blow your socks off – but as long as you don't go into this expecting a miniature DSLR, you'll not be disappointed," the review read. Indeed, smartphone cameras continue to improve steadily, to the point where on most occasions some people are happy to rely on them to capture memories rather than carry a compact camera. However, when picture quality has to be relied upon, there really is no substitute for the real thing. Can Google and its OEM partners change this?
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Samsung Galaxy S4 to be unveiled on March 14?
What are you doing on March 14? Perennial phone-botherer Eldar Murtazin suggests you keep it free for a big announcement about the Samsung Galaxy S4.
"Save the date for a big announcement - March 14," he tweeted, before adding "And keep silence."
He's a 'do as I say not as I do', kind of a guy, clearly. Further down the conversational thread, he replied "Yes!" to the suggestion that it will be the S4, and added that the launch location will be New York.
So good they named it twice
Obviously this is far from confirmed - Murtazin had a good track-record of nailing Nokia leaks but he's missed as often as he's hit in the recent pass with his incessant insistence that a Nokia sale to Microsoft was on the cards. We're yet to see any fruits from that rumour, but this one seems more likely since we're expecting the Samsung Galaxy S4 to launch this side of summer. Specs supposedly on the cards include a 5-inch Full HD screen, beefed-up quad-core Exynos 5440 chip and a 10 or 13MP camera. While we're not completely convinced about this March 14 launch date, we'll be keeping an eye on it just in case.
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Sony gets misty-eyed ahead of PS4 launch with video retrospective
Sony has pretty much made the PS4 a nailed-on certainty for its event on Wednesday by releasing three 'Evolution of PlayStation' videos.
Ah, nostalgia. The first video looks back at the days of the PlayStation with its blocky state-of-the-art graphic, laughably small sales figures and comedically dated design.
With the horrendously '90s tagline 'U R NOT E' ('you are not ready' - yeah, without the seemingly optional (RED) part, it makes no sense), Sony tried by its own admission to turn the PlayStation from a product into a way of life. A grammatically-nonsensical way of life.
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Buying guide: Best Full HD phone: Xperia Z vs Ascend D2 vs ZTE Grand S
Sony's Xperia Z launches at the end of February, bringing a high-end 1080p resolution screen to the masses. Or at least, to what Sony hopes will be masses of smartphone buyers.
Problem is, 1080 x 1920 or 1080p resolution displays are about to become commonplace in 2013, as the phone manufacturers of the world, struggling to compete on power now that EVERYTHING is super-powerful, turn to screen density and display clarity in an attempt to beat their competition.
So as well as the Xperia Z, early 2013 will see the arrival of young upstart Huawei and its Ascend D2, also packing a 1080p display measuring some 5 inches, plus its Chinese rival ZTE is launching the equally enormous ZTE Grand S. The latter is another big 5-inch model that again packs a 1080p screen.
This time last year, any one of this high-spec trio would've stunned us with the audacity of offering a 1080p display on a mobile phone. But in the fast moving world of Android hardware, we're now in a position where we can be fussy. So let's be fussy. Which one's best?
Xperia Z vs Ascend D2 vs ZTE Grand S: Operating system
The Xperia Z is scheduled to arrive with Android 4.1 as its launch OS, with Sony promising an update to Android 4.2 shortly after launch. The Sony model features masses of bespoke modifications, though, with Sony incorporating Google's enhanced visual notifications system, adding a custom lock screen, and completely overhauling Android's usual camera and gallery systems. While perhaps a little bland looking, Sony's interface customisations heap on the features and make Android even more versatile than usual. The Ascend D2 is closer to the "stock" Android experience, with Huawei offering Android 4.1.2 as its initial OS. It's still fiddled with a few things, visually speaking, as part of its in-house Emotion UI skin. This means you get a user-definable number of Home screens (up to nine), a reworked camera system and a selection of power and feature toggles in the notifications pane. We'd prefer stock Android to Huawei's skinning, but at least Huawei usually offers us the option to turn most of the maker's customisations off and revert to a more standard version of Google's Jelly Bean code. The Grand S, meanwhile, also arrives powered by Jelly Bean, with ZTE needlessly altering Google's dock icons and widgets, plus the multitasking button we see on most new Android models is absent - the Grand S sticks with the old fashioned Menu button in its below-screen touch button area. There's also the duff TouchPal keyboard pre-loaded for text input, but that's best ditched for the standard Android option.Xperia Z vs Ascend D2 vs ZTE Grand S: Processor
Both the Xperia Z and ZTE Grand S run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad core CPU, with the Xperia Z's unit clocked at 1.5GHz and the Grand S maxing it out at a whopping 1.7GHz. That's the same unit that powers the awesome Nexus 4, so while it's not amazingly cutting-edge and thrillingly new in these days of warp speed mobile tech advances, it's still proven to be one of the most capable and speedy chipsets out there today. It'll be taxed a little harder pushing a 1080 x 1920 display around, though. The Huawei Ascend D2 is more of an unknown quantity, in that it's running on Huawei's own newly developed 1.5GHz quad-core processor, so we have no real way of knowing what it'll be like out there in the field when asked to run Super Hexagon for nine hours a day.
Xperia Z vs Ascend D2 vs ZTE Grand S: Screen
Sony's Xperia phones have always had superb displays, with the company's blend of BRAVIA tech and the Reality Display thing it likes to talk about doing a great job of keeping everything clear and sharp. The Xperia Z features both those enhancements, boosting the BRAVIA stuff to version two status. What we saw of the new 1080 x 1920 display in our Xperia Z hands on was stunning. It'll be a winner, no doubt about that. Huawei's also been doing good work in the display world, with its older Ascend P1 and the budget G300 and G330 looking sharp. The Ascend D2 promises to hit a 443ppi pixel density level, making it another super-sharp screen choice. The display's viewing angles also impressed when we went hands on with the D2 at CES. ZTE, meanwhile, has less of a reputation for quality, seeing as it's been happy chucking out cheap clunkers for years. The Grand S managed to look "crisp and clear" in our CES hands on, although 1080p video playback looked a little disappointing. Hopefully that's something ZTE can amend before the phone's launch.Xperia Z vs Ascend D2 vs ZTE Grand S: Storage
All three of these phones come with around 2GB of usable RAM, although Huawei's spec sheet says users can expect to see more like 1.8GB reported in actual use. That's literally stacks of RAM, more than enough to ensure Android can handle multi-tasking with ease. Some cheaper phones out there today are still launching with 512MB, to put things in perspective. You won't have to worry about shuffling apps off to an SD card or deleting things for quite some time with these monsters. In terms of onboard options for storing media, music and other files, the Xperia Z comes with 16GB built-in and an SD card slot, the Ascend D2 packs 32GB internally but has no expansion slot, while ZTE's Grand S mirrors the Xperia Z in offering 16GB inside and an SD card slot for heaping in more Breaking Bad episodes.
