More Microsoft Courier details leaked
More details on the much-vaunted Microsoft Courier have arrived, with firm rumours that it is a Tegra 2 powered dual-screen device running Windows CE 6.
Engadget has got hold of the details from a 'trusted source' but with new pictures of the user interface that follow on from the Gizmodo video leaked last year, it's certainly credible.
Apparently the Courier 'digital journal' will be under an inch thick, weigh in at less than a kilo and is around 130 x 180mm.
Tegra 2
Interestingly, the device will be powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2 processor and will sport Windows CE 6 – which is the OS that the Windows Phone series 7 is based on.
The user interface uses a stylus, and handwriting recognition will be a key feature.
The video that surfaced showed off much of the envisioned functionality, but with a Q3-Q4 release date being touted the Courier could well be seen as a viable alternative to the Apple iPad.
Pricing and a more firm date are not included in the leaked information, but the presence of a camera and headphone jack suggest that this is very much aimed at the gap between netbooks and smartphones.
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Exclusive: Sky, Virgin and TalkTalk respond to Digital Economy Bill change
The Digital Economy Bill has courted much controversy since it was announced back in 2009.
But the news this week that the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are trying to amend the bill to include the banning of sites that persistently breach copyright has had web freedom fighters up in arms.
To get a different perspective, TechRadar spoke to a number of the UK's ISPs to see what they thought.
Virgin Media explained to us that anything too heavy handed wouldn't work, noting:
"We share the commitment to addressing copyright infringement and recognise that new laws have an important role to play in this.
"But persuasion not coercion is the key and a heavy-handed, punitive regime will simply alienate internet users."
Doesn't address problems
TalkTalk (which is owned by the Carphone Warehouse) was similar in its views believing that these sorts of restrictions were not beneficial to fighting the online copyright fight.
Andrew Heaney, Executive Director of Strategy and Regulation at TalkTalk, told TechRadar: "Lord Clement-Jones's amendment may have been proposed with the best of intentions, but ultimately it doesn't address the fundamental concerns of our customers.
"It would force us as ISPs to restrict access to specific sites accused by rightsholders of hosting material that infringed copyright."
He did note that site banning does happen at the moment but only as a last resort: "Currently we do restrict access to a few sites but only in the most serious cases, for instance those involving child pornography or issues of national security.
"It's hard to see how copyright infringement warrants the same draconian response."
Sky, however, was the one who issued the most support, but not directly to the 'website banning' proposal.
"As both a major investor in content and an ISP, Sky is uniquely placed to understand the interests of rights owners and customers," explained a spokesperson.
"We treat piracy very seriously and want to support rights owners in safeguarding copyright, as we do ourselves.
"We therefore welcome the government's commitment to underpin the fight against illegal file sharing through legislation."
Backdoor to censorship
Virgin Media agrees that something needs to be done but is worried that an all-out banning of websites would wouldn't just be heavy-handed but expensive, too.
"We are also concerned that, as they stand, the proposals could increase costs and penalise ISPs who want to invest in making implementation efficient, while doing little to encourage rights holders to use the regime in a proportionate way," a spokesperson said.
It is perhaps TalkTalk who is most concerned, however, with what a banning of websites would really mean to the freedom of everyone in the UK that uses websites.
"Making the restriction of websites a more widespread policy would be dangerous given its major impact on internet users' human rights, freedom of expression and privacy," explained Heaney.
"We fear it could also be a backdoor to censorship of the internet."
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Microsoft pleased to be available on Android
Microsoft has announced its first application for the Google Android platform, and has told TechRadar it's glad to be there.
The Tag application, which lets users scan barcodes and then visit online retailers to purchase the goods, has finally been added to Android Market.
While it seems similar to Google's own barcode scanner app, Tag also turns the barcodes into coupons to get money off at certain outlets.
Microsoft has spoken to us about finally being on the Google Android platform, although it wouldn't reveal any details over whether it will be adding other apps to the Market:
"With so many mobile options available to consumers it is critical that Microsoft Tag is available across all of the major mobile platforms," a spokesperson told us.
'Incredible'
"The feedback on this product since we launched last year has been incredible and we want to make sure that everyone can access it.
"We continue to make progress with Windows Mobile, J2ME, iPhone, Blackberry, Symbian S60 phones and now Google Android. Users can download the Tag Reader from the Market on their Android phone.
"We're very happy to welcome the new users to the Microsoft Tag community."
It's hardly a ringing endorsement of the Android platform, but it's good to see Microsoft sees the value in not cutting off its nose to spite its face despite having a competitor platform in the shape of Windows Mobile.
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This week in music-making tech
Our colleagues over on MusicRadar publish in-depth music-making hardware and software reviews from industry expert magazines Computer Music and Future Music.
From DAWs, virtual instruments and plug-in FX to hardware synths, grooveboxes and controllers, here are MusicRadar's top music-making tech picks this week…
Music-making hardware
Eventide's expertise with pitch-based effects shines through here – PitchFactor offers lots of control by hand or foot and high-quality sonics throughout. It's pricey but it's worth it.
Presonus FireStudio Mobile review
A compact and rugged audio interface – not the cheapest, but certainly one of the highest quality in its class.
Music-making software
Agile Partners Star6 iPhone app review
An iPhone/iPod touch real-time effects processing tool for loops offering a fine degree of control and, most importantly, good fun.
Intelligent Gadgets MIDI Recorder iPhone app review
This MIDI Recorder takes audio input from either the built-in mic of your iPhone or an external mic on the iPod Touch and attempts to turn it into MIDI note data. Unfortunately, while being attractive on paper, in practice, it falls short.
A unique synth that specialises in movement using a novel and powerful timeline system. Guaranteed to thrill those seeking a fresh perspective on synthetic sound design.
Sample Logic Morphestra review
A splendid cinematic ROMpler - inspiring to play and featuring a wide range of textures and sonic 'worlds', Used in tandem with Kontakt 4, it becomes an even more powerful library.
Toontrack Custom & Vintage SDX review
Superior Drummer 2.0 gets another shot in the arm with a classy add-on that contains samples of extremely sought-after drum hardware.
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LG unveils 'cheap as chips' HD recording phone
LG's launch-a-thon at CeBIT this year has unveiled another first from the Koreans - a budget HD recording mobile.
The Viewty GT400 is another touchscreen mobile from LG, and the Viewty name is once again associated with a camera phone.
Although it only has a 5MP camera (we say only in relation to others on the market - we think 5MP is adequate on a phone) it also packs 720p video recording too.
Up the HD
We're not sure on the frame-rate or video formats it records to, which are almost as important as the functionality itself - but we're sure we'll hear about this soon.
