Dick Smith enters post-paid mobile arena
So while Vodafone CEO Bill Morrow sees a bleak future for MVNOs, retailer Dick Smith has given the market a boost of confidence by partnering with MVNO Think Mobile to offer post-paid mobile plans.
Dick Smith will be selling the Think Swift 3G Ultimate plan and the Think Classic 3G plans, which use Vodafone's and Telstra's network, respectively.
The Swift 3G Ultimate plan cost $59.95 per month over 24 months, offering unlimited standard calls, SMS/MMS and 4GB of data. You can get the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy S3, Nokia Lumia 925, Sony Xperia Z or the HTC One on this plan.
The Classic 3G plan costs $50 per month over 24 months for $500 worth of calls, SMS/MMS and 1.5GB of data. This plan can be paired with the Motorola Razr HD, Samsung Galaxy Express, LG Optimus L7 2, Samsung Ativ S or Huawei Ascend P6.
While Dick Smith has offered prepaid plans through its stores, this will be the first post-paid plans offered by the retailer.
Dick Smith for the traveller
Adding to these mobile plans, Dick Smith is also looking to offer Australians some more choice with travel SIMs, GPS messengers and satellite communicators.You'll also be able to pick up a SatSleeve, which attaches to an iPhone 4 to turn it into a satellite phone. Dick Smith assures us that it has 100% coverage Australia wide and it will be releasing, Android and iPhone 5 versions "in the near future".
Globalgig's SIMs and Wi-Fi hotspot device will also be available at Dick Smith stores, which offers a cheap options for data roaming in a number of countries.
- If 3G is not your thing, why not check out our comparison of 4G networks in Australia.
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Apple granted patent for Kinect-like gesture control
Two years before Microsoft's Kinect made its way into stores, Apple filed a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for similar sounding technology.
The "Advanced Sensor-Based UI" application, first highlighted by Patently Apple, was among 41 "new" patents granted to the company today.
The invention, originally filed in 2008, calls for one or more sensors in the bezel of a display that would enable users to scroll, select and zoom using gestures from across a room.
Even more interesting are examples in which the sensors could automatically transfer from "mouse" mode when the user is near to "gesture detection" mode when the user is far away.
Brightness could also be automatically set based on a user's distance from the screen, according to the theatrical examples laid out by the patent.
Apple iTV bound?
The use of gesture-controlled sensors could apply to Apple's line of existing products like the iPhone, the iPad and Mac computers.The patent doesn't drop any new hints as to whether Apple is interested in making the long-rumored Apple iTV. However, that could be because it was filed five years ago.
"Back in 2008, a TV wasn't a priority with Apple," noted Patently Apple. "Yet this technology could equally apply to such a device if Apple wanted it to in the future."
Apple's newly awarded "Advanced Sensor-Based UI" patent may not even make it into a single one of the company's products in the end, even though it has had its fingerprints all over sensors recently.
- If your hands are really tired, Sony may have a VR unit it wants to sell you.
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IFA 2013: Will Panasonic ring in 4K-boosting HDMI 2.0 during IFA press event?
IFA 2013 is about to kick into high gear, but we may have a pretty significant tidbit from Panasonic a day before its scheduled press event.
According to a post at AV Forums, Panasonic will chat up its new Ultra HD WT600 LED TV, dishing on its 4K capabilities.
While that's none too shocking given the TV biz's surging obsession with 4K sets, Panasonic's offering will reportedly roll out the welcome mat for HDMI 2.0.
If a blurb seemingly pulled from Panasonic's site proves true, HDMI 2.0 would mark a huge leap forward in 4K television readiness as it would allow content to play at higher frame rates while still supporting the super-res of 4K Ultra HD.
As AV Forums tells it, Panasonic's HDMI 2.0 will hit 60 frames per second, though the WT600 was listed as supporting 50 fps before its web page was taken down.
Hyper drive TV
As it stands, HDMI 1.4 can only hit a max of 30 frames per second at a resolution of 3840 x 2160. Watching a rom-com at this standard would be fine, but when it comes to sporting events, movies starring The Rock or any other high-speed action on a 4K set, HDMI 1.4 is far from adequate.Panasonic's press conference is scheduled for 2 p.m. BT/6 a.m. PT Wednesday, and we could very well see HDMI 2.0 hit the air waves then.
What's more, the HDMI Licensing Group, an industry group comprised of Hitachi, Panasonic, Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson (RCA) and Toshiba, has a press event planned for Friday.
"Next Steps in HD Connectivity" sounds a little bland, but it stands to reason that we could hear more about HDMI 2.0 at this event following Panasonic's WT600 reveal.
The WT600 doesn't look like the sexiest beast around, but it will apparently have a 65-inch screen, a 4K media player, 4K fine remaster engine, 4K web browser and 4K online playback. There's no word yet on pricing or specific availability, but the WT600 is said to come with THX 4K certification as well.
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Was the iPhone 5C caught running iOS 7 on camera?
Apple is expected to reveal its cheaper iPhone this month, but in the meantime video footage allegedly showing the iPhone 5C in action has appeared online.
Chinese site C Technology, which BGR claimed is at least somewhat reputable, posted the video yesterday, claiming it came from "some friends" (thanks, Google Translate).
The video shows what looks like the iPhone 5C in hot pink or red running iOS 7, with someone tapping around, pinch-and-zooming and more.
Head to either link above to watch the footage, but do so with a pinch of salt - the haphazardly translated version of C Tech's report makes it clear that even they're not sure if the video is real.
New iPhone release dates
Apple today confirmed that it will hold an event on Sept. 10 at which it's expected to unveil the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C plus announce the full public release of iOS 7.The invitation's bright colors could even be a hint meant to refer to the rainbow of hues the iPhone 5C is rumored to be arriving in.
Renewed rumors of Sept. 20 and Sept. 27 release dates for the iPhone 5S and 5C, respectively, closely followed that invitation out of the gate today.
iPhone 5C rumors
The latest iPhone 5C leak may have shown its colorful packaging, though we've got our doubts about that.The iPhone 5C is expected to come with a plastic shell and downgraded specs compared to its predecessors and the other new iPhone expected on Sept 10.
Rumors put the price anywhere from $300 (£192, AU$331) to $500 (£321, AU$552), significantly cheaper than Apple's high-end iPhone models.
Will it be cheap enough? Regardless, it seems we'll learn more about Apple's cheaper iPhone soon.
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Blip: It's gone! 8GB Nexus 4 sells out in US, Google won't restock it
Blink and you missed your chance to pick up the 8GB Nexus 4 at a ridiculously low price, at least if you live in the U.S.
The cheapest version of the Nexus phone is out of stock in the region, and according to Google (via The Verge), its absence is a forever sort of thing as it won't restock the handset. This could be a Bat Signal that the Nexus 5 will rappel into our lives sooner rather than later.
Google last week dropped the price of the 8GB flavor to $199 (£159, AU$249) and the 16GB version to $249 (£199, AU$299). Both phones were originally selling for at $299 (£239, AU$349) and $349 (£279, AU$399), respectively.
CNET UK reported the ship time for the 8GB Nexus 4 has grown from two to three days to a week, indicating that market could be nearing the end of its supply, too.
More blips!
Blips - short on words, great on value.- Man lives the dream, buys a promoted Tweet to complain about lost luggage
- Microsoft dubs thee Xbox Games, formerly Xbox Live Marketplace
- Ladies and gents, Rockstar has released the official Grand Theft Auto V trailer
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Record labels want UK ISPs to keep naughty list of illegal downloaders
Internet users who illegally download copyrighted material could soon find themselves listed on a national database of offenders, if record label bosses in the UK have their way.