Xperia Z vs Ascend D2 vs ZTE Grand S: Camera
Camera spec is another area where there's little to pick between today's top smartphones on paper. It's not until you get a finished phone out there in the real, often dingy world, that megapixels can be translated into meaningful results. On paper, the Xperia Z claims it'll enhance its staggering 13.1-Megapixel output with Exmor RS technology, which ought to improve low-light images, with an HDR option for jazzing up gloomy locations - and HDR video options, too. The Ascend D2 matches most of this, also offering a 13MP sensor with flash and HDR stills shooting mode, while the Grand S also records images at 13MP resolution. Front-facing chat cameras are also part of the high-end Android spec sheet these days. The Xperia Z's front-facing camera captures at 2.2MP resolution, the Grand S manages 2MP through the front lens, while the Ascend D2 has a 1.3-Megapixel resolution secondary camera. All three shoot video at 1080p resolution, too. It'll come down to the lens quality and noise levels in the end, something we'll cover in more depth in future reviews of all three monster mobiles.Xperia Z vs Ascend D2 vs ZTE Grand S: Connectivity
Sony's been going all-out with NFC support for some time, with the Xperia Z fully compatible with NFC tech and Sony trying very, very hard to make sure everyone knows about it. The phone's also 4G ready for use with the UK's about-to-explode next-generation network, while the Xperia Z also features Sony's own implementation of the Miracast screen sharing tool, for easily whacking your media on an HDTV. There's no 4G connectivity or NFC chip in the Ascend D2, but ZTE's Grand S is a member of the next-gen LTE club like the Xperia Z and also boasts NFC abilities. All three offer Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0 and HSDPA radios for the best possible 3G speeds.
Xperia Z vs Ascend D2 vs ZTE Grand S: Dimensions and weight
ZTE's Grand S is a slim one. Measuring just 142 x 69 x 6.9mm, it's one of the slimmest Android models on the horizon with just a slight bulge around the back to house the camera optics. It's also pocket friendly in terms of heft, weighing just 110g. The Xperia Z is a big old fatty in comparison, coming it at a slightly bigger 7.9mm thick (139 x 71 x 7.9mm all round), while weighing a much more substantial 146g. Huawei's Ascend D2 is the real heavyweight in this round-up, coming in at chunky 9.4mm thick (140 x 71 x 9.4 mm). But if it's kind to our wallets, we're less likely to mind the weight.Xperia Z vs Ascend D2 vs ZTE Grand S: Battery
Big screens require big batteries to keep them alive. Any shortage in this department and you've just committed to spending £36 a month for the next two years on a constant source of disappointment. In terms of physical capacity, the Xperia Z offers a 2330mAh battery, the Grand S is rated at a low-end 1780mAh that's a surprisingly small choice given the size and power of the phone, while the Huawei contains an enormous 3,000mAh unit. These will give varying levels of performance when in use, and Sony's making a big deal about the power-saving hibernation features within the Xperia Z, but on paper you'd have to choose the fatter Huawei for its potential uptime if you demand a long-life mobile.
Xperia Z vs Ascend D2 vs ZTE Grand S: Early verdict
There's something to recommend in all three, is the sad, fence-sitting conclusion here. The Xperia Z will feature Sony's incredibly packed and versatile custom user interface, although the Android hardcore will moan that it's not appearing with Android 4.2 as its launch OS. It'll be a great piece of hardware, though. ZTE's Grand S offers the slimmest chassis and is by far the lightest and most pocketable of the three big-screen phones, but the compromise here is the poor 1780mAh battery - surely not enough given the power demands of its quad-core chipset and enormous display. The key offering from Huawei is its enormous battery, with that 3,000mAh cell set to be one of the otherwise chunky and otherwise unremarkable phone's biggest selling points. It's the fattest and heaviest of the trio, but with nearly double the battery power of the ZTE model, it'll surely keep you amused the longest. In summary, we'll have one of each, please.
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Analysis: Is BlackBerry getting out of a Jam?
BB10 - signs of early success?
Did the BlackBerry Z10 launch fall a bit flat? Not from where BlackBerry is sitting. "The feedback has been incredible," UK MD Rob Orr told us at the BlackBerry Jam developer event. "And that's feedback right across the market, from developers to enterprise customers to walk-in buyers to the senior management in the mobile networks and the retailers, down to the Saturday store staff." BlackBerry doesn't release sales figures itself; that's up to the retailers such as Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U, or to market researchers GfK, but the stories about people walking into London stores such as Selfridges and buying 10 BlackBerry devices at a time? "There's been a lot of that," he claims. "And that's before we started the advertising…" Want to sell a lot of phones? You need the mobile networks behind you - from the staff in phone shops who get asked for advice to the executives who decide on tariffs, special offers and which phones to put in their adverts. The networks do a good job of sounding excited about all the new handsets that come along, but what's impressive is that BlackBerry can produce senior figures at every UK phone network who seem to actually understand the new features in BlackBerry 10. Equally on side are the technical teams who test phones before they're allowed on the network. Testing can hold up your phone; look at how long it takes operators to approve new updates for Windows Phone. That makes it more impressive that some of them worked through Christmas to get BlackBerry Z10 handsets approved so they could go on sale quickly after launch.
Because BlackBerry didn't want to wait for Mobile World Congress 2013, with its flood of announcements and launches, timing was tight to find and fix any issues and get phones in boxes and on the shelves.
Instead of dragging their feet, the networks pitched in. "Over Christmas they had warehouses opening, labs opening," Orr told TechRadar. "The kit was coming through and we had testing taking place between Christmas and the New Year break to get us to the launch date - and that's quite rare. It's quite a rare thing for them to come out and say 'this is different, this is special and we are behind it'."
Why so helpful? "We're an important part of their business today. We're comfortably the third place platform in the UK market - and this helps me solidify that position and ultimately start to make inroads and grow it from where we are today."
BlackBerry and the competition
Where BlackBerry is today is, of course, behind iPhone and Android. We asked European MD STephen Bates: What has BlackBerry learned from the success of other devices? "The difference between us and others is the choice we took - which was a hard choice. To develop a completely new platform has given us the ability to create a different user experience," he admitted. "That's something that you cannot get if you were to OEM it from a third party. What the competition has done is setting this concept of an app grid. That's a great user experience and what we've done is taken that and moved it on to have a fresher, smoother, more integrated feel.
"It's about the flow, the gestures. With up to eight apps open and with your social networks in the hub, if you add it up you've probably got 15-16 things and the ability to flow across them and keep the context of what you're doing. That's a unique experience."
Bates is happy to admit that BlackBerry has learned lessons. "We haven't been perfect. We've learned a lot in the last two years and we've tried to take those learnings and build a new better BlackBerry.
"We've used this time to spend a lot of time talking to customers about what is the essence of BlackBerry; what do you like, what you do not like? For BlackBerry 10 we wanted to keep the essence of what BlackBerry is about and deal with the disqualifiers."
The essence of BlackBerry isn't just the keyboard or BBM, important as those are. "To me fundamentally it's a communications device where we deliver a capability to people who naturally multitask, who want to get lots of things done," added Bates.
