Review: Exclusive: Sony Bravia KDL-40EX503
The Sony Bravia KDL-40EX503 is Sony's very first TV to come packing a built-in Freeview HD tuner.
As we sit in our high-spec, tech-fuelled test rooms, it's easy not to get particularly excited by Freeview HD. After all, we've had loads of HD channels for years now from Sky, as well as a couple from Freesat.
But the reality is that our tech labs are hardly representative of the Great British TV marketplace as a whole. For many 'normal' people, getting a satellite dish and new receiver for Freesat HD involves too much hassle and clutter, while the monthly subs cost of getting Sky's HD platform just doesn't bear thinking about.
In fact, let's be honest here: there's a healthy chunk of the British populace that barely understands what HD does, much less actually watches any of it.
So the truth is that in terms of potentially making HD mainstream, the arrival of Freeview HD - an HD service you can receive through your TV aerial rather than a dish - is potentially a very big deal indeed.
When we talk here about Freeview HD arriving in the UK, we're not meaning that Freeview HD broadcasts have only just been switched on. The Crystal Palace transmitter has actually been sending out HD signals since December 2nd 2009.
But today sees the launch of a new product at the reception end of the Freeview HD chain: the UK's very first TV with a built-in Freeview HD tuner, able to receive the new DVB-T2 transmission standard.
That TV is this Sony's 40-inch KDL-40EX503. Which has to count as quite a coup for the Japanese giant, given that it can sometimes be slightly late to the party when it comes to mainstream (as opposed to enthusiast) TV technology.
In fact, you could argue that the 40EX503 has arrived too early! For as happened with standard definition Freeview when it launched, Freeview HD is currently far from a nationwide phenomenon.
Freeview HD issues
The need to upgrade transmitters for Freeview HD means the service is currently only available from two transmitters: Crystal Palace in London and Winter Hill in the North West (the latter transmitter covers around 2,690,000 homes in a circle centred near Blackburn and stretching to Chester and Macclesfield to the South, and Lancaster and Skipton to the North).
Around 60 per cent of the UK's population is expected to be able to get Freeview HD by the end of 2010, but there will still be huge swathes of the country that won't be able to receive Freeview HD until 2011 - at the earliest.
However, while this Freeview HD 'regionalism' seems hugely unfair given that we all pay the same TV license fee, it is, of course, not Sony's fault.
In fact, Sony would doubtless love it if every single person in the UK could already get Freeview HD, since all it can do with things as they are is provide a TV geared up for the areas already lucky enough to have Freeview HD broadcasts, and hope that other people in areas not currently served by Freeview HD will fancy buying a Freeview HD TV anyway, just so they're future proof.
If you want to find out just how much of a wait you have before Freeview HD reaches you, a postcode checker can be found on Freeview's website.
The final little background 'disappointment' we ought to cover before getting our teeth into the 40EX503 is the amount of HD content on Freeview. For at the moment you only get the BBC's part-time HD channel, and the very sporadic HD content from ITV.
Channel Four's HD broadcasts are promised to hit the platform soon, though. And in any case, for cash-strapped and/or dish-hating folk, having any HD channels at all via your aerial is infinitely better than having none.
The EX503 series is positioned as the second rung up Sony's Freeview HD TV ladder, resting above the as yet unseen EX403. And its step up from the entry-level model finds it sporting two main advantages: one aesthetic, one feature based.
The aesthetic improvement finds a brushed aluminium panel running along the TV's bottom edge, which adds a touch of opulence to the otherwise straightforward glossy black rectangle of the rest of the bezel.
The 40EX503's main feature boost over the EX403 is its MotionFlow 100Hz system, designed to reduce judder and LCD's core problems with motion blur.
But that's far from the end of the 40EX503's processing story, for it also has Sony's Bravia Engine 3 system, with its broad focus on improving everything from colour and contrast to sharpness and standard definition upscaling.
While Bravia Engine 3 continues from last year's range, though, the 40EX503 makes a massive leap forward in another area: online capabilities.
We've written many times before about the impoverished nature of the AppliCast online system introduced on some of last year's Bravia models, so it's a huge relief to find the 40EX503 taking things to a much, much higher level. Including, most noticeably, lots of smooth HD video streaming.
Online video content
Particularly welcome - not least because most rival online platforms have been offering it for a while now - is YouTube support.
This includes all the popular features seen on other online TV platforms, such as easy remote control access to lists of Featured, Most Popular, Most Discussed, Most Responded, Most Viewed, Top Favourites and Top Rated videos.
The video quality of the clips is ultimately dependent on how they've been encoded to YouTube's servers, but the BE3 engine does a fair job of upscaling them to the TV's HD resolution.
Another new service to Sony is blip.tv, designed to provide an online 'channel' for 'quirky' independent TV series. Some of the series are in HD, which, crucially, manages to stream perfectly smoothly into our 40EX503 using just a standard 2MB broadband pipe.
It very likely helps the stability of the 40EX503's video streaming capabilities that the set carries a buffer able to store up to seven seconds of video material, and supports PING monitoring, where it assesses the quality of the connection to a specific site and adjusts the video quality it receives accordingly, where possible.
Another intriguing new video streaming service is Sony's Digital Cinema Concert Series. At the time of writing this featured concerts from ThirdEyeBlond, Creed and Chickenfoot, together with backstage footage. And, um, none of the footage actually worked, flagging up 'Content Error' messages when we tried to play it.
But while it's a bit embarrassing that Sony's own content should fail during our tests, we guess the system is still in its early days, and should be fixed by the time the TVs start landing in people's homes.
Next up on the online platform, rather bizarrely, is a Ford Models service, where you get to see various models from the Ford agency talking you through their photograph portfolios and giving beauty tips. Hmm.
We guess this might have been added with noble fashionista intentions, but we have a sneaky feeling it will mostly be watched late at night by lonely blokes...
DailyMotion and more
Yet more video content comes from DailyMotion, a sort of YouTube rival with less content but lots of HD, as well as not one but two 'how to' video services: howcast and eHow, covering everything, from applying for unemployment benefit to avoiding jet lag and finding love with a Capricon! Wow, you really do have to love the internet.
An OnNetworks portal, meanwhile, provides among other things HD video of tourist resorts, videos about the gaming world, and video golf tips, with more meaty golfing content provided by golflink.com, which features reams of videos on how to improve your golf technique.
More lifestyle content comes from livestrong.com, with pages of video clips on everything from dealing with diseases to improving your appearance and relationships.
If music's your bag, then there's the SingingFool portal, where you can see a healthy selection of music videos from new, aspiring bands across a variety of genres.
The penultimate online service is a facility for listening to podcasts from a selection of the most popular podcast sources (including NASA and CNN). But I've saved arguably the best online service until the last: LoveFilm.
At the moment this only offers trailers for new films (many in HD), and tended to suffer a little with judder and digital blocking. But these problems should be ironed out easily enough, especially if you have a fast online connection. Even better, Sony assures us that you should eventually be able to sync your LoveFilm account to your Bravia TV and then stream in full, paid-for feature films.
This potential to sync with online accounts for full movie streaming adds an important new dimension to online TV connectivity beyond the video streaming (including iPlayer support) introduced a couple of months ago by Cello's iViewer TV.
We guess some people might rue the lack of full internet access on the 40EX503. But avoiding this allows Sony to deliver a really slick and quick online interface, and doesn't detract from the fact that Sony has gone from online zero to hero in one fell swoop.
Specification
The internet services described above are piped into the 40EX503 via either an optional Wi-Fi USB dongle, or a built-in Ethernet port.
Other connections alongside this Ethernet jack, meanwhile, include four HDMIs, a USB 2.0 input able to play MP3, JPEG and AVC/AVCHD/DivX/MPEG4 video files, two Scarts and a PC port. We should add, too, that the Ethernet port can also be used for streaming in multimedia stuff from a DLNA-certified PC.
The only pity concerning the connections, in fact, is the fact that there's only one USB, which could become a pain if you go for the optional Wi-Fi dongle but also want to sometimes use a USB storage device to play files into the TV.
While the 40EX503's feature count is obviously dominated by its new Freeview HD tuner and online services, it has got a few other tricks up its sleeve worth mentioning.
There's Sony's Picture Frame system, for instance, whereby the TV goes into a low-power mode so that you can use a photo as a 'screensaver' when you're not actually watching the set.
There's also support for the National Public Radio online portal, an ambient light sensor, MPEG and standard noise reduction routines, a black correction tool, a sliding gamma bar, and Sony's Live Colour system for boosting colour saturations. You can also turn the 100Hz engine off if you don't like the way it works with a particular source.
After a few teething problems - including it taking five minutes to figure out how to get batteries into the remote! - we finally realised that the 40EX503's operating system is really rather good.
The number of key features, such as Internet Video, that have dedicated buttons on the remote for immediate access is impressive, and the PS3 XMB-style double-axis on-screen menu approach works well once you're used to it.
The electronic programme guide for finding stuff on the Freeview platform is nice too, combining lots of clearly presented information with a sensible navigation system and a small picture of the channel you're currently watching playing in the top-left corner.
We should add for the record, too, that the new remote control design feels more comfortable in the hand than the old skinnier Sony design, as well as making buttons easier to pick out.
Let's kick off this section with the all-important Freeview HD playback. Which is... variable.
Sometimes some BBC and ITV material (broadcast currently in 1080i/50, though 1080p/25 and 720p/50 are also supported) looks great - sharp, clean and crisp. And sometimes it looks a little soft and noisy. This slight variability is not the Sony TV's fault, though, but rather an issue with the broadcasts.