The BPI, which represents the major labels on UK shores, wants ISPs like Virgin, Sky and BT to sign-up for a voluntary scheme to keep track of those pirating music, movies and TV shows on their networks.
If the plans are ever put into action, the list could be used to prosecute or disconnect those suspected of downloading from file-sharing sites.
The proposals will be one of the topics on the table at Downing Street on September 12, when the record labels will discuss anti-privacy measures with prime minister David Cameron.
Sticky issue
The database plan could revive the three strikes system proposed under the controversial Digital Economy Act reforms passed in 2011, but not yet written into law.Under the new plan, repeat offenders would receive letters from their ISP warning them against downloading pirate material, before speed throttling, disconnection or legal prosecution.
ISPs appear willing to explore anti-piracy initiatives, but there are concerns that creating a database would contravene the data protection laws
Virgin Media spokesperson Emma Hutchinson said: "Music and film companies are speaking to broadband providers about how to address illegal file-sharing but what they're currently proposing is unworkable."
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LG G2 brings its weird 'rear key' to US and Germany this month
LG has finally announced the LG G2's release date outside of South Korea, and as we expected it's right around the corner.
The G2 will arrive in the U.S. and Germany this month before continuing on to the rest of the world, the phone maker revealed today.
"The positive market feedback after the initial launch in Korea proved to us that the LG G2's consumer-oriented innovation does resonate with customers," LG President and CEO Dr. Jong-seok Park said in the announcement.
"The LG G2 was developed as a global device for a global audience, beyond the scope of any smartphone we've introduced to date. I'm confident consumers will see the difference."
The key to a comeback
Formerly known as the Optimus G2, the G2 is LG's hope for a comeback in the world of mobile phones.Ultimately the G2 is expected to arrive on over 130 carriers globally.
Its most notable feature is what LG calls the "rear key," a back-mounted button set that turns the device on and off and controls volume levels.
LG says the rear key is supposed to be "intuitive and highly functional," though TechRadar wasn't convinced when the phone was unveiled.
Besides that, we're looking at a 2.26 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip, 5.2-inch 1080p IPS display, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, 13- and 2.1-megapixel cameras (the rear with Optical Image Stabilization), a 3000mAh battery and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
We'll keep an ear out for specific launch dates, plus when it can be expected in other markets.
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Google's next version of Android will be called KitKat
Kick Key Lime Pie to the curb. There's another "K" name destined for the next version of Google's Android mobile OS.
Google today announced through a myriad of channels that Android 4.4 will be called "KitKat," like the "break me off a piece of that" treat by Nestle.
The pick continues Google's tradition of christening its OSes after sweets. However, while other names take after generic desserts (Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, etc.), 4.4's moniker belongs to a trademarked product.
According to John Lagerling, director of Android global partnerships, speaking to the BBC, there's no money being dealt between Google and Nestle.
However, there's still plenty of cross promotion to be had, as Nestle is launching a contest by which consumers can win a Nexus 7 or Google Play credit through specially branded Kit Kat bars.
Lagerling said Google approached Nestle about using "KitKat," and Android 4.4 drops the space between Kit and Kat. It took the confection maker an hour to give the OK, Nestle's marketing head told the BBC.
1 billion droids
Sundar Pichai, head of Chrome and Android, tweeted the picture you see above earlier today, also sharing that there are now over one billion Android activations. The giant chocolate droid now occupying the company's Mountain View campus, he wrote, will hopefully keep the OS' momentum humming along.There's a KitKat landing page up and running, complete with details on the Nestle contest. Pichai also humble-bragged about Android's accomplishments on his Google+ page, simultaneously dropping a #AndroidKitKat plug in his post.
We're light on KitKat details from Google, with the company leaving us with only a single line:
"It's our goal with Android KitKat to make an amazing Android experience available for everybody."
Nestle, meanwhile, has plenty to say about Android KitKat 4.4 in a very Apple-esque promo spoof:
Pie time?
If you're wondering what's up with Key Lime Pie, according to Lagerling the Android team realized late last year that "very few people actually know the taste of a key lime pie," thus opting for the familiar chocolate bar (and favorite late-night Google snack) for the next Android instead.Internally, only a few people knew Android 4.4 would be called KitKat, with Key Lime Pie serving as a codename both with employees and partners, he said.
That's not to say Key Lime Pie is being discarded for good, though Lagerling made no allusions to that possibility. We could still see Android 5.0 stick to KLP, perhaps after Google's passed out a few slices to prep the public's palate.
Until then, plenty should get a taste of chocolate-covered wafer goodness, as the BBC reported Nestle will deliver over 50 million Kit Kat packages stamped with Android's little green guy to 19 markets. Among them are the U.K., U.S., Russia, Japan and Brazil.
- Snap, crackle and pop your way to our Chromecast review.
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Double dates? New iPhones may go on sale Sept. 20 and Sept. 27
Now that we know for sure when the iPhone 5S and potentially the iPhone 5C will be unveiled, attention turns to figuring out when the next-gen Apple handsets will actually go on sale.
Following the confirmation from Cupertino that it's next iPhone launch will take place on Sept. 10, a report from the U.K. suggested the devices will arrive at retailers on Sept. 20 and Sept. 27.
Those two dates, mentioned in a report from The Telegraph, have been mooted in the past but the paper's sources in the courier industry (of all places) appear to add a little more credence.
Today's report follows up an earlier claim from The Telegraph that stores are being told to prepare to display two different iPhone devices that will arrive on two different dates.
Roll up, roll up!
If The Telegraph's stories come to fruition, the smart money would be on the new iPhone being first to arrive on Friday, Sept. 20.That would mean the heavily-tipped, cheaper iPhone 5C would be a safer bet to go on sale a week later on Friday, Sept. 27.
The dual release dates would likely be great news for Apple, virtually ensuring two huge retail weekends with the traditional lines-around-the-block at its official stores around the world.
It's highly unlikely that the company will confirm the release dates before its keynote event in Cupertino next Tuesday, so we'll have to wait and see what Tim Cook and Co. reveal.
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Updated: Next chapter of Amazon Paperwhite e-reader starts Sept. 30
Amazon has outed an all-new Kindle Paperwhite, hours after a listing for the updated e-reader appeared before it was yanked.
Now, it looks like Amazon is putting its foot down on the new and improved Paperwhite, leaving the $119 (with special offers) product's order page up for all to gawk at. Without special offers (a.k.a. ads), the new Paperwhite will retail for $139, though it looks to be U.S.-only for now. The Paperwhite's price converts to about £76/AU$131 and £89/AU$153, respectively.
We're not looking at a completely made-over machine here, instead seeing some incremental improvements that should be welcome to readers.
New display tech supposedly boosts the screen's contrast renders and offers better reflectivity, while a next-gen built-in light helps guide light closer to the screen, translating into less eyestrain.
There's a 25% faster processor, so you should be able to breezily flip through pages and look up tip-of-the-tongue definitions. A 19% tighter touch grid supposedly helps the new Paperwhite respond to even the smallest pricks with increased accuracy.
Paper me white
While the outside looks largely the same and there's not a drastic jump in internals, there are a few software additions that should make the device a better buy than before.The new Paperwhite (we're back to trying not to write "Paperweight") will eventually land with Goodreads integration, offering users a peak at what 20 million-plus users are leafing through plus the ability to rate reads.
