Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Mashable – Google announced the availability of two Chromebooks — laptops based on Google’s Chrome OS — at the Google I/O conference Wednesday, but the hardware specifications of those machines are almost completely irrelevant.
According to Google, what makes these laptops interesting is not what they have, it’s what they lack: programs, messy desktops or locally stored documents. A Chromebook is not really a laptop, and it’s not really a computer, Google claims. It’s the web in a “computer-like object” and if you believe Google, “you can do everything on the web.”
Read More: Google Explains Life After the Desktop [VIDEO]
(Mashable)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
AP – Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s largest maker of computer networking gear, said Wednesday that it’s set to eliminate thousands of jobs as part of cost-cutting moves to get profits growing again.
Read More: Cisco to cut costs and jobs as profits stall
(AP)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Yahoo! News – It’s Android week here at Tecca, in honor of Google’s annual I/O developer conference. For those of you Android fans out there, we hope you caught yesterday’s tip on how to save battery life with selective syncing. Today we’re going …
Read More: Video: How to get a refund for paid apps in Android
(Yahoo! News)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
PC World – Google spent much of the second day of the Google I/O event focused on the Chrome OS and the unveiling the upcoming Chromebook computers. The Web-centric netbooks are an ambitious attempt to fundamentally change the way people compute, and could possibly replace your traditional laptop…if you let it.
Read More: Will the Google Chromebook Replace Your Laptop?
(PC World)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
AFP – Yahoo! stock sank on news that Alibaba has spun its online payment business out of reach of the US Internet pioneer, which owns a large stake in China’s leading online search service.
Read More: Yahoo! shares drop as Alibaba service spins off
(AFP)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Investor’s Business Daily – Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – News) will likely be the first PC maker to switch from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC – News) processors to chips designed by ARM Holdings (NASDAQ:ARMH – News), Barclays Capital said in a note to investors. “Those (ARM’s) chips might cut processor cost by a third, which would save $25 per PC, 5% of the total cost of the machine,” Barclays said. While Apple uses Intel in its Macs, its iPhone and iPad software is seen as compatible with ARM chips.
Read More: Switch to ARM may make cents
(Investor's Business Daily)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Digital Trends – The folks at Twitter have been hard at work developing a new interface for mobile browsers â and today the San Francisco company began to roll it out.
Read More: Twitter releases new mobile web app
(Digital Trends)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
AFP – The commercial value of pirated software increased 14 percent last year to nearly $59 billion, with emerging economies accounting for over half the total, according to a study published Thursday.
Read More: Value of pirated software nearly $59 billion: study
(AFP)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Yahoo! News – Depth of field refers to the area of an image before and beyond the actual focus point that appears acceptably sharp. We’ve discussed it a little as it relates to aperture, but there’s a bit more to the story than …
Read More: Photography Tips: What is depth of field?
(Yahoo! News)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
NewsFactor – Microsoft on Tuesday issued two security bulletins to fix three vulnerabilities. Microsoft only rated one critical, but security experts said there are serious issues at hand — especially with the WINS vulnerability.
Read More: WINS Patch Is Especially Important for Server 2003
(NewsFactor)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Mashable – [More from Mashable: Angry Birds Rio a Big Hit: 10 Million Downloads in 10 Days]
Read More: New Angry Birds Rio Episode Coming, Trailer Released [VIDEO]
(Mashable)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Appolicious – What it comes down to is the difference between what is being done, and what people say will be done in the future. Enter iOS and Android. Yesterday at Google I/O there was a lot of talk about the future of the Android devices, the new functionality of the OS, and even some discussion on the fact that only 4 percent of their users are running their new OS that has been out for five months and what they plan to do about it in the future. (I particularly enjoyed the “movie rentals are available today!” part.)
Read More: Android at Google I/O and what it means for iPhone
(Appolicious)
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Read More: FCC Commissioner to Join Comcast – Daily Beast
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
The world’s worst purveyors of spam for the first quarter of 2011 have been released, with Asia now at the top of the spam pops piping out 35.1 per cent of the planet’s junk email.
Europe is close behind with 32 per cent, but this figure has meant that it has dropped from the top spot. In third place is North America with just 17.3 per cent.
When you drill into the figures and look at actual countries, the USA is the worst for relaying spam, making up 13.7 per cent of the world’s spam.
The UK is in sixth place, but we only manage 3.2 per cent of total spam.
Spam kings
Interestingly, Sophos, which conducted the research, found that although the rise of mobile platforms and social networking has given spammers a wider remit, overall spam levels have decreased.