Don't be too alarmed by the variability in Freeview HD quality, though. For even one of the less impressive Freeview HD images still beats a standard def Freeview image into a cocked hat.
Decent performance
Turning to the quality of the 40EX503's images rather than those of the broadcasts it receives, the news is mostly very good.
Particularly excellent is the 40EX503's black level response, which achieves levels of profundity much deeper than anything Sony has managed before, and actually deeper than that of almost any other non-LED LCD TV we can think of - bar, perhaps, Samsung's B650 models.
It's nice to find, too, that the 40EX503's screen does a great job of soaking up ambient light reflections. But best of all on the black level front, the 40EX503 suffers scarcely at all with that recurring Sony problem of backlight leakage.
Contrast niggles
If you look really hard during extremely dark scenes, you might just make out the tiniest hint of backlight inconsistency in the extreme corners. But it's much, much less noticeable than it was on many sets from Sony's previous generation, and simply can't be seen at all during 95% of your viewing time.
It's a relief, too, to find that Sony has achieved its excellent black level on the 40EX503 without sacrificing as much shadow detail as we might have expected.
Another feather in the 40EX503's cap concerns its motion handling, as it manages to pretty much completely remove judder from the image, even if you only use the Motionflow processing's Standard setting.
Actually, we'd advise that you stick with this rather than going for the High mode, as otherwise you can start to see a few too many processing artefacts. In Standard mode, side effects are restricted to the rare appearance of momentary flickering or shimmering around very fast objects - something that's easy to live with given the benefits the system brings.
The 40EX503's colours, meanwhile, are good, displaying exceptional subtlety when it comes to blends and colour shifts.
HD images also contain plenty of detail without looking gritty or forced, and standard definition pictures are translated to the screen's full HD resolution without exaggerating source noise.
The only issues we have with the 40EX503's pictures, in fact, are a) that colours are a tad muted post calibration, and b) they're not quite as crisp looking as we'd like, thanks to a touch of motion blur, and a generally marginally soft tone.
But unless you're one of those people who love to see every HD pixel presented with clinical, almost forensic clarity, we're confident that the various plus points of the 40EX503's picture engine will be more than enough to win your heart.
Sonically the 40EX503 is a classic game of two halves. On the positive side, the 40EX503's speakers prove unusually adept at picking out treble detail in a sound mix, and presenting it cleanly and precisely.
On the downside, there just isn't enough bass to balance the treble side out, leaving proceedings sounding a bit tinny and thin.
Value
Many times in the past we've found ourselves berating Sony for charging too much for its flat TVs.
But the 40EX503 suggests that the Japanese brand is hell-bent on being competitive this year, for £900 really doesn't seem an unreasonable amount to pay for a high-performance TV equipped with not one but two ground-breaking features (the Freeview HD tuner and video streaming, in case you've lost track!).
Considered simply as a TV, the 40EX503's generally strong performance, affordable price and currently unique (though probably not for long!) Freeview HD and online video streaming features make it a force to be reckoned with.
It's only when you put the 40EX503 out there in the nationwide marketplace that any serious issues with it materialise, on account of Freeview HD's currently very limited availability and rather limited HD content offering.
But it's really not fair to blame the 40EX503 for Freeview HD's coverage problems.
And even if you're not set to get Freeview HD until well into next year, provided you're patient you could still do worse than consider getting a 40EX503 ready for when your service finally goes live.
We liked:
The good news began so far as the 40EX503 is concerned with its price. We'd firmly expected it to retail for north of £1,000 given the Sony branding and its ground-breaking nature, so its £900 price ticket really doesn't look bad at all.
It also rather importantly delivers some very good picture quality, sets a new bar for online content, and its all-important Freeview HD tuner works perfectly well. Plus, it's impressively easy to use for such a complex TV.
We disliked:
In a perfect world, the 40EX503's pictures would look a touch crisper - something we might actually see happen with Sony's 200Hz Freeview HD sets when they arrive later in the year.
Colours, too, would ideally deliver a touch more vibrancy after the picture has been calibrated for contrast.
Elsewhere, a second USB would have been nice. But that's about it.
Verdict:
The bottom line is that if you live in an area that already has or is soon to get Freeview HD, then the 40EX503 absolutely demands an audition.
This review was written in conjunction with:
What Video & Hi-Def TV magazine
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In Depth: The bluffer's guide to the 12 browser ballot rivals
The EU-mandated browser ballot means that Microsoft has to tell you about other browsers.
Some of the rivals you already know, but others are pretty obscure - and every single one of them claims to be the fastest, the best or the fastestest bestest browser the world has ever seen.
Don't know your Avant Browser from your Greenbrowser? Fear not! We've put together this handy print-out-and-keep guide, and randomised the order so the EU can't accuse us of favouritism.
Avant Browser
They say: The fastest Web browser on Earth!
We say: Oh no it isn't - it's IE with knobs on. While those knobs include online storage, RSS reading, advert and Flash blocking and form autofills, it's still Internet Explorer underneath.
If you've ever wished that Opera ran a different and worse rendering engine with a user interface like the one Safari for Windows used to have before Apple saw sense, then this is the browser for you.
Fascinating fact: It used to be called IEopera, but not for very long.
Safari
They say: It's a browser. It's a platform. It's an open invitation to innovate.
We say: It's up there with Chrome in terms of sheer speed, although features such as Cover Flow browsing of bookmarks are desperately slow on low-spec kit. It's definitely one for your shortlist, although watch the installer: it's very keen on shoving Apple Software Update and Bonjour networking onto your PC too.
Fascinating fact: Apple's WebKit engine is one of the Web's most popular browsing technologies, and powers smartphone browsers too.
Slimbrowser
They say: Best Web Browser Software for Windows.
We say: Internet Explorer With Horrible Blue Interface. Like Avant Browser it's IE with a few extra bells and whistles such as ad blocking, web form filling and the ability to create truly horrible collections of toolbars.
Fascinating fact: According to one satisfied user on the Flashpeak website, Slimbrowser is "The real winner of the web browser wars". Don't tell the EU!
Opera
They say: The fastest browser on Earth!
We say: No it isn't, but it is faster than Internet Explorer. Opera has a long track record of introducing new features that everyone else nicks, and it's definitely one of the most feature-packed programs you can get. The interface is a bit of a Marmite affair but you can include us in the "love it" camp.
Fascinating fact: Opera Turbo - included - can speed things up on congested Wi-Fi or mobile connections by compressing Web pages for you.
K-Meleon
They say: an extremely fast, customizable, lightweight web browser based on the Gecko layout engine developed by Mozilla which is also used by Firefox.
We say: It's Firefox with a more Windows-y interface and the ability to edit the user interface by playing with simple text editing software. One for the tinkerers.
Fascinating fact: The very first version of K-Meleon, K-Meleon 0.1, took just one day to code. This epic speed win was made possible by not really including any features.
Firefox
They say: The world's best browser
We say: The browser that really rattled Internet Explorer's cage is excellent, if prone to the odd wholesale takeover of your PCs memory. It's all about the add-ons, which make it the Swiss Army Knife of the Internet, and recent versions benefit from greatly improved performance - although it's still not as fast as Safari or Chrome.
Fascinating fact: Firefox's address bar is called the AwesomeBar, although no normal people use the term for fear of sounding silly.
Flock
They say: Flock is a browser… focused on keeping you close and better connected to the people, places and things you love.
We say: It's a thinly disguised Firefox with bits of big-name social networks glued to it, which means sharing things online is even faster than clicking on Twitter phishing scams. Good standards compliance and lots of features, but only social butterflies need apply.
Fascinating fact: One of Flock's key team members is a dog [http://flock.com/about/9941] who provides "spunk and attitude".
Maxthon
They say: A powerful tabbed browser built for all users. Seize the Web!
We say: Maxthon - formerly known as MyIE2 - is yet another browser with Internet Explorer's Trident engine underneath it, and it resembles Firefox with a bunch of carefully chosen extensions including the inevitable feed reading and form filling together with more interesting things such as undo close tab, anti-freeze to isolate crashing browser tabs, and easy switching between proxy servers.
Fascinating fact: Maxthon started life as MyIE, a one-man project designed to customise Internet Explorer.
Sleipnir
They say: Fully customisable Web browser (For Advanced Users)
We say: You know all those times you've thought "man, I wish I could switch between the Trident and Gecko rendering engines without running two separate browser instances"? THIS IS THE BROWSER FOR THOSE TIMES!!!!
Fascinating fact: According to Wikipedia, in Norse mythology a Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse.
Chrome
They say: A Web browser that runs web pages and applications with lightning speed.
We say: Amazingly fast development - it's been updated seventeen times since you started reading this sentence - and blistering performance makes Chrome a major pain in Microsoft's backside. Crashing tabs don't bring the whole thing down and the initial lack of ad-blockers has been addressed now that Chrome supports extensions. An excellent - and so far, not even slightly sinister - offering.
Fascinating fact: Google calls Chrome's combined search and address bar the Omnibox.
GreenBrowser
They say: GreenBrowser is your best choice of flexible and powerful green web browser.
We say: Essentially Maxthon hacked down to size with a big axe, GreenBrowser is based on the same MyIE codebase and offers a similar IE-with-knobs-on in a tiny 1.1Mb download. We're assuming the "green" bit is due to its low system footprint, or perhaps the colour you'll turn when presented with its truly horrid user interface. Rather appropriately for a Chinese program, it mings.
Fascinating fact: GreenBrowser sticks a big green G in front of anything on screen, like the Bat Signal. Clicking on it doesn't call Batman, though. It launches GreenBrowser.