The phone itself sports a 3-inch touchscreen, although we don't know a lot more about other than it has a pretty large frame surrounding it.
We're all for new ideas on phones, and if this comes in at around the £100-mark as we hope, it could fly off the shelves as an alternative to Flip HD camcorder.
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Humax delight at Project Canvas involvement
Humax believes that it can provide the very best technology within its Project Canvas boxes, after being confirmed as one of the interested manufacturers.
Project Canvas' Richard Halton told the DTG Summit that Humax were among the manufacturers champing at the bit to bring a box to market for the IPTV project being led by the BBC and involving ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT, and Talk Talk.
Humax's Graham North gave his backing for Project Canvas and pointed to his company's track record with both Freeview and Freesat set top boxes.
"Humax is very supportive of Project Canvas, as we believe that this service will enable further growth in the digital TV market," said North.
"This will give the UK population a greater range of content, more choice over how they watch it and ultimately more control over their viewing.
"The leading UK broadcasters are behind Canvas and as a result it will generate good exposure and acceptance from consumers, in much the same way as on-demand services such as BBC iPlayer and ITV Player.
"The value of the Project Canvas initiative will only grow and strengthen as even more content from strong brands is introduced."
Positive step
North believes that the Project Canvas proposition – which will bring a common user interface and set of standards as well as a marketing campaign – will be a boon rather than a problem, despite opposition from major names like Sky and Virgin Media.
"The common standard is a positive step, guaranteeing the viewer a quality service that is reflective of UK broadcasting standards, delivered on a platform with a trusted name," added North.
"It will also guarantee a viewing experience that is consistent regardless of the hardware or device being used to access the content.
"While the content of Canvas forms a huge part of the project, the delivery is also dependent on many other parties.
"The hardware used to deliver the content is an important component and must live up to consumer expectations.
"Humax has a solid reputation for developing set-top boxes for the Freesat and Freeview services that ensure consumers get the most out of their TV experience, offering additional benefits and features, such as BBC iPlayer on our Freesat boxes.
"Our understanding of the UK TV market, technical expertise and proven ability to deliver products that meet consumer requirements will ensure Canvas is supported by the very best technology."
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In Depth: 10 high tech cars to tear up the tarmac
Car technology is advancing quickly - partly to save the auto industry from imminent collapse, but also because tech innovations can help save lives on the road.
Besides, why not make your morning commute just a notch easier? These ten vehicles offer something new and innovative.
1. BMW 7 Series is camera happy
The most technically advanced vehicle on the road, even compared to the Mercedes E-350, the BMW 7 Series has cameras on the front, side, and rear of the vehicle for a full 360-degree view. The front camera can detect passengers and animals using night-vision, alerting the driver to dangers with a yellow highlight. The same camera, which is mounted near the driver's mirror, can also read road signs and alert the drive about the speed limit. The system even adapts to night-time and driving in the rain by first detecting those variables and reading speed limit signs more accurately.
2. Mercedes E-350 gets your attention
While the Mercedes E-350 cannot read road signs, it is equipped with a similar camera system to the BMW 7 Series in that the car alerts you to pedestrians in the road. Another unusual safety feature: the E-350 can determine if you are driving too long and alert you using an attention assist feature. The car actually uses 70 variables - including how long you have been driving and if you are changing lanes frequently - to determine if the car should get your attention.
3. Opel (Vauxhall) Insignia reads road signs
Like the BMW 7 Series, the Opel (or Vauxhall) Insignia can read road signs using a camera mounted near the rear-view mirror. For European road signs, the Insignia compares scanned images about 300 meters from the car, at about 30 frame captures per second, against a vast database of legal road signs, then reports this speed to the driver. This helps on long road trips or in conditions where there are too many road signs to track.
4. Volvo XC60 drives itself around town
The Volvo XC60 is remarkable in that it uses adaptive cruise control - a common driver assistance system that slows the car and speeds up again based on traffic - but at speeds less than ten miles per hour. The City Safety feature uses an infrared camera to detect vehicles. When you're driving, if the car detects another vehicle, it will slow down automatically.
5. Infinity M lets you feel the breeze
Infinity invented the lane-keeping system now common on many vehicles that can alert you when you leave your lane. The new Infiniti M actually nudges you back into your lane gently. But that is not the most interesting innovation. A new air control system can detect odors or gases in the car and shut off outside vents automatically and re-circulate interior air. And, you can set the vent system to modulate automatically as well, simulating the natural breezes in a forest.
6. Volkswagen Jetta TDI sips fuel
Most of the technology in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI is under the hood, not inside the passenger compartment. This vehicle uses a unique clean diesel engine for the best fuel economy on the road (about 44 mpg) for a non-hybrid sedan. The engine uses an electronically controlled turbo charger and a fuel injection system that more accurately directs fuel to the engine than other vehicles. The exhaust system is so advanced and precisely controlled it is hard to even see the exhaust in the tailpipe.
7. Acura ZDX has superior sound
Driving doesn't need to be tedious, especially on a long road trip. The Acura ZDX has the most technologically advanced sound system, of any vehicle, with ten speakers and 435 watts of total power. Just as importantly, the surround system is precisely measured - it was designed by Grammy winner Elliot Scheiner - so that you can hear every bass lick and cymbal tick.
8.Chrysler Grand Caravan with FLO TV
Live television in a vehicle is not new - Sirius Backseat TV has been around for a while. With FLO TV, developed by Qualcomm, the Chrysler Grand Caravan has access to a much wider selection of TV channels, including every major network, sports channels, and Disney movies. The service also uses a multi-cast digital signal for better quality. There's an antenna mounted on the roof at the front and the vehicle has three screens, although the driver TV is only available when parked.
9. Ford Fusion Hybrid makes you green
The Ford Fusion Hybrid uses an innovative heads-up display that shows real-time power consumption. As you drive, small leaves in the dashboard - shown to the right of the picture below - will grow as you learn how to conserve energy by braking less and driving consistent speeds. The HUD has four levels of detail so you can tweak the settings to see just the speed and a few other "green tech" readings, or go full-on environmentalist to see your average miles-per-gallon.
10. Toyota Prius has a solar roof
Despite their woes with the sticking accelerator, Toyota is still a powerhouse of technological advances. On the Prius, a solar roof can power the interior air vents and keep your car cool for you when parked in the hot sun. The only downside: the car makes a strange whirring sound while venting itself.
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Project Canvas manufacturers revealed
Project Canvas' Richard Halton has revealed a list of manufacturers that are keen to make set-top boxes for the BBC-backed IPTV collaboration - with some major names conspicuous in their absence.