“While spam continues to make money for the spammers, it will continue to be a global problem,” said Graham Cluley from Sophos.
“Too many computer users are risking a malware infection that sees their computer recruited into a spam botnet. To combat the spammers, it’s not only essential for computer users to run up-to-date security software, they must also resist the urge to purchase products advertised by spam.”
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
The HTC Wildfire arrived in mid-2010, when the world was still reeling from the impact of the sensational HTC Desire.
And the Wildfire was almost as popular, coupling HTC’s fantastic Sense user interface with a smaller, solid and capable little body – it was a lot of people’s first, affordable smartphone.
But things are a little different in 2011. The dual-core “superphones” have arrived, which means something with a lowly 600MHz processor is going to have to win fans via features and price rather than power.
The HTC Wildfire S isn’t exactly a cheap phone, either. Currently on sale for around £220 through the SIM-free retailers, there are now plenty of extremely capable Android-powered phones out there for less money – such as the Samsung Galaxy Ace or LG Optimus One.
It’s going to be a bloody fight, this.
Design
HTC has refreshed the design substantially, giving the Wildfire S the same workmanlike black and chrome look as seen in the excellent HTC Desire S.
There are no physical buttons on the front of the phone, with HTC opting for four capacitive touch-buttons. These are your standard Android Home, Menu, Back and Search options. They’re responsive, plus HTC has put in a little vibration feedback to reassure your brain that your finger did indeed just hit the right spot.
HTC has removed the optical trackpad, which has allowed it to make the Widlfire S a little shorter than last year’s model. It’s a very tiny phone and also manages to be lighter – 105g versus the original’s 118g.
The 3.2-inch screen runs at 320×480 resolution, so obviously isn’t going to be as sharp as displays found on more expensive phones. But it is pleasingly solid, nice and glassy and responsive to even the lightest of touches.
Given that the old HTC Wildfire had a screen outputting at a shameful 240×320, this is still a big step up. It’s not particularly sharp, mind – there’s a noticeable mesh over everything if you look closely.
Feel
Round the back is your classic HTC moulded rubber cover, which is grippy and feels pretty solid. There’s also the 5MP camera lens and, thankfully, an LED flash.
There’s a proximity sensor in the front case, allowing the Wildfire S to dim the screen when you press it to your ear. But there’s no front-facing camera here.
It’s a chunky, well-made little phone that feels very nice in the hand and impressively solid. But is it any good when you turn it on?
HTC Wildfire S review: Interface
You get Android 2.3 on the Wildfire S, with HTC’s latest version of its Sense UI over the top. We like a bit of HTC Sense – it’s a very comprehensive re-skin, and one that adds huge amounts of extra functionality to Google’s popular mobile OS.
The lock screen is in the standard HTC style – swipe down to access the Home screens. Once there you have a choice of seven workspaces to flip through, each holding a selection of app shortcuts, widgets and folders.
The standard pull-down Android Notifications window has been upgraded by HTC, now coming with a scrolling list of recently opened apps, plus a quick settings tab for toggling Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and more on or off.
The Wildfire S does a pretty good job of keeping everything running smoothly. Some of the more complex apps, such as social network aggregator Friend Stream, can slow the scrolling down a little, but it’s generally a solid experience.
Friend Stream lets you pull in status updates from Twitter, Flickr and Facebook, presenting everything in one unified timeline. You can scroll up and down within this app, so it’s all there right in front of you on a Home screen.
It can get a little messy, though. Web links in status updates very kindly open up the website in question, only your view of the page is restricted by having the original tweet at the top and a retweet bar at the bottom – leaving only a minuscule gap for the actual web content between.
While HTC’s widgets offer great functionality, their white-on-black style is beginning to look a little dated.
HTC has also provided Home screen widgets that create an icon-based list of Contacts you’ve added to your Favourites, a music player, its famous weather widget and one that streams in your latest text messages. It’s all very user-friendly, and no doubt geared towards those who don’t do a lot of tinkering.
If you do like playing about, HTC’s Sense interface has a lot beneath the bonnet. Home screens can be shuffled about, with a two-fingered pinch of the screen bringing up an overview of your workspace and long-pressing on a screen icon enabling you to change the order in which it appears.
Enthusiasts will also enjoy HTC’s many customisation options. The right-hand button on the curved dock brings up the Personalisation menu, from where users can change scene – a way to create and save Home screen setups – or select entire new skins for the phone’s screens and menus.
It’s not just visual enhancements, either. Collections of Sound sets can be downloaded via this menu and the HTC Hub it links to, if you need a new collection of tones and alarms.