We can flow across these worlds and enable you to interact with all the networks you want to connect with, be it Facebook, Twitter, BBM, Foursquare, Whatsapp, Skype - we don't care. Whatever your flavour of communications is, we want to deliver unique fast experiences, and that's what the hub is all about."
Plus there was dealing with the places BlackBerry was behind; Bates calls those table stakes, things BlackBerry just had to get right.
"We solved the classic reasons why people don't stay with BlackBerry; the browser, the apps, multimedia. We've now got probably the best browser. We've got a very competitive app market. Multimedia; the screen is simply beautiful."
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course; if you were hoping for dedicated apps, having iPlayer and YouTube open in the browser may be a surprise, but it is a browser that plays Flash and gets a higher score for HTML5 compatibility than the desktop versions of Chrome and Firefox.
(Sneakily, the browser has a new user agent, which means a site that's sending older BlackBerry users to a mobile version will give BB10 users the full desktop site because it won't recognise the agent.)
The 4.2-inch screen is larger than the iPhone 5's screen, and the 1280 x 760 resolution beats it and matches the Google Nexus 4 and Nokia Lumia 920. The pixel density is lower than the iPhone's retina display, but videos look more than acceptable and you have the HDMI out to push movies to a larger screen at 1080p as well.
Certainly, this is a world away from the low resolution screen and clunky video player in BB7, especially when you look at apps such as Nobex, which now plays video podcasts as well as internet radio stations.
And yes, it did take a push from other handset makers to get here. Or as Bates puts it with a more positive spin; "the consumer wins in all this because we've moved on; we've brought something fresh, we've brought something new. It's a great demonstration of the power of that competitive market."
The keyboard is coming
Around April the BlackBerry Q10 goes on sale. Why bring out a touchscreen phone first when BlackBerry is known for its physical keyboard? Orr says this isn't just BlackBerry hedging its bets. "The reason we launched the touchscreen device first is because the BB10 platform was built as a gesture-based touch interface. We have gestures for peek and flow and the way we reinvented the experience is best showcased in a purely touch environment. "But we built the keyboard phone because the BlackBerry base is very loyal to that tactile physical interface." It also gives BlackBerry more time to get the right content. Some big name apps are ready (Facebook, Twitter, TuneIn and Angry Birds) with others "committed" to BlackBerry 10 but not launched yet (Skype, Kindle and Whatsapp), and BlackBerry "in talks" about getting Netflix and Instagram too.
It's disappointing that big names are waiting until BlackBerry has more users to finish delivering their apps (and there's no sign of Spotify, which just came out in beta for Windows Phone 8).
"We're going out and making sure we have specific apps and services that matter for this market, that we have the movies and music and content and shows that people want. So we have the BBC back catalogue and the ITV back catalogue in BlackBerry World," Orr points out when speaking on the benefits of BB10 in the UK.
"Things like having the tube map is important. BBC iPlayer is available on the device; that's important for the UK. New things will pop out and we need to jump on them."
It's interesting to note that BlackBerry World isn't filled with ported Android apps; those make up only 15% of the 70,000 apps at launch, and over half are native apps built in BlackBerry's own hardware-accelerated Cascades framework.
Orr echoed CEO Thorsten Heins, who called the launch the starting line rather than the finish line (which is especially true in the US, where the BlackBerry Z10 isn't available yet. "This is the start of the next 10 years of our evolution. There will be lots of exciting innovations and improvements along the way."
The first of those comes on the BlackBerry Q10 as a new feature called Type and Go. If you just start typing when you're not in an app, the BlackBerry will treat it as a command. Type 'email Paul' or 'BBM Dan' and that's what you'll find yourself doing.
Developers will be able to add these hotkeys to trigger their own apps, so you could start typing to open your favourite internet radio station or iPlayer channel. And yes, you'll be able to do that on the touch keyboard of the BlackBerry Z10 at some point.
"When we get an update [to BB10.1], it will come to the BlackBerry Z10 as well," head of software Vivek Bhardwaj told us. The main question is how to make it work without feeling like more work than just swiping across and opening the app with your thumb, which is why Type and Go is on the BlackBerry Q10 first.
There's no date for that BlackBerry Z10 update, or for getting BB10 on the BlackBerry PlayBook, but "BlackBerry 10 will be coming to the PlayBook at some point later this year," vice president Alec Saunders confirmed to us.
BB7 isn't dead - yet
Even though the Z10 is on sale, BlackBerry isn't killing off BB7 phones just yet. A lot of that is for the existing business market, explains Orr. "In enterprise the BB7 portfolio is the workhorse device; government, financial institutions… these guys are continuing to purchase BB7. And in the prepaid space we had a very successful run for Christmas." So if people keep on buying BB7 handsets, BlackBerry will carry on selling them; at least for now. "On an ongoing basis we will eventually bring BB10 to those other segments of the market," Orr told us. BB7 and BB10 will coexist for at least the rest of 2013, according to European MD Stephen Bates. "We've brought out these high-end devices as a statement of intent - to demonstrate vividly the new BlackBerry. Our intention is to evolve that portfolio to enter the mid-tier. "But we don't see us getting to the entry-level tier for some time [with BB10]; certainly not this year. Based on the great sales we've had over Christmas in the UK there is a demand for the entry-level BlackBerry, and we don't want to give that up, so we're going to continue with Curve and the entry level as we bring BlackBerry 10 down through the mid-tier and eventually into the entry level." With the focus on BB10, we don't expect major updates to the £99/$210 BlackBerry Curve 9320 that turned out to be the UK Christmas bestseller (at least if you were giving a phone as a present), though we might see a minor refresh. The sales figures show BB7 doesn't have mass appeal, even compared to Windows Phone, which is also aiming at third place. In the US, Windows Phone sales pulled ahead of BlackBerry, putting Microsoft ahead for the first time since 2006, with 2.6% US market share compared to BlackBerry's 1.1%, according to analysts Kantar. In the UK, BlackBerry is still ahead at 6.4% compared to 5.9% for Windows Phone. But the millions of existing BB7 users are still getting new features, Bates points out. "It was important for us to show that we're not giving up on BB7. We launched BBM Voice and it connects into the BB10 world where we've added video and screen sharing." Saunders, who is in charge of developer relations, calls BB7 "a self-sustaining market". There are a thousand new apps for BB10 arriving in BlackBerry World every day at the moment but he says "there are 10,000 to 15,000 new apps per quarter built for BB7, so the catalogue continues to grow." And he points out that when he started his job in 2011 "there were 43,000 apps for BB7; there are over 120,000 now". Developers will keep building BB7 apps, Chris Smith, VP of the application platform is confident, because "it's a very lucrative market." "It's economics, it costs half as much to build a BB7 app as it does for another platform and the top earning platform [has been] BB7; 47% more revenue than iOS, 38% more than Android," he says.
Those figures come from Vision Mobile's regular Developer Economics reports; the new 2013 report shows developers viewing BB10 as one of the three platforms they look at first (alongside iOS and Android).