Internet Explorer
They say: Internet Explorer 8 is designed for what you really do on the Web… now you can do all of those things faster, safer, and easier than ever. Really.
We say: A genuinely decent effort from Microsoft, but the ageing Trident browser engine is no match for IE's younger, fitter rivals - especially if you're a heavy user of online applications such as Google Mail. Arguably the least secure browser out there, not so much because of its technology but because it's the favourite target of malware writers and scammers.
Fascinating fact: When Microsoft made IE6, it didn't bother making another browser for five years.
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Sky Player bumps live channel line-up to 30
Sky has announced that it has increased its Sky Player channel line-up to 30, with the launch of five new live channels to the service.
The first, which is available now, is Sky1. This means that you will now be able to access all of Sky1's content live via Sky Player – great for those who have a penchant for Lost, 24 and, er, Bondi Vet.
Other channels which will be available later in the month include Sky Movies Premiere and Sky Movies Showcase.
Here you will be able to view many a blockbuster movie and the upcoming Steven Spielberg World War II drama The Pacific.
And if that wasn't enough live channels from Living and Bravo will be launched soon.
Most convenient
Speaking about the new content, Griff Parry, Sky's Director of On-demand explained: "Sky Player offers an unrivalled choice of live and on demand pay TV content, making it the natural destination for online viewing.
"It's about providing people with the most convenient way to access the channels and programmes they enjoy."
To get Sky Player, you have to have a Sky subscription or subscribe to the online only service from £15 a month.
It can be viewed on your computer or through the Xbox 360.
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Project Canvas coming to a PC near you?
The folks behind Project Canvas - BBC, ITV, C4, Five, BT and Talk Talk - have revealed some more snippets of information regarding the set-top box IPTV service, revealing that it could well end up on PCs.
A new questions and answers page was revealed today which outlines the reasoning behind Project Canvas, outlining its manifesto and some key concerns.
Included was the news that it is theoretically possible for the service to end up on computers, with the Q&A noting: "As convergence gathers pace, the differences between the capabilities and usage patterns of PCs and TVs breaks down. Theoretically, any device could carry the Canvas brand and UX if its meet the technical specification."
The piece does note, though: "However, while the vast majority of the applications and services that we expect to be part of Canvas will be available via the PC, this project is primarily concerned with bringing those services to the TV set."
Customise and delete
Other titbits announced were to do with customisability of Project Canvas. Although it hasn't been revealed what the service will look like, there is some news that it won't be anything that breaks EPG norm.
"[Project Canvas] will follow the linear EPG of Freeview/ Freesat for broadcast channels to provide a consistent user experience that is familiar to users.
"It is likely that there will be gaps in the EPG – providing room to add in additional content – and customisation may also feature, allowing users to select their favourites, re-order the EPG and delete content they are less keen on."
Overall the Q&A highlights the reasons why Project Canvas is needed in the home, explaining: "Canvas will create a genuinely open platform for content providers who would have previously not been able to gain access to the TV screen…
"The aim with Canvas is not to create a global standard, but to create a UK platform which is scalable globally. In pursuit of this, we are actively engaged with global partners, and while we recognise the differences between the various standards, we are working to ensure alignment wherever possible."
It's refreshing to see a company being so transparent about an upcoming service, something Alex Lane from What Satelitte and Digital TV agrees with: "Canvas may be following in the footsteps of Freeview and Freesat, but neither one was ever as open as this when they were creating their specification.
"Now all they need is a 'your recommendation' button and it'll be a genuinely public project."
There is no official UK release date for Project Canvas but with the BBC Trust's approval it should be up and running sometime near Christmas 2010.
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Updated: Video: Google Chrome auto-translates websites
Google's latest version of its Chrome web browser offers the option of automatic translation of websites, as well as much improved privacy controls.
Google latest beta version of Chrome will allow users to specify that they want every web page they view in a certain language, and the option to set privacy controls specific to individual websites.
The move means that web users who speak languages that currently have small amounts of web content will now be able to view a machine-translated version of the entire internet.
Instant translation
"The Google Chrome team is excited to introduce a new beta feature to help our users navigate the multilingual web: instant machine translation of webpages, without the need for any browser extensions or plug-ins," says the Google Chrome Blog.
"When the language of the webpage you're viewing is different from your preferred language setting, Chrome will display a prompt asking if you'd like the page to be translated for you using Google Translate."
The latest developments in Google Chrome arrive at the same time that Microsoft has begun its browser ballot in the EU, offering European internet users the choice of 12 different browsers.
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Review: Canon PowerShot A490
The PowerShot A490 is the latest budget compact camera from Canon, and it comes with a surprising twist.
It takes a lot for a digital camera to stand out these days. Things are particularly messy at the £200 mark, where a chokepoint of similar cameras compete for your cash.
And with megapixel counts stalling and new features thin on the ground, for once the most interesting developments are happening much further down the line.
Sub-£100 digital cameras have never been terribly tempting. Dodgy performance, poor images and no features to speak of have long meant that the only people buying cheap cameras were estate agents and people with the most cursory interest in taking pictures.
But the A490 offers a 10MP sensor and the same processing engine as some of Canon's top-end DSLRs.
And yet a bit of looking around reveals an astonishing price tag for a camera from one of the world's leading manufacturers - even shortly after its release it was selling for less than £70 from some top retailers.
Where's the catch?
Unlike Canon's higher-end cameras, the PowerShot A490 uses slightly older technology to process its images.
But while DIGIC IV might be Canon's most current processing technology, DIGIC III was good enough for cameras such as the 40D and 1D MKIII, and the A490's images, while not likely to strike fear into the hearts of professional photographers, are still rather good.
The lens suffers principally from a rather whiny-sounding motor, but it's reasonably specified.
It's a 3.3x zoom, which equates to 37-122mm in 35mm terms. It's neither particularly wide nor long, but users won't have reason to complain in most situations.
Testing revealed a few minor shortcomings - high-contrast edges were a little prone to purple fringing, but our test images are otherwise sharp and well exposed.
Even at higher ISO settings - the A490 goes as high as ISO 1600 - both noise and noise reduction are applied even-handedly, with the result that the A490 consistently produced good, sharp, clean images.
There's a fair degree of manual control. Shutter speed and aperture are naturally left to the camera's processor to figure out, but you can still control the A490's ISO setting, and there's +/- two stops of exposure compensation as well.
(You can choose from centre-weighted, spot and evaluative metering. There's even the option for custom white balance and a customisable self-timer.
(The video mode is good though. The lack of an HD mode isn't a shock, but the 640 x 480 VGA video is fine for short clips, although the fact you can't use the optical zoom while recording is annoying.
We tested the Canon PowerShot A490 at each ISO setting. Here are the results:
ISO 100...
ISO 200...
ISO 400...
ISO 800...
ISO 1600...
With image quality good and nothing major missing from the stills mode, the hunt for compromises moves on - anyone who's used Canon's previous low-end PowerShot's will know what to expect.
Like the outgoing A460 the body is made entirely of plastic, and the chunky curves and small, cheap-feeling buttons - inevitably - hardly feel high-end.
However, the A490 still feels like it will survive the odd knock here and there, even if it's not quite as convincing as Canon's more luxurious Ixus range.
The 2.5in TFT screen is a good one. With 115,000 pixels it only offers around half the resolution of cameras such as the Canon IXUS 105, but in use you're unlikely to notice the difference.
Friends might not exclaim as to the quality, but it's visible in all but direct sunlight and, crucially, doesn't present an impediment to framing a shot.
The bulky battery door on the bottom hides a pair of AA batteries.
Just three of Canon's current range of PowerShots take AA batteries instead of the more common (and expensive) lithium-ion batteries, and as ever, it's a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, the alkaline batteries supplied with the A490 will only last for around 150 shots, which is hardly anything compared to most compact cameras.
We also found ourselves staring at an unresponsive camera when we used the flash as the camera waits for the flash to recharge before allowing you to take another shot.
On the plus side, AA batteries are available virtually everywhere on Earth, so if your camera runs out while you're away from a mains socket you should be able to get it going again.
And, if you use rechargeable Ni-MH batteries Canon claims you'll get a more satisfactory 400 exposures before needing to reach for a charger.
A final note is reserved for the A490's performance: start-up time might be reasonable at around 1.5 seconds, but over a period of 10 seconds the A490 captured just seven shots. It's shot-to-shot time isn't too impressive either, at around 2.8 seconds.
We were surprised at how much we liked the A490. Its rather staid plastic finish isn't amazing to look at, the 2.5-inch screen on the back isn't spectacular, and the AA batteries are a bit of a blast from the past, but more importantly than anything it does take excellent pictures.
We liked:
First and foremost image quality. Look at the test images - sharp details, reasonably low noise and good colour reproduction all make the A490 a decent buy. After that, the build quality is good considering the all-plastic construction, and the menu system is standard Canon - easy to navigate, quick, and intuitive.
We disliked:
Features are thin on the ground, and the A490's finish looks worse in real life than it does in the pictures. There's no way you'll pick it up and have any illusions as to which end of the price spectrum the A490 falls. We'd also prefer a little more from the video mode, but that really would be having our cake and eating it.
Verdict:
You don't always get the control that you want over them, and features such as a decent HD video mode are missing, but if you're looking for a camera for occasional use, and simply want reasonable results every time you press the shutter, this is a cast-iron bargain.
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Video: Automatic website translation comes to Google Chrome
Google Chrome is offering those looking for a different web browser a unique experience – the ability to translate web pages automatically.
While the service is only in beta at the moment, the idea of a polyglot feature – in this case using Google Translate – that offers instant web translation is definitely something that's welcomed.