Back in the apps menu, HTC has again given us more options than are usually found in Android devices. Apps can be sorted alphabetically or by date, plus there are separate tabs for frequently used tools and those you’ve downloaded yourself.
One of the many tiny changes made to this latest version of HTC Sense is the scrolling of the app listing. It now flips down one whole screen at a time, so it’s easy to keep your place if you have a heap of things loaded onto the phone.
Android 2.3 is a great, polished operating system. HTC Sense makes it a little better.
Clicking the Phone button that permanently sits at the bottom of the Wildfire S’ screen brings up the dialler, which sits atop your complete list of contacts.
There’s a nice little toggle in the bottom-right of the screen, which lets users quickly sort the entire contacts section, choosing not to display people the phone has sucked in through Twitter or Facebook. This is very useful for temporarily hiding people who don’t have phone numbers.
Editing individual contact pages presents hours of fun. You can allocate different ringtones to different people, block callers and even specify a default action when clicking on the name. For example, having it so that pressing on a contact opens up a new email to that person rather than accidentally phoning them.
The widget even puts an appropriate icon on their profile image, so you know what the default action is – or if there’s not one already allocated, it’ll ask you to set one the first time you press it.
Contacts can be linked, too, so if there’s someone in your SIM list you’ve known for 20 years who has only just got around to signing up for a Twitter account, you can press the little chain link on a person’s page and link their boring SIM contact to their exciting new online pseudonym.
The Facebook integration is as good as ever – things like people’s statuses popping up when you phone them and a little alert to tell you it’s their birthday are brilliant.
The Android dialler offers many options for human-to-human voice chatting, even letting users put people on hold. For fun. The phone’s mobile network connection was good, and voice quality when making calls was also perfectly respectable.
Text messaging within the Wildfire S is pretty simple. You get a text interface with an attachment menu, allowing users to send pictures, video, text-based app recommendations, contact details in vCard format and even vCalendar appointments.
HTC’s email app supports multiple POP3/IMAP accounts and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, with the app managing to successfully set up our BT and Hotmail accounts using only the username and password. Emails all arrive into one inbox, with messages colour coded for different email accounts.
HTC’s email presentation isn’t very exciting, but it does the job. You’re able to copy text out of the body of emails, which is useful, or send highlighted chunks of text – selected by long-pressing on a text area – via Android’s sharing menu.
It’s therefore very straightforward to highlight a sentence from an email and send it directly to Twitter, if that’s how you spend your working days.
The keyboard is HTC’s take on the standard Android QWERTY. It’s quite sensitive and responds to touches without lag, plus it can be set to predict words or not.
It does a decent job, plus it’s nice having alternate characters on each key – accessed by a long-press – so you don’t have to flip to a second screen when adding apostrophes, question marks and the like to messages.
If you’re feeling brave, it’s also possible to activate voice input. It manages single words like “hello” without too much fuss if you talk like Rex Harrison, but try a sentence of a few words and it struggles to separate them. It takes time to process your words, and correcting errors is more trouble than it’s worth, so we’ll stick with the keyboard.
The 600MHz processor in the HTC Wildfire S just about works for regular web use, although scrolling through more complex sites can be a bit of a slow process.
HTC has updated the tab system, with a pinch of the screen zooming out your view and popping up a scrollable list of all your open browser windows. This is a fantastic addition to the Android web browser.
Sadly there’s no Flash Player support in here, due to the speed of the processor, so you can forget about BBC’s iPlayer site or app working. That’s a fairly large problem when it comes to selling a mass-market phone aimed at the casual buyer.
General page browsing is surprisingly good, given the rather low-spec 600Mhz processor inside. Scrolling while the pages are loading can get a little messy, but once everything’s arrived it’s easy to pinch-zoom your way around.
Page text reflows nicely if you double-tap the screen, again helping users to navigate big pages with the minimum of fuss, and the letters will still jumble around to fit even if you zoom in a little more with multi-touch pinching.
If a site has a visible RSS feed, the RSS icon appears beside the URL bar. Pressing this prompts users to add the subscription, which pops up in HTC’s custom News app. This app also syncs with your Google account, so will pull in any feeds you’ve previously added to the Google Reader desktop tool.
The low resolution (by today’s standards) screen means text is never particularly sharp unless you zoom in, but it’s readable and does the job as a mobile web machine.
The HTC Wildfire S comes with a 5MP camera, powered by an almost identical menu system to that used in the larger and more powerful HTC Desire S.