The higher revenue comes from the lower development costs and often higher app prices on BlackBerry World. Downloads per user are also high, plus developers tend to charge for their apps on BlackBerry rather than giving them away and making money from ads.
Does it stay an attractive market? Until there are more BB10 users than BB7 (or the remaining BB7 users change their habits), developers still have an incentive to keep making apps for them - and HTML5-based apps could run on both.
Beyond mobile
At the BlackBerry Z10 launch, Heins claimed that BlackBerry 10 would "lead the move from mobile connection to mobile computing". But Tim Neil, the product manager for the BlackBerry platform, says we should be thinking even bigger than that. "Move past just thinking about phones and think about getting into the car and other environments." The QNX kernel used in BB10 is also used for car entertainment systems. "The architecture allows distributed displays within the car," Neil explains. But what about taking your BlackBerry into the car? "We're looking at how we can take advantage of being at both ends of the connection in the car. "Where we believe we have some interesting advantages is these two things can connect and actually run as one virtual environment, sharing each other's processes and doing crazy things. That opens up interesting opportunities for device to device connection, and when you get into a car, you could make things integrate more than just by displaying my app on the screen in the car." Outside the car, he promises, "there's a lot of stuff we're doing that will be interesting; we could have more interactive screen management, or display multiple screens. There's the cloud and there's the concept of an interactive environment of devices that are close to each other - or even not close to each other but connected. What are the different things you can do there? "We think we will see some interesting innovations come out using proximity and detecting the location and the things we can do to really connect different devices and environments together and have integration and interactions happen behind the scenes." If you're the kind of user BlackBerry 10 is aimed at, juggling home and work and friends and wanting to do lots of things at once, and you like all the gestures and menu options (such as pressing and holding on the date in the inbox to get navigation tools), you might love this. If you're already a BlackBerry user, it will feel fresh and familiar at the same time. The question is how wide the appeal of this different experience will be, given how many people already like the iOS and Android way of doing things. But there's no question that BlackBerry is committed to its new platform, as the team that got 70,000 apps into BlackBerry World for launch is still hard at work supporting developers - and it's run by veterans of the same evangelism team that got the world to adopt Windows. The arrogance and insularity of the old RIM seems to have been replaced by an underdog attitude that is reminiscent of the Windows Phone team - ironic really, since they're both battling for third place.
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Enjoying the Oscars on your GALAXY Note II
It's Awards Season in Hollywoodland and the great and the good of the silver screen are gathering and dazzling on California's red carpet.
But how can we mere mortals get in on the action? With your trusty GALAXY Note II to hand, you can take part in 2013′s Academy Awards, watch the films that made it on that rather splendid 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED display and then try your hand at making one for contention in 2014.
Following the Oscars
1.E! Live from the Red Carpet (free)
This year's Oscars takes place on February 24 so you'll want to get your set up in place in advance. For following the red carpet action as it happens, you can't do better than E!'s Red Carpet app. With lovely crisp images filling the Note II's expansive screen of the stars in all their finery, the app updates with the winners as they're announced as well as all the fashion faux-pas.
2.IMDb (free)
No self-respecting film fan should be without the IMDb app. Playing host to a huge encyclopedia of film casts, crews, connections and trivia, it's your go-to app for "Where do I know that guy from?" and "What's the quote I love again?", not to mention, "I really fancy Jennifer Garner, what else has she been in?". An essential – and free – download for your GALAXY Note II.
3.The Official 2013 Oscars App (free)
What a gyp; this app is compatible with the Samsung GALAXY Note II but it's not available in the UK! Gah!! Discrimination that is.
Still, if you're lucky enough to be rocking the GALAXY Note II in the US this Oscars season, you can enjoy a comprehensive guide to everything Oscars related, including information on the nominees, trailers for all the films up for award and you can even cast a virtual ballot and keep track of how well you predicted who'd win what on the night.
4. Samsung Video Player (free, built-in)
Samsung has made one of the best video apps on the market so if you're investing in this year's big winners, do them justice by watching them through the built-in Samsung Video Player.
You can pop out the video and keep it floating anywhere you like on the Note II's generous screen while you multitask in other apps – penning that screenplay when inspiration strikes, perhaps? Or storyboarding using the S Pen, planning shot lists… or simply checking Twitter because Lincoln is quite long and you can't be expected to pay full attention all the way through, right?
5. Netflix (free, requires subscription)
Once the ceremony itself is out of the way, you'll want to swot up on what made the great and the good the great and the good. Get thee to Netflix, friends, and stream full films (and TV series) in HD to take full advantage of your Note II's pin-sharp screen. It may not have the most, er, comprehensive film library in the world but it's growing all the time and managed to garner more of 2012′s new releases than its arch-rival Lovefilm. Lovefilm, incidentally, doesn't yet offer an official streaming app for Android… You know what to do.
6. Blog – Ultra Culture
Written by Charlie Lyne, Ultra Culture strikes a careful balance between good-natured outrage, poster deconstruction and a genuine love of film, particularly the 2004 teen-road-movie Eurotrip for some reason. While he hasn't revealed his plans for Oscar night this year, his predictions, reactions and (in 2011) progressively more inebriated live blog are always entertaining yet spot-on.
7. The Hollywood Reporter
The definitive guide to the Academy Awards can be found at The Hollywood Reporter, which has dedicated a whole section of its site to awards season.
With pre-ceremony hype, in-depth analysis of the winners and nominees and videos, photos and every other tidbit of Oscars-related gossip that you could possibly desire.
Shooting a contender for the 2014 Oscars
Right, enough basking in reflected glory – time to put your Note II where your mouth is and get shooting. 8. Lapse It (free, premium option) The Samsung GALAXY Note II's HD video camera is a perfectly good shooting machine alone, but a spot of time-lapse video adds a professional veneer to any filmmaking endeavour. Enter LapseIt, an app that you can set to take a still image at an interval of however many seconds you like to show the passing of time. Once you've recorded your time lapse video, you can trim it in the app and set it to play as quickly or as slowly as you like. If you upgrade to the pro version of the app, you unlock a bunch of new features including the ability to record using the Note II's front-mounted camera.
9. Sync Slate (free)
If you don't have a clapperboard handy then Sync Slate is the app for you. Taking the place of the traditional wooden slate and removing the need to faff about with chalk, it allows you to set the scene, take number and snap 'action' for marrying up the sound and image tracks when you come to edit your opus.
What's more, it'll automatically increase the take number every time you snap it into action so no need to keep track yourself – perfect when time and light are running out.
10. Kodak Cinema Tools (free)
This is one for the real film enthusiasts among you – Kodak's Cinema Tools app calculates how many minutes of film you've shot based on the amount you've used in feet or meters.
It can calculate your running time whether you're shooting in Super 8, 35mm or PTA-approved 65mm – so in 100 feet of 35mm film at 24fps, you've only shot yourself 1m 06s of movie. Better crack on.
The app also features a depth of field calculator for setting up your shots, and a glossary so you can at least make out like you know what you're talking about when you're talking about B Wind, emulsion speed and unprezzing.
What are you waiting for? The 2014 Oscars are yours for the taking.
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Twitter stat attack: 5 per cent of Twitter users are now in the UK
There are now over 10 million active Twitter users in the UK, according to Twitter's latest stat attack.
Given that the site has over 200 million users worldwide, that means that the British make up around 5 per cent of Twitter's tweeters.
It's a little more than the 4,427,000 users that Nielsen feared may represent Twitter's UK peak back in January 2010, which just goes to show that you can't 100 per cent trust stats in 83 per cent of cases.
Doing the math
In an effort to tempt more advertisers into the Twitter fold, the site has done a bit of research into what those UK tweeters get up to, finding that 80 per cent of the British users access Twitter from their phones. That's a higher proportion than global mobile twitterers - of the 200 million world-wide users, 60 per cent use the service via mobile at least once a month. Sadly, this mobile power is leading to poor social ettiquette by twittering from social situations (1 in 3) and from bed (50 per cent), as well as in front of the TV (66 per cent).
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In Depth: 10 best iPhone football apps for 2013
As legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said: "some people believe football is a matter of life and death - it is much, much more important than that."
That sentiment will ring true for any football fan, from those who stand on freezing terraces on Tuesday nights to those glued to the television every Saturday afternoon.
We've rounded up our top ten football apps for iPhone, which help you enjoy football even more.
Whether it's following your team, enjoying the finest goals from around the world or passing those hollow days between games, these are the best football apps for your iPhone.
1. Sky Sports Live Football Score Centre - free
Every Saturday, millions of people around the UK spend their afternoon feverishly glued to their TV, watching four grey-haired men from Sky Sports watch football.
US readers may find this a bizarre phenomenon, but if your team is in action, it's essential viewing.
Unfortunately, Saturday afternoons often have other dubious functions such as family, shopping and kids. If this sounds familiar, try Sky Sports Score Centre, which puts Jeff Stelling and his silver-haired gang in your pocket, with up-to-the-minute action from every game from the Premier League and Serie A to the Evo-Stick League, with team line-ups, live commentary and stats.
Download it from iTunes
2. ESPN Goals - free
Football coverage is notoriously draconian and like our fathers and forefathers, most people have to wait for hours to see the day's action, but not you.
ESPN Goals enables you to watch the Premier League's stunning strikes minutes after the net stops rippling, absolutely free on your iPhone.
It's up to the minute coverage like you wouldn't believe, with excellent quality and it works over 3G. Make the most of it, however, because ESPN only has the rights until the end of the season, before Murdoch's papers snap them up.
Download it from iTunes
3. FourFourTwo Stats Zone - free
If you take your football more seriously than those halfwits in the pub who spout half-baked observations based on tired cliches the FourFourTwo Stats Zone is the app for you.
It offers full analysis of all the Premier League games, from the basic shot count and possession to full pass maps and work rates of the players.
It's not just a pool of meaningless information for football geeks, as it can also be used for evil, adding insight to your fantasy football teams, weekend sports betting and pub trivia worth its salt.
Download it from iTunes
4. Football Manager Handheld 2013 - £6.99
A game for true football fans, Football Manager Handheld 2013 is a portable port of the classic PC game, which has sapped millions of collective hours from our youth.
It's made with footy-mad commuters in mind and while it's lighter on the options it retains all the compulsive enjoyment of its fully-featured predecessors.
The best thing about it isn't the breadth of teams or smooth learning curve, both of which are excellent, but that it can be picked up and put down easily, making it ideal for short journeys to work.
Download it from iTunes
5. New Star Soccer - 69p
The game that took the world by storm last year, New Star Soccer is one of the best footy simulators out there. You command the career of an up-and-coming player who has to battle the conflicting interests of playing the modern game with gambling, sponsor commitments and high-maintenance girlfriends.
It may sound like a grown up version of The Sims because it is, but you get to score 40-yard wonder-strikes and enjoy your character having a better life than you.
Download it from iTunes
6. Sky Go - Free (requires Sky subscription)
So you've been dragged away for the weekend, the biggest game of the season is live on Sky Sports, and you're not sure what's worse: missing the turning point in the title chase or that you pay for Sky Sports and you're stuck in a rainy caravan in Morecombe.
Sky Go is the essential app for any iOS rocking Sky Sports subscriber, and it lets you watch the game live on your iPhone. We'd urge you to tweet the hashtag '#winning' but you might miss a goal.
Download it from iTunes
7. Score! Classic Goals - free
The App Store is filled with footy games which let you flick and swipe balls into the net with varying degrees of majesty, but Score does it best.
Why? Because each of the wonder goals hammered home by your index digit are reenactments of the finest strikes in international football history.
Eagled-eyed gamers will spot them from the tournaments of yesteryear, from Michael Owen's mazy England goal that humbled Argentina in '98 to Dennis Bergkamp's dreamy volley in '96.
The game's made better by the rating system of the goals, and you need to get them perfect to unlock the next set; think Angry Birds does football and you're there.
Download it from iTunes
8. 101 Great Goals - free
Right, keep this one on the down-low because Rupert Murdoch will go mad if he finds out: 101 Great Goals has links to every decent goal in world football, usually with Middle Eastern commentary.
If your friend asks "did you see Messi's goal on Sunday where he beat 10 players and pirouetted the ball into the net?" you can find it in seconds.
The site also does a sideline in hilarious football GIFS, many of which feature Andres Villas Boas, who's hilarious in 10fps.
Download it from iTunes
9. BBC Sport - free
The Beeb has just released its official sports app, which puts all the latest football news at your fingertips. Not only is it great for the fascinating soap opera of football, but it also has live text commentary of the biggest games from the BBC's World-renowned team of journalists.
It's also fully customisable, so you can choose to filter football stories from the vastly less important rugby, tennis and athletics news.
Download it from iTunes
10. MatchPint - free
You're in a strange city and it's almost the lunchtime kick-off - time to find a pub. Leaving it up to your mate who reckons "he knows somewhere nearby" is a sure-fire recipe for missing the first half or ending up in a friendly local Millwall hangout.
Leave nothing to chance with MatchPint, which find the games on TV and tells you where's showing them, offering reviews of the establishment in question and will even guide you there using Google Maps.
It's one of many apps that do similar things, but the simple interface and multitude of users make it a top-scorer in our eyes.
Download it from iTunes
Try this…
Football Week - £1.99 per week
Football Week is the essential weekly magazine for fans, made by Future Publishing, the parent company of TechRadar in partnership with the Press Association.
It's a brand-new digital magazine only available on iPad, which has previews of all the weekend's Premiership matches, with in-depth features as live coverage of the action.
It has the quality of a magazine, the interactive features of an app and the immediacy of a website. What's more, you can get the first five issues free.
Download it from iTunes
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Credits roll for YouTube on BlackBerry OS 7?
This could be bad news for anyone using a BlackBerry device which still runs the firm's BB OS7 platform - YouTube may have just pulled the plug on the OS.
BlackBerry fan-site CrackBerry is reporting that many BB OS 7 users are finding that YouTube videos no longer work on their devices while the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone running the BB10 software is working fine.
Temporary glitch?
Apparently handsets that are still chugging along on older versions of the BlackBerry OS (4, 5 and 6) are unaffected, which suggests this is a technical issue rather than YouTube pulling the plug. So it may just be a glitch on YouTube's part which is causing the problem and a fix may well be on its way. We have contacted BlackBerry and YouTube to see if this is just a temporary issue or if it really is Fin for the video sharing service on BB OS7.
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Samsung Galaxy S4 specs continue to squirm out
The Samsung Galaxy S4 could only be a month away and therefore leaks are happening on an almost daily basis, with the latest supposedly revealing the specs of the flagship device.
According to a PDF document 'leaked' by a Korean financial services firm the Galaxy S4 will sport a 5-inch, 1920x1080 display, quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and run the latest version of Android Jelly Bean, 4.2.
In terms of a Samsung Galaxy S4 release date the document has March listed, although this is more likely to be the date of the launch event rather than the time the handset goes on sale.
Not so fast
The information has hardly come from a compelling source so we're not getting carried away with the features listed here, nor is there a strong case for the firm to even be in possession of said details (often, this is a researcher building a case from internet rumours) but it does seem to tally up pretty well with other rumours surrounding the handset.
In a separate report, a couple of images have popped up on Picasa claiming that they were taken on a Samsung GT-I9505, thought to be the international version of the Galaxy S4.
The blurry shots showing the rear of a computer tower are hardly awe-inspiring, plus the EXIF data attached to the snaps revealing the device they were taken on can be easily forged.
Both images sport a 2322 x 4128 resolution which would suggest the Samsung Galaxy S4 is packing a 13MP camera, although we're not pinning much hope on the authenticity of these pictures.
What we do know though is that the Galaxy S4 won't be making an appearance at MWC 2013 next week, with Samsung looking set to launch some new tablets such as the Galaxy Note 8.0 and Galaxy Tab 3 range at the Barcelona show instead.
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Google takes aim at the high street with possible Google Stores
You could be popping down to the Google Shop to pick up Christmas presents this year, as it looks like Google may open up some high street stores.
"An extremely reliable source" told 9 to 5 Google that stand-alone Google retail outlets would open in "major metropolitan areas" in the US in time for the festive shopping season.
It's a step on from the Google-branded zones in Best Buy in the US and PC World in the UK, where customers can already get some face time with Chromebooks and Nexus products before they invest.
Expertise
With more tablets and smartphones coming from Google itself and Google Glass on the horizon, it makes a certain amount of sense for there to be somewhere you can try the whole Google family out before buying. Indeed, the source reckons that the imminent release of Google Glass prompted the decision to open stores because it's such a complex product - and the fact that Apple Stores do so wonderfully well won't have hurt the idea either. As this speculation resides firmly in the realm of rumour at the moment, there's no word on whether the UK, Australia or any other areas of the world will see that familiar primary colour swirl pop up next to H&M and Gap - but, rest assured, we'll be keeping an eye out.
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Who is Zoe, and what's she doing in the HTC One?
The HTC M7, or HTC One as it's becoming more commonly known, looks set to sport some fancy camera tech, with a 4MP "Zoe" camera leaked.
Hearts may sink a little when 4MP is read as the high-end smartphones of today are boasting 13MP snappers, but word is that ultrapixels could be at play in the HTC One to mitigate that.
Twitter user @flapic last week tweeted a picture claiming to show the HTC One in black along with the message: "New HTC One press shot leaks. Confirmed S4 Pro 1.7GHz, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage and 4Mpx ZOE room."
Focus on camera
We're not sure what the user means by "Zoe room", but HTC has also teased camera related tech for its February 19 event after it tweeted a photo (above) of camera lenses alongside the date: "19.2.13". There's certainly a lot of hype around the Taiwanese firm's next flagship device, with some impressive specs being mooted including a full HD 4.7-inch display, quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. We'll be at both the London and New York launch events on February 19 to bring you all the latest on HTC's next handset and any new tech it may have packed inside.
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PS Vita price slashed on Sony's home turf
Sony has decided to lop thousands of yen off the price of the PS Vita in Japan, with both the 3G and Wi-Fi models dropping to 19,980 yen (that's around £140, $215 or AU$208).
Before the price drop, a Sony PS Vita Wi-Fi only would have set you back 25,000 yen in Japan, and the Wi-Fi plus 3G model 30,000 yen. The flat pricing might sound like a death knell for the Wi-Fi only PS Vita model, but if you opt for the 3G console then you have to shell out for a 3G contract too.
The price cut doesn't exactly speak of the PS Vita having enviable sales prowess in the face of mobile gaming, despite doing fairly well on release.
Sony hit 1.8 million Vita sales worldwide by the end of March 2012, shifting 600,000 in March alone; since then, however, interest in the console seems to have dropped out of sight, to the point where Sony cut its Vita sales predictions for this year.
Future gazing
There's no word on whether the rest of the world will see a similar price cut yet; perhaps Sony will reveal more at its hotly-tipped PS4 launch event on Wednesday. In the UK, PS Vita prices are staying put at £230 for the Wi-Fi model and £280 for Wi-Fi and 3G, while the US pays around $250 for the Wi-Fi only edition and $280 for the 3G-ability.
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Review: Fractal Design Node 304
One area that has seen substantial growth over the past 18 months is the mini-ITX case market. The realisation that these mini-motherboards can be the basis for some pretty powerful PCs has started to dawn on people, not least the chassis manufacturers.
Swedish case designer Fractal Design's Node 304 is aimed solely at the mini-ITX market, but boasts hard drive support that could have it being used as a file server or a large multi-disk NAS unit.
It also has the serious advantage of supporting standard ATX power supplies and graphics cards, albeit with a few provisos in the dimension stakes, more of which later.
Built with the usual Fractal Design high quality and attention to detail, the Node 304 has a very distinctive look thanks to its solid aluminium front bezel; the first thing you'll notice is the lack of support for an optical drive, but with our large digital download libraries, that's a diminishing requirement.
The lower right-hand side of this bezel houses the power button as well as the I/O ports, which consist of two USB 3.0s and a couple of requisite audios. Behind the front panel are two of the three pre-installed cooling fans. The front fans are a pair of Fractal's own Silent Series R2 92mm fans, which spin at a maximum of 1,300rpm. The third is on the rear panel and is, once again, one of Fractal's own Silent Series R2 fans but this time a 140mm job (1,000rpm).
The front two come with filters and there is a filter for the PSU as well, and they're all removable. All three case fans can be connected to the three-speed fan controller which comes with the case.
Internalise
Inside - undo the four thumbscrews and remove the cover - are three white drive cages each holding two drives in either 3.5 or 2.5-inch formats. Yes, that's right, an ITX case that can support six hard drives. The 3.5-inch drive mounts have rubber grommets fitted to help dampen down any noise. When it comes to choosing a power supply and GPU there are a few things to be aware of. The case supports graphics cards up to 160mm long but by removing one of the drive cages you can squeeze in a card that's 170mm - but only if you use a shorter power supply. The same rules apply if you take out two of the drive cages to squeeze in a 310mm graphics card. To get anywhere near a tidy build in the Node 304 a modular PSU is a must. The PSU is installed on its side and the one thing to note is that the case supports PSUs up to 160mm total depth for non-modular designs; for modular designs, you need to find units of a maximum of 140mm deep. There's room for CPU coolers up to 165mm tall, which allows for some quite serious third party offerings, though a liquid chiller may make more sense. The Node 304 has all the build quality and attention to detail that we've come to expect from Fractal, to get the best out of it though, you need to pay attention to those limits on PSU and graphic card length.
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Competition: WIN! A Google Nexus 4 courtesy of Mobile Fun
If you're after an upgrade on your current smartphone then this is the prize for you: we've teamed up with Mobile Fun to offer you the chance to win a Google Nexus 4 smartphone!
The Nexus 4 is shaking up the handset world with a huge array of top end features combined with the latest version of Android and is thus proving to be extremely popular and tough to get hold of.
Design-wise, the Nexus 4 is stunning, with a glittery back plate and 4.7-inch display which is perfect for viewing videos, browsing the internet on the go and using apps in glorious HD. The handset is curved to fit nicely in the hand and prevent any butterfingers moments too.
All the good bits
Inside the Nexus 4 runs the latest version of Android Jelly Bean, sports a quad-core 1.5GHz processor and runs a cutting-edge Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. It's also got NFC, A-GPS and all the other mod cons you could wish for in a smartphone. To be in with a chance of winning the Nexus 4 smartphone, click here and tell us the year in which Mobile Fun first started. Please note that this competition is only open to UK residents over 18 years of age.
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Intrexx Business Adapter provides bridge for SAP data
United Planet has released a development tool to enable companies to integrate SAP data into any compiled web application using the Open Data web protocol (OData).
Named the Intrexx Business Adapter 1.0, it is certified by SAP, a leading provider of business software, and powered by the company's NetWeaver platform.
United Planet, an enterprise portal software developer which includes thousands of midsized companies among its customers, says that using the interface in conjunction with SAP NetWeaver Gateway enables users to exploit the new licensing models offered by SAP.
It says the OData web protocol enables the easy and simple integration into, and processing of, data on the majority of technology platforms and development environments. These properties are made available to the user via the new functionality provided by the Intrexx Business Adapter 1.0.
United Planet's Chief Executive Officer, Axel Wessendorf, explains: "Previous solutions have always been limited to a very precisely specified and implemented service, for example, business partner addresses.
"With the Intrexx Adapter for SAP NetWeaver Gateway, we have taken a different path. Thanks to the generic approach, every user is able to choose which services or data they wish to include in their applications or portal. This provides increased flexibility in a much more simplified way".
In addition, a Mobile Assistant function integrated into Intrexx makes it possible to deliver applications with SAP data to mobile devices.
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The advantages of server virtualisation
Making a business case for increased virtualisation across your server deployment has never been more important.
The one server, one application model is no longer sufficiently efficient, and virtualisation is not just for big businesses.
With the arrival of Microsoft's Windows Server 2012 and the continued development of other virtual server platforms such as those from VMware, coupled with low cost blade servers from companies such as Dell, any size of business can now take full advantage of what virtualisation can offer.
In a white paper on demystifying server virtualisation, Symantec advises: "Implementing protected virtualisation in a business is not difficult or expensive.
"Many businesses are successfully deploying virtual environments and benefiting from them. These businesses are saving money, enjoying increased flexibility for growth, and finding it easier to maintain their overall IT infrastructure."
Moving to a virtual server structure offers a number of key advantages that include:
- Reduced IT management time. Virtual server management is now highly efficient, with a number of tools available that enable routine tasks such as security patches to be implemented with ease.
- Improvements in application deployment and efficiency. As your business grows, a new virtual machine can easily be created to host any new applications your company needs to remain profitable and efficient as its market sector changes.
- Data backup and recovery become robust and reliable. Virtualisation offers an integrated approach to the storage, management and deployment of data.
- On-site and cloud-based applications and data storage can be managed as an integrated whole. A hybrid approach to IT management is becoming increasingly popular, and a blend of the advantages of on-site and cloud-based virtual systems is providing more flexibility in the management of servers.
- Fast reactions to changing business needs. Virtualisation can make it easier to respond to changes in the demands on data management as a company's market changes. New virtual machines can be set up in minutes.
- Reductions of capital costs. Single application server deployments are simply not efficient, and virtualisation makes it possible to reduce the number of new server purchases.
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The benefits of server throttling
With pressure on their IT managers to reduce costs, the refresh cycles of servers are being extended.
IDC makes the point in a paper on server refresh cycles: "As companies now deal with their capital constraints, coupled with new demands, they keep their IT infrastructure in operation far beyond what was normally considered useful lifespan.
"A regular refresh at about 3.2 years would be appropriate. However, many companies are pushing their servers to four or five or more years."
IT managers tasked with extending the useful lifespan of their servers are turning to a number of techniques, including throttling. This can be done on servers that are able to dynamically control power consumption, fan speeds, and performance with throttling.
As Dell explains in a white paper on the subject: "PowerEdge servers use throttling for many purposes, including optimising the amount of work that is done for the energy consumed, ensuring smooth operation in the face of cooling challenges, and keeping component temperatures optimised inside the server during peak workloads.
"Optimisation of the server component temperature helps to ensure that PowerEdge servers are resilient and reliable so they meet your organization's long term needs."
Controlling costs
The level of control that throttling offers enables IT managers to develop a power usage map that can clearly show where costs can be reduced. The Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) that is integrated into PowerEdge servers is intelligent enough allow a power cap to be placed on a server to allow predictable power consumption over any given time frame.
Also, blade enclosures allow IT managers to prioritise the servers within each blade enclosure. Lower priority servers are the first servers the enclosure's management controller looks to in order to reduce power consumption.
Dell concludes: "The throttling features in each PowerEdge server are powerful mechanisms for managing power and cooling and ensuring reliable server operation over a long period of time.
"Throttling technology helps simplify the challenge of efficiently matching desired usage to server capabilities by enabling the server to adapt to environmental and facility constraints and limitations over a wide variety of workloads."
Ultimately, throttling offers a practical means to extend the longevity of a server. Cooling variability is also possible, in reaction to any change in the ambient temperature of a server's environment.
Whether used in data centres of a business' own server room, throttling is now vital to maintain the health of a server.
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Buying Guide: Best gaming headsets for consoles, PCs and Mac
Best gaming headsets
The world isn't suffering from a dearth of headsets. Whether you're on a budget or the sky's the limit, the fact remains that there's probably a headset with your name on it. Of course, even if you were the worst hip hop artist known to man you'd literally have headphones with your name on them. But that's besides the point. Choosing a gaming headset however can often be a daunting task. If you own an Xbox 360 AND a PS3 do you want a headset that works with both? What if you also want to use it with your tablet, cell phone and mobile gaming system? What if you game on your PC or Mac when traveling? How is a gamer supposed to make heads or tails of this sordid mess? Whether you're a console gamer, a PC gamer, or like us, you'll play games on anything that happens to be in front of you, we break down the best gaming headsets currently on the market. Did we miss your favorite gaming headset? If so, let us know in the comments and we'll be sure to give 'em a test drive.Astro Gaming A50
At $300, the Astro A50 is a big investment. That's roughly what an Xbox 360 or a PS3 costs these days! Still, we would recommend these pricey cans to anyone with multiple consoles in their home, or someone who likes to game on PC as well as enjoy stereo sound in their living room.
When going between different devices, the plugging and unplugging can get tiresome, but it's worth it. The A50s provide high quality sound and relative ease of use with a lot of different devices. They provide phenomenal in-game sound, handle team chat adequately, and are good enough for enjoying movies or music.
We heartily recommend the Astro A50 to any gamer who wants a powerful, versatile headset. It offers excellent sound fidelity and mixing, and being able to use it on a PC, Mac, Xbox 360 or PS3 makes it worth the money. While going between multiple devices will always be an annoyance of plugging and syncing, the A50 provides sound quality that's worth the trouble.
If you game exclusively on the Xbox 360, you might prefer the Tritton Warhead 7.1 headset, which is better integrated with Microsoft's console than the A50 is with any single device. At the end of the day, however, we prefer a more versatile, jack-of-all-trades headset to an exclusive one, especially at this price point.
Tritton Warhead 7.1
With its sleek design, 5.8GHz frequency and exclusive Xbox 360 compatibility, the Tritton Warhead 7.1 Wireless Surround Headset is for a gamer who wants a wireless audio solution they'll rarely need to think about. It delivers a great surround sound mix without annoying static or interference from other devices, and the two high capacity batteries ensure that you're always ready to play.
You can find a 360 headset with crisper audio than the Warhead, but you'd be hard pressed to find one with a wider mix, or a more reliable wireless connection. Having no receiver or cord plugged into the controller is a real luxury, but it's one you'll be paying well for.
If it had more versatile applications, like gaming on the PC or watching Blu-Rays on the PS3, it would be a better value. Still, it plays so nicely with the Xbox 360 we can almost forgive it for being a single console headset.
All in all, the Tritton Warhead is for gamers who will pay for wireless reliability at the cost of versatility and true audio fidelity. It's a great way to experience Gears of War 3 with friends online, just don't expect it to be the centerpiece of your home theatre setup.
Sony Pulse Wireless Headset: Elite Edition
Until recently wireless audio for the Xbox 360 has always required...well...wires. Not so with the PlayStation 3. If there's one thing Sony did right it was designing their flagship console in such a way that it was compatible with any Bluetooth headset. That said, gamers wanna look like gamers and not all Bluetooth headsets are built the same.
As a $150 wireless headset, the Pulse offers fine sound quality at a reasonable price. We especially liked how well it integrated with our PS3. Having the unit's battery life and mix settings displayed at the ready with just a press of the PS button is very convenient and makes for a nicely integrated experience. We also appreciated the hidden mic, which makes it a more compact device we'd never feel awkward wearing.
Simply put, the Sony Pulse Wireless Headset: Elite Edition is a great headset. If you're a PS3 gamer that's in the market for an affordable wireless headset that also works with a portable device, you'll be pleased with this unit. That said, if you're a multiplatform gamer your needs will be better met by a more versatile product like the Astro A50.
Four more recommended headsets
Razer Tiamat 7.1 Gaming Headset
Sporting some of the best bass we've heard in a gaming headset, incredible audio quality, and 7.1-channel surround, Razer's Tiamat 7.1 is a great audio addition to your PC gaming setup. Before dropping $179.99 you'll need a soundcard that supports 5.1- or 7.1-channel surround. We tested the Razer Tiamat 7.1 Gaming Headset with a liquid-cooled Cyberpower gaming PC replete with a Creative Sound Blaster Recon 3D Fatality soundcard.
Being a gaming headset the Razer Tiamat 7.1, obviously, has a boom mic. We liked that the boom mic can be tucked away discreetly inside of the left earcup for those times when you're listening and not talking to your gaming buddies. The well-designed inline control module makes it easy to control everything. If there's a downside to the Razer Tiamat 7.1, it's that they cost $179.99. Other than that, any respectable PC gamer will no doubt be happy with this headset.
Creative Sound Blaster Tactic3D Wrath Wireless Gaming Headset
While many so-called "wireless gaming headsets" claim to be wireless, the setup can be so daunting, and require so many wires, that once you're up and running, it feels anything like a wireless setup. Not so much with the Creative Sound Blaster Tactic3D Wrath Wireless Gaming Headset: A truly wireless setup for a Mac or PC that literally had us up and running moments after the USB wireless transmitter was plugged into our PC or Mac.
Boasting some rather massive 50mm speakers, the wireless USB adapter is able to stream uncompressed THX-quality audio that, thanks to the free software that you'll have to download. Of course, while many headsets are great for gaming that quality doesn't always translate to music, movies or when watching television or sports on a computer. The Creative Sound Blaster Tactic3D Wrath Wireless Gaming Headset doesn't suffer from this all-too-often shortcoming.
Provided your head isn't too large, the Tactic 3D Wrath Wireless headphones feel great. They're truly wireless, easy to set-up, and boast impressive battery life. While updated software is a must, we wouldn't hesitate to recommend these headphones.
Tritton AX Pro
The Tritton AX Pro surround sound headphones ship with their own Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder module and employ a quartet of dedicated channel drivers in each ear cup.
The system is compatible with any surround sound source. Simply run an optical lead from your chosen component into the AX pro DD5.1 decoder; this then feeds the speaker drivers via a 4m cable.
The Tritton AX Pro are at their best with games. In-game Dolby Digital processing dynamically steers audio effects based on what you're doing in the game.
The AX Pro headphones offer immersive multichannel sound. There's a sense of purpose to their sound steerage which replicates a multi-speaker sound system. The cans can also be used with a Blu-ray/DVD player, and Xbox 360 or PS3.
Steelseries Flux Headset
While it's likely the best travel headset currently on the market, serious and sedentary games would be well served with a more expensive 5.1 investment. That said, if you're picking up a second set of cans for travel, or just want to save some cash, you can't go wrong with the Flux.
It's obvious that a lot of thought went into the design of the Flux. Options like dual audio jacks, a built in splitter and in-line controls make it a versatile device that's a good value for the money. While they're not terribly stylish, you wouldn't be embarrassed to wear the Flux around town as basic audio headphones.
It's durable and built for travel. The way it curls up to protect itself means you can jam it in a backpack without a second thought, and the heavy rubber cables won't tangle up in your pocket.
The Steelseries Flux headset is an excellent travel headset and a very good, Jack-of-all-trades product. It's great for hauling around to LAN parties, and if you often find yourself with a fellow traveler watching DVDs on a plane, the compact design and built-in splitter are absolutely ideal.
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