Navigate the multilingual web
"The Google Chrome team is excited to introduce a new beta feature to help our users navigate the multilingual web: instant machine translation of webpages, without the need for any browser extensions or plug-ins," says the Google Chrome Blog.
"When the language of the webpage you're viewing is different from your preferred language setting, Chrome will display a prompt asking if you'd like the page to be translated for you using Google Translate."
The timing for Google releasing this beta couldn't be better, considering the Browser Ballot situation happening at the moment.
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Gary Marshall: Why the browser ballot screen will help Chrome
It's here: Microsoft's "browser ballot" screen, the menu that gives you the choice of a dozen different web browsers, is on PCs and giving Flock more publicity than it could ever possibly deserve.
It's fantastic news for Netscape, of course, and we're sure they'll be cracking open the champagne now that Microsoft is being publicly punished for using all its might to crush the rival browser firm. Or at least they would be if Netscape hadn't gone to the wall about a thousand years ago.
Technology years are like dog years, and the gap between Microsoft hammering Netscape into the ground and Microsoft getting punished for it is roughly the same as the gap between the discovery of the wheel and the invention of the Aston Martin DB9.
At its peak, Microsoft's browser had around 98% of the browser market; now, it's down to just over 60%. That's for all the versions of Internet Explorer combined: if you look at single browser editions, Firefox is more popular than Internet Explorer.
What we've got, then, isn't a case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted: it's a case of locking the stable door after the horse has evolved opposable thumbs, learnt to drive cars and driven through the stable in a Challenger tank. It's far too late for Netscape and Microsoft's browser share will never recapture its near-total control of the internet.
It's not going to make much difference to the minority browsers, either. Irrespective of their strengths, Maxthon, FlashPeak Slimbrowser and Greenbrowser aren't going to suddenly get hundreds of millions of new users.
The browser likely to get the most benefit is Chrome, which is also benefiting from a hugely expensive billboard ad campaign and the odd bit of promo on the Google home page. If people choose to switch from Internet Explorer, which is more likely: that they'll go for a browser they've never heard of that's big in China, or that they'll go with Google?
In effect, the EU is punishing anti-competitive behaviour by forcing Microsoft to promote Google - the same Google that, er, it's investigating over claims of anti-competitive behaviour. That makes sense, doesn't it?
Here's a prediction. A few years from now, Chrome will have ten times the market share it has now - and amid concerns that Google is far too powerful, the EU will force it to promote another firm in its search results and in its Chrome OS. And that firm will be owned by the Devil.
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Review: Waterfall Victoria Evo
Previous speakers made from glass have tended to sound rather brittle and bright, but then the construction of a glass speaker is an extremely bold move. Not only is the production process highly complex and expensive, but there are also serious sound quality concerns.
But, by incorporating sophisticated damping techniques, Waterfall has refined the process to the point where its latest Evo range is in no way compromised by the material itself.
Instead, what you get is a distinctive speaker with the positive benefits of glass, such as high density and rigidity. The question is, can function truly benefit from form?
Looking glass
All sides except the bottom are made from tinted, six millimetre glass with bevelled edges. The glass panels are bonded together to form the cabinet. A secondary front baffle adds an art deco-style motif, additional rigidity and improved damping.
At the base is a die-cast aluminium plinth that not only anchors the cabinet, but also acts as housing for the crossover, passive bass unit and spikes. The crossover is generally of a high quality, if conventional construction.
Although not bi-wireable, it features expensive components such as polypropylene capacitors and insulated inductors. Less impressive is the line of block connectors that link the crossover to the drivers' cables.
Of note is the Acculinear treble filter. The special type of plastic used in this filter is designed to improve treble smoothness and is just one of the ways in which Waterfall counteracts the natural sonic tendencies of the glass cabinet.
A metal plate not only hides the crossover from sight, but also protects it from standing waves; yet another example of function benefiting from form.
All four drive units are made by the French company, Atohm. And, in case you were wondering, the fourth drive unit is an ABR passive radiator at the base of the cabinet. Made of ribbed, moulded plastic, the most intriguing feature of this ABR is the bolt-on weight system. By attaching the supplied weights you can, literally, add mass thereby tuning the bass response. Naturally enough, extra weight increases bass weight, but restricts the speed of response.
Both woofers are more conventional, although their die-cast aluminium chassis is extremely well-vented. This usually gives higher power handling and a wider dynamic response.
Of more interest than the woofers themselves is the way in which they are mounted. What Waterfall calls ADT (Acoustic Damping Tube) effectively amounts to a woofer sub-chassis. Made of die-cast aluminium with an open mesh at the rear, ADT has several advantages.
It damps the rearward travelling airwaves so they don't become too 'excitable' within the glass cabinet. Combined with this is a certain amount of isolation from standing waves within the cabinet itself. It also mechanically isolates the woofer from the glass cabinet by acting as a sophisticated gasket. It's the effectiveness of this technology that will really test the Waterfall's ability not to sound brittle.
The tweeter features a silk dome protected by a metal mesh grill. The die-cast rear plate should help isolate it within the cabinet much in the way that ADT works with the woofer units. That's the technology, then. how well it is implemented and how competently it stands up to the competition is another matter.
First glass
Take the materials out of the equation and the Victoria Evo is still an extremely well finished speaker. Block connections aside, the design impresses with its thoughtful and thorough build. The way that the neat internal speaker cable routing actually adds to the design – resembling the strings on a cello – is a case in point.
Then consider that the speaker is made out of glass and the design becomes more impressive still. There are no sharp edges or awkward angles, just an immaculately finished piece of industrial design that's good enough to win design awards.
The tinted glass with semi-mirrored finish and bevelled edges is of the quality usually reserved for expensive Italian glass furniture. Make no mistake, the Victoria Evos are speakers you'd be proud to have in your living room.
Although the quality of finish can't be questioned, the speakers' value for money possibly can. Rival speakers that offer similar component quality and cabinet size tend to cost around £2,000.
The PMC FB1i, Opera Seconda and Proac D18 are all exceptionally fine sounding speakers with the Opera, in particular, also expensively finished. None have any serious sonic vices and all will sustain several system upgrades before they get out of their depth.
If the Victoria Evos are to justify their additional £700 they will have to offer some sonic benefit over and above their unique looks.
The glass roots
The first listen came as a great relief. With claire Martin's, Man in the Station, I wasn't overwhelmed by an overly bright balance or excessive vocal sibilance as I had feared I might be. In fact, Waterfall appears to have suppressed the natural tendency of glass to ring so well, that the resulting balance and natural harmonics would embarrass many a conventional cabinet.
Whether male or female, the vocals are especially well-articulated with excellent projection into the room. If anything, there is a slightly forward bias to the speakers but it's not relentless, and it's more explicit and revealing of the music.
Whatever the genre, the Evos are particularly adept at expressing and layering it. Only at very high levels does a little congestion set in and even then it is mild. Turn up the tempo and the Waterfalls respond admirably.
A crisp, dynamic response provides excellent timing, and matching that faultless timing, is an expansive soundstage that competes with the best in its class, not just for width but depth of sound, too.
Very deep bass is a little lacking, yet this doesn't diminish the Victorias' zeal in ripping through the music with conviction. Classical music reveals a surprisingly sweet violin timbre. The combination of silk treble unit and Acculinear filter certainly appears to have done the trick in providing a well-integrated and smooth treble response.
Perhaps, as a result of this, the balance occasionally sounds just a little too smooth. Some of the 'space' around instruments seems lost. I suspect that a decent ribbon or panel would pick out a little more detail in the high end. Nevertheless, the Waterfalls do a good job in staging the orchestra and its taut timing ensures that a sense of drama and scale is always maintained.
That the Waterfalls look striking and are exquisitely constructed can't be denied. Given the unusual construction, their sound quality is impressive, too. Despite some minor criticisms levelled at frequency extremes and a slight congestion of sound at higher levels, the Evos sound engaging, well-integrated and just as adept with a full scale orchestra as a female vocalist.
In short, these are the type of speakers that will happily 'hook' you in for a full night's listening. Yes, a handful of slightly cheaper speakers can match the sound, but none are as visually arresting. Clearly, these are the perfect speakers for the design-conscious audiophile.
Related Links
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Rumour: Apple to embrace HDMI with new Mac mini
Apple plans to introduce HDMI connectivity on some of its Macs this year, according to a number of sources close to the company.
HDMI input has become the de facto industry standard high-definition audio/video interface on most PCs on offer from Apple's competition.
HDMI ports were spotted on a Mac mini prototype (in place of its legacy DVI connector), which is where the current spate of Apple embracing HDMI rumours emerged from.
Mac mini prototypes spotted
The HDMI port sits beside the mini's DisplayPort connector and – should it see commercial release – the new Mac mini would be the second Apple product to feature the port following the Apple TV streaming media device.
HDMI provides support for audio, which is something Apple's current DVI output does not.
Appleinsider also notes that: "At least one of the Mac mini prototypes described by those privy to the hardware is said to include Nvidia's MCP89 chipset, which is the successor to the existing MCP79 (or GeForce 9400M) chipset found alongside Intel's Core 2 Duo processors across the majority of Apple's existing Mac product line.
"However, Intel's ongoing licensing dispute with Nvidia will prevent Apple (and other PC makers) from using the MCP89 supporting chipset alongside its latest generation of Nehalem-based Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. Therefore, this suggests that Apple may continue to rely on existing Core 2 Duo (pre-Nehalem) processors as part of its upcoming Mac mini revision.
"Alternatively, the Mac mini prototype in question could have been in development before Intel's disagreement with Nvidia came to a head, meaning successive prototype revisions that forgo the new Nvidia chipset in favor of Intel's may have since emerged, though there's no evidence thus far to support that theory."
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Panasonic's plasma packing Freeview HD and Freesat HD arrives
Panasonic has announced the arrival of its latest plasma TV – the TX-P42G20B.
The plasma TV arrives waving a word's first banner, because it has both Freeview HD (DVB-S) and Freesat HD (DVB-T2) tuners inside.
So, if you still can't decide which free service to get your HD from, Panny is handing both of them to you on a plate.
The G20 is, of course, part of Panasonic's Viera series of TVs and offers THX audio certification and smoother images, courtesy of its 600Hz Sub-field Drive technology.
Skype and SD
There is also Viera Cast on board, so you can check out the company's widget selection and you will also be able to Skype to your heart's content on the TVs – a feature which was originally shown of at CES 2010.
Also available are two USB ports, an SD card reader and using one of the USB ports, you can record HD and SD content straight to an external hard drive.
Price-wise you are looking at around £1,099 for the panel – a decent price considering the HD content you will be getting for nada.
Go to www.panasonic.co.uk for more details.
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Random House sets up videogame story-writing division
Book publisher Random House is set to attempt to establish itself as a source for story content in games, creating a new division specifically for this purpose.
The major publishing company's new unit, "the IP Creation and Development Group," has been set up specifically to develop storylines for games in development.
Diversifying into videogames
"After more than 80 years, Random House is now taking our storytelling expertise one step further," said Gina Centrello, President and Publisher of The Random House Publishing Group.
"We are providing a valuable service to other media companies in a competitive entertainment market, where success increasingly depends on the quality of your story."
The new Random House division's first project is Stardock's Elemental: War of Magic, with the launch of a novel written by executive producer Brad Wardell.
"A good story doesn't necessarily have to begin and end with a game; it can and should encompass as many creative mediums as possible in order to provide fans with the most complete rendering of a fictional place or time," Wardell said, speaking of his spin-off book, Elemental: Destiny's Embers.
"With Elemental having an incredibly rich back story to tell, partnering with Random House allows us to create the most immersive universe possible for our fans."
If the videogame industry starts to develop some truly talented story-writers then perhaps we might start to see a few movies based on games that don't suck in future!
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In Depth: 8 of the best online storage sites
There is one word that has made computer backups the dreaded activity for most PC users: time. Well, the lack of time, more precisely, especially when backups lead to storage snafus, transfer errors, and other hair-pulling exercises.
We have plenty of time for playing computer games, browsing the web, and even making a brochure in Word because those activities are fun and rewarding, for the most part.
Fortunately, the web has become a breeding ground for sites that help solve back-up problems. Sure, you can use a network-attached device over your home network, but that doesn't exactly help you when you're stuck at an airport with your laptop and really, really need to access that one Excel spreadsheet you misplaced in November.
And just because you have the drive, and the connection, and the technical wizardry to do backups doesn't mean you will actually do them. (We know, automated backups should work fine, but you will still run out of disk space and the software will still cause problems.)
In testing these sites, we found that off-loading data to the cloud actually worked remarkably well and led to a curious outcome: we actually kept doing the backups. We know it is an important activity, one that can save your skin when you lose an entire collection of family photos. These sites might actually solve the problem once and for all, albeit with varying degrees of success.
1. Microsoft Skydrive
Like any free service that you use when you sign-up for other services (eg, Windows Live), Microsoft Skydrive is all about the ability to make backups and store files online rather than actually making it easy.
In many respects, Skydrive is just a technical option - a place to put your files online. This is more attractive than it sounds: the service offers 25GB of free storage for docs, photos, or any file you care to post. There is a 'single sign-on' mentality here. Once you sign up for Live, you are automatically grandfathered in to Skydrive so there is no separate registration process.
The service works seamlessly with other Microsoft products - you can use Live Photos (a service that is similar to Flickr) to store your images in Skydrive folders. Office Web Apps also work with Skydrive so you can archive a document to the service, which is slick. The fact that Skydrive works reliably, is from Microsoft, and is free means you might start using it regularly.
Unfortunately, the service is very limited for any serious archiving duties. Unlike Carbonite, it doesn't integrate with your desktop at all, which is odd because Microsoft really should push that.
There is no way to do heavy batch uploads - say, an entire drive or network folder. It is strictly just one file at a time, hit Upload, then repeat. There are a few handy extras - you can create favourite folders, and share links for public files that people can comment on - sort of a poor man's photo portal where you can share some family shots and then have everyone comment on how dumb everyone looks.
Skydrive simply takes too much time to do archives. There is also a very restrictive 50MB per file limit on uploads, which is just lame. It is likely to be a service that you use for a while then quickly forget it even exists as you move on to other things.
2. Box.net
Box.net has some great pricing plans. There is a free version which has 1GB of storage and a 25MB file limit, but the $10 plan gives you 10GB and a 1GB per file limit. The business plan at $15 per month, which is the one we tested, comes with 15GB and has a 2GB file limit. The service is well-designed and Web 2.0-savvy in that it makes use of Java and looks like it was made in this decade.
Unfortunately, in our tests, it was also buggy. Box.net is supposed to let you upload by dragging-and-dropping files, which would make it a lot easier to use, but we tried Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8 and neither of them worked with the service correctly.
Box.net goes way beyond file storage. It is trying to be the Facebook of storage, which is a bit like trying to be the Twitter of mapping tech - it just doesn't really work. We're not visiting a storage site so we can connect with other people, we just want to keep our files safe.
The application frameworks are cool and all, but again – we are not using the service like an iPhone where we want to add a bunch of apps. (Truth be told, the widgets are useful but not our first thought when we have 20MB of documents we want to back up - would you really want to do that from LinkedIn?)
The additional features feel a bit like Box.net wanted to jump on a bandwagon and leverage the service, without actually improving the storage features. We do like that there is an iPhone app, an enterprise option with strong security encryption (pricing varies), and a good content search engine.
3. ElephantDrive
ElephantDrive is the ugly stepsister of Box.net. The sites are not related, but they use a similar blue and white colour scheme and offer similar 'entry level' and 'pro' account levels. That said, ElephantDrive is much cheaper - it costs about $5 for unlimited storage and the technology is much more closely aligned with how Carbonite works where you download an app that you use to back up files from your desktop.
Also like Carbonite, you have less control over how you set up backups - we prefer the way Mozy lets you configure backups in a way that mirrors desktop tools that archive to a local drive. ElephantDrive also had problems logging in at times and the online interface for seeing back-up files, while functional, looks about 10 years out of date compared to a fresher Web 2.0 look and feel.
Still, there are several perks to using Elephant Drive. One is that your files are protected heavily during transfer using 128-bit SSL encryption and packaged as 256-bit AEN encrypted files.
As a tool for transferring files, ElephantDrive also works well, although not quite as unencumbered as a service such as Yousendit.com. To share files, you have to log in, find the files, click a share option, and type the email of the person with whom you want to share the files – a few extra steps.
We also liked that we could do a backup and immediately access that file online and retrieve it rather than making a backup that is stored online but not available right away. (Some back-up sites save your archive in a proprietary file and you can't just access it at will.)
4. Carbonite
Carbonite and ElephantDrive are remarkably similar – they both run in the background and make backups on files over time as you use your computer. They both offer unlimited storage for one price, which is essentially an 'all you can eat' plan where the service will slowly back up the files you select.
With Carbonite, you select the files and folders you want to archive. The reason the backup is unlimited is simply because your internet connection – even if you speed along at 5Mbps or more – is still not fast enough over time to back up more than a few GBs. The service offers annual pricing, and one year costs $54.95 or about $5 per month – about the same as ElephantDrive.
In our tests, Carbonite worked flawlessly – we never even noticed that the service was archiving an entire music collection in the background. Thankfully, these backups use your upload bandwidth so you can still browse the web and check email without too much interference.
The process of archiving is easy, and the Carbonite utility works well, but ElephantDrive actually offers a more functional web interface for viewing files and sharing them with other users. With Carbonite, when you need to restore a file, you use the desktop software to restore them.
The service uses an 'on the fly' paradigm that might be confusing at first. For example, there are dots that appear on folders showing if a backup is pending, in process, or complete.
This is helpful once you get accustomed to the idea, but does not work like traditional back-up software or a web portal and forces you to look at folders and important files to see if they are archived or not instead of just using an app.
5. MobileMe
MobileMe looks and functions exactly like you would expect an Apple product to act, which is to say: like a Mac computer and the iPhone. If you are used to a Windows computer or like using a Web 2.0 site that emphasises Java and a good design over making a web site look like a computer, then MobileMe is likely not the best option.
However, it is one of the best ways to easily back up files. For $99, the service offers 20GB of storage space. You can easily mark folders as public and share the contents with any user (which they can then access online), or select a file or folder and add an e-mail address to share with any recipient.
As you might expect, Apple offers an iPhone client for MobileMe and it works better than any other mobile app we have tested for online storage sites. There is also a Windows client.
In tests, MobileMe also had another perk: it actually ran incredibly fast for backups, typically operating just a notch faster than other services when testing the same files over the same internet connection. For example, a 50MB file transfer to the service at Me.com took only five seconds, whereas other services took twice that time.
The integration with the Mac OS is remarkably fluid as well – the iDisk icon is available in the Finder view so you can easily drag and drop files to your online storage.
When you need to retrieve a file, it is just a matter of double-clicking the same icon and copy the file back to your local drive, or using Me.com from any computer to access your online folders.
The only real complaint about MobileMe is that it is just a hair more expensive that other services, but the extra cost is not a major issue since the service has plenty of storage and works so well.