The only difference here is the lack of a couple of the fancier image filter options that featured on the Desire S, such as the vignette and hipster-style retro filters. All you get on the Wildfire S are:
A sepia filter
A black and white effect
The usual pointless negative
And a posterize option for creating your own Andy Warhol prints. There are also aqua (blue tint over everything) and solarize (negative only messier) to play with.
The image preview comes with an icon to instantly set the photo you’ve just taken as an icon to represent one of your contacts, which is handy. It’s all very ‘joined up’.
Photos taken at the highest resolution of 2592×1728 look nice in good light, although areas with high detail, such as grass and trees, tend to end up looking a little smudgy when viewed at full size.
FLASH: The flash is a highlight, making indoor, low-light photos look great
DARK: Without the flash, low-light photos emerge looking very grainy indeed
It’s your standard, slightly disappointing HTC camera, basically. Great for outdoors landscapes, but not so hot if you go to places that aren’t substantially illuminated by a large, nearby star.
Video quality is one of the bigger compromises on the HTC Wildfire S. The maximum resolution here is 640×480, so there are definitely no HD ambitions on display. This is a bit of a shame, as 720p recording was on the spec sheet when the phone was revealed at Mobile World Congress earlier this year. But it’s not in the finished phone.
You are, however, able to zoom in when recording clips, although be prepared to wait a while – this is a very, very laggy and jerky process.
The sensor also chugs noticeably when moving from light areas to dark, meaning it’s possible to watch the phone reduce or increase brightness step by step. Couple this with the clunky zoom and it gets very messy indeed.
Back on the positive side of things, the LED light can be set to be permanently on for illuminating dark scenes, plus you have manual control of white balance.
The frame rate stays pretty solid, and the picture isn’t as blotchy as that found on some lower-spec smartphones. It’s perfectly usable, but the HTC Wildfire S remains one of the poorer-performing Android phones out there when it comes to video recording.
The technical specs of the HTC Wildfire S state the phone is able to play 3GP, 3G2, MP4 and WMV video files, with audio support for AAC, AMR, OGG, M4A, MOD, MP3, WAV and WMA music files.
In reality, this means most mainstream, paid-for video downloads will play, but there’s no joy for those of you hoping to play any of the more popular AVI or MKV video formats.
The Android video player is always something of a disappointment, offering nothing more than the option to play/pause, skip through the clip and toggle between a zoomed-in full-screen view and a bordered original scale.
The music player is rather standard too, letting you sort tracks on SD card by artist, album, playlist or a massive list of everything. There are no affiliated shopping systems on here, so if you want to buy music directly through the phone, you’ll need a standalone app.
HTC supplies a full-page app for playing music, although there’s not much use in it. It plays and pauses and lets you skip tracks, but that’s all. Pressing the album art opens up the main player. There are no lock screen audio controls, either.
Of course, being a Google-powered phone means you get the official YouTube app on here. The HTC Wildfire S handles this with ease, even supporting direct uploads of your own video recordings from within the player.
HTC has also stuck in an FM radio, which comes with plenty of customisable presets. It’s possible to route the sound through the speaker, although it still requires the headphones to be plugged in to act as an antenna.
Sound quality through the onboard speaker is good, lacking bass as ever, but sharp enough. HTC’s headphones are simple in-ear bud things, with one button – Play and pause – on the cord. They do a good job.
There’s not much in the way of onboard storage space for downloaded applications, sadly. Just installing a few essentials took us up to 60MB of used memory, with only another 90MB free. If you plan on playing some of the bigger games, memory space is going to be an issue with the Wildfire S, no doubt about it.
The HTC Wildfire S comes with a 1230mAh battery, the same as in 2010′s original Wildfire. We found it lasted very well indeed, thanks to the small (by today’s standards) screen and the efficient Android 2.3 OS.
HTC states that GSM talktime is 430 minutes. We got two and a half days off one charge, with moderate web use and email/data sync options left at their default settings, which is certainly better than you get out of the ‘superphones’ with their enormous screens. So if longevity is a concern, that’s one area where the Wildfire S beats most other Android phones by a mile.
Connectivity
Wireless hotspot functionality is in, with the Wildfire S able to turn itself into a fully functional 3G modem for hooking a laptop into. You don’t have to do it wirelessly, either – a USB cable from a laptop to the phone is enough to enable you to tether it to your mobile data connection.
Wi-Fi connectivity supports 802.11b/g/n, and we found it great at maintaining a connection to our home network. Bluetooth supports version 2.1 along with A2DP for wireless stereo headphones.