Kindle FreeTime for Paperwhite is also on the way, geared towards giving younger readers some age-appropriate incentives to hitting the books.
The new Paperwhite will also feature Smart Lookup, Vocabulary Builder and Kindle Page Flip features.
Update: AllThingsD reported that the new Paperwhite doesn't say "Kindle" on the rear casing, but instead has "Amazon" inscribed on its backside.
Peter Larsen, Amazon vice president of Kindle product management, told the site the change was due to international recognition ambitions. "Amazon" is apparently more recognized than "Kindle" outside of the U.S., so as the company moves into countries like India, China and Mexico, it wants "Amazon" front (or back) and center.
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Analysis: Can Nokia teach Microsoft to be one company?
Microsoft and Nokia have been trying since January to find a better way of working together on Windows Phone.
That turned out to be Microsoft buying Nokia's handset business and bringing back Stephen Elop to head up not just the Windows Phone hardware team but Microsoft's whole devices business – which is a key part of the 'One Microsoft' reorganisation.
Although Nokia has negotiated an excellent deal, with a combination of cash up front, loans from Microsoft that it gets even if the deal falls through and ongoing licence fees for both its Here maps and the large number of patents it isn't selling to Microsoft, it's also giving Microsoft the skills it needs to make the reorganisation work – with few drawbacks.
The most obvious disadvantage that could have blocked the deal has already happened; Nokia's success in selling Windows Phone was discouraging other OEMs, interim Nokia CEO Risto Siilasmaa admitted in the press conference.
Microsoft still believes that making Windows Phone more successful with its own phones makes it more attractive to OEMs (and Steve Ballmer claims that "OEMs are more enthusiastic about Windows Pone today than they were yesterday", but it wants to be a successful hardware maker itself.
Nokia sells over 80% of all Windows Phones at the moment; that's better than the 50% of Windows tablets Microsoft wants to sell itself. And Microsoft gets technology for far more than phones: Terry Myerson has already teased us with the idea of combining the Lumia 1020 camera with the Kinect 2 sensor.
Is Elop the next man for Microsoft?
There's plenty of speculation that this is Microsoft buying its next CEO, but that's not what this deal is about. For one thing, Microsoft needs Elop to run the devices business if it's going to make a success of selling its own phones, tablets and the "new form factors" hinted at in the Microsoft presentation. For another, it's buying a lot more than one person.Devices and services, as outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer has been saying for over a year now, are Microsoft's future, and that's a combination that Nokia is already good at. The Lumia handsets, both premium and budget, and the big-selling Asha phones are complemented by services from HERE maps, navigation tools, Nokia's extensive music service, dozens of utilities – including Nokia's own data-saving Xpress web browser and augmented reality tools.
Nokia has been running an app store for a lot longer than Microsoft and it has its own developer evangelism team, which has been at least as successful as Microsoft at bringing key apps to Windows Phone; Angry Birds, Words with Friends, Draw Something, Hipstamatic and other important apps have come to Nokia phones as exclusives months before other Windows Phone users got them.
When he ran the business division at Microsoft (which included Office), Elop was an early convert to the principle that grew into the devices and services mantra. Software plus services as Microsoft used to call it – apps that worked well on their own (like Outlook) but got better when you were online with access to extra services (like contact information from Linked In or Facebook). Back in 2009 at the Web 2.0 conference, he was bullish on the importance of the combination of devices, apps and cloud services.
"Some people say it will all be in the cloud; I think that is hogwash," he claimed (and the less-than-stellar sales of Chromebooks suggest he wasn't wrong). "How many people here have an iPhone? And how many of you are using the Facebook app on iPhone? Just as many. The device, the operating system, and the rich app – that's the Facebook app combined with the Facebook service - is a better experience."
That's as good a definition of the promise of devices and services as Microsoft has ever given, and it's something Nokia has been doing itself – especially with Here Maps and Lumia handsets.
Elop also has experience of the way Microsoft can improve in one area by learning from its own products in other areas; something that's key to making the 'one Microsoft' reorg succeed. Again, in 2009, he pointed out that "Xbox is cool but when you play around it there is all sorts of stuff you learn from it – and what we learn from enterprise search transfers to the Live team."
Microsoft had bought FAST to improve SharePoint search (both part of Elop's division) but the same expertise turned the disappointing Live Search into the much more effective Bing search engine.
What Microsoft must do next
Microsoft needs to do much more of that transfer between teams – and it needs to keep moving away from its tendency to Redmond insularity. Both companies have spoken in the past about how well their design ethos and ambitions match up and the Windows Phone tem has managed to work well with the Nokia teams in Finland.Unlike Microsoft, which builds every service for the US first and the rest of the world much later, Nokia is hardly a US-centric company; it's used to building services for other countries around the world – the countries where Windows Phone is actually selling. Bing Maps is very accurate in the US but try searching for businesses in London using Bing Maps and Here Maps on Windows Phone; Nokia has a far better database of locations and you're much more likely to find what you're looking for.
The 30,000 Nokia employees who become Microsoft employees won't be moving to Redmond; they'll stay in Finland where they design the phones and in Silicon Valley where Nokia has its research labs – and in the production facilities around the world where they build phones.
Using Nokia's expertise to sell other devices
Nokia has decades of experience in building phones – and in running a supply chain that sources components, builds things like the image stabilisation modules that make the cameras in the Lumia 920, 925 and 1020 so good, manufactures the devices and then gets them into stores.Microsoft has spent a lot of money building up its own supply chain for building the Surface tablets, but it was slow to make devices available outside the US; Nokia has that scale already. It's also used to working on multiple devices at once; Microsoft didn't have a large enough team to design Surface and Surface Pro at the same time, let alone get a smaller tablet ready to compete with the iPad Mini and Nexus 7.
To compete in devices Microsoft needs to move faster; having one division rather than two separate companies should help there. It also needs to learn to sell products better and get marketing working better with the product teams.
Nokia still has strong relationships with mobile operators around the world, a sales team that Microsoft doesn't have – and far better marketing. From genuinely funny ads like the wedding fight to guerrilla campaigns like paring ad vans next to Samsung billboards, Nokia can teach Microsoft to sell its products.
Can Microsoft really save money over the deal?
Microsoft says it will also save money, not just from the extra efficiency and scale but also from the 60-plus patent licenses from companies like IBM and Motorola Nokia is handing over, which have what Microsoft calls "attractive royalty arrangements" – and Microsoft can use them for tablets and other devices as well as phones.Plus the deal means Google-owned Motorola can't sue Microsoft over smartphones in future for any of those patents; neither can companies like Samsung and LG who have already cross licenced patents to Microsoft.
Not everything in the Microsoft Nokia deal fits in with the 'one Microsoft' plan though. As well as the Lumia handsets, Microsoft is taking over Nokia's Asha Symbian phones and featurephones like the newly launched Nokia 515.
Microsoft has only just finished transitioning Windows Phone and Xbox to the Windows kernel and now it's going to have multiple platforms again – in a market where it has little experience and none of it good. Even if Asha doesn't turn into another Sidekick or Kin – Microsoft's last phone acquisition didn't go well – it could be confusing for customers.
On the other hand, Microsoft can't afford to only develop for Windows and Windows Phone. Steve Ballmer promised that "we're not holding back services from other vendors." Making Microsoft services available on the first phone people buy as well is an opportunity to get them before they start in the Google or Apple world.