6. MozyHome
MozyHome is an exceptional service that matches and, in some cases, exceeds the power of Apple's MobileMe service. It costs about $5 per month, and provides unlimited storage for files.
MozyHome, the service we tested (since there is also a business version), uses 128-bit encryption for file transfers and runs as an app that is similar to most desktop apps that archive to a local disk.
One of the most unique features is called bandwidth throttling. When you configure the app, you can choose whether Mozy uses most of the bandwidth for backups or a minimal amount. The service was also the best at prompting you for which files to back up, such as music and video files, documents, and contacts stored on your computer.
There's an easy way to pause backups and resume, and MozyHome worked reliably for all of our back-up tests. However, it did not match MobileMe for raw speed of backups and tended to take just a few seconds longer on the same Internet connection.
MozyHome even offers a free version with 2GB of space, which is a great way to test out the service with a few important files to see if it works well for your computing needs. The service works with both Mac and Windows computers, and has an excellent support page and knowledge base.
7. Dropbox
Dropbox was the easiest service to use of all the ones we tested. When you visit Dropbox.com, you see a large download link to get started with the program, not the typical customer testimonials or features summary.
The service is free for 2Gb of storage, or $10 per year for 50GB and $20 for 100GB. Like MobileMe on a Mac, DropBox integrates well with your computing activities. You can right-click on any file and send it to your Dropbox (similar to how Carbonite works), but there is also a desktop icon you can use for drag-and-drop. And, unlike Carbonite, you can visit Dropbox.com to view archived files.
Dropbox watches files and folders and folders and will detect when a file charges and then make a new archive of that file. The interface for electing which files you want to back up is exceptionally easy – matching the design flare and accessibility of the MobileMe interface.
Like MozyHome, you can set a bandwidth throttle to use all of your feed for backups or a small amount. The search at Dropbox.com is powerful: you can search archives for any file, then rename and delete them at will.
When you upload photos to Dropbox, the service actually creates a slideshow for you automatically – and, of course, you can share any links as public storage locations with anyone you want. Like Elephant Drive, files are encrypted locally before transfer using 256-bit AES and secured with 128-bit SSL during transfer.
The iPhone app is powerful as well. You can take photos and video (with the iPhone 3GS), then sync those files to your Dropbox account. And, there's a way to view photo slideshows, too.
So where does Dropbox fall in the grand scheme of things? We ended up liking MobileMe a hair more because of its speed and a few minor interface design perks. Still, Dropbox is an outstanding service that worked reliably, has several unique features, and is not as expensive as MobileMe.
8. Google Docs
Not instantly recognized as a storage service, Google Docs recently implemented a new feature: you can store any file on the service you want, not just media files and documents. In fact, if it is a file you can email or upload over the web (so, maybe not a 1GB high-def movie) you can store it with Google.
The free portal offers 1GB for any type of file, or pay .25 cents per GB for more space. (In the past, industrious users figured out how to hack Gmail to let them store files, so this is now the preferred option.) Google Docs works well with Gmail and other Google service, partly because you tap into the storage you have for all Google services and can pay extra for more storage.
Google uses a smart shared folder model where you can upload files and then give anyone access to your public files. If you do work regularly with docs on the service, Google Docs even behaves a bit like Google Wave in that you can work on documents collaboratively.
Docs has a viewer for any file type, including photos, and the entire portal for files is searchable. For example, if you use Docs for uploading PDF files, you can search for any phrase and Docs will search through the PDF text.
Because Docs is intended more as a word processing, spreadsheet, and slideshow suite to compete with Microsoft Office, the service tends to be a little hard to use.
There is certainly no desktop integration, since that is not really the purview of Google to begin with. And, there is no obvious point-of-entry for quick backups and uploads. As a free service, Google Docs does work well and can become part of your Google experience, but it's in no way a serious competitor to MobileMe or Dropbox.
Conclusion
Whichever storage site you choose, one axiom will quickly emerge: with the storage at your fingertips, and the sites available without a lot of fuss, it is easier to make them a daily part of your routine.
This was more true with MobileMe, Dropbox, and Carbonite because of how they integrate with your computer. They are like a constant reminder that you should be arching important files.
Yet, every online site does provide a quick way to make backups and negates the need for a USB keydrive or even an external hard disk drive that you use just for a single PC backup.
Even with the mobility they provide, there is one caveat to mention: space is often limited with these sites, and when there is unlimited storage, the other gating factor is that your internet connection is not the best option for backing up a 250GB laptop drive.
In that sense, online storage is no replacement for a good dedicated network back-up process, which is a better choice when you do happen to be chained to your desk.
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Review: Pure Sound A10
Designed to demonstrate some of the star quality of the larger A30, the A10 integrated valve amplifier is the newest and least expensive arrival in a range from Pure Sound which includes amps, preamps and phono accessories.
In fact, due to market enthusiasm for the new amps, the A10 may well rule the roost in sub-£1,000 models.
Vacuum minimalism
The A10 is a class A Ultra Linear push-pull design. It uses a relatively conventional complement of valves, consisting of a pair of 6N3 valves in the preamp section and a quartet of 6P14 valves for the output stage.
Power is quoted at 10 watts per channel, and the output transformers are wound to accept either four or eight ohm loudspeaker loads. Internally, the amp is constructed from high-quality components such as carbon film resistors and polypropylene coupling capacitors, whilst the inputs are gold plated – which is no mean feat considering the price.
Special mention must also go to the volume control – a top-of-the-range film potentiometer. Not only does it have a smooth, fluid action, but it seems completely free of any channel imbalance, even at very low volumes.
Perhaps as a result of the impressive quality of the components specified by the designer, the feature set of the amp is somewhat limited; it sports a pair of line inputs selected by a two-position switch, a similar switch to power it on and off and that rather impressive-looking volume knob. Anyone seeking more inputs, phono stage or, indeed, a remote control will need to look elsewhere.
Pure Sound developed the A10 with a view to its use in both entry-level main systems and in second systems in bedrooms and studies where other Pure Sound models might prove too large or too expensive.
The 10 watt output will go a surprisingly long way if partnered correctly, but those interested in moving to an A10 from a more powerful solid-state amplifier will obviously need to ensure that their speakers are sensitive enough for it to generate reasonable listening levels – a great many of the better known and respected designs at this price point will not be.
For my listening tests, I chose a pair of Audio Note AN-K standmounts which have a high sensitivity to work with low output amplifiers and this pairing was able to generate ample real world volume levels in a fair-sized room.
Other suitable options are available from manufacturers such as Heco, Tannoy and Triangle.
Stout party
The fit and finish of the A10 is very good indeed. Despite its diminutive chassis, this amplifier tips the scales at no less than 8.5 kilograms and feels extremely solid with neatly rounded edges adding to the quality feel.
The wood trim around the volume knob is a neat visual touch and is matched by a plate on the transformer cover. As with a few other designs I have seen recently, the delicate valves are protected by a series of acrylic pieces separated by metal uprights. This is undoubtedly far easier on the eyes than a metal cage, although depending on how determined any of your offspring are, it's probably not as childproof.
The speaker terminals on the rear are large and solid three-way posts which should be able to accommodate all but the most enormous varieties of speaker cable.
The overall perception is that Pure Sound has preferred to reduce the feature count rather than the build and parts quality of the amp. This is precisely the way I would prefer manufacturers to approach constructing equipment for tight budgets.
In use, the A10 proves itself free of the idiosyncrasies and foibles which sometimes come with valve amplifiers and should prove a positive introduction to anybody who has selected one as their first foray into valves.
Setup is aided by an informative, well-written manual that should allow even a complete novice to get it running. The A10 warms up fully in less than 20 minutes and seems totally free of background noise or humming that can sometimes blight valve amps.
Pounds for Lbs
The overall result is that the A10 is one of the most cost effective ways of securing a well-built valve amp with high quality components throughout. Considered against other EL84 designs, it's less than half the price of similarly powerful models which is impressive considering how much remains.
On the negative side, it's limited to two sources, which may or may not concern you, and this can be overcome by adding inputs with a DAC or switching box.
The wider consideration, of course, with buying an amp with a limited power output is the likely need to buy suitable speakers for it to perform at its best. This is a more pronounced requirement than with a similarly priced solid-state amplifier.
A lot of bottle
Your willingness to invest in a new pair of speakers may increase significantly upon listening to it though. Half an hour with a properly partnered A10 and you will have found a way to manage with two inputs and 10 watts.
In keeping with many valve designs, the A10 brings a genuine sense of presence and realism to recordings. Artists and musicians are placed with an accuracy and depth of soundstage that moves well beyond the speakers.
Live recordings, in particular, bring an uncanny sense of the space they were recorded in, be it tiny club or cavernous stadium. Contained within it, instruments have the space they need to sound tangibly real and totally unprocessed.
Above all, voices come in for special treatment. Male or female, the A10 will place them with total assurance where they need to be, never divorced from their instruments, but equally never engulfed by them either.
Where the A10 is emphatically not in keeping with many valve amplifiers, particularly at this price point, is the speed and surprising grip it demonstrates. There is none of the bloat or softness that can reduce the impact of transients or quick bass lines – the A10 has a speed and agility that is often lacking in valve designs.
At the same time, the natural and unforced presentation does not seem to result in loss of detail and the all-important sense of excitement that can keep the attention for hours. In absolute terms, the bass – although fast and detailed – lacks the seismic quality normally only achieved with rather more power.
Once it has run out of volume, it can sound slightly strained – although it will hang on for longer than you might expect and never become unduly harsh or severely distorted. The classic comment that a valve watt seems burlier than a solid-state one certainly has some credence here.
Pure magic
Unfortunately, I cannot give an unconditional recommendation to the A10 as a perfect choice of amplifier at this price point. Many people who are already happy that their speakers are working well in their rooms are going to find the output of the A10 too limited to do justice to loudspeakers of average sensitivity.
Others will need more than two inputs, and may be unwilling to sacrifice remote control to get it. for those able to work within these limitations, however, the A10 demands an audition.
Simply put, it never fails to make music an enjoyable and rewarding experience, which is surely the purpose of a good hi-fi system in the first place. for many, this will be enough.
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£255,000 golden coffin comes equipped with a golden phone
If Michael Jackson were alive, he would no doubt be attending this month's 'International Luxury Fair' in fair Verona, where a golden coffin featuring a golden cell phone can be snapped up for a mere $381,000 dollars (£255,000 / 280,000 euros).
The a cell-phone-equipped golden coffin is only one of many hilariously expensive items on display at the international luxury fair.
Eager billionaires
Eager billionaire shoppers could pick up a diamond-studded, cancan-style wedding gown in pink chinchilla fur for 220,000 euros, a boat running on a Ferrari engine or crystal-covered piano (prices 'tbc').
Those on a budget might instead plump for a 24-carat gold racer bicycle (24,000 Euros), an armchair covered with the skin of 20 crocodiles, decorated in gold, diamonds and rubies (200,000 euros) or a fetching hand-crafted billiard table covered in golden sheets (60,000 euros).
The question of why anybody would want to contact the dead via a golden cell-phone has yet to be posed to the seller... Surely they would want a golden iPhone instead?
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Review: Hanss Acoustics T-30
In a move that could shake the foundations of the high-end analogue world, Hanss Acoustics has created the T-30 – a high mass (37.8kg), multi-arm turntable that can be snapped up for just £3,600.
Chinese company Hanss Acoustic makes phono stages, equipment supports and a CD player but its range of turntables is something else. The T-30 is the middle model of three substantial turntables with impressive build and an awful lot of precisely turned aluminium for the money.
With two substantial motors, two armbases, a separate power supply, and no fewer than six belts, it ticks all the boxes for the hardcore analogue fiend. All you need is a big enough equipment support.
Heavy duty
The T-30 is an awful lot of engineering for £3,600. We've yet to test anything that compares to its near 40-kilogram mass – only the extreme end of German and French designs get close, but with price tags to match.
The Hanss T-30 is a very substantial turntable: its platter is 70 millimetres deep and weighs 10 kilograms on its own. The total turntable weight is a staggering 37.8 kilograms and it stands over 60 centimetres wide. But there's more to this baby than mass.
The chassis is a sandwich of aluminium and acrylic, a design approach that Clearaudio has been using for some time. Suspension comes in the form of opposing magnets in the three ball feet, a technique used in the Lumley Stratosphere, albeit rather more than three times, and at stratospheric cost.
The platter's bearing that you can see if you look at the turntable side on, also has magnetic suspension, which is a little unusual, but something of a necessity when you have such a high-mass platter. In practice, the T-30 feels and looks like an unsuspended design and has the same sensitivity to footfall.
The arm bases are supplied in SME and Rega fit and can be switched from one side to the other if you are prepared to undo the eight bolts that hold them in place. I used an SME V tonearm, but was unable to fit the standard arm cable plug because of insufficient space inside the base. Fortunately, I was able to borrow an alternative cable with a plug that sends the cable straight down.
The Rega base accepts the RB300 style threaded column Rega arms and has built in VTA adjustment, which is a useful feature. The huge motor housings have weighted bases and are totally independent of the turntable itself.
In fact, it's not entirely clear how close they should be nor how to orient them, but looking at the pictures on the Hanss site you get the impression that the on/off switches should be at the back.
The AC motors power acrylic pulleys with three grooves in them, each of which drives a silicon belt. You'll notice that each motor is a different height so that all six belts can be run without interference. Each motor has its own cable, which plugs into a separate power supply with which you can turn them on and off and select speed. You can also fine tune speed if you have a small screwdriver and a light touch.
On top of the plinth is a speed display with three decimal places – getting it to read 33.333 is quite a feat but it can be done with a little patience. Hanss supplies a record clamp which, to be frank, is too lightweight to do a great deal as it doesn't screw down.
Also in the box is a strobe disc, which has a cartridge alignment gauge on one side as well as a circular spirit level to aid set up. Small but nice touches both.
Base metal
The quality of CNC machining is impressive on this turntable – not in the very top league but remarkable for the asking price and about as good as I have seen on a Chinese component. It's well put together and easy, if heavy work, to set up.
One snag is that the armbase for the SME seems a little too high – you have to push the arm down as far as it will go to get correct VTA. With two of the three cartridges tried the base was only just close enough to the platter to achieve correct alignment.
In other respects, fit and finish is very good and the hardcoat anodising on the platter particularly well done. The way that the six belts all sit equidistant on the platter is also very pleasing to the eye and threading them on is a doddle, if you are methodical.
Added value
To my knowledge, no-one offers this much turntable for this sort of money – there isn't even a model that will accept two tonearms in this ballpark. Fortunately, for the competition, there's more to record playing than extra armbases and mass.
The T-30 has plenty of competition from the likes of Kuzma, whose Stabi-S is remarkably musical as is the superbly finished SME Model 10. If you want high mass however, the only alternatives are the big money TW Acustic Raven AC, which also has a 10 kilogram platter, or Acoustic Solid's Solid One, which isn't quite as hefty but comes in at a competitive £4,000.
Sound quality
Being over 60 centimetres wide makes T-30 something of a challenge to site on conventional equipment supports and you'll really need something big like a finite elemente or even one of Hanss Acoustics stands for best results. I made a bigger top plate for my Townshend stand, which looked a bit ungainly but did the job.
With an SME V tonearm and van den Hul Condor XCM cartridge installed, and the output fed to Trichord's venerable Delphini phono stage, the Hanss delivers an extremely stable and powerful result that makes for powerful, full-blooded sound.
This is typical of high-mass designs, but most models do not have two motors. it's impossible to say what the second motor brings to the sound because one is not enough to keep the platter spinning. The most likely effect is to underpin the unflappable quality already produced by the platter.
It doesn't draw your attention to qualities like timing but a rhythmically tricky piece like the Keith Jarrett trio's Scrapple for the Apple came across in remarkably engaging and coherent form, which suggests that it's not too shabby in this department. I even enjoyed the double bass solo and that's saying something.
Next to my regular turntable, the Rock 7 with a Rega RB300, the Hanss is more definite and precise, not as relaxed nor timely but despite the lack of a damping trough (as found on the Rock) probably its equal in the bass department. It could be a little more relaxed, but if you want plenty of bite – and this is what gives the bass its definition – then the T-30 is a hard act to beat.
There is something a little unforgiving about the turntable that I suspect, is due to the metal surface of the platter, and it pays to use a cartridge and arm that balance this out. I found the perfect match in the form of a van den Hull Colibri. This plastic bodied MC did the trick, bringing relaxation and refinement to the proceedings and allowing artists including Rickie Lee Jones to deliver their full emotional breadth.
In fact, her track horses became beguiling in its grip, with instrumental and vocal texture that could sway the hardest heart.
Sonic architecture
Hanss Acoustics brings the entry level for high mass turntables down to a new low and that's something to get excited about. It's not the easiest piece of equipment to site but there are some stands, including Hanss' own, built for components of this scale.
While it won't sway the rhythm and timing brigade its remarkable precision and stability means that given a good recording, the speakers disappear to leave a three-dimensional image of genuine architectural solidity in the room.
So, if you want to seriously hear the power of vinyl, then the T-30 is the least expensive way to do it.
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BlackBerry users finally get official BBC iPlayer
BlackBerry users can now get the BBC iPlayer on their mobiles, which may encourage them to work a little less harder and make the rest of us all feel a little more human.
iPlayer on BlackBerry does what you would expect it to do, it streams video-on-demand from the BBC's new BlackBerry friendly BBC iPlayer page.
Works via Wi-Fi
You will need to be on a Wi-Fi connection to use BBC iPlayer for BlackBerry, and you will also need to have a BlackBerry running OS 4.2 to OS 5.0.
BBC iPlayer does not appear on BlackBerry App World as it works straight from your browser.
For more info head over to BBC BlackBerry Shortcuts
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Tate Britain hosts gaming culture event
The UK's leading art institution Tate Britain is set to host a celebration of gaming culture this coming weekend.
Friday, 5 March sees the Tate play host to an event designed to showcase the finer side of gaming with Late at Tate Britain: Game Play.
Gaming culture takes over Tate Britain, with the organisers promising, "low-tech parlour games Charades and Werewolf, to performance and interactive media art with Blast Theory's Can You See Me Now?."
Tate embraces videogame culture
The event will also feature talks from Resonance FM's 'One Life Left' hosts Ste Curran and Simon Byron, and experimental music from David Toop and Unknown Devices: Laptop Orchestra.
If you are into your gaming and fancy a good night out this coming Friday, then you can head down to this free event at the Tate in London's Pimlico.
The full programme for the event can be found on the Tate website, but it's fair to say it's packed. There's around 10 rooms of delights - including chances to play DJ Hero, parlour games and listen to the electronic music on offer.
If you want to go to the talks - which also include Watchmen's Dave Gibbons - tickets for the talks available from the Clore Information desk at 18.00 on a first come, first served basis.
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Crytek unveils new 3D game engine
The cutting edge PC gaming developers over at Crytek have announced that their forthcoming CryENGINE3 game engine will feature full 3D support.
Crytek's Crysis is still, for many, the benchmark for graphical prowess on a PC, so the news will be welcomed by many in the PC gaming community.
3D critics persuaded
The fact that the new CryENGINE will support 3D may also convince a few critics and waverers who still consider the current wave of 3D hype to be little more than a flash in the pan.
Crytek's latest is also set to be a multiplatform engine, which means the 3D gaming it engenders will be able to be enjoyed not only on the PC, but also on the Xbox 360 and PS3, if developers wish to create 3D games for those platforms.
We look forward to seeing the first demo footage of Cryteks' new development tech at the Game Developers Conference later this month.
TechRadar recently looked at how 3D browser games are threatening to take over traditional console and PC games.
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Review: Pure Sensia
When is a radio not a radio? First, when it's an internet radio (which strictly uses wires, not radio waves), and second, when it does so many other things that the term 'radio' only touches the surface.
But in two ways this is a 'real' radio, as it receives both DAB and FM and it also connects to your internet router wirelessly, ie. by radio.
Among various other features, by far the most striking is its ability to play music off your home computer, again wirelessly. Close behind that must surely be the user interface, which is a very natty touch-sensitive screen, just like the ones on many current mobile phones, complete with swipe-sensing.
Pure has been at the forefront of digital radio developments since it got in on the DAB act very near the start, but this is by some way the most advanced product we've seen from the company. Its real beauty is that it does so many internet-and computer connected things, but it isn't a computer.
A computer is a wonderful device, but it's essentially a general-purpose device and, as such, invariably compromised in terms of single-purpose use, such as audio.
You have to do tiresome stuff like launching applications and fiddling with settings and although with experience this soon enough becomes second nature, there's just something a lot more satisfying about a designed-for-purpose, audio-only box.
So this funky-looking unit does some clever things. It even features 'apps', just like a mobile phone (actually a lot of its functionality resembles that of a smartphone): currently you can access Facebook and Twitter and I dare say more is to come.
Sound quality
If you've heard any of the really upmarket table radios such as those from Meridian, you won't be blown away by the Sensia. It does OK with everyday radio fare including compressed pop and speech, but with more subtle stuff it lacks both precision and gain.
There seems to be quite a lot of raw power on tap, but with classical music the maximum volume setting just doesn't seem to be quite high enough. The sound is a little coloured, especially in the treble which is on the dull side overall but has some distinctly audible resonances in it.
Of course, you can always use headphones, or take an output from the headphone socket and use it to drive an external amp and speakers. This is actually quite an impressive experience and it's most gratifying to hear how good the quality is on many internet radio stations. Maybe not quite as good as well-done FM but perfectly listenable.
It's also encouraging that high-rate MP3 files can be satisfactorily streamed wirelessly from the computer. Uncompressed WAV files stutter a bit, suggesting there's not quite enough bandwidth, but 320kbps MP3 seems fine.
The Sensia doesn't seem to recognise any losslessly compressed formats – I couldn't check with the instructions as they are online only and lack rather a lot of detail.
Operating the Sensia is a very pleasant experience, while the 'Flowserver' software that runs on the PC, which is acting as the media server was easy to install and set up. It's certainly a very impressive piece of kit and certain to be a talking point.
If the sound is a little disappointing, it's only fair to bear in mind that £250 is not a lot of money and Pure doesn't claim this as a super-audiophile product. However, as a superbly-featured radio it has a lot to offer.
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Google buys photo editing service Picnik
Google has bought photo editing service Picnik, it was announced this week.
Picnik is an online service that allows users to edit digital photos in a browser. The company made the announcement that it had been purchased via a blog post on its website.
Picnik currently has over 2 million unique users a month and offers both a free service and a paid service that costs US users $25 a year.
Picnik in Seattle
Picnik's Chief Executive, Jonathan Sposato, and his 20-person team are now set to become employees of Google and will make the move to Google's Seattle offices.
Picnik is offered through Picasa, Google's photo storage service, as well as being accessible from a number of other social networking and photo storage sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Photoworks.
On Google's official blog, Brian Axe, explained: "More than ever before, people are sharing and storing their photos online. But until recently, you had to edit your photos using client software on your computer. Today, we're excited to announce that Google has acquired Picnik, one of the first sites to bring photo editing to the cloud."
Google will be competing with market leaders Adobe (Photoshop.com) and Apple (iPhoto).
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Firefox struggling to top 25 per cent share of browser market
Firefox may never top 25 per cent of the global web browser market, if new statistics are indicative of longer term trends.
Firefox has been on a decline over the last three months, while Google Chrome continues to grow in terms of overall market share, being the only browser to show a positive growth last month.
Europe gets browser choice
The latest data from web analytics firm Net Applications shows that between January and February this year, Microsoft's Internet Explorer dropped 0.60 percentage points and Firefox slipped 0.18 percentage points, while Chrome increased by 0.41 percentage points to 5.61 percent of the market.
It is the first time that Firefox's share of the browser market has fallen three months in a row. However, the trend could well be reversed, and it should be pointed out that the cumulative drop over the last three months in Firefox's market share is still slightly under a full percentage point.
Microsoft has been forced to roll out the browser ballot in the EU, this month, so it will be interesting to see how browser use in Europe changes over the coming months and years, as those users who were perhaps previously unaware of even having a choice in the matter are now presented with one.
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Rare NES game sells for £26,800
A rare Nintendo NES game fetched $40,000 on eBay this month, with gamers now wracking their brains about what shrink-wrapped gems they might have kept somewhere deep in the attic from many moons ago.
A rare copy of the NES game Stadium Events has been sold on eBay for US $41,300 (£26,800) in its original shrinkwrap.
Congratulations, Dave
It is thought to be one of only two unopened copies in existence. The seller, "Dave", explained that he never opened the game because he didn't have the floor mat accessory needed to play it.
"The pads weren't available when we went to purchase it," said Dave. "We never got around to returning the game...lucky us!"
"After taxes and tithing, the rest of our part will be going to a retirement account that has been decimated by the dot-com bomb, 9/11, and the recent market problems. Not very sexy, but needed."
What other potential eBay gold might be lurking in your gaming treasure trove from the 1980s? Time to get the loft ladders out…
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The ApocalyPS3 is over, Sony issues apology
Sony has announced that the difficulties with fat PlayStation 3s over the last few days – the "8001050F" error which was quickly termed the 'ApocalyPS3' online - has now come to an end.
In a terse apology to PS3 gamers Sony explained how the problem originated and assured them that it would not happen again.
Internal clock issues
"We are aware that the internal clock functionality in the PS3 units other than the slim model, recognised the year 2010 as a leap year. Having the internal clock date change from February 29 to March 1 (both GMT), we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally," the publisher wrote on the official US blog.
"If the time displayed on the XMB is still incorrect, users are able to adjust time settings manually or via the internet. If we have new information, we will update you through the PlayStation.Blog or PlayStation.com.
"We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."
Slim PS3 owners were not affected.
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Next-gen Nvidia Ion announced - brings a 'premium netbook experience'
Nvidia has launched its next-gen Ion chip, intended to bring HD gaming graphics to netbooks and nettop PCs.
Officially announced at CeBIT this week, Nvidia is firmly targeting the small-form computer market with the second-generation of the Ion. Director Of Marketing David Ragones explained to TechRadar just why this iteration of Ion will make an impact.
"The netbook market has exploded in the last few years. 40 million units will go through the market this year – they are complementary PCs as a second on-the-go device.
"The way we see it is that there are two segments [of this market] defining themselves: the standard netbook, with basic functionality, and the Ion segment, which allows HD playback and game playing."
This is a key facet to Ion: the ability to pimp out a netbook so that you can use it for more than basic web browsing and word processing.
So much so that Ragone sees Ion as the magic formula to bring alive Intel's Atom N450 (Pine Trail) platform.
"Pine Trail has had a muted response since launch. If you add Ion to PineTrail, however, you deliver a much better experience.
"Ion is all about HD video – whether it is Blu-ray or YouTube, you are going to get a great experience. If you want a premium experience on a netbook – you can get this with Ion."
One of the major factors behind Ion's graphical prowess is that it uses Nvidia's Optimus technology. This is essentially an on-switch for GPU use.
If, say, you point your browser to YouTube while using an Ion laptop it will automatically switch on the GPU to tackle the Flash-heavy video content.
This cuts the CPU some serious slack and ups the performance of the computer over 10x, according to Nvidia.
But it's not just Flash that Ion can boost. According to Ragone, Ion will bring another level of functionality to netbooks and nettops – and this starts with the ability for netbooks to ship with Windows 7 Home Premium, instead of Windows 7 Starter: "If you want a premium experience with Windows, Ion is the best way to do this."
As we were slightly worried that the Ion chip would awaken even if you had a tab open with, say, a Flash banner, Ragone was keen to note: "The GPU is not tab aware, but app aware. It won't be turned on through Flash banners but sites that use a lot of flash, like YouTube."
Despite the next-generation Ion chip being significantly different to the earlier iteration of the Ion, Nvidia is reticent to rename the GPU. This won't be a problem for consumers, assures Ragone: "Branding-wise, it will continue to be called Nvidia Ion. It shares the same brand generation to generation. So, no we aren't calling it Ion 2.
"It will be known as Nvidia 'next generation' if we need to talk about the latest edition and put it into context."
The first wave of Ion next-gen Ion PCs have already been announced, with the Acer 532G. Other devices to house the latest Ion chip include the Lenovo C-Series all-in-one PC, Asus EeeTop ET22010 and the Zotac ZBox Mag2 – details of which will are still to be released.
Expect a barrage of more announcements as CeBIT trundles on.
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