Being an Android phone means you get the finest free sat nav tool in existence bundled in with your phone – Google Maps.
The Wildfire S is exceptionally quick to connect to a GPS satellite, taking only a few seconds to get a location. Once it knows where you are, the Navigation tool is a fully-featured sat nav, complete with voice directions.
Obviously you get the official Gmail app along with Google’s Latitude and Places toys, plus HTC has put on a couple of competing choices of its own.
Apps
HTC Likes is the company’s own app recommendation engine, which features a selection of apps pulled from the Android Market, with votes generated from HTC users.
It’s a rather unnecessary duplication of the Android Market that’s surely going to end up simply confusing people – especially as following the “install” option takes you to the Android Market.
You also have access to more widgets via the HTC Hub, which includes many less thrilling HTC Sense tools. One we like very much is the Bookmark Widget, which adds a list of your bookmarks to the Home screen for easy launching of sites.
HTC has fiddled with the Android Market page for this phone. The usual My Apps tab has been replaced by an HTC icon, which takes you to an off-putting and seemingly random collection of paid-for apps that, presumably, someone somewhere has paid HTC to try to sell to its users.
The My Apps tab is now hidden behind the Menu button, making it slightly less convenient to access and manage your software.
That said, the Android Market itself has improved massively in the year since the first HTC Wildfire launched. Android users can now install apps via the web, and there’s a huge amount of free and paid content out there.
But can it play Angry Birds?
Yes, just about. It’s usually quite smooth, although as the levels increase in complexity so the number of jerky moments does too. If the only reason you want a new telephone is to play Angry Birds, don’t get the Wildfire S.
The HTC Wildfire S is a solid, charming little phone, ideal for those making their first steps into the smartphone world. Experienced Android users won’t be impressed by its average web performance and lack of gaming power, but those who don’t mind the odd glitch will love its staggering collection of social features.
We liked
The physical form of the phone itself is good. It feels well made, HTC’s rubberised back is nice in the hand and the screen feels solid. The capacitive menu buttons are very responsive too.
The updated HTC Sense 2.1 UI is another fantastic effort from HTC. Some of its widgets are a little bland-looking, but the functionality you get from having both Android 2.3 and HTC Sense is peerless.
HTC’s contacts system is immensely impressive. A variety of Home screen widgets and easy customisation make it simple to invent your own one-click messaging powerhouse.
We disliked
Being limited to 640×480 video recording is a little disappointing, especially when many other smartphones with similar 5MP cameras manage 720p video capture with no trouble.
Also, the phone struggles to actually record. The digital zoom, while nice to have on occasion, is rendered useless by the lag.
The 600MHz processor does struggle to keep things running smoothly elsewhere, especially when using the web and gaming. Angry Birds is a bit jerky, which is an enormous crime in this day and age.
Verdict
The HTC Wildfire S is a solid and well-featured phone, no doubt about that, but the poor little thing struggles to render some web pages and isn’t exactly future-proof in this fast-moving mobile world.
Yes, you get Android 2.3 and all the many joys of HTC Sense, but without Flash Player support and with a processor that would’ve been considered slow in 2010, it’s hard to find a place in 2011′s vibrant, multicultural smartphone scene for the HTC Wildfire S.
For only a few quid more – about an extra £3 per month on monthly tariffs – you could get the vastly more impressive HTC Desire S instead, which features much the same software running on significantly more capable hardware.
Or for much less money you could pick up a PAYG model such as the Orange San Francisco, the LG Optimus One or the Samsung Galaxy Ace.
Sadly for HTC, there are many cheaper options available to those looking for their first smartphone right now.
The only ace up the sleeve of the Wildfire S is its arrival to running Android 2.3, which simply isn’t enough to warrant the extra money.
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Samsung has unveiled the first Chromebook – the new Series 5 laptop running which will run the Google Chrome operating system.
The ultra-slim 0.79-inch device was officially launched at the I/O conference in San Francisco, where Google lifted the lid on its plans for the web-based OS.
The Series 5 fits in with the required Chromebook specs, offering “all-day” 8.5 hour battery life and a dual-core 1.66GHz Intel Atom processor under the hood.
There’ll only be 16GB of sold-state memory on board, but with Google’s plans to make this a “web-only” device, that shouldn’t cause too much of a problem.
The laptop has a 12.6-inch, 1280 x 800 resolution screen, the option of global 3G connectivity, 802.11 WiFi, two USB ports and a HD webcam.