- Why not check out what we thought about Steve Ballmer stepping down as Microsoft CEO?
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Lenovo plays the long game with 21:9 ThinkVision monitor
Ultra-wide monitors and PCs are cropping up on a regular basis these days, so it's little surprise to see that Lenovo's unveiled its own cinematic panel at Berlin's IFA conference.
The company's ThinkVision LT2934z uses a 21:9 panoramic aspect ratio, rather than the commonly found 16:9, which it claims offers 33% more real estate by bumping up the resolution to 2560x1080 pixels.
Though you aren't getting any extra height over a regular full-HD monitor, Lenovo claims the aspect ratio lends it a cinematic feel for streaming video, watching Blu-ray films or playing games.
Well connected
Its connectivity options include VGA, HDMI 1.4, MHL, Dual-link DVI-D, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. Features of interest to professional users include a HD webcam, dual array microphone and speakers for VoIP calls, and a Picture-in-Picture mode that lets you take on several tasks at once.Lenovo's ThinkVision LT2934z will be available from November priced from £699.
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Updated: Samsung Galaxy Gear release date, news and rumours
As the great smartwatch battle looms on the horizon, one big upcoming combatant is Samsung. The South Korean tech giant is looking at the area of wrist-based wearables and has its device ready to go.
Right now we know that the watch is called the Samsung Galaxy Gear, which Samsung confirmed after a recent trademark filing outed the name.
We also know a few things about the smartwatch's features, which currently suggest the Gear is really looking to bring the smartphone experience to the wrist. So what else has Samsung got in store?
Samsung Galaxy Gear release date
The Samsung Galaxy Gear will touch down on September 4 at IFA 2013 - that's a fact confirmed by Lee Young-hee, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile business.The watch will be unveiled alongside the Galaxy Note 3, which is also confirmed to be arriving at Samsung's Unpacked: Episode 2 event.
An IFA launch will put it ahead of Apple's own rumoured foray into the wearable domain, the iWatch, though just behind Sony which launched the Sony Smartwatch 2 in June.
As for when we'll see the Gear on the market, one insider reckons it will arrive on the last week of September.
Samsung Galaxy Gear features and specs
That's all well and good but what will the Galaxy Gear bring to our lives? Again, a lot of this has come out in the discovered trademarks.The most recent of which describes "wearable digital electronic devices in the form of a wristwatch, wrist band or bangle capable of providing access to the Internet and for sending and receiving phone calls, electronic mails and messages."
However it seems the watch will act as more of a secondary device to your smartphone and won't actually be able to make calls on its own. Instead it will connect to your phone or tablet via Bluetooth and NFC.
We also have reason to believe that it'll be going big on the fitness angle too, which isn't hugely surprising given that this is where the iWatch is also believed to be heading.
Earlier this year we reported on some leaked screens that claimed to belong to the Gear. While they show off a very Windows Phone 8-like tile interface, we'd say it looks like more of a custom Samsung OS. This could throw a bit of water on the Android fire, though it could also be Android in a fancy new suit.
Note the icons too: that folded paper looks very much like a map to us, and GPS is one feature we're very much expecting to see in the onslaught of smartwatches.
Oddly, one of the screens refers to the watch as the Samsung Galaxy Altius. However this was also the Galaxy S4's codename, so we'd say it's unlikey to be what Samsung's naming its watch.
As for the specs, a recent report reckons the Gear is opting for a 2.5-inch square OLED display. We also hear that the Gear could feature a Exynos 4212 SoC along with 1GB of RAM.
Samsung Galaxy Gear design and specs
With all things wearable, form is as important as function, and some information on the Gear's design has also been outed over the past few weeks.First, we're hearing that the watch will come in five colours. It will be available in white, orange, grey and black from the last week of September, and in gold a week after that.
Some sketches published in the same Galaxy-outing trademark hinted at what Samsung might have had in mind and the fact the design included a flexible display immediately grabbed our attention.
However these hopes were later dashed by Samsung, which confirmed that a flexible screen is not going to feature just yet. Sorry about that.
Then came some leaked pictures of what was claimed to be a prototype version of the watch, but some insiders then came out to say that the final version revealed at IFA will look different to this.
Samsung Galaxy Gear: Android for your arm?
Until recently, we'd understood that the Samsung Gear was a name the company was floating for its wearable. But now we know that it will be named the Galaxy Gear, that new middle name could be a key indicator of what will be on offer.First, this means the Gear could be slotting into Samsung's Galaxy ecosystem, which makes perfect sense if the watch will be communicating with our smartphones and tablets.
Plus it would also suggest that Samsung could be opting for an Android operating system, given that this is the software that binds its Galaxy devices together.
Gears sent out to developers have reportedly been running on either an Android 4.1 or 4.2 interface, but we're now hearing that it will in fact come packing a version of Android 4.3.
How close this imitates the full phone Android experience remains to be seen, but we'd expect it to have been chopped up and remolded a bit for the diminutive display.
The same source to claim an Android appearance also said that Samsung will offer a watch app for phones and tablets that will communicate with the Gear instantaneously. This means if you're halfway through reading a message on your wrist, you can switch to your phone and it will pick up exactly where you left off.
This app is said to be appearing on the Samsung App store and not the Google Play store - could this mean we'll need a Samsung phone in order to get full functionality out of the Gear?
With September 4 just around the corner, it won't be long until we know for sure.
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Apple iPhone 5S launch confirmed for September 10
Apple has confirmed the date of its iPhone 5S launch event as September 10 - with it seeming virtually certain the iPhone 5C will appear too.
Bright and colourful invitations have hit inboxes inviting journalists to an event at Cupertino HQ in San Francisco, with the spotty clues pointing to the release of the new iPhone.
Obviously Apple hasn't confirmed whether we're looking at the launch of the iPhone 5S and the cheap and cheerful iPhone 5C as well, but we'd say it's pretty certain.
"This should brighten everyone's day"
We're also expecting Apple to announce the full release of iOS 7 to existing iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices as well.The event kicks off at 10am PT/6 pm BT on September 10, and at 4 a.m. in Australia on September 11. Join us, we'll be going big on it.
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Did Nike just confirm the iPhone 5S?
Nike has had a close relationship with Apple for some time and the chances are that it's in the know about what's planned for the upcoming iPhone 5S.
Or at least the very fact that the thing exists after the not-yet-existent device was name checked on Nike's online store. It's still there if you want to go check it out for yourselves.
In the description for the Nike E2 Prime Performance training arm band it states that it's compatible with the iPhone 5 "and iPhone 5s". We're pretty sure that "5s" isn't the plural of iPhone 5, even with the small s. So go figure.
iSpy
This could just be Nike jumping the gun based on expectations and the company may not know as much as it's letting on.But given that the two have been paired up for Nike+iPod for quite some time now, we expect Nike to be making its mark on the new iPhone too.
We're expecting the iPhone 5S to be announced alongside the iPhone 5C on the September 10 event that's just been announced.
- All the latest gossip on the iPhone 5S
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Amazon MatchBook turns real books into ebooks
Amazon has announced its latest push into turning every living thing into a digital entity, with the arrival of Amazon MatchBook.
Amazon MatchBook isn't just an excuse for Amazon to unleash another witty fire-based pun into the ether, it's a service that will turn a print edition purchase you have made on Amazon into a digital copy.
Unlike AutoRip, where Amazon turned all CD purchases made on the site into digital copies for free, MatchBook does cost a little bit of money.
According to Amazon, customers will be able to grab a digital copy for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free. And, yes, they are dollar signs which means that MatchBook is only available in the US for the moment.
Fire, Kindle, Match... it's getting hot in here
Speaking about MatchBook, Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content, said: "If you logged onto your CompuServe account during the Clinton administration and bought a book like Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus from Amazon, Kindle MatchBook now makes it possible for that purchase - 18 years later - to be added to your Kindle library at a very low cost."Yes, Amazon remembers what you've bought all the way back to 1995.
Over 10,000 books will already be available when Kindle MatchBook launches in October but you will have to wait for your favourite author to agree to joining the service before you get discounted digital copies.
Some of the authors (or their estates) that have already signed on the digital line include: Ray Bradbury, Michael Crichton, Blake Crouch, James Rollins, Jodi Picoult, Neil Gaiman, Marcus Sakey, Wally Lamb, Jo Nesbo, Neal Stephenson, and JA Jance.
And, no, we don't think that Ray Bradbury being first on the list is a coincidence given Amazon's obsession with fire and books.
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PS4 Oculus Rift rival in the works as Sony announces head mounted display
Whether or not you think virtual reality is the way forward, it's showing no signs of retreat. Quite the opposite in fact.
Today Sony announced its third generation head mounted display, the HMZ-T3W, which displays the equivalent of a 750-inch display viewed from 20 meters away - right in front of your face. The glasses can also put out 7.1 virtual surround sound.
The headset will connect to PCs, mobile devices and consoles via WirelessHD with near-zero latency playback, we're told.
As for pricing, it's coming in at £1,300 (about $2020/AU$2238) and will be available this November. We've contacted Sony for specific US details and will update when we know more.
We couldn't help but notice that Sony mentions consoles - and then things get even more interesting...
CVG has learned that Sony is also working on a virtual reality device specifically for the PS4. Yes, Oculus Rift spoke and Sony listened: it looks like this will be the final part to form the PS4.
Face/Off
It's reported that Sony was meant to show the headset off at Gamescom but things went a bit wrong at the last minute, so it will now announce it at the Tokyo Game Show this month. The VR headset will then go on to be released next year.Evolution Studios is also currently integrating the device for a cockpit view in the upcoming PS4 exclusive Drive Club, according to the same reports.
As you may well know (but in case you didn't) Sony has been toying with head mounted displays for some time - it announced the HMZ-T1 Personal 3D Viewer at IFA 2011.
But it's an area that's always struggled to take off. But since Oculus Rift, interest in VR has rocketed. Sony's taking the opportunity to pounce.
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Lenovo outs skinny ThinkPads with 17-hour battery life
Lenovo has taken the concept of 'all day battery life' to the extreme by outing new ThinkPad laptops at Berlin's IFA conference that can go for up to 17 hours using swappable battery technology.
The feature can be found in the Beijing-based laptop maker's new enterprise 14-inch T440s and T440 models. They get an efficiency boost though housing Intel's fourth generation i7 processor and can be fitted with a smart card reader for extra security.
Closing the divide between the chunky ThinkPads of old and more portable consumer ultrabooks, the new models are 20% thinner than previous outings and sport a 45% larger trackpad that supports Windows 8 gestures.
They can be equipped with a full-HD display, a 1TB HDD (or smaller SSD) drive, the latest AC 802.11ac WiFi and optional 4G connectivity.
Ultra tiny
Even slimmer is Lenovo's new ThinkPad X240, a diminutive ultrabook for road warriors that tips the scales at less than three pounds and measures 20.33mm.It comes with a backlit keyboard, to the delight of nocturnal business warriors, and can be interacted with via its 12.5-inch full HD display (with optional touch).
They're joined by the company's new 14-inch ThinkPad S440 and 15-inch ThinkPad S540 offerings aimed at small business users, which also feature Haswell.
They can be equipped with up to 8GB RAM (S440) or 16GB (S540) RAM, feature full HD anti-glare touchscreens and can be boosted with discrete HD 8670M Graphics packing 2GB RAM.
They can also be used with Lenovo's OneLink connector, which allows for a single cable connection to the OneLink Dock, which includes USB 3.0, native video, Gigabit Ehternet while charging the model.
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Xbox One supports eight controllers at once, rubs it in PS4's face
In light of news about the Xbox One not supporting external hard drives from the start and only Day One editions coming packed with FIFA 14, it's nice to have something more positive to get excited about.
Today that comes in the form of confirmation that the console will support up to eight wireless controllers at once, which is double that of the Xbox 360.
This was detailed in the description on the official Xbox One product page. As well as this, each controller will have a 30 foot wireless range meaning those of you who like to distance yourselves from your 98-inch TVs will have nothing to worry about.
Also, you'd probably need a TV that big to play eight player split-screen multiplayer anyway.
Xbox Eight
So unless Microsoft changes its mind about this too the new console is looking like to be a better option for the party gamers. We say this because Sony has just confirmed that the PS4 will only let you connect up to four controllers at a time.This was confirmed via Twitter by Sony Computer Entertainment's President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida.
Well played, Xbox. Now all we need is that release date...
- TechRadar's been playing with the Xbox One - see what we thought in our hands on review
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In Depth: The 5 phones that made Nokia worth buying
It's official — as long as shareholders and regulators approve, Microsoft is buying Nokia's phone and services division for £3.2 billion, taking on the development of its Windows Phone series and giving the company a stronger foothold in the fight against Google and Apple in the mobile marketplace.
While Nokia's star may have waned in recent years (though the latest batch of Lumias have made at least a few sit up and take notice again), this is a company responsible for a galaxy of classic handsets — so we've looked back and picked the devices, past and present, gave Nokia the power and momentum that saw it manage to stagger on through some tricky times, and expertise that Microsoft couldn't resist getting its hands on.
1. Nokia 3310
Cast your mind back to late 2000: Bush and Gore were battling for the keys to the White House, and Nokia replaced its hugely successful 3210 with the 3310, which went on to scale even greater heights.
Not everyone had a mobile phone in the early 2000s, but if you did, chances were it was a 3310 or its immediate predecessor.
It made Snake II the most popular game of the age, came in a variety of colours and all-encompassing cases, let you customise the ringtone and even let you send texts above the 160-character limit.
It was one of the first phones to match the blueprint for any successful handset: powerful, versatile, and a pleasure to use.
2. Nokia N95
This was the most feature-packed feature phone in existence before the iPhone turned up, offering cutting-edge capabilities such as GPS and online mapping, an MP3 player, Wi-Fi and 3G support (something the first iPhone lacked), and a 5 megapixel camera that was ahead of its time (recording both images and video).
It had a big, bright, colourful screen and a slide-out design that meant you could hide away the keypad when you didn't need it – in short, it was everything that the iPhone wasn't and caused throngs of users to fly all over the globe to pick it up.
Sadly, it was also the start of the downward trend for Nokia, as the brand failed to recognise that consumers would become less interested in power, and more about ease of use… but it still remains an iconic phone nonetheless.
3. Nokia 1110
The Nokia 1110 remains the company's best-selling phone of all time. In fact, at 250 million units shifted, it's the best-selling handset in history (unless you want to lump all the editions of the iPhone together), so keep that in mind for your next pub quiz trip.
Like most of the classic Nokias, it was user-friendly and simple to operate, and it helped the company expand worldwide into developing countries that it previously hadn't touched.
You didn't get much besides the basic functions with the 1110, and it ran out of juice after five hours or so, but it remains one of Nokia's most important devices in terms of spreading the company's influence and getting its name recognised across the globe.
4. Nokia N9
The N9 wasn't the most successful mobile phone handset that Nokia ever launched — its chassis was stolen from it in the UK market to be used for the Windows Phone-powered Lumia 800 — but it provided evidence that the company could still innovate and provide fresh ideas of its own given half a chance.
The MeeGo mobile OS appeared just as Nokia switched focus to Windows Phone and actually had a lot going for it (including intelligent multi-tasking, a really slick UI, decent Web browsing and a combined notifications system), and it was all wrapped in a stylish-looking chassis that gave a few nods to where Nokia would be heading next (from the brightly coloured casing to the high-spec Carl Zeiss integrated camera).
We doubt Microsoft is going to ever want to fragment its mobile phones operations at all, but at least is shows that Nokia knew how to make a decent OS, and that's going to be gold dust when it looks to polish Windows Phone.
5. Nokia Lumia 925
Back to the present day, and while Nokia has been caught out by the explosion of iOS and Android devices, the Lumia range — and the Nokia Lumia 925 in particular — shows clear signs that Nokia is ready to fight back.
Impressive build quality, a great camera and a top-notch suite of integrated apps (particularly for managing your contacts and social media accounts) makes it the best Nokia phone of the moment.
The only piece of the puzzle missing is third-party app support, and if Microsoft can solve that problem, then hardware like the Lumia 925 and its successors should give it more than half a chance of making Windows Phone a mainstream mobile operating system.
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Updated: Apple iWatch release date, news and rumours
Wearable tech, we're told, is the next big thing - and if anyone can make a truly desirable wearable device, it's Apple.
Rumours are flying about an Apple Watch, the missing link between the iPhone and Flavor Flav's clock - but which rumours seem most likely? Let's find out what time it is.
The iWatch is a big project
According to Bloomberg, Apple has a team of around 100 designers working on "a wristwatch-like device that may perform some of the tasks now handled by the iPhone and iPad". That's based on conversations with "two people familiar with the company's plans".The team includes people from all parts of Apple: not just iPad and iPhone engineers but software developers, managers and marketers too - plus what seems to be a biometric A-Team that will endow the iWatch with sleep analysis, fingerprint scanners and other health-related sensors.
Sounds like golden-child and knight of the realm Sir Jony Ive is the man leading the project, having ordered in 'boxes' of Nike sports watches some years ago for research purposes. Again, that's according to yet more Bloomberg's inside sources.
Also potentially on-board the good ship iWatch is Bob Mansfield, who was suddenly relocated from VP of Technologies to Apple's "Special Projects" division in July 2013.
Think we're making it all up? Not so much: CEO Tim Cook hinted at the iWatch during an investors' meeting in February 2013. Well, he told investors that "obviously we're looking at new categories" which is the same thing, right?
Unfortunately for iWatch fans Apple could yet scrap the whole thing according to the Financial Times. Trouble in time-telling paradise?
Click below for our iWatch rumours video:
The iWatch release date is unknown and the iWatch price is a mystery
Remember before the iPad launched and everyone thought it'd be $1,000? Oh, how we laugh about that now.Clearly, though, until we have a better idea of what the Apple Watch is and whether Apple is actually going to ship it, nobody has the faintest idea what it'll cost.
Nobody but one anonymous analyst who had a stab at pricing and reckons somewhere between $149 and $229 (£100 to £150 / AU$167 - AU$250) seems likely.
As for a release date, we're a little more clued-in. Some of Bloomberg's sources have opined that we'll see it launch in 2013 for sure, while in June, another analyst claimed that it is becoming "increasingly likely" that Apple will launch the as-yet mythical iWatch in the second half of 2013, based on the readiness of parts suppliers.
Later in the year, the analyst crew became a little less convinced of a 2013 release date, with one claiming in August that the iWatch will land in late 2014.
Apple itself hinted at "exciting new product categories" back in April, with Tim Cook promising "some really great stuff coming in the fall and across all of 2014" - could some of that really great stuff be worn on your wrist?
That's not to say it's set in stone, though: analyst Glen Yeung said, "We suspect the go/no-go decision will be made in June and are leaning toward a 'go' outcome at this time."
The iWatch has curved Gorilla Glass
"Apple is experimenting with wristwatch-like devices made of curved glass," says the NYT's Nick Bilton, quoting "people familiar with the company's explorations". The glass "can curve around the human body" and may be Corning's just-announced Willow Glass, which "can flop as easily as a piece of paper in the wind without breaking."Adding credence to this particular supposition is the fact that Apple has patented a '90s slap-band style form factor which would require such a flexible display. Apple's patented plenty of tech that never sees the literal light of day - we can't help but hope this isn't one of those.
The iWatch will go big on fitness
Quite aside from the fact that Apple 'ordered in boxes of Nike Fuelbands' and its CEO Tim Cook sits on the Nike board, there's the fact that Apple's been on a fitness-fueled hiring spree.There's fitness expert and Nike consultant Jay Blahnik, who as good as confirmed his new full time position at Apple on Twitter before deleting his entire account (wethinks the gentleman doth protest too much).
Then there's the raft of sleep analysis experts, the experts who hold "several patents for integrating mobile devices with fitness equipment" and biometric scienticians to boot.
The iWatch has Bluetooth and a 1.5-inch display
That's what Chinese gadget site Tech.163 reckons, anyway, although that might be one of many prototypes. Bluetooth is essential, though: if the iWatch is going to communicate with your phone or iPod, low energy Bluetooth is the way to do it.A 1.5-inch screen suggests it'll show selected information from your iOS device rather than mirror the whole display, which would be rubbish.
The iWatch probably won't look like a G-Shock or an Omega Seamaster
The Guardian took a look at various iWatch mock-ups and poured scorn on most: multiple buttons on an Apple device? Really? Technology editor Charles Arthur also makes a good point: "an iWatch has to appeal to both sexes", and something that looks OK on enormous man paws will look ridiculous on little lady hands.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, we've put our own concept design together based on rumours and speculation so far. It's classier than a G-Shock, we think you'll agree.
The iWatch may have Siri and Maps
Nick Bilton again: "Would it include Siri, the voice assistant? Would it have a version of Apple's map software, offering real-time directions to people walking down the street? Could it receive text messages? Could it monitor a user's health or daily activity?"Some of Bilton's questions have since been reported as fact by more excitable outlets, but the idea of having Siri makes sense, not least because you could pretend to be a sci-fi secret agent.
If Siri is on board, it may be because the iWatch is running a form of actual iOS rather than a souped-up iPod nano software system - thus supposes Bloomberg again, with 'confirmation' provided by The Verge's inside sources.
It's definitely real, because the WSJ knows about it
When Apple leaks, those leaks tend to end up in the Wall Street Journal - and look! The WSJ has been talking to "people briefed on the effort"! They say that Apple "is experimenting with watch-like designs" and has "discussed such a device with its major manufacturing partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co", although the "capabilities that Apple is exploring for wearable devices remain unclear."Meanwhile, an analyst over at Sanford C. Bernstein reckons that Apple would be mad not to make an iWatch because it could make a packed even if hardly any iPhone users buy one.
By Toni Sacconaghi's reckoning, if 3 per cent of iPhone customers buy an iWatch, Apple's looking at $2.3 billion (£1.5bn / AU$2.2bn) a year in sales, based on a device that costs about $250 (£165 / AU$240) to buy.
If 5 to 8 per cent of iPhone users shell out, then the figures could be as high as $5.7 billion (£3.7bn / AU$5.4bn) in a year. Not too shabby.
Stretching the limits of rational thought, an Apple board member told employees at a software firm that technology is getting ever-more "intimate" and mentioned "glasses or watches" which the world promptly took to mean that Apple is making an iWatch.
An Apple Watch will face serious competition
The wearable watch market could be the next big tech battleground as perennial Apple nemesis Samsung has already confirmed that it has a smart watch in the works.The name of Samsung's watch may have been revealed as well, through a recent trademark filing. If the trademark is to be believed then the Samsung watch will be called Samsung Gear. Some believe that the Samsung Gear will make its debut at IFA 2013 - way ahead of the Apple game, given that we're not expecting the iWatch until 2014 at the earliest.
Other tech heavyweights are rumoured to be getting in on the timekeeping game too; the Apple watch may have to fight off competition from Google, which filed a smart watch patent last year and was 'confirmed' to be working on a timepiece by the good folk over at the Financial Times.
Could that Google smartwatch actually be a Motorola smartwatch? Or not - Google bought smartwatch-maker WIMM Labs in August which may take the lead on a Google watch instead.
Also leaping aboard the largely-imaginary bandwagon is LG. Despite launching a disappointing phone-watch thing back in 2009, LG isn't being deterred and finally has an Apple watch baiting rumour of its own thanks to the Korea Times.
And, of course, anything Samsung and LG can do, Sony can do too - the Japanese tech giant has an experimental project called Open Smartwatch in the works, putting the onus on developers to create jazzy new firmware for its existing Smartwatch device.
On June 25, Sony unveiled its newest smartwatch: the Sony SmartWatch 2, which is a water-resistant, NFC-toting Android phone companion.
And it's not just smart watches that will give the iWatch a run for its money - other wearable tech like Google Glass swims in the same pool. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is backing Apple's watch over the glasses in the short-term, but who's to say which will win out overall.
Last but not least, even long-standing watch-maker Casio piped up to say that it's ready to take on the likes of Apple and Samsung in the great battle for your wrist.
We've taken an in-depth look at the competition between the two types of sartorial gadget too, and conclude that the Apple Watch has the edge solely because it'll hit the mainstream (and mainstream price points) first.
The iWatch won't do everything an iPhone or iPod does
Bluetooth means it doesn't need to, so the Apple Watch is more likely to work like a Pebble Smartwatch. Our very own Craig Grannell demonstrates the problem of getting full iPhone functionality into a wristwatch here.
The iWatch features could include authentication, NFC, home automation and flying cars
Bruce Tognazzini makes it clear his ideas are "not based on insider information" but they include predicting the weather, organising your life, monitoring every step you take, replacing cash, making Passbook work really well and even fixing Apple Maps. We were with you right up till that last one, Bruce.He makes a good point about the iWatch release date too: "Apple, when you look back, is never actually the first. They let a few others, sometimes many others, experiment first. (Tablets were out for more than a decade.) Then, they bring out the killer product."
In March it emerged that the Apple Watch may come packing fingerprint scanning tech for NFC-based security reasons, although this news comes from an analyst who heard it from a supplier who had it from a leprechaun who came to him in a dream.
Still, it's pretty certain that Apple is working on some kind of fingerprint sensor for iOS after a suspicious job posting surfaced in early April. When it comes to the Apple Watch, anything is possible.
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Blip: Man lives the dream, buys a promoted Tweet to complain about lost luggage
British Airways will rue the day it ever lost Hasan Syed's luggage.
He was so hacked off that he bought a promoted tweet to warn British Airway's Twitter followers not to fly BA because "their customer service is horrendous".
That's right, take the power back.
More blips!
Blips would never lose your luggage.
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Updated: iTunes Radio release date, news and features
Apple's foray into the music streaming arena has been a long time coming and today it finally launched iTunes Radio at its WWDC 2013 keynote.
But with the software not set to launch in the US until fall and the rest of the world soon after, will it be too little too late for the tech giant to take on the already bedded in likes of Spotify, Pandora and Rdio?
We take a look at what Apple's iTunes Radio streaming service has going for it:
iRadio by any other name
Happily, Apple rejected the name 'iRadio' that had been bandied about by the internet for so many months before the WWDC unveil.There were so many reasons why Apple should have shunned the name iRadio. For starters, it's ugly and inelegant and those are two qualities Apple does not go for.
Secondly, multiple trademarks already exist on the name iRadio - there's a music service in Ireland, for example, and an old four-star Wi-Fi radio bearing the name.
Thirdly, the word 'radio' smacks of old tech - and with Apple reportedly ditching skeumorphism in its iOS 7 update, we thought it might do away with such out-dated premises in its music streaming service - obviously a swing and a miss on that one.
Finally, iRadio is a name that the media collectively coined for ease of referring to whatever it is Apple has up its sleeve - and we know from the 'new iPad' debacle that Apple won't be led by the media when it comes to naming conventions.
There's a free, iAd-funded version
Just as an advertising trade mag reported, Apple is looking to use its iAds platform to deliver targeted audio ads to non-premium iTunes iRadio users.The same trade rag revealed in August that the iTunes Radio service will force ads on you from all angles: audio, video and full-screen display ads.
The audio segments will run every 15 minutes, Ad Age says, while video ads hit every hour (but only when you're looking at the screen).
All iTunes users will be able to access iTunes iRadio for free but if you want to ditch the ads, then you'll have to subscribe to iTunes Match.
You can buy music
Of course, Apple's streaming product ties in with iTunes, giving users a barrier-free way to buy songs they've streamed. The 'buy' button prevails on all songs played through iTunes Radio.One patent points to the possibility that you'll even be able to load up credit and buy cached songs without even having an internet connection - no official word on that from Apple yet, though.
The iRadio release date is later this year...
Although Apple to unveiled the service to devs at WWDC 2013, it won't launch to consumers until 'fall' which is when we'll also see iOS 7 hit our iPhones.Ad Age, the main source of iTunes Radio chat in the intervening months, says it will hit in September - a theory backed up by word that Apple began training AppleCare staff on the service in August.
...but only in the US
But that fall release date (or autumn, if you prefer) only applies to those in the US - the rest of the world is still awaiting a vague release date which will follow the American launch.What did we see in our technological crystal ball ahead of the iTunes Radio reveal? Check out the rumours below:
Music labels are on board
This is all speculation, of course, but several separate sources have claimed that the big three record labels - Sony, Universal and Warner - have all signed on to Apple's upcoming streaming service.After literally years of negotiations (depending on who you believe), Universal was supposedly the first to crack, with Warner not far behind. Sony was a tougher nut to crack, however - perhaps mindful of its own streaming ambitions - but got on board at the eleventh hour.
Details of the deals are pretty much non-existent at this point, although an aging rumour suggests that Apple is looking to pay out more to rights holders than its major US rival Pandora.
It's kind of delayed
Apple is lagging well behind the competition in the music streaming arena. It's been five years since Spotify took streaming main(ahem)stream and although Apple's managed to retire Ping and bust out iTunes Match in that time, it hasn't really made it into streaming.That's despite rumours of the service circling for at least a year - the reasons for the hold up are supposedly down to rights holders trying to hardball for a better deal, rather than any technological issues. But worth remembering that this is all speculation and you can't believe everything you read.
Meanwhile, arch-nemesis Google has managed to get in on the action - something that will have the folk over at Cupertino really het up.
Genius is iRadio's not-so-secret secret weapon
Genius, which runs in the background of your iTunes account working out what you're into so it can offer relevant recommendations, is what could set iRadio apart from Spotify and Pandora, which rely far more heavily on social integration and third-party apps to help you find new music to stream and (hopefully, eventually) buy.For a roundup of the biggest WWDC 2013 keynote highlights, check out the video below:
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In Depth: Ultra HD unveiled: Behind the scenes of the UK's first 4K live trial
The problem with a lot of the latest television technology is that, at its heart, it doesn't actually make watching television better.
Something like 3D is fun enough but would you choose to watch the finale of Breaking Bad or the World Cup final in that format? Smart functionality is nice but doesn't really enhance the actual content significantly.
If we're being entirely honest, the most significant improvement in televisions of late has been the arrival of HD, which is why - even at this early stage - we're entirely prepared to be excited about 4K.
4K or Ultra HD, for the uninitiated, is what HD dreams of being when it grows up. With a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 it offers up four times as many pixels as Full HD 1080p.
That means four times the clarity of a 1080p picture, bringing a clearer, more vibrant picture that becomes significantly closer to looking real.
So we jumped at the chance when Sky invited TechRadar to its Osterley headquarters to watch an important test broadcast of 4K. We've seen plenty of 4K picture tests in the past, and we've even taken a look at some sport from the BBC filmed in Ultra HD.
But Sky were testing 4K using their existing infrastructure, not the boxes you have in your home, but the system that underpins their satellite broadcast platform. And that gave us unprecedented access to how 4K live broadcasts are actually going to look and feel.
And what better way to offer up a true test of Sky's service than to showcase a live Premier League match?
The company is at pains to point out that these tests do not necessarily mean that we will see Sky Sports Ultra HD any time soon, but it's clear that the company is taking this next evolution of television incredibly seriously.
The match chosen was West Ham's match against Stoke City at the Boleyn Ground (Upton Park to the majority of us). TechRadar was the only publication outside of Sky to be watching the broadcast on an 85-inch Sony 4K television worth a little more than a family car, with filming done on four Sony 4K cameras (and an upscaling 1080p camera as part of the test).
Tony Mills directed the game for UHD - and he knows a bit about using new technology to show off football having been in charge of Sky's first ever Premier League match, the first broadcast in HD and the first 3D one to, ahem, boot.
What is truly remarkable about the entire broadcast is just how close it feels to readiness. With the early 3D tests and trials there were huge problems on show, but the extra resolution being offered up by 4K seems far less prone to pitfalls and issues.
The picture was being sent through the system as four 1080p pictures which are stitched together then routed through, what for now is, proprietary Sony kit and into the television using an as-yet unratified HDMI version to the television.
Given that Sky's current HD service is 1080i, that means each quarter of the picture is using twice the bandwidth of a typical broadcast, making it, in total, 8 times more data being transferred to populate more than 8.2 million pixels that make up the television.
What does that mean in terms of viewing experience? Well, the tech demos that we have seen to date at various shows have been polished for the audience, graded and checked for problems before we have had a chance to check them out.
Sky's live pictures are obviously live, raw and therefore we fully expected to be a little disappointed.
Delightfully, we were wrong - even though lessons are still being learned, the clarity of the pictures is phenomenal. If anything the impact of moving from HD to Ultra HD is even more staggering than the transition from SD to HD, it's that good.
A great example was handily provided by the sprinkler system in the pre-match sunshine; the hazy partial rainbow that appeared on the UHD screen was nowhere to be seen in HD. It would be wrong to suggest that 4K pictures are just like being sat there, but at times it is easy to kid yourself you are looking through a window.
Every crowd shot, even from a distance, does not seem to diminish the details of people's faces, with sometimes amusing consequences you can lip read what the fans behind the managers are saying. You can see every nervous tic and irritated glance coming from the dugout, and these are just the incidentals to what is going on on the pitch.
Given the limited number of cameras (to put it in context the four UHD rigs and the supplementary 1080p camera being upscaled fall some way short of the incredible 24 cameras that were pitchside at Anfield the day afterwards for Liverpool v Manchester United) Jermaine Pennant's late winner from a free-kick, did not have enough angles to do it full justice, but the wide shot was perfect to see just how much quality it took to bend the ball past the wall.
Essentially, the Ultra HD seemed to allow the director to tell more of the story. By necessity and choice a lot less tight shots of players from the shoulders up were shown, but the replacements gave you more of the context of the player without losing the effect of seeing their face.
There are still issues that Sky (and the whole industry) needs to work through; the 50 frames per second that the company feels is appropriate for live sport is short of what the film industry has suggested, just one of several standards based discussions that need to happen and the broadcast quality kit is rarer than hen's teeth. In fact Sony have lent Sky huge amounts of the kit necessary to do these trials - including the four 4K cameras used at Upton Park.
In terms of what we saw, dealing with shadows on the pitch caused issues - although even the 90 minutes of test saw vast improvements, and finding the right focus was occasionally problematic.
Chris Johns, Sky's Chief Engineer and a man overseeing the test with all the pride of a new father, explained to us that Sky's enthusiasm for the product was huge but that the nascent Ultra HD market simply needs to catch up before any broadcaster on the planet can consider launching a 4K channel.
Which given TechRadar's experience is a real shame, because the lack of 4K content is going to be a key factor in holding up the television sales that will fuel the move to mainstream.
But most of all, it's a shame that the mass market is not getting the chance to see just how powerful 4K Ultra HD pictures are compared to what they are used to.
Even with bigger screens you can sit much closer because of the greater pixel density so you can be even more drawn into the action, the level of detail brings the picture to life in a way that's difficult to do justice to and the sharpness of the colours make the whole thing a pleasure to behold.
Sky simply cannot put a timescale on when we will see a Sky Ultra HD channel, there are too many factors outside of its control, but the excitement from the broadcaster at the prospect of 4K pictures is infectious.
The upshot of the demo is that Sky, and therefore other broadcasters worldwide are already capable of making first class live 4K content. And that should make us all more confident that Ultra HD is arriving fast.
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Microsoft cans Masters certification and training programmes
Microsoft is to end its three top-level Masters Certification programmes on October 1, the company has revealed in an email sent to IT professionals.
The exams Microsoft will "retire" are: Microsoft Certified Master (MCM), Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM), and Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA).
In the full explanation posted on Microsoft's TechNet blog, the company confirmed that the certifications will still be recognised and valid, and those that hold them will not have to retake them in the future.
But the decision has sparked fury among IT professionals who have spent years studying for the programmes, and petitions have been set up on Microsoft's Connect website protesting over its financial implications.
Changing industry
Though the Redmond giant held back from giving a concrete explanation for the cancellation, it said: "The IT industry is changing rapidly and we will continue to evaluate the certification and training needs of the industry to determine if there's a different certification needed for the pinnacle of our programme."It also encouraged those connected through the certification programms to remain in contact, adding: "Although we won't be adding more people to this community, you continue to be a valued member of it.
"Over time, Microsoft plans to transition the distribution lists to the community, and, with your consent, will include your information so that it can continue to be a valuable resource for your ongoing technical discussions."
The announcement comes just weeks after Microsoft last angered IT professionals by announcing the closure of its TechNet software evaluation programme before ushering people toward its comparitively more expensive MSDN subscriptions.
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