Updated: Nokia N97 Mini available to buy in UK
The Nokia N97 Mini is available for purchase in the UK on Orange, but Nokia has stated that it, not the network, will be the first to get the phone to UK users.
"The Nokia N97 mini will begin shipping in October, however an exact UK release date has not yet been announced. We can confirm that the device will go on sale in Nokia's flagship stores before it is sold through any operators," said Nokia in a statement to TechRadar.
Customers can see the device available to order on third-party deal aggregation sites, such as Omio, which will then take them through to the official Orange page for purchase.
However, the Nokia N97 Mini is not available to search for from Orange's site, which means it's a mystery why the network is offering it through third party channels.
Sky high cost
And users will have to pay at least آ£97.50 to get the phone as well, despite signing up to a آ£63.61 a month deal for two years.
It all seems a bit suspicious at the moment, given the super-high cost of the phone which is available for pre-order from the Nokia website for آ£429.
We've spoken to Nokia and Orange, and the latter is telling us there's nothing to report. However, given the earliest date for delivery of the N97 Mini is 14 October, we imagine this date won't be fulfilled as Nokia won't have launched by then.
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Work avatars should have 'virtual dress codes'
The way you dress your avatar in an online world could soon be called into question, if new research from Gartner is correct.
Gartner has been looking into the weird and wonderful world of avatars and believes that when they are used in a work environment, they should dress appropriately.
"As the use of virtual environments for business purposes grows, enterprises need to understand how employees are using avatars in ways that might affect the enterprise or the enterprise's reputation," explained James Lundy, Managing Vice President at Gartner.
"We advise establishing codes of behavior that apply in any circumstance when an employee is acting as a company representative, whether in a real or virtual environment. Addendums, specific to virtual environments can be added as required."
Six-step process
So, if you're avatar happens to have the sartorial style of a hairy biker, even though your work asks for you to turn up in a shirt and tie, then watch out!
To make sure that your avatar is behaving appropriately in the online world, the research firm has handily created a six-step process to make sure your avatar isn't causing offence in the workplace.
These include: extending the workplace code of conduct to virtual worlds; educating employees on the risks of reputation management; and exploring the business case for avatars.
Suddenly the idea of owning an avatar has just got very un-cool. A bit like the time you had to violently delete your entire MP3 collection after you caught your dad singing the latest Dizzee Rascal track.
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In Depth: Will voice control become the norm for in-car tech?
Microsoft's new system means you can make calls and control music as you drive – simply by speaking. So how does it work? Ever thought what it would be like if there was a computer in your car – a proper PC that you could interact with? Well now there can be.
Blue&Me is a partnership between Microsoft Auto and Magneti Marelli – part of Fiat that develops high technology systems for in-car use. Controlled by your voice, Blue&Me enables you to make calls on your phone, listen to incoming text messages, check your phonebook and listen to music.
The system can even interpret abbreviations and smilies in your texts as it reads them out to you. This part of the system works in tandem with your mobile phone, which is synchronised with the system via the Bluetooth short-range wireless technology found in most modern handsets.
The Fiat cars with Blue&Me also have a USB port enabling you to connect up personal media players and other devices, while the system can be accessed using extra buttons on the steering wheel including a Windows-style Start button – can then be used to control the devices aside from the voice commands.
Computing is moving towards more natural user interfaces, as we're currently seeing with Windows 7 and its support for voice and touch technologies.
Manufacturers are under pressure to reduce driver distractions, while customers are increasingly looking for ways to use their mobiles legally on the move. Safety is at the heart of Blue&Me, since drivers don't have to move their hands from the wheel to use it.
A recent study on in-car distraction by the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, showed that natural language speech recognition lowers distraction. The study worked by comparing the entering of an address part-by-part into a sat-nav by speech recognition with entering it with a single confirmation from an address book. The latter dramatically reduced the slowing of reaction time.
Magneti Marelli has designed the system to be compatible with as many mobile phones and media players as possible. Running on the Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 6.0 operating system, Blue&Me is based on the Microsoft Auto software platform designed for in-vehicle use.
Formed over 10 years ago, Microsoft's Automotive Unit has released six major versions of its Auto platform and over 80 different car models are now available containing variations of the platform, from manufacturers such as Honda, BMW, Subaru, Toyota and Volvo.
Blue&Me is available on Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Lancia cars and Fiat's light commercial vehicles in Europe and South America. These include the Fiat 500, Grande Punto, Linea and Bravo as well as the Alfa Romeo 159, Brera, MiTo and Spider.
It's available as a standard feature in all top-end Fiat 500 versions and is also offered as an option in the entry-level 500 models. The new model Fiat 500 that we've photographed for this feature is produced in Tychy, Poland, alongside the new second-generation Ford Ka.
Sync the other system
The other main application of Microsoft Auto systems is Ford Sync. Just as Fiat's system is only available is certain areas, SYNC is only currently available in North America. Offered on some Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models, it's a very similar system to Blue&Me.
Ford shipped the millionth Sync-equipped vehicle in May – a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid which was delivered to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Ford has achieved huge success with the Sync system – more than 80 per cent of the vehicles Ford sells in North America are equipped with the system. The platform has also been upgraded, with new applications Vehicle Health Report and 911 Assist added.
Existing owners can download the updates. Another new Sync application: Traffic, Directions and Information, will be available for download later this summer. The system is also built to be modular – meaning car makers and other device manufacturers can easily add their own elements to it.
Consequently, the system can keep pace with new technology and be easily adapted to different types of car as well as new phones and devices. Microsoft says it believes the 'infotainment' potential for the system is huge, and could change the way people communicate and listen as they drive.
But how does Blue&Me recognise your voice? Like many in-car handsfree systems – or those call centre speech recognition systems you get on the phone – Blue&Me uses universal voice recognition technology from Nuance, so the system doesn't need time to learn individual voices.
Nuance makes the popular Dragon voice recognition software for Windows, but also powers the voice recognition inside many sat-nav devices from the likes of Tom Tom and Medion. Its speech recognition systems currently support 23 languages, while the text-to-speech engine that reads your text messages to you supports an impressive 34 languages.
Pairing your phone with the system
So how does Blue&Me work in the car? Well, once you've paired your Bluetooth mobile with the system, which you only need to do the first time you set it up, you then need to download your phonebook. In the Fiat 500, the menu options for Blue&Me are displayed on main multifunction instrument panel between the clock and the mileometer, while the USB port is situated near the handbrake between the front seats.
On the left of the steering wheel you get a Windows key and an Escape/Mute key, as well as an OK and phone key on the right. There are also volume keys on plus scroll up and scroll down keys for moving between contacts in your phone book or tracks on your music player.
You only need to store your phonebook once, but don't worry about numbers changing – any changes are automatically updated whenever the system detects the mobile phone. The first time you connect your phone you'll also have to pair it with the system, so you'll need to enter a PIN into your phone as instructed by the car.
The system supports five different phones at any one time, so it can handily be used by several people, should it be a work pool car, or a family vehicle. Should the system detect two synchronised mobiles in the car at the same time, it will simply pair with the last phone used. When you wish to make a call, you just say the name of the person you wish to call.
You can also call other numbers by dictating to the system. You can also use the controls on the steering wheel, or your voice, to scroll through the phone book on the instrument panel. When in a call, the system can be muted if you wish, or you can be notified of any call waiting for you.
When you receive a new text, the sender's name and number is displayed on the panel in front of you. You can then choose to have it read out with you, as well as review old texts or even call back the person who texted you.
Listening to music
When you want to listen to music, simply plug in a media player into the USB port. The Blue&Me system supports MP3, WMA and WAV format music, while you can connect almost anything to it, whether it's a simple USB drive with some songs on, or an iPod with your entire music library.
In common with other digital audio systems you can plug an iPod into, the system can't play protected content, such as songs downloaded from the iTunes Store. When you connect the device to the USB port, you'll see 'MEDIA PLAYER' appear on the radio display in the front of the car. If you have a lot of tracks, Blue&Me will take a few minutes to build up and catalogue the music library.
You can then use the voice or button commands to browse and select the track you want to play – if applicable, you can browse through the various folders and files using the instrument panel display. Simply speak information such as the album, artist, and song title to listen to the relevant songs. Blue&Me can also recognise the .m3u format for listening to playlisted tracks.
So where will Blue&Me and Microsoft Auto take us in the future? The possibilities are many and extend naturally into portable navigation to begin with. Blue&Me MAP, a multi-functional portable navigator, was demonstrated in the Fiat 500 at the Bologna Motor Show 2007. Ford has announced that SYNC will have traffic, turn-by-turn directions and other information services such as weather and sports in 2010 year models. Fiat says that it is planning to offer such add-on services in "the near future."
Blue&Me will also "offer a simple navigation system and access to a set of services such as a personal assistant to look for addresses, weather and traffic information, satellite positioning of the vehicle in the event of it being stolen, an SOS service, and lots of others currently being developed." So watch this space.
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In Depth: England Vs Ukraine online: watershed moment or own goal?
Britain's largest ever live pay-to-view internet event happened this weekend, with England Vs Ukraine only available to watch online and in selected Odeon cinemas.
The outcome of the match, which England eventually went on to lose 1-0, was not significant to next year's World Cup for England at least, the way it was shown could be significant to how future football games are seen.
Making it web-only showed that more professional games may not be played out in front of television screens but computer ones.
Pioneering broadcast
Industry opinion is divided on just how significant the web event was. Unsurprisingly, the most vocal about its success were the providers of the internet stream – media group Perform – who celebrated the fact that there were "no technical issues" and called the game a "pioneering broadcast".
While exact figures are hard to come by, Perform believes around 500,000 people watched the match – including those who watched it through the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), who screened the game free for troops.
Compare this with the 8 million plus people who watched England's qualifier against Croatia, which was shown back in September on ITV, and there is a significant drop-off in viewing figures.
It has to be noted that the game against Croatia was a crucial one, and was shown on ITV for free, but it does make for interesting comparison if we are to believe that Saturday's game finally made IPTV mainstream in the UK.
Watershed moment?
No matter what the size of viewing audience, Suranga Chandratillake, CEO and founder of blinkx, believes the online match held great significance.
"The England Vs the Ukraine match this weekend was a watershed moment for online television," he explained.
"Where we used to turn to the Web for 10 second clips of dramatic chipmunks and skateboarding dogs, half a million people tuned in on Saturday to watch the England team compete in a premier sporting event. It was a glimpse into the future of TV, heralding profound changes in the media ecosystem of broadcasters, content owners and audiences."
Alex Lane, Editor of What Satellite and Digital TV, isn't so sure, telling TechRadar: "Less than half a million watching an England World Cup qualifier – even if it's not a crucial one – seems like an own goal.
"It just goes to show that money is far more important to the rights holders than the fans or the sport itself. It would have been a watershed moment if they'd sold it to platforms and venues that football fans want to use, like Xbox, PlayStation and pubs."
TV on steroids
Regardless of the games impact, Blinkx's Chandratillake feels this is just the beginning for online football watching, believing that there's technology to come which will make viewing matches on the web much more enjoyable:
"Broadcasting the match over the internet was just the first step – imagine fusing that game with the interactive power of the web so that you had a top notch TV experience that was actually interactive and linked to the universe of information on the Web?"