The Series 5 will be launched in the US on July 15th, with prices starting at $429, which is just over £250 in real money. No word yet on UK pricing and availability.
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Nikon has stopped the sale of its Coolpix S4100 compact camera due to a shortage of parts following the 11 March earthquake in Japan, the company has announced.
According to a statement posted to Nikon’s Japan website, the Nikon Coolpix S4100 ‘will be canceled’.
The company cited lingering ‘problems with parts procurement’ and stable production, which has prohibited Nikon from making sufficient supply of the camera to meet demand from photographers and dealers.
It is believed that the Nikon S4100 is the first camera to be officially discontinued due to the effects of the earthquake in Japan.
The Nikon Coolpix S4100 was announced on 9 February 2011.
Our colleagues at PhotoRadar have left messages with representatives from Nikon asking if the Coolpix S4100 will be re-launched in future.
We will update this story as more details become available.
Via Nikon Rumors
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
The HTC Sensation has popped up on its first priced-up page, complete with UK pricing.
Play.com will sell you the touch-tastic SIM-free handset for £499.99, pegging the HTC Sensation UK release date as 30 June.
No other retailer has yet dared to take a punt on pricing for the dual-core handset, although Clove has gone as far as to suggest a UK release date of 10 June.
Sensative
With spec like a dual-core 1.2Ghz processor, 4.3-inch qHD Super-LCD screen and Android 2.3 with Sense 3.0, we’ve got lofty expectations for the Sensation.
The question is: can it topple the similarly-specced Samsung Galaxy S2 as our best mobile phone in the world today?
We know you’re all eagerly awaiting our definitive HTC Sensation review; it should be hitting TechRadar around mid-May. Stay tuned.
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Overview
There are plenty of things you can do with a barebones system such as Shuttle’s SX58H7 case-PSU-motherboard bundle.
Buy a powerful, reasonably priced CPU such as the Intel Core i7 930 and a budget 3D card and RAM, and you get one formidable workstation or media centre. Those eight threads across four cores on the 930′s die will chew through processor-intensive applications and rendering tasks like a beaver through balsa wood.
Alternatively, whack in a decent DX11 card, match it again with an affordable Core i7 and triple-channel, low-latency DDR3 RAM and boot up a very capable gaming or Photoshop rig. Watch the size of your memory modules though: there’s little headroom between the RAM slots and overhanging storage bay.
What almost no one would think to do with this diminutive desktop case, though, is fill it with top-of-the-line components for maxed-out gaming. But it is possible.
Features
The Shuttle SX58H7 motherboard inside supports any member of the Core i7 9xx series gang, including Intel’s most powerful CPU, the 990X Extreme Edition. Struck dumb by such a prospect, we had to stick one in there. And what better graphics card to pair with such an extreme processor than Nvidia’s GTX 580?
Well, the Zotac Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 perhaps, but it wouldn’t quite fit. So the 580 it is. In fact, AMD’s king-size 6 series cards, such as the Radeon HD 6790, are out of the question here too, such is the compact nature of the interior. Gazing inside reminded us of the shoebox apartments in Tokyo that Philippa Forrester always seemed to cram herself into on Tomorrow’s World. Welcome back, obscure TV memories.
There’s an inevitable amount of fiddling involved in actually building a system inside the Shuttle SX58H7, particularly fitting the GPU’s PCI-e power connectors beneath that aforementioned storage bay of fiddliness.
Elsewhere the layout is inspired, though – everything that can be has been tucked away, and everything you need is at hand.
Temperature’s an issue in such a cramped space, though. Apparently the thin, flat vapour-chamber heatpipes of the I.C.Evo CPU cooler work better than copper pipes. We found in reality that it’s fine with low-end CPUs, but not quite the 990X for long-term usage.
On test
For testing we stressed this case with a higher spec than most would attempt. At the limit of its capabilities, the Shuttle SX58H7 runs the hardware cool enough to prevent instabilities.
However, load temperatures for CPU and GPU were higher than anyone who’d just spent £1,300 on two components would like. At temperatures of 74C (165F) the CPU isn’t going to set itself on fire, but it won’t live as long as it would in a larger cooled case.
It’s a wondrous thing to see a machine smaller than R2-D2′s rucksack running DirectX 11 games at 50fps. Things start to get a little too hot for comfort when the GPU and CPU are stressed for any length of time. With slightly lower end parts, temperatures shouldn’t be such an issue, but that does defeat the point.