Although LG and Humax are numbered among the list given out by Halton, many will point to the names that are not being bandied around as an important factor.
The likes of Sony have already criticised the project in the past – believing that the user experience for IPTV connected boxes should be set by the manufacturer and not the consortium – which consists of broadcasters, BT and Talk Talk.
DTG revelation
Halton told the DTG summit that "Cisco, Humax, Technicolor, LG, Sagem, Amino, TVOnics and others" were keen to bring out Canvas boxes.
The BBC has been open in its desire to see these first wave boxes appear by Christmas 2010, although it remains to be seen whether that target could be hit, with the BBC Trust still asking for feedback despite granting a provisional approval.
Halton recently expressed his hope that a commercial app platform would spring from Canvas, with barriers being broken down by the lack of a commercial relationship between Canvas and content providers.
"We are hugely excited by the opportunity of the Canvas open platform hosting apps from a wide range of content providers," Halton told IPTV News.
"There will be no commercial relationship between Canvas & content providers, breaking down the barriers to entry that have traditionally existed to gaining access to the TV screen, providing content producers with a host of exciting creative & public service opportunities."
Virgin Media criticism
The furore around Canvas is not dying down, however, with Sky's opposition being made abundantly clear and cable giant Virgin Media also criticising the project.
"If Project Canvas has a set of genuinely open, technology-neutral standards, then it has the potential to inject a much needed momentum into the UK's digital economy, CEO Neil Berkett told the Telegraph.
"But if these standards are contingent on the adoption of a single branded interface, controlled by the BBC and its partners, then Canvas will significantly distort the market, restrict consumer choice and chill private sector investment."
"The BBC Trust's consultation has been a shameless whitewash that contravenes almost every principle of good regulation."
"The BBC Trust has stubbornly ignored all requests to address our concerns by imposing safeguards to prevent the BBC emerging as de facto gatekeeper of the digital world. This is a blatant demonstration that the Trust is incapable of regulating the BBC's activities in an objective way."
"The story of the Trust's scrutiny of Canvas is one of a governing body going beyond its authority, expertise, and competence."
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Apple iPad UK release date set for 'late April'
The Apple iPad will be coming to the UK 'late April' according to Apple, with both versions of the device (Wi-Fi and 3G) shipping at the same time.
The US will get the Apple iPad first, however, with Apple announcing it is coming in its 3G guise to America next month, with the official US release date 3 April.
Apple has finally given specific details of a launch after its website teased for months that it would be out in 'late March'.
It turns out that if you are looking to purchase an Apple iPad in the US, then you can start pre-ordering 12 March.
Revolutionary product
"We're excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before," said Steve Jobs in the press release.
As Apple explained in its keynote, it will be the Wi-Fi version that you can pick up first in the US, with the 3G model available for pre-order 12 March. But, like the UK, the 3G version won't be available to pick up until 'late April'.
The UK looks like it won't be getting the iBooks app for iPad including Apple's iBookstore just yet, either.
The press release notes that this will only be available in the US, with no mention of when it come to the UK.
As this is one of the big USPs for the device it does seem strange that we won't get access to legitimate books at launch.
Still, it's great news that we won't have to wait too long to sample Apple's new flagship product. Now all we need to know is (officially) how much the thing will cost in the UK.
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Circle is complete as Fry tweet takes down .net
In an exclusive interview with .net, posted earlier this week on the magazine's website, Stephen Fry explained that he wields so much power though his Twitter account that he can bring down a site with a single tweet.
"When I tweet a link it usually gets around two or three thousand requests a second," he noted.
"Especially if I word it in a way where I really want people to go to a site."
Don't believe him? Well, .net found out the hard way when the Fry posted a link on his Twitter page to the video interview, simply explaining: "Lordy. I'd forgotten I did this."
Minutes later and a few screams from the .net crew – we should know as the mag is part of the TechRadar group – the site was down, proving that Fry has taken the baton from Slashdot when it comes to bringing down sites with a single link.
You got Fry'd
"Mr Fry's representatives usually send out what they refer to as a 'severe warning' before he tweets a link," says Dan Oliver, Editor of .net.
"You get a mail with the following info: 'A given website should be able to handle 500+ calls per second in order to be able to stay live once Stephen's Tweeted. There are three waves of capacity within that hour with the 2nd wave of retweeting generally as strong as the first'.
"Delighted as we were that Stephen Fry retweeted our video link, we never received a warning, and the site got FRY'D! Thankfully, it was a fairly short outage, and the site was back online within 10-20 minutes."
Still, with great power comes great responsibility (thank you Uncle Ben), something Oliver agrees with: "I think, considering much of the interview with Fry concentrates on his Twitter influence, the main word associated with our site outage was 'ironic'.
"And it was. We've dealt with big spikes before, but this was simply unprecedented, and yet another example of the huge influence Stephen Fry's Twitter status affords him online."
The story is definitely something Alanis Morrissette would sing about, if she actually knew what the word meant.
To watch the whole video interview, go to www.netmag.co.uk/fry.
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BT has 'sympathy' for those on 1Mbps broadband
BT Openreach CEO Steve Robertson has spoken out about the disparity in broadband offerings, but backed his company's decision to focus on rolling out fibre optic networks.
Speaking to PC Pro, Robertson admitted there is still a big issue over providing fast broadband to certain parts of the country, but said the government needs to offer more help to address the problem.
"I've got a huge amount of sympathy for people… if you're only getting one meg. Once upon a time the idea of getting a meg down a copper line would have been absolutely ridiculous and amazing experience, but times move on."
Government needs to do more
He also pointed to the amount the government has offered to help get the rest of the UK on 2Mbps broadband or better - £200m - and defended BT Openreach's decision to spend £1.5bn on fibre optics rather than address this problem:
"It comes down to the basic economics. At the end of the day, every pound I spend – or Openreach spends – is money which an investor has made available to us and they need to get a return on their investment.
"In the places where it doesn't make commercial sense for us to do it as a business, we need to work with public authorities, as hard as we can, to bring broadband, and hopefully super-fast broadband, to those places."
To read the full interview, head on over to PC Pro to see all the talk on BT's plans for bringing broadband to Britain.
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LG reveals new budget touchscreen - Cookie Fresh
LG has decided that Nokia has the right idea and has launched a few new handsets at CeBIT this year.
The new phones are part of the Korean firms more basic range, designed to capitalise on emerging markets and pay as you go customers.
The headlining phone is the Cookie Fresh, which is a WQVGA screen ( likely 3-inch and resistive looking at the pictures) and a 2MP camera with 3.5mm headphone slot.
It doesn't have a 3G chip inside, but we'd imagine this will help keep the cost down to under £100 like the wildly successful original LG Cookie.
The Cookie Fresh looks likely for a spring launch, although no confirmation on a UK release date.
Bali any difference
The LG GM360 Bali is also going to be making its debut in the near future, although it's only pegged for a Germany launch at the moment (that's what happens when it launches at a German trade show).
It, like the Cookie Fresh, uses the S-Class interface, but offers a 5MP camera and a similar size and resolution screen.
We wonder if it will land here in the UK, given the similar specs, but it's good news for cheaper phone lovers that LG is having its head turned by all the smartphones on the market at the moment.
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Google Buzz offered as native iPhone app
A new third party application has been created for the iPhone to let users play with Google Buzz on their Apple phone.
Users of the mobile web could use Google Buzz via their web browser before, but now there's an official native app that offers access to the service.
It's a paid for service, coming in at £1.19 to download (with a price hike coming next week when the 'introductory offer' ends).
Look out for lurkers
But for that money, you get geo-location data of nearby iPhone Buzzerers (or whatever the term is) and take part in and start conversations with your fellow Buzzees whenever logged in.
The interface is noted as being "Good and clean, quick and easy to use" according to the user reviews over at the iTunes store - but you'd have to hope that was the case for a new application attempting to offer something better than a free service.
If you're not that bothered about Buzzing just yet (and we'd imagine most of you aren't) then it's probably best to wait a few weeks - surely Google is going to make this a free app as part of the Google Mobile Suite.
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TechRadar Choice: Top 10 best graphics cards in the world today
Top 10 fastest graphics cards in the world today
For much of the last 10 years, the graphics card market has been a bit of a dull place to be.
Similarly to how Intel has been completely dominating the CPU market, Nvidia has led the way with GPUs. However, the last couple of years have been a lot more interesting.
ATI's 4000-series cards at the end of 2008 offered up almost the same power as the Nvidia GeForce's of the time, but for almost half the price. This put ATI back in contention.
Since then, of course, ATI products supporting Windows 7's DirectX 11 have emerged as the fastest and best graphics cards the world has ever seen.
And that's where we are now – with ATI's Radeon HD 5970 sitting firmly on top.
However, there's a GeForce-shaped storm brewing on the horizon in the shape of DirectX 11 cards from Nvidia. They're just around the corner, and they promise to trump the ATI cards in terms of sheer performance.
We'll be reviewing those cards very soon, and we'll be sure to update this article as soon as we do.
But until then, here are the top 10 best and fastest graphics cards on the planet…
10. ATI Radeon HD 4870
This is the card that kick-started the graphics revolution. Offering slightly less performance than the GeForce GTX280 - the fastest card of its time - it cost half the price. It was perhaps the most energy efficient and elegant card ever released.
For normal people, choosing between the 4870 and the 280 was a no brainer, and even today it's still fast enough to make the top 10. And you can now get your hands on it for less than £100.
Read: ATI Radeon 4870 review
9. Nvidia GeForce GTX260 AMP! (Zotac)
The original GeForce 260 was pretty fast, but Zotac's souped-up and overclocked AMP2 version was brilliant.
It was Nvidia's budget option - offering almost the same performance as the GTX280 but for a good deal less money - and it's still a mighty contender, packing 896MB of DDR3 memory. You can snap one up now for around £140.
Read: Nvidia GeForce GTX260 AMP! review
8. ATI Radeon HD 4890
The 4890 was basically a super-charged version of the super-selling 4870. AMD upped the chip's core operating frequency from 750MHz on the 4870 to 850MHz.
Meanwhile, the clockspeed of the board's GDDR5 memory edges up from 900MHz to 975MHz. And for £130, you can't go far wrong with this card.
Read: ATI Radeon HD 4890 review
7. Nvidia GeForce GTX275
All this talk of price/performance ratios can get a little wearing, so lets focus more on the latter part. You cannot get better benchmarks than this for under £160, and in some circumstances it's faster than the £200+ GTX 280.
The only advantage the more expensive card has is its four extra ROPs, which help with high image quality settings.
Read: Nvidia GeForce GTX275 review
6. ATI Radeon HD 5850
As its name implies, the 5850 is a slightly cut-down rendition of the 5870, most likely down to the binning of the chips to squeeze more value out of the line.
This core, codenamed the Cypress Pro, has a slower core clockspeed of 725MHz and manages only 1,440 unified shaders (an eyebrow raising 10 per cent less than the 1,600 to be found in the 5870). For around £209, we're starting to get to the expensive end of the market so it's up to you how much extra you want to spend.
Read: ATI Radeon HD 5850 review
5. ATI Radeon HD 4870X2
The 4870X2 is a dual-GPU card - essentially packing the processing grunt of two 4870s on to one card.
In terms of hardware specs, one of the areas where dual-chip cards have fallen short in the past is memory availability and bandwidth. But not here. The X2 sports the same 3.6GHz (effective data rate) GDDR5 chips as its single-chip 4870 sibling.
Just as important, each GPU has been given fully 1GB to play with. Yup, this is a 2GB monster of a card.
Read: ATI Radeon HD 4870X2 review
4. Nvidia GeForce GTX285
The 285 is still Nvidia's fastest single-GPU graphics card, and will remain so until Nvidia gets its act together and unleashes the DirectX 11 Fermi chip on us. The 285 is a great card though. Technically, the 285 is actually an updated version of the now-extinct GTX280.
It's a bit on the pricey side - still costing almost £300. But of all the single-GPU Nvidia cards out there, this is definitely the best.
Read: Nvidia GeForce GTX285 review
3. ATI Radeon HD 5870
The ATI Radeon HD 5870 is the fastest single-GPU graphics card in the world. Not only that, it's quite simply the most powerful computer chip we've seen of any kind, thanks to it getting on for three teraflops of raw processing power.
If AMD had hit the same £200 price point as it achieved with the 4870 at launch, we'd be hailing the 5870 as the greatest graphics card of all time.
It's still a very, very good card. But at £300 it's simply much less relevant. The passage of time will no doubt fix the pricing problem, but by then, who knows what magic Nvidia may have worked with its own DX11 monster.
Read: ATI Radeon HD 5870 review
2. Nvidia GeForce GTX295
This dual-GPU graphics card is an absolute monster. At just under £500 it's ludicrously expensive, but it's also ridiculously powerful.
It's is a blindingly fast card, and as the price suggests really only belongs in a rig that's already been highly tuned with liquid assistance. If you haven't got a top-notch motherboard, memory kit, CPU and SSD - you're wasting your money. Equally, if you've got a screen less than 26-inches in size, you'll not notice the difference between this and some of the other, cheaper, cards in this group.
Read: Nvidia GeForce GTX295 review
1. ATI Radeon HD 5970
And here it is, the dual-GPU ATI Radeon HD 5970, the fastest graphics card in the world. All hail its mighty rendering pathways and the gods of silicon for bringing us this technological wonder.
It's faster than any graphics card we've ever tested, it's bigger than any graphics card we've ever tested and it houses more technology than you could shake Stephen Hawking at.
But at close to £600, is it worth it? Well, like the GTX295, if powering a couple of 30-inch high-res gaming screens is what you're after, and money has never been an object, then you could maybe consider the purchase. Otherwise, you'd be better off going for the 5870.
Read: ATI Radeon HD 5970 review
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Review: Nintendo DSi XL
Nintendo releases the new Nintendo DSi XL in the UK this month, featuring a notably bigger screen and a wider viewing angle than 2009's version of its popular handheld gaming console, the DSi.
The Japanese gaming giant's top brass – CEO Satoru Iwata and game design genius Shigeru Miyamoto – have made a lot of noise in Japan about how the new extra-large DS should appeal to older gamers in particular.
Especially those consumers that buy up the latest brain-training games and are more likely to spend money on ebooks and other types of non-gaming software for the device.
But all of that marketing strategy talk aside, the true Nintendo fan really only wants to know one thing: "Is this sufficiently better than the handheld I bought last year to enjoy Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Wario and all the other classic first party Nintendo games that gamers buy DSs for?"
COMPARE: A comparison of the DSi XL with the DSi
After all we, most probably like you, have spent a good wedge over the last five years on DS consoles, from that first 'phat' grey Nintendo DS that launched (to widespread confusion on the part of Nintendo fans at the time) at E3 way back in June 2004 through to last year's DSi.
The original model was followed by the DS Lite in 2006 with its glossy white casing, slimmer form factor and four levels of LCD screen brightness, and then came the aforementioned DSi, which launched early 2009 in the UK and was again even thinner, with a slightly larger screen (and saw the end of GBA cartridge-support in favour of an SD card slot, AAC playback capability, and two cameras).
MATT UNDERSIDE: The stickiness of the DSi XL's bottom is a bonus
Having spent the best part of a fortnight playing through Zelda: Spirit Tracks on the new machine there is no question that it is Nintendo's finest handheld gaming console to date. Although the question as to whether it is £160 better than your current DS Phat or DS Lite or DSi still remains…
Both of the new colours of the Nintendo DSi XL – wine red and dark brown – indicate that Nintendo is no longer slavishly following the lead of the Apple iPod with a its glossy white sheen, as they were widely accused of with the first DS Lite console.
Both are also fairly conservative, a deliberate design choice to attempt to appeal to older users that are unlikely to go for bilious green or hot pink.
Perhaps the coolest aspect of the new DSi XL is the fact that the console has a matt finish on the underside which means that you can pop it on a table or pretty much any other flat surface for those extended Zelda sessions.
DS-READER: The DSi XL easily doubles up as a decent enough ebook
The DSi XL also comes pre-loaded with A Little Bit of... Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: Arts Edition and Dictionary 6 in 1 with Camera Function, as well as the Nintendo DSi Browser, which means that you can get online via the console's Opera browser wherever you have a free Wi-Fi connection.
And while the web browsing experience on the DSi XL is hardly going to give the iPhone a run for its money, it is the best internet experience yet on a handheld games console. A country mile better than attempting to surf the web with Sony's PSP. Which certainly counts for something.
One of the other nice touches out of the box is the DSi XL's larger pen-like stylus - perfect for the larger-fingered gent and a clear indication that Nintendo is properly starting to design its consoles for use by (western) adults and seniors.
The most obvious benefit here is, of course, that larger 4.2-inch dual screen which, compared with the 3.25-inch screen of our old DSi, really makes gaming on the DSi XL a lot more fun.
We have completed the new Zelda on this latest Nintendo handheld and going back to playing the same game on a smaller screen on a DS Lite or DSi is just not an option.
It is difficult to quantify, but if you like to get lost in Nintendo's (read: Mr Miyamoto's) greatest games, we would certainly say this latest large-screened DS was well worth the £160 investment (or whatever that price would be minus the trade-in value of your older DS).
Playing other recent classics such as New Super Mario Bros on the DSi XL only served to convince us that this device is something considerably more than an 'annual refresh' of a popular handheld rolled out by Nintendo in order to sell a few more units.
It actually made the game better and more fun to play. As well as looking loads better it became easier to judge jumps and distance on the screen – a vital component to any Mario title.
DR KAWASHIMA RETURNS: Brain training game is bundled with the DSi XL
If pushed, we might suggest that the fact that the games are displayed in the same 256 x 192 resolution as they are on the DS Lite and DSi means that they appear slightly blockier on the DSi XL.
However, there is no way we would trade back to the smaller screen after playing on this. Though Nintendo fans will no doubt be hoping to see 2011's iteration of the DS feature a better resolution screen.
In addition to better visuals, the DSi XL has slightly better sound quality than its older brother, something that is sure to delight many public bus passengers in the coming years, as the kids whip out the new console on the back seat.
If you already have a DS Lite or a DSi and are an occasional gamer (or brain exerciser or virtual dog trainer) then you might not be persuaded to part with £160 for what is essentially the same machine with a slightly bigger screen with better sound and a larger stylus.
However, if you are the type of gamer that plays every new essential Nintendo DS release through from start to finish, you will immediately realise the need to upgrade to a DSi XL, because it just adds a lot to your gaming experience.
Sure, you might need slightly larger pockets to carry it around, but then the DSi XL's predecessors could hardly be described as pocket-sized.
We liked:
The bigger screen, the crisper sound and the 'phat' stylus all appealed to us. Though we are not sure if this is because we fall into the 'older gamer' category (eyesight and hearing and basic motor skills all declining) or because we just like seeing Link and Mario on a larger, better screen. The latter, we like to hope.
The DSi XL means less hand cramps for adult gamers. One issue with the DS Lite and the DSi was the fact that you had to have the slim hands of a pianist (or the small hands of a child) to really be able to play it for any length of time. No longer. The DSi XL now means that even fat-fingered rugby lads can still enjoy pretending to be a squat Italian plumber for hours on end.
A bigger screen and a better stylus allowed us to achieve a better overall control of games, particularly where the perception of distance is key to controlling your on-screen character, as in New Super Mario Bros.
We disliked:
It's still fiddly to get online via your home Wi-Fi. Nintendo really needs to make whole process of getting this thing online a lot easier. The strategy is to sell mini-games via the internet, but that is not going to work if people get bored with the hurdles of connecting to their home router.
The slightly larger form factor means it is less portable. This is hardly a deal-breaker, because the DSi will only fit in the largest of combat trouser pockets, but compared side to side with the Sony's new PSPgo, for example, the DSi XL seems huge.
That 'wine red' colour – even though we are in the demographic that Nintendo is aiming to market the DSi XL to (ie old) we would still prefer 'iPod white' or glossy piano black. Whoever decided to plump for 'wine red' instead made the wrong design choice.
Verdict:
The DSi XL is the best way to play Mario and Zelda and Metroid on the bus to work to date, which effectively makes it the best handheld console yet developed
Plus the bigger screen means that we would actually consider using the DSi XL as an electronic reader and, occasionally, as a portable web browser.
We don't even mind throwing it in our man-bag, because the build quality is solid. This thing will not break unless you stand on it or throw it at a wall in anger.
For adult gamers it is a must, because it feels a hundred times more comfortable than the previous versions of the DS, which were essentially designed for children
It just goes to show that smaller is not necessarily always better in the cut-throat world of consumer electronics and portable games consoles.
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Review: Philips BDP7500
Now that entry-level Blu-ray players can be picked up at prices that are closer to what you'd expect to pay for a DVD deck, it's up to manufacturers such as Philips to deliver a deck that restores a slice of status to the hi-def format. And the good news is that with the BDP7500, Philips has done just that.
Justifying its mid-range price tag on several fronts, this super-stylish player can deal with almost any video format on disc or USB, while removing the fuss from BD Live.
As we've come to expect from Philips' TVs, the BDP7500 boasts a stunning design, which comprises touch-sensitive buttons located behind its mirror finish, plus a central blue light.
Although connecting to BD Live is a cinch, bear in mind this deck is not Wi-Fi -equipped, so you'll have to place it close to a broadband router. And despite its easy setup and 1GB of built-in storage for downloaded content, it doesn't dabble in home networking.
None of these omissions are a crime considering the £200 price tag, especially since it has other skills that cheaper decks can only dream of.
Chief among these is its support for 7.1 surround sound and both the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio lossless audio formats found on Blu-ray discs. It's also compatible with a variety of music (WMA and MP3) and video (DivX, DivX HD, AVCHD) files, all of which can be played via a USB stick or disc.
One of the levellers when it comes to judging Blu-ray players is the disc playbck speed, which can be terribly slow even on high-end decks. That's not the case here, with the BDP7500's displaying disc menus inside 26secs – twice as fast as some rivals.
The remote control, while good looking, isn't especially easy to use and while the button layout is logical, it's just too small and lightweight. There's a dedicated control for BonusView material, and a useful Home button if you ever get lost, but it can be unresponsive, requiring double clicks to get a particular command to work.
The BDP7500's home screen presents some simple choices: play disc, access USB, or adjust settings. The latter is where you'll find some basic picture settings (Standard, Vivid, Cool, Action, and – unusually – Animation), as well as an option for beefing up black levels.
Setting up BD Live is a simple process thanks to an effective network wizard that connects to the portal in seconds, with no WEP key required. Connecting to BD Live content on one of our test discs took only a few seconds.
Jack of all trades
As we've come to expect of Philips TVs, this player turned in some very impressive results. Challenging scenes from our Up Blu-ray during the storm sequence demonstrate that the BDP7500 is capable of some incredibly robust black levels. Daylight scenes in the jungle, meanwhile, reveal a deft touch with tone.
Switching to a movie with real-life action shows that this isn't a one trick pony, displaying satisfying detail partnered with judder-free motion and impeccable fine detail presentation.
Switch to DVD and the BDP7500 continues to come up with the goods. Watching Battlestar Galactica, we were blown away by the rendition of fine detail alongside a complete absence of noise and judder.
The only potential flaw occurred when playing back our Silicon Optix HQV Blu-ray, which showed some difficulty with suppressing jagged edges on diagonals and moving objects.
Multimedia capabilities are equally impressive, particularly with DivX HD files. A downloaded trailer for Up In The Air, played from a USB stick, is beautifully presented with plenty of stability, colour and detail.
When it comes to the BDP7500's sonic chops, it quickly becomes clear that this is a movie machine, rather than a music one. Lossless Dolby True HD 5.1 via HDMI provides a powerful soundstage with subtly distinct effects.
Stick in a CD, however, and it all sounds a bit flat, while MP3 and WMA files lack potency.
Overall, the BDP7500 just about manages to keep pace with its rivals. Its core skills with Blu-ray and DVD are in no doubt, but its lack of Wi-Fi and home networking mean that it's not quite able to match the better decks on the market.
Assuming that these features aren't of interest to you, it's well worth an audition.
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Twitter passes 10 billion tweets mark
Twitter has sailed passed the 10 billion tweet mark, but who posted the 10 billionth tweet is still unknown.
This is something of a landmark for the micro-blogging site and one which shows just how popular Twitter has become – especially if you consider that the 1 billionth tweet was only sent in November 2008.
The site with the keys to the Twitter counter is Gigatweet, which keeps tracks of all the tweets sent to Twitter in real-time. Don't stare at the counter for too long, though, as it can get a bit mesmerising.
Businesses to busy to tweet?
We would love to reveal what the 10 billionth tweet said but the person's account has been protected.
We're hoping it was something witty, irreverent and nuanced. But we're expecting it's about what that person had for dinner.
As if by magic, Virgin Media Business has done some research to coincide with the landmark tweet, noting that – when it comes to businesses – despite 57 of the FTSE 100 signing up to Twitter, the study found that almost three-quarters (72 per cent) have not used their account to respond to customer enquiries or comments made about the company.
This is something that's surely going to rile those who use Twitter to get actual responses from companies without having to go through the rigmarole of call centres and the like.
We're expecting Twitter to hit landmark numbers again this year. Doing some rudimentary maths it seems that if the 1 billionth tweet was in November 2008, the 5 billionth in Ocotober 2009 and the 10 billionth tweet was in March, then this points to the 20 billionth to happen in around the four month mark.
We'll keep you posted in July.
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Weird Tech: Has anyone seen a blue 02 plate Ford Focus?
You know that thing they say about people never going broke due to underestimating the intelligence of the general public? That was proven to be extremely true this week by Android developer Eddie Kim - who is reported to be raking in $13,000 a month thanks to his Android software. The life-changing creation that's setting the Android community on fire? A car location app.
Yes really. Eddie Kim is living the high-life and pulling in $13k a month thanks to making an Android app which helps people remember where they left their automobile.
IT'S THE RED ONE: The one with all the Dairy Milk wrappers crudely hidden under the passenger seat
We understand that a lot of modern cars do look a bit similar and the colours often aren't that unique - but do people really need to spend $3.99 on a mobile phone app to record, via GPS, where they left their Corsa? Is this utter madness, or are we massively underestimating the proportions of American car parks?
"Which iTunes download am I thinking of queuing up?"
There will soon be a mind-control app available for Apple's iPhone. Not the same mysterious mind-control device that Steve Jobs uses to keep his adoring fans loyal and willing, but a separate development created to showcase the equipment of brain-control specialist Neurosky and its existing Mindset "brainwave interface headset".
US local news network KGO-TV reports that the resulting mind-powered demo game called Tug of Mind lets you create an avatar of someone you hate - or like and want to mess around with in a trouble-free virtual environment - then use the power of your mind to think peaceful thoughts which will send the avatar to sleep. They just need to find someone left on the planet with a calm mind to sell it to.
Punishment for texting - loss of left thumb
Now, if you feel a bit guilty about occasionally using your mobile phone to cheat in the flag-recognition round of your local pub quiz, just be glad, once again, you don't live in North Korea - where a factory worker is reported to have been executed for the crime of phoning a friend in South Korea and talking about the price of rice and other mundane chit-chat.
THIS COUNTRY = NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL: Something to think about while slagging off your boss on Twitter during work time, eh? [Image credit: Asia Society]
According to the Press Association, the man, named only as "Chong", was executed by the North in late January, after using an illegally imported Chinese mobile to phone a friend who'd recently defected to the South. Now, we're against iPhone users as much as the next man, but there's no need to go eradicating all of them.
"Retweet this if you are against human rights abuses"
Meanwhile in the safe, walled-garden of Twitter, 75-year-old spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is showing an incredible awareness of URL-shortening services and social media SEO techniques on his new official Twitter account, leading us to believe there's actually a 17-year-old Tibetan intern handling all the typing business on behalf of His Totally Extreme Holiness.
In fact, there seems to have been a bit of a media mix-up about the whole event. While mainstream news sites run headlines along the lines of The Dalai Lama appears on Twitter — and 'tweets for a better world' the truth is it's nothing of the sort. The site alerts followers of his latest webcasts, photo opportunities and TV appearances, via an account that's nothing more than an RSS feed of his activities.
CHINESE DEMOCRACY: "Let's try and get #ChinaSucks trending today"
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Review: Sony Bravia KDL-55X4500
The Sony Bravia KDL-55X4500 has an interesting trick up its LED sleeves that's not matched by any of the other LED models: RGB dimming.
The technology for this is much more expensive versus the white dimming found on the Sharp LC-52LE700E LED TV. But the reward for your money promises to be a wider colour gamut.
Also, if 55 inches is a little too big, then you might want to consider looking at the smaller set in the range, the KDL-46X4500.
Sony has also gone to town with the KDL-55X4500's design – especially in the way a pair of pole-style speakers have been integrated into the middle of a transparent section of the set's outer bezel. You can even go for speaker grilles in Obsidian Black or Ruby Red if you really want to push the design boat out.
It's a pity, perhaps, that the KDL-55X4500 has a pretty big rear end by today's svelte standards. But if the set produces good enough pictures, a few centimetres of rear depth really shouldn't matter much in the greater scheme of things.
The KDL-55X4500, surprisingly, doesn't carry Sony's latest Bravia Engine 3 video processing system, only managing to offer its previous incarnation, BE2, instead.
But it does keep up to speed with Sony's latest TVs in connection terms, thanks in particular to four HDMIs, a USB port able to play multiple format AV files, plus an Ethernet port that lets you stream in files from your PC.
Ebony and ivory
At times, the KDL-55X4500's pictures look nothing short of sublime. For starters, as usual with a direct LED TV, it produces terrific black levels that enable it to show dark scenes with total conviction and bags of detail.
What's more, since the screen employs local dimming, you can enjoy the terrifically cinematic spectacle of crisp whites sitting in the same frame as rich, deep blacks.
The Sony's pictures are also stunningly crisp and sharp when showing HD, and it was a relief to find this quality remaining when the picture gets moving, thanks to a combination of a decent innate response time and an effective 100Hz processor.
Standard-def pictures are upscaled to the screen's full HD resolution rather well too, considering how vast the set's panel is, and as we'd hoped would be the case, the RGB dimming delivers a colour gamut of truly immense range and subtlety.
Being picky, we might say that the range of hues is a bit too extreme and that the ultra rich tones can look a little unnatural.
Other small complaints concern the KDL-55X4500's pictures losing contrast if watched from much of an angle; really bright parts of the image appear a touch bleached out and there are noticeable, but very minor, traces of backlight inconsistency.
However, we should stress right away that these flaws only make their presence felt should you, mistakenly, leave the backlight set higher than its level 5.
However, with some loud and clear, if fractionally bass-light, audio partnering its often stunning pictures pretty well, the KDL-55X4500 is only ultimately let down by its hefty price tag.
And with the RGB dimming arguably overcooking colours to a point of discomfort, we can't help but feel a little as if we're paying heftily for a feature we didn't necessarily need.
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Review: Panasonic TX-P54Z1
At first glance it's hard to believe that the TX-P54Z1 is a plasma TV: the chunky, dour looks that tend to define the technology are conspicuous in their absence here.
Pleasingly, the TX-P54Z1 has more in line with slinky LCD models. Particularly remarkable is that this TV is just 25.7mm deep, even out-slimming Samsung and LG's recent edge-LED TVs.
Some of this remarkable slenderness can be explained by the fact that the the set's three tuners – Freeview, analogue and Freesat – are built into an external tuner/multimedia box, ideal for wall-mounting. You don't even need to physically connect the multimedia box: it connects wirelessly, with full 1080p HD signal support.
The only unfortunate thing about this system is that it's external, requiring a separate transmitter, and an external receiver bolted onto the TV's underside. The multimedia box also carries four HDMI inputs, an SD card slot for playing video or photo files, and an Ethernet port for streaming in PC files, or logging in to Panasonic's nicely presented – if not content-heavy – VieraCast online service.
This plasma is THX approved, complete with a THX-calibrated picture preset, so it's no surprise to discover that it's a superior big-screen performer. At least with HD…
Fed a good Blu-ray, the TX-P54Z1 delivers a dazzling array of talents, dominated by a superb black level response. This avoids almost all the greyness associated with many flatscreens and reveals immense amounts of shadow detailing, enhancing the believability of dark scenes. Colours look rich and punchy, during darker scenes, too.
Unlike most LCD TVs, this plasma doesn't need to dim its overall brightness level to produce a good black level response.
Devil in the detail
More surprising is how exceptionally sharp HD pictures look, with every last pixel of detail reproduced faithfully and noiselessly.
This sense of total clarity isn't done any harm by plasma's innate freedom from the sort of motion blur issues associated with LCD technology. Even judder is largely kicked into touch, thanks to the on-board 600Hz processing engine.
That processing also earns its keep by rendering high-definition colours with mesmerising subtlety, so that pictures look more three-dimensional and natural.
Pleasingly, this plasma screen is watchable from nearly right angles without any loss of image quality – another feat most LCD TVs can only dream about.
So, what's our beef with this TV? Why just a four star rating? Well, the main problem with the TX-P54Z1 is that its pictures lose their way with standard definition, leaving them looking rather soft and oddly affected by a few strained colour tones.
Also, this plasma doesn't have the sheer brightness of contemporary LCD TVs either, particularly post-calibration. This won't matter if you're putting the screen into a reasonably dark room, however.
Accentuating the positive once more, pictures are accompanied by remarkably powerful sonics from a pair of 'bolt on' speakers, defying the screen's slenderness by delivering bags of treble detailing and even a healthy splash of bass.
So, as long as you can feed it a predominantly HD diet, the TX-P54Z1 is undeniably terrific. But, we're still not entirely convinced that it stands out from the crowd quite enough to justify its extremely hefty price tag.
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Rumour round-up: Killzone 3 3D and GTA V
The hype and rumours that surround the annual approach to E3 start with a bang today, with rumours that Rockstar is preparing to announce Grand Theft Auto 5 before the show and that Sony is preparing Killzone 3 3D for a Christmas 2010 release.
According to sources close to developer Guerrilla, Killzone 3 is set for a Christmas launch complete with Arc (motion control) and 3D support. See more on that particular rumour over at CVG
Rockstar planning GTA V
Elsewhere, a leading industry analyst has said that Rockstar will make a major GTA V announcement before E3
Mike Hickey of Janco Partners said: "There is building suspension for a pre-E3 GTA V announcement, although we expect nothing from Rockstar at this year's official E3 event.
"We think the next iteration of GTA for console can significantly outsell its predecessor, reflecting on the sales acceleration of the prior cycle GTA console iterations, an accelerating core gamer installed base, and the most talented / motivated development team in the world, in our view," he further added.
Bear in mind that Take Two president Strauss Zenick said last September:
"We're not going to announce it. We're not going to announce when we're going to announce it. And we're not going to announce the strategy about announcing it or about when we're going to announce it either, or about the announcement strategy surrounding the announcement of the strategy."
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Review: LAST Record preservative
The LAST Record preservative is another veteran of the analogue scene and indeed a personal favourite.
The original product from LAST, and now some 30 years old, it has been joined over the years by various interesting treatments intended to improve replay and enhance the life of both CDs and LPs.
This preservative, however, is perhaps the most remarkable product in the LAST catalogue. It is a colourless, odourless fluid that is spread on the playing surface of an LP and it is claimed that it makes the disc much more resilient against the damage that can be done by a stylus.
It leaves no residue and is very easy to apply: just half-fill the supplied pipette as instructed, squirt the Preservative on the applicator, and wipe this round the grooved area.
The fluid evaporates very fast and LAST's claim that treatment takes only 30 seconds is no exaggeration. I treated half a dozen discs, both sides, and could hardly see how far the level in the bottle had gone down, so we're looking at an impressive pennies per disc treatment cost.
But can it work? Chemically, it seems plausible, but the acid test, which I applied, is to take two fresh, identical discs, treat one and play the same section of both 30 times.
Boring – but illuminating, as the LASTed one was clearly the fresher sounding of the two at the end. Not only that, but it also seemed a little more precisely detailed even on the first playing.
In other words, it does indeed work as claimed.
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Free ebooks lead to increased print-book sales
While the debate about the future of ebooks rages on, with authors and book publishers alike concerned about how a well-worn business model is rapidly changing, a new academic study claims that giving away free electronic versions of your books can boost sales of the printed version.
The study has been conducted byJohn Hilton, a doctoral candidate in Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University who is researching issues around open education and open access.
Free ebooks for all
Hilton coauthored a study published in The Journal of Electronic Publishing titled "The Short-Term Influence of Free Digital Versions of Books on Print Sales," where he and his colleagues examined Bookscan sales for dozens of print titles before and after they were released online for free.
Hilton and colleague David Wiley had examined sales for 41 print and the BYU academics found that generally, a free ebook release is correlated with increased sales of the printed book.
"Of course the big elephant in the room is that whatever it'll be today, it'll be different three years from now, maybe even three months from now," Hilton told Bloggasm.com. "As people get more iPads, or something like a Kindle takes over, all of this could drastically change."
"Think of the educational benefit of making this resource available," he added. "I think there's a huge benefit to society by making something available for free. Recently I've been involved with another study with my dissertation, and this studied just eight books, and over a few week time these books were downloaded over 100,000 times, and sales increased moderately.
"But the point wasn't whether sales increased or decreased; here are 100,000 people who accessed works who otherwise wouldn't have. So my hope would be that this study would relieve people's fears that if they put books online for free their sales would tank, and they'd say, 'let's think about a more global benefit to having your works online for free.'"
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Intel hopes Atom can make NAS a home run
Intel has launched an Atom-based platform for use in storage devices aiming to add a little processing power to your home network.
With partners such as LaCie, LG and Synology, Intel is hoping that the option of single or dual-core Atom processors can make network attached storage (NAS) devices more popular in the home and small businesses.
"NAS systems have traditionally been found in businesses to manage, store and access data," said Seth Bobroff, general manager, Intel Data Center Group, Storage.
"Today, households and small offices have an ever-increasing number of computers, laptops, netbooks and mobile phones that create and consume digital content.
"This advancement in mobility coupled with the explosive growth of data and media are creating the need for centralized, easy-to-use network storage solutions for the home and small office."
Better systems
Intel are hoping that the Atom-based platform, teamed with the company's Intel 82801IR I/O Controller will bring-about cheaper, more advanced and reliable systems that will sit ideally in the modern home – complete with its multiple computers.
"The introduction of Intel's Atom processor is a critical advancement that will dramatically change the scale of storage solutions across LaCie's target markets," said Erwan Girard, professional business unit manager, LaCie.
"We are excited to work with Intel and leverage this game-changing technology to offer a new level of powerful and robust features to our customers."
The new platform features six PCI Express lanes, 12 USB 2.0 ports, a port multiplier function and eSATA ports as well as hot plug capabilities and integrates Ethernet MAC controller, and can support Windows Home Server or Linux.
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