He continues: "With a single click, you could get Wayne Rooney's history and stats, review key plays, select the commentator of your choice, and interact live with other fans all over the world. Whether you watch it on your laptop, or on the flat screen in your living room, this is the future – and it's TV on steroids."
The future of IPTV on the web may well be TV on steroids, but the present situation is a little different.
Gareth Beavis, News Writer at TechRadar, witnessed the match at Odeon's flagship cinema in Leicester Square, and was underwhelmed with the experience: "The cinema at Leicester square was only one fifth full at the most, which led to a pretty stilted atmosphere," he noted.
Beavis also believed the price may have been an issue, with the Odeon charging up to آ£12 for a ticket: "I think if the price had been lowered (and it was a more crucial game) it may have been easier to pack it out - as it was the few supporters singing seemed a bit half-hearted."
Poor performance
As for the picture quality of the game, Beavis commented: "The quality of the feed was good, although the overall production was far below a 'normal' England match - the punditry was poor, the commentating terrible at times and the editing of replays often rolled over a crucial point in the match.
"The big screen experience is great for football, but you feel that cinemas could do with being a bit more supporter-friendly when showing these big games."
If there are to be more professional football matches to be played out online, then it seems that presentation as much as technology is key to making them work.
ITV, the BBC and Sky Sports have a long history of bringing (to the most part) quality punditry and professional polish to even the most mundane football game. Perform managed to successfully bring the web feed to us, but it seems there's a long way to go before it can match the big broadcasters when it comes to bringing the spirit of the game.
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Microsoft gives notice of major security fix
Microsoft's regular 'Patch Tuesday' security update on October 13 will be its biggest yet – with 13 bulletins tackling 34 vulnerabilities.
Microsoft rolls out security patches through its Updater software, and the latest selection should counter some major flaws that have been discovered.
Indeed, eight of the bulletins are rated as critical and five important – and the updates deal with the likes of IE8, Office, Windows and Silverlight.
Detail
"Usually we do not go into this level of detail in the advance notification but we felt that it is important guidance so customers can plan accordingly and deploy these updates as soon as possible, said Microsoft's Senior Security Program Manager Jerry Bryant in a blog post.
The regular patches are part of Microsoft's strategy of moving away from major patches or service packs for its software.
One of the fixes is for a vulnerability that has been targeted by cyber-criminals in recent weeks, which has increased the need for Microsoft to urge people to update their software as soon as possible.
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Vodafone to launch BlackBerry Storm 2 this week
Vodafone will be stocking the new BlackBerry Storm 2 from RIM later this week, with a fairly modest contract too, according to reports.
The Guardian is stating the new phone will attempt to improve consumer's perception of a touchscreen BlackBerry, after the first Storm didn't go down too well, with the likes of Stephen Fry blasting it on Twitter.
The Storm 2 brings the same SurePress technology as before, but has 18GB of storage in the box (16GB memory card, 2GB inbuilt) and will run the latest BlackBerry OS, as well as packing more ROM and Flash support.
Welcome back Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi has also been restored to the range with the new release, as well as a Bing search application in the box too. The physical buttons at the bottom have also been integrated into the screen, being touch sensitive rather than clickable.
The Storm 2 will need to be competitively priced if it is to rival the likes of the iPhone or the Palm Pre (launching on 16 October in the UK) with both being offered north of the آ£30 per month price point.
We're still waiting for the official announcement from Vodafone, which we assume will be coming later this week, so stay tuned Storm-fans.
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BT Vision will not hit 2010 targets
BT Vision's CEO Marc Watson has admitted that the service will not hit its target of between two and three million subscribers by December 2010.
The old target has been something of a millstone for BT Vision, the IPTV service which has not had the expected impact on the British TV market.
That goal was set by BT's CEO Ian Livingstone, but Vision Chief Watson has now downgraded that to around one million, which is still more than double its current subscription level of 433,000.
"We have not yet found the best way of explaining what the benefits are to consumers, and what [BT Vision] stands for," Watson told the Financial Times, when the 2010 target was raised.
"We won't hit 2-3m customers over that time."
Rivals
Despite its financial might, BT has some major rivals in the TV arena that are making it difficult to get purchase.
Virgin Media's cable service has proven popular, not least because of the packages that include high-speed broadband such as the flagship 50Mb offering.
And Sky is closing in on the 10 million mark for subscribers to its satellite television platform.
In the latter's case, IPTV is very much on the agenda; Sky Player has been running from some time, offering live channels, premium downloads and catch-up TV over the internet and it is only a matter of time before Sky's HD set top boxes will be enabled for connection to an ethernet cable.
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In Depth: 10 essential OS X apps for pro web developers
The Mac's always been a strong platform for design applications, but it's now also the obvious choice for web developers.
A built-in Apache server and the ability to run Mac OS X and Windows browsers simultaneously (the latter via virtual machines) takes you part of the way, but high-quality software products for development really make the Mac stand out in this space.
If you're new to the platform or fancy some shiny new tools for working on websites, our list below details the best you can buy. Note that if you're more of a beginner, you're also covered on the Mac.
1. Coda, $99 (آ£63) $85 (آ£54) upgrade from Transmit
Panic's answer to anyone sick of cluttered workflow, Coda is a single-window web development environment, bundling a text editor, file-transfer client, SVN, CSS editing, Terminal and reference material. Plug-ins fill gaps and extend functionality, and the environment is flexible and smart, sure to suit most hand-coders.
2. BBEdit, $125 (آ£79)
This long-time hardcore text editor has an interface that's decidedly long in the tooth, but it nonetheless remains a handy tool to have around. BBEdit's find-and-replace is second-to-none, and its code-folding and flexible keyboard shortcut assignment make it a faster environment for marking up documents than Coda. If you can afford it, buy both.
3. CSSEdit, €30 (آ£28)
You might wonder why you should grab a standalone CSS editor, but CSSEdit's live-preview function pays for itself quickly. Use the app to download a site's CSS and edit locally; a live preview then shows how changes affect the live website. First-rate editing, styles management and a site x-ray inspector add further value.
4. Enkoder (Free)
Spam's a major problem for anyone who lists an email address online. Hivelogic's Enkoder script is one of the most powerful of its kind, encrypting your address in near bullet-proof fashion. This standalone app for the Mac runs locally and saves previously encoded addresses.
5. xScope, $27 (آ£17)
Iconfactory's xScope bridges design and development, providing a set of on-screen tools for measuring, aligning and inspecting layouts, such as rulers and a loupe. The Dimensions tool is the star, though, intelligently measuring distances between on-screen objects, such as boxes within a design.
6. Transmit, $30 (آ£19)
Although plenty of free FTP clients exist for the Mac, this Apple Design Award winner has a great UI and is robust enough to justify the shareware fee. Transmit also supports S3, WebDAV and SFTP.
7. VirtualHostX, $19 (آ£12)
Rather than fiddling around with config files, use VirtualHostX to configure your Mac's web server settings and host multiple sites using easy to remember custom domains. Virtual hosts can be shared with other local network users, and VirtualHostX also plays nice with MAMP.
8. MAMP, Free and آ£39 for Pro version
MAMP packs Apache, MySQL and PHP into a self-contained directory that you can bung anywhere on your Mac and use as a testing environment without touching existing Apache installations. The Pro version adds further features for advanced users.
9. VMware Fusion, $80 (آ£51)
There's a scrap going on for virtual machine supremacy on the Mac, and Fusion currently betters Parallels Desktop and VirtualBox. Robustness, usability and strong performance ensure Fusion's an ideal choice for running Windows in a window on your Mac.
10. On The Job, $40, (آ£25)
If you're a pro, you need to keep an eye on development costs and invoicing, and so this final choice is the Mac's best time-tracker. On The Job makes it painless to define clients and jobs, keep track of tasks, and, finally, to invoice. Timers can be triggered from the menu bar as well as the app itself.
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Review: Samsung R519
Samsung's R519 represents an affordable way into laptop ownership. Despite its low price, it has a modern design and sports a widescreen display with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
The 15.6-inch screen is colourful and offers detailed images with good contrast. The glossy Super-TFT coating results in reflections in direct sunlight and it's not one of the brighter screens we have seen.
It's more than good enough for indoor use, however, where the widescreen aspect ratio makes it ideal for movie playback or viewing a couple of documents side by side.
The graphics card is an integrated Intel solution, offering enough power to carry out office tasks and watch DVDs, but you won't be able to play games.
It's a reasonably power-efficient solution and enables this machine to run for 193 minutes between charges.
Noisy keyboard
The keyboard offers good usability, with large keys that are firmly attached. It's not the quietest board, however, rattling noisily during use.
The plastics lack the high-quality feel of the Packard Bell EasyNote TJ65-AU-010UK and Acer Aspire 5410T-723G25Mn, although it's still a robust machine.
You'll find black plastics used throughout the chassis and it makes for a very conservative design. Even the Samsung logo below the screen is finished in black.
A budget Intel Pentium processor has been used to keep costs down, although, running at 2.16GHz, it is quite powerful. Multi-tasking is a possibility, as it's a dual-core chip, although the 2048MB of memory is limited in this company.
The 250GB hard drive offers ample storage space and should hold all of your files and folders.
There's a tri-format DVD rewriter on the right-hand side, letting you copy files to blank DVDs and CDs, and Samsung also bundles its own Recovery Solution III software, letting you easily create system backups and offering protection should anything happen to your hard drive.
A flash memory card reader lets you access files from digital cameras and other devices.
Wireless networking is provided by 802.11g Wi-Fi, with 10/100 Ethernet in place for fixed connections. Three USB ports are lined up on the left-hand side of the chassis.
You'll be able to connect an external display via an analogue VGA cable but, unlike some of its rivals, high definition displays are not supported.
The R519 may not offer the style or premium feel of some of the other laptops, but it does offer an excellent platform for no-frills computing. If you're after a cheap machine simply to browse the internet or create documents on, then this is well worth a look.
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Samsung launches Armani phone with Windows Mobile 6.5
Samsung has launched another phone in partnership with Giorgio Armani, the B7620.
Featuring a dual-hinge slide out keyboard, the phone is actually well spec'd device underneath the shiny exterior.
The phone itself is a glossy bronze colour, with the Giorgio Armani branding on the top, but that seems to be where the fashion stylings end.
The phone has an 800MHz processor, 8GB of onboard memory as well as the aforementioned QWERTY keyboard and is packing the new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system.
An expensive fashion phone? No...
On top of that there's a 3.5-inch OLED touchscreen, a 5MP with geotagging thanks to the onboard GPS and expandable memory through microSD to 40GB of storage.
The bad news: it's going to cost a fair whack - around آ£700, so you better really want to have a phone with a fancy name on it if you're going to pick up the Samsung Armani B7620.
The new phone will be available in Italy, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, China and the UAE, with a UK release date for 'the near future'.
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Review: Packard Bell EasyNote TJ65-AU-010UK
Packard Bell is renowned for offering good value machines at prices that are hard to beat, but in the past we've often been left wanting when it comes to designs that stand out. The EasyNote TJ65-AU-010UK looks set to change this, offering a highly stylish design at an impressively low price.
The 15.6-inch screen is great for movie playback, with a wide 16:9 aspect ratio that keeps intrusive black bars at the top and bottom of your films to a minimum.
The 1366 x 768-pixel resolution serves up decent image quality and it's both a vibrant and vivid panel.
Multimedia capabilities are limited, due to the use of a low-powered integrated graphics card. Although it means gaming is out of reach, we still had no trouble running standard office tasks, watching DVDs or browsing the web.
The integrated GPU also consumes less energy, helping to conserve battery life. As a result, we managed to run this machine for 273 minutes. Although not the smallest, its weight of 2.7kg is semi-portable
The keyboard is large and a good amount of travel makes it a pleasure to type on, with a smooth and responsive typing action. The fact the keys are flat and don't taper at the edges can make it tricky to adjust to, however, and you'll have to be quite precise in your typing to keep mistakes to a minimum.
Quality is excellent throughout this machine, and it's also one of the most attractive at this price point. The mix of glossy, matt and patterned plastics look good and prove robust, and the circular hinge also gives it a distinct appearance.
Red, touch-sensitive buttons also help it to stand out and offer enhanced functionality.
The thin strip that serves as both mouse buttons doesn't work quite so well, however, proving fiddly to use.
Budget components
Costs have been cut when it comes to the components. The Intel Pentium T4200 processor is a budget chip and, although it runs at a reasonable 2GHz, this isn't the quickest machine to boot up or shut down.
With 4096MB of memory, however, we found it fine once up and running. It's also a good choice when it comes to features, with four USB ports in place for adding your peripherals, and an HDMI port for hooking up an external high-definition (HD) display.
The 250GB hard drive offers plenty of storage space, with a tri-format DVD rewriter also in place for backing up your files.
802.11g Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet are provided for high-speed wireless and fixed connectivity.
Overall, despite its flawed office and multimedia capabilities, we really like the EasyNote TJ65-AU-010UK. It's a stylish, well made and competent machine.
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Kent gets its own council-funded web drama
A new internet drama has been commissioned by the government, which is set to outline myriad teenage issues, such as drink, drugs and sex.
The 10-part programme, a national first, will be shown on Kent TV, the on-demand video player provided by Kent Council. The initiative brings to attention the benefits of VoD for local issues, with the whole thing costing just آ£20,000 to make – a fraction of what it costs to make a television show.
National first
The programme, called Hollywould, focuses on a university student, called Holly, and her first year at uni.
Written by ex-EastEnders scribe Julie Wassmer, the programme is said to be interactive, with viewers able to choose the outcome of the show.
Speaking about Hollywould, Alan Marsh, Kent County Council cabinet member for Public Health and Innovation, explained: "We are extremely proud that Kent TV is leading the way with this interactive project. It is a national first. The use of this technology is very familiar to our young people. The source of support that this project provides is innovation at its best and shows great initiative."
Teenage themes
Each show will be around five minutes each and as it is made in consultation with NHS Primary Care so programmes will have the cheery themes as sexual health, drinks spiking and personal safety.
The series begins 14 October and episodes will be shown on a weekly basis after. Log onto www.kenttv.com/hollywould for more details.
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Review: Asus M51a
Asus has made a reputation for itself recently with its impressive range of netbooks, but it also produces entry-level, mid-range and high-end laptops. The M51A is a budget laptop, offering one of the best specifications we have seen for the price.
The 15.4-inch screen features a 16:10 aspect ratio – which is taller than some of the newer designs. It offers detailed images and colours are bright and colourful.
It's one of the Super-TFT reflective panels, however, and it's worth trying before you buy if you intend to work on the move or in direct sunlight.
Unlike the other laptops at this price point, this machine offers a high-end Intel Core 2 Duo processor instead of a Pentium Dual Core we see so often. Running at 2GHz, and backed by 3072MB of memory, it offers enough power to cope easily with daily office tasks and matches machines costing twice as much.
We found it started and shut down quickly, with little sign of lag, even when running a host of intensive applications.
At 297 minutes, the battery life also provides ample mobility.
It also shines when it comes to quality. It can't match the portability of the Acer Aspire 5410T, having a much bulkier design, but the patterned plastics are attractive and robust, and the thick screen surround offers plenty of protection.
That said, the design looks older than some of its rivals, such as the Packard Bell EasyNote TJ65-AU-010UK and Acer Aspire 5410T.
The keyboard offers good usability, with large tapered keys that are easy to type quickly on. There's also a pad of numeric keys alongside it, which aids data entry without compromising the size of the main keys.
ADDED BONUS: Asus have included a dedicated number pad for quick data entry
The plastics have a tendency to flex slightly under use, however.
Excellent features
This machine comes into its own features, with a comprehensive range of ports included that puts more expensive laptops to shame. It offers an eSATA interface – letting you transfer files at high speeds to compatible hard drives, and it also comes with a fingerprint reader that adds biometric security for your files and data.
Four USB ports offer good connectivity, and you'll even find an HDMI port – letting you connect high-definition (HD) displays. There's also a VGA port for users with older analogue displays.
Bluetooth is in place for wireless connections to other digital devices, with 802.11g Wi-Fi and 10/100 Ethernet offering standard wireless and fixed networking connectivity.
If it is value for money you are after, then there is simply no better machine than the Asus M51A. Offering components that are usually found on more expensive machines, a comprehensive set of features and great build quality, it's an easy machine to recommend.
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David Hockney: from cave paints to iPhones
Britain's most famous living artist David Hockney has always been keen to embrace new technologies in his work, most recently developing a passion for iPhone paintings from his new home in Bridlington.
And while Hockney continues to knock out his traditional, huge colourful canvases of the north country dawns, he has also been sending out hundreds of smaller iPhone paintings to his friends over the last year.
As soon as Hockney discovered the original Brushes app on iPhone he realised the artistic potential of Apple's mobile internet device.
"Over the past six months, Hockney has fashioned literally hundreds, probably over a thousand, such images, often sending out four or five a day to a group of about a dozen friends, and not really caring what happens to them after that," notes The New York Review of Books.
Capturing light and colour
"Although the actual drawing, when I do it, goes quite quickly," explained Hockney, "some days it might be preceded by hours and hours of thinking through just how one might achieve a certain play of light, texture, or colour."
Hockney is particularly taken with the new opportunity to draw the dawn over Bridlington that was never possible before, because "in the old days one never could, because, of course, ordinarily it would be too dark to see the paints; or else, if you turned on a light so as to be able to see them, you'd lose the subtle gathering tones of the coming sun.
"But with an iPhone, I don't even have to get out of bed, I just reach for the device, turn it on, start mixing and matching the colours, laying in the evolving scene."
In an ode to the artistic potential of Apple's smartphone, Hockney adds: "It's always there in my pocket, there's no thrashing about, scrambling for the right colour. One can set to work immediately, there's this wonderful impromptu quality, this freshness, to the activity; and when it's over, best of all, there's no mess, no clean-up. You just turn off the machine. Or, even better, you hit Send, and your little cohort of friends around the world gets to experience a similar immediacy. There's something, finally, very intimate about the whole process."
The artist sees this 'primordial calling' going all the way back to the early cave painter "scratching away on his cave wall, me dragging my thumb over this iPhone's screen. All part of the same passion."
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Review: Acer Aspire Timeline 5410T
We've seen several machines from Acer's Aspire Timeline range now and every model has impressed us. The Aspire 5410T offers excellent portability, despite the 15.6-inch screen.
The display features the same 1366 x 768-pixel resolution as most of the other laptops in this price range, with detailed images on offer.
Colours are slightly washed out, but LED backlighting helps to provide bright images and consumes less power than a traditional fluorescent panel.
Power-efficiency is central to this laptop, with mobility and battery life being key factors. Acer has fitted a CULV Intel Celeron processor and, along with the LED screen and integrated Intel graphics card, it helps to offer an impressive 354 minutes of mobile use from a single charge – bettered only by the Sony VAIO VGN-NS30E/S.
It comes at a price, however, as even with 3072MB of memory it struggled to perform and we found it to be slow during daily use. It took longer than rivals to start and also slowed down when running multiple applications.
It's fine for general office tasks once up and running, however, and is also capable when browsing the internet or just watching the occasional film.
The keyboard offers excellent quality, with keys that move smoothly and with a decent amount of travel. It takes some getting used to, with a flat surface that can make it tricky to distinguish between keys, but a fast typing action is very easy to achieve.
The keys are lifted high off the board itself, however, so it's easy for dirt and dust to get trapped beneath them.
TRICKY CLEANING: We wouldn't want to have to clean out this keyboard but it is still nice to use
Quality build
Build quality is solid, with an aluminium lid that helps to protect the screen. The chassis is very thin, but it's also one of the toughest, and is easily capable of withstanding the daily commute.
It's a well-equipped laptop when it comes to ports and, like the Packard Bell Bell EasyNote TJ65-AU-010UK, you'll find four USB ports for peripherals, and VGA and HDMI ports for connecting analogue and digital displays.
At 250GB, the hard drive offers plenty of storage for work and media files, with a multi-format DVD rewriter for backing up your data on to blank DVDs and CDs. 802.11g Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet provide networking options.
There is also a 4-in-1 memory card reader, making it easy to transfer files between this laptop and other compact digital devices.
The performance of the Aspire 5410T-723G25Mn may not be the best, but this machine represents truly outstanding value for money, with a design that puts far more expensive laptops to shame.
If you need a large, yet highly portable, machine, then look no further.
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Nintendo has no desire to make mobile phones
Nintendo of America's president Reggie Fils-Aime has hit out at Sony's strategy for the PSP Go, claiming that it suffers from a "fundamental concept problem in terms of 'Who it's for?' and 'What's the benefit?'"
Fils-Aime also said that Nintendo had no plans to move into the 'phone space' and that the company was set to continue to focus squarely on games.
"I have the utmost respect for all our competitors," the Nintendo boss told the Washington Post, "but it's interesting to try and answer the consumer question of 'What's in it for me?' in that product [PSP Go]."
Gaming still niche
Interestingly, Fils-Aime still thinks that the games industry has some way to go to reach the mass market acceptance it has craved for years. "We're moving from being a niche market into the mainstream," he said, "but we're not there yet."
Following Nintendo's recent announcement of the first price cut for the Wii since the console's launch, games industry analyst Michael Pachter claims that: "Nintendo is a victim of its own success now, because sales of anything less than 25 million a year for the Wii looks like a failure... But they're still selling more consoles than the other guys."
Discussing the potential threat in the mobile gaming space presented by Apple's iPhone, iPod touch and super-successful App Store, Fils-Aime still maintains that new games such as Scribblenauts "can only be brought to life on the DS," adding that Mario Kart DS, Nintendogs and New Super Mario Bros. are all "very unique and very different and what you cannot find on their App Store."
Though the Nintendo of America boss was still adamant that Nintendo doesn't "have a desire to get into the phone space. We think the game business is competitive enough."
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Honda launches electric car-plus-unicycle combo
This month sees the annual Tokyo Motor Show in Japan, with a feast of electric and concept car, motorcycle and personal transportation technologies set to wow the motoring industry.
One such example is Honda's new EV-N electric car, which niftily comes with the recently launched U3-X electric unicycle neatly folded away into a compartment fitted within the car's door.
Never walk again
Effectively, you could use the new electric EV-N to tootle around town in and then once you have parked up you can hop on your motorised unicycle, to save you all that bothersome trouble of actually, you know, walking!
Honda describes the EV-N as a "battery electric vehicle" and will no doubt be telling us a lot more about this and other new concept cars and vehicles when the TMS kicks off later this month on 24 October.
Honda is also set to show off more of its hybrid Skydeck car that carries up to six passengers, as well as its new communications system called Loop, that allows passengers to 'talk' to their cars and personal transportation machines.
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Facebook and Twitter on Xbox Live November 19
The public beta for Facebook, Last.fm and Twitter on Microsoft's Xbox Live service kicks off later in October, with the company finally confirming the planned launch date for the popular social networking and music services on the Xbox as November 19.
Microsoft confirmed the November 17 launch date over on the official UK Xbox website.
Tweet my game!
The company is still to announce a launch date for North America, which TechRadar presumes will likely be a few days before Europe on or around November 17.
The real question, of course, is whether or not the millions of hardcore gamers that populate Xbox Live will take the time out of their gaming sessions with their mates online in order to update their Twitter or Facebook status.
Only time will tell.
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Twitter co-founder denies video hosting plans
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has debunked claims in the British press that the service is planning to roll-out video hosting.
"Twitter users may soon be posting real-time video tweets in addition to text tweets under plans to modernise the site," claimed the Telegraph in an unsourced report over the weekend.
"The upgrade, which is being discussed by Twitter's founders, will enable Twitter users to upload brief video snippets to their profiles directly from mobile phones, laptops and other devices," added that report.
Biz Stone keeps it simple
Well it doesn't look very much like Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has been discussing the plans for video hosting in much depth, as he responded to the report, telling Mashable:
"Haven't read the piece but no video hosting. 140 characters of text including spaces. You know the drill!"
You can, of course, go multimedia on your Tweets by using a variety of third-party Twitter apps such as TweetDeck or Tweetie.
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Sky Songs takes on Apple iTunes and Spotify
Rupert Murdoch is set to take on the digital music industry with the launch of the new Sky Songs service next Monday (Oct 19), taking on the combined might of Apple's iTunes as well as newer streaming services such as Spotify and Last.fm.
Sky Songs subscribers will have to be existing Sky customers and will pay a fixed fee of up to آ£7.99 a month which will entitle them to stream as much music as they like from over 4 million tunes, as well as being able to download either a full album or ten separate songs to keep.
There will then be an extra fee per album or per tune on top of that if subscribers want to buy more MP3s from Sky Songs.
Pitched at the mainstream listener
Neil Martin, Sky's business development director, said that Sky Songs is pitched squarely at a mainstream audience and that he wants "millions of homes using this regularly...We're looking at a lot of the things out there, and you need to know a hell of a lot about music, or a hell of a lot about technology. For a mainstream audience, it needs to be pulled back a notch."
Sky has deals in place with the four major music labels - EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner – and a number of smaller independents. The company also plans to bring Sky Songs to mobile phones and set-top boxes.
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Interview: Windows Mobile 6.5: The big questions
After the recent Windows Phone / Windows Mobile 6.5 launch last week, there have been some intriguing questions raised about this new direction from Microsoft.
TechRadar had a two interviews with key members of the Windows Mobile team at Microsoft: David Weekes, product manager for Windows Mobile, and Alex Reeve, the head of Microsoft's UK Windows Mobile team, to find out all the answers.
TR: How does Windows Mobile fit into the current market?
AR: It's aimed at people who want smart device for work, then when they're on their way home, they want a great smart device too.
This means Exchange email, company database access, IM through company system, then at home you want Facebook, Windows Live Mail, Gmail instead. It's not about the phone, it's about who wants to use it, most people who I know who are interested in a Windows Phone want it for both work and home.
It's easy to make assumptions about people, and then we don't deliver for actual, real users. They want these services, being able to sync to the cloud if they lose their phone, can then get their stuff back, share photos without a degree in IT, have the same browser favourites on PC and phone. It's not rocket science what we're trying to do.
DW: If look at today's marketplace, Microsoft is traditionally positioned with RIM with BlackBerry in terms of enterprise devices. If you look on the extreme other side, we've got Apple and Android coming in, and Nokia too. Everyone is now trying to move towards the middle, so when you walk into work you only have one device [that is good enough for both work and home].
That way you can get email, have a good UI experience, and still install some good applications that you discuss with mates in pub. We no longer see it as a consumer or business device, we're terming it as "life maximiser", where people maximise their life in work and maximise their life at home.
We see Windows Mobile 6.5 as a long term strategy, with future releases coming up, so we're not competing against Apple at the moment, because they've got a vertical strategy where they've got one phone, they can write software to exploit all that hardware on that device and they can do some really whizzy stuff which we can't do.
Why aren't you competing with Apple?
DW: We currently work with 55 OEMs who have 155 devices running Windows Mobile, with each different hardware component written by a hardware manufacturer. To write the software to exploit all those manufacturer IDs, well, you couldn't write it, as you'd just end up with a PC.
Our competitor in the market is RIM and Nokia, even though doing some stuff with them [the recent deal to install Microsoft Office on future Nokia handsets].
At the moment, Nokia is losing market share left, right and centre; it's gone from 63% to 46% [worldwide] in just over 18 months. Competitors are stealing a march, and we need to do that with 6.5 too.
Would you agree Windows Mobile 6.1 came in for a lot of criticism?
AR: 6.1 was a successful product for us, sold a lot of phones as a 'rational' purchase [ie users who needed the Windows Mobile features] and to business. Now we need to earn consumer trust and affection, we have their trust through our brand but they probably don't love what we do [in the mobile space].
But the user experience is now very nice, and we're stating 'We know we've got to earn everyone's trust in this market, and we've really got to set out to do that and build awareness, desire and trust for device.'
The fact consumers only have a 10 per cent awareness of Windows Mobile is very low, and that's probably because we've aimed primarily at the business user. The reality is if we're going to drive market share and gain a stronger position with consumer, we need a more emotional connection to the mobile brand.
Is Windows Mobile 6.5 not just a touch-friendly upgrade from 6.1?
DW: While the UI is important to consumers, Windows Mobile 6.5 is more than just that. There's been fundamental engineering going on around the OS, it's got better battery life, better handling of services, we've improved the number of apps it can run, so it's more than that.
Is it revolutionary? No, it's an evolutionary part of the journey, but we've got to start somewhere. Yes, the UI is more touch-friendly for people to use, and we're exploiting the capabilities of 6.1, it's just we haven't exposed those in the way people want as yet.
How do you react to the early criticism of Windows Mobile 6.5, with some stating it's still not good enough for users?
AR: I would implore anyone to use it for a while before passing judgement, as I don't understand the criticism. It's just a nice product to use, it doesn't claim to be anything it isn't, if you only have negative feelings about it I would say use it – use MyPhone, use Marketplace and use the new UI and then come back and tell me it's not good, because it is.
For instance, my wife is a user of the product and she doesn't work for Microsoft or anything. It's easy to use right out the box, does what it says on the tin.
Are the skins being put on top of the OS, for instance Samsung's TouchWiz and HTC's TouchFlo 3d, annoying?
DW: Yes, it is frustrating, but all these manufacturers are looking for differentiators in the market. However, we hope that customers will go to the phone's settings [to see the original Windows Mobile 6.5 UI], we're going to push the marketing on that, to educate them about the fact that option is there. The they can decide whether they like TouchWiz, or TouchFlo, and choose for themselves.
How will Bing be integrated into Windows Mobile 6.5 phones?
DW: Bing mobile will offer local search and location services, so if you were in London and wanted a pizza, you could search and get directions from the phone. It's all about finding locations.
It will be a Windows Mobile marketplace download, we actually finished the OS before they made Bing, so it will be made available for OEMs to install on their phones too.
However there are core things that have to be installed on every Windows Mobile 6.5 handset, such as Marketplace and MyPhone, and these will also be available as a download to Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 devices.
What do you make of the likes of Samsung, which supports five operating systems in its handset range?
DW: It's good for the consumer, as they get choice. But we're now at this inflexion point, which you see in multiple industries, where there will be multiple players jostling for position.
And we're very good at competing in area, so while there will always be a place for alternative systems, like Linux and Apple jostling with us, the number will be down to two or three major players in there market over the next three or so years.
There's no world a mobile operator can sustain and test all mobile operating systems, and there's no way a hardware manufacturer can exploit or continually keep testing five or six operating systems.
At the moment everyone is investing in that marketplace, creating an opportunity where a good open platform is available for people to develop on top of.
Android has done well, and now the Chrome OS has been announced, there will be plenty of connection. How do you react to that?
DW: Well, Google is our number one competitor, in terms of the PC space, but not mobile. However, we are keeping a close eye on developments [with Chrome OS], although our number one competitor is RIM.
Will we see any 6.x updates to Windows Mobile before the release of WM 7?
DW: There will be service packs for Windows Mobile that we'll be releasing. There will be things like new hardware with capacitive screens coming down from some companies, and we can exploit that by tweaking the OS to allow Windows Mobile to have capacitive touch.
But essentially for the end user, 6.5 is the release, and there will be some minor maintenance updates for OEMs. Is there a major release or another update will be made known to consumers? No, it will only be tweaks.
Apple do very good job [in hyping up incremental firmware updates], they release a new version of the firmware and it's got cut and paste in it, which we had for years, and the media love it.
But our next major release will be Windows Mobile 7.
AR: The production line of software is never ending. In the the olden days you developed software, you launched it, then moved on to the next one. Now you can't do that, it's a constant production line of innovation, not just waiting for next big thing.
Doubtless one day we'll get to the point where we can attach another integer to the product, and we can say we're at the next version, but really have to stop thinking about the OS in that way.
It is hard because we know we've propagated this way of thinking, but the truth is the whole market will be about constant innovation, and if you don't, you will be left behind.
Does the media coverage of the Apple iPhone firmware updates annoy you?
DW: Yeah, and they do a great job at it. We need to learn from it, to be truthful about it, we should be doing the same. But I don't think we've been in a position to do it, for instance with 6.1, we were never in a position to do updates or make important announcements.
How will you differentiate Windows Phone when there's WM 6.5 and 7 on offer?
DW: Consumers are moving away from versions – they don't want speeds and features, they want to know what it can do for them. So each phone will be sold as having these capabilities, whatever feature set, so it's positioned in the market as what it can do, not what version it will be, because that means nothing to consumers.
All the research we've done shows that, yet still see it with PCs; we still see them advertised with Pentium processor, or Core 2 duo processor. But it should be whether the device is great for photography, browsing, gaming, which is what we're trying to change in the market.
But surely, like with Vista and Windows 7, they'll want to know what version is under the hood?
DW: Will be branded as a 'Windows phone', and then the retailer can say it's 'powered by 6.5 or 7' etc. The primary brand is Windows phone, and retailers can use the operating systems for differentiation. It is a difficult one though.
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