CPU temperature performance
Core i7 990X: Degrees Celsius – lower is better
Shuttle sx58h7 idle: 48
Shuttle sx58h7 load: 74
GPU temperature performance
GTX 580: Degrees Celsius – lower is better
Shuttle sx58h7 idle: 43
Shuttle sx58h7 load: 85
Verdict
For gamers with realistic budgets, it’s a great place to start a system that’ll fit anywhere, and as a workstation it’s ideal.
USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps would be nice at this price, which seems steep considering there’s no CPU, RAM or storage included. The growing presence of Sandy Bridge Mini ITX motherboards casts a further shadow over this barebones deal.
But if you’re smart with how you use it, this Shuttle SX58H7 could be just the ticket.
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Available with terrestrial or satellite tuners, network tuners jack into your home network and stream channels to any PCs loaded with the included software or mobile devices with the necessary app installed. Elgato was one of the first vendors of such products but it no longer has this market to itself.
The new kid on the block is the attractively styled HD HomeFree Duet from AVerMedia. Like Elgato’s EyeTV Netstream DTT, this boasts a pair of digital terrestrial tuners – and so you could watch different programmes on two computers or record the same channel on both simultaneously.
Despite the name, it’s not HD at all – certainly not over here because the tuners only support DVB-T and don’t cater for the DVB-T2 system that carries British HD TV channels.
On board are an aerial input, a socket for a power supply and a network port. You must connect the latter to a router for streaming over Wi-Fi.
Installation wasn’t problematic. As well as the core AVerTV 6 application, you get HomeFree Manager, a utility that looks after network settings and firmware updates. Chances are that you won’t need to run it, as the system is self-configuring.
Don’t forget to tell your firewall software to pass the necessary ‘traffic’, though. However, one manual aspect of installation is inescapable – the channel scan feature of AVerTV, which searches for and stores channels. This needs to be done for every computer, as channel data isn’t stored in the box itself.
The tuning process is surprisingly fast, considering that it covers the entire UHF band. A side effect of this is the duplication of channels, as ones from secondary transmitters might be found. You’ll have to manually delete any unwanted channels, especially unreliable ‘fringe’ examples.
Timeshifting and recording
AVerTV gives you all of the functionality associated with UK PVRs, including MHEG-5 red button services (which were, alas, non-functional). Live TV can be timeshifted, your computer’s HDD being used as a temporary buffer. The basic EPG will schedule timed recordings, while manual recording is another possibility.
UK TV services are captured in MPEG-2 format – and because the video and audio are ‘snatched’ directly from the off -air transport stream, recordings exhibit no loss of quality.
Picture and sound quality could not be faulted on our Yoyotech quad-core Vista ‘reference’ PC. However, viewing on a dual-core XP machine wasn’t so enjoyable; live programmes and recordings alike being spoilt by random break-up.
We were more successful with a Wi-Fi-connected Samsung notebook running Vista. The simultaneous use of multiple PCs proved that different programmes can be independently received.
AVerTV cannot record one channel while viewing another on the same machine, even if the software isn’t running elsewhere.
Another disappointment is the lack of open standards. You cannot, for example, use other software like VLC Media Player top operate it.
The AVerTV application is for Windows only; the only other option offered is a TV ‘client’ for streaming to an iPad. But that’s something you’ll have to purchase separately via the Apple app store.
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
The KDL-40EX724 sits at the top of Sony’s mainstream EX range and offers 3D compatibility, cutting-edge internet connectivity and the kitchen sink. It’s also available as the 46-inch KDL-46EX724 and the 32-inch KDL-32EX724.
The set looks smart enough, with a subtle, two-tone fascia and the requisite amount of gloss. It’s fashionably thin at just 42mm and tips the scales at an eminently wall-hangable 11.2kg.
Despite the lightweight construction, build quality is considered good; the casing doesn’t creak or flex and the overall cosmetic finish is high.
Priced just below the EX724 line is Sony’s look-alike EX723 series. This slightly cheaper option comprises the 55-inch KDL-55EX723, 46-inch KDL-46EX723, 40-inch KDL-40EX723 and the 32-inch KDL-32EX723.
The only visible difference between the two ranges is the design of the pedestal stand. The KDL-40EX724, along with its siblings, not only has a 20° swivel but also leans back by 6°, which is perfect if you plan to park it on some fashionably low TV furniture.
Less obvious is the fact that the EX724 models have integrated Wi-Fi, whereas the EX723s require an optional Sony dongle.
These days you should feel short-changed if your new telly offers fewer than four HDMI inputs and a couple of USBs. Thankfully this Sony isn’t miserly. The KDL-40EX724 has just that number of hi-def audio-visual inputs, with the fourth facing sideways and positioned alongside a pair of USBs, a PC mini D-sub connector and a CI slot for Top Up TV services. On the right hand side of the screen are standard volume and channel buttons.
Joining the three HDMIs on the back panel is a Scart connector, component video and stereo audio, a digital audio output and an Ethernet port to get you online, if you choose not to use the integrated Wi-Fi option.
One new feature this year is Skype. Sony is one of several TV vendors to offer Skype video calling and for many users this will be a big reason to upgrade. Sony sells the matching USB CMU-BR100 camera and microphone module to get you connected. It sells for around £90.
Naturally, this full HD TV incorporates a Freeview HD tuner, enabling you to watch subscription-free hi-def TV channels from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Freeview HD has up to five times the detail of regular Freeview and is well worth upgrading to.
One big attraction of Sony’s net connected TVs is the brand’s Bravia Internet Video portal. This sprawling IPTV collection offers endless diversions, from catch-up TV services like BBC iPlayer and Demand 5, to the increasingly compelling YouTube and DailyMotion.
The portal also houses the Sony Entertainment TV channel (which doesn’t appear to have changed its content for months on end), Sky News highlights and LoveFilm (subcribers can manage their rental list online as well as stream movies directly).
There’s more of course: 28 channels at the last count, including Eurosport, Blip.tv, Howcast, Ustudio, Golflinks, LoveFilm Trailers and Singing Fool.
Sony recently supplemented its Bravia Internet Video offering with its own subscription music and VOD service called Qriocity. With these you can subscribe to streaming music or rent new and classic films. The film choice on Qriocity is good, with titles available in both SD and hi-def.
One additional benefit of placing the KDL-40EX724 on your home network is that you can stream video and music from a PC or a networked storage device. This enables your TV to become the hub of home entertainment.
However, as we’ve seen on previous Sony TVs, file and format support can be a little uneven. While AVIs and AVCHD files played across the network and from USB flash drives, the screen did not acknowledge the existence of MKV wrapped content. It’s a consistent omission that Sony would do well to fix.
One final feature onboard the KDL-40EX724 worth mentioning is the ability to record to a USB hard-disk drive. Simply plug in an external drive (ideally, something above 160GB that you have sitting around unused) and let the TV format it (obviously, this process wipes everything, so make sure you don’t have anything valuable stored before you proceed).
You can now record direct from the set’s TV Guide. Clearly, this inexpensive recording option has limitations. As the set has only one tuner you won’t be able to record one channel while watching another. But as a simple timeshifter for when you’re out, or a backup when your Sky or cable box is busy, it’s a great bonus.
Sony TVs have long enjoyed an enviable reputation for picture quality. While the brand may have lost some ground to the competition in recent years, 2010 saw a bit of a renaissance.
To a degree, that improvement holds true with the KDL-40EX724. This set sports a fair selection of high-powered picture-polishing silicon. Unlike cheaper screens in the EX range, this model sports Motionflow XR200, Sony’s really rather effective fast frame-rate technology. Without Motionflow, the native motion resolution of this panel is around 650 lines – quite a drop from the 1,080-line clarity you enjoy when everyone is standing around really still.
With Motionflow XR200 we get four modes to play with: Clear, Clear Plus, Standard and Smooth. Interestingly, neither Standard nor Smooth are massively successful. Clear, however, retains a full 1,080 lines of fleet-footed clarity without introducing any significant motion artefacts of its own. We would suggest this is the mode to choose when watching sport. The detail boost it gives makes a massive difference when following the action.
A test pattern that comprises scrolling English and Japanese text confirms just how effective Motionflow is. At 6.5 ppf (pixels per frame) we noted no loss of detail at 100-, 50- and 30 per cent luminance. Even at a faster 2.5ppf, there’s only marginal bleariness, most noticeable when luminance drops to 30 per cent. This can be considered a fine performance.
Of course, you’re welcome to try this fast frame-rate processing when watching movies, but be aware that the speedy refresh rate can give films an unpalatable video sheen. Our American cousins have taken to calling this the ‘Soap Opera effect’ and it robs a movie of its cinematic texture. If you don’t like it, simply switch off Motionflow when settling down with a bag of popcorn.
Black levels are deep and contrast is dramatic. Greyscale tracking is on the money. A demanding test disc sequence, shot around the Tokyo Tower at night and featuring dynamic highlights against a black sky, played out with smooth blacks and decent shadow detail.
Even though the set’s edge-lit LED backlight is somewhat uneven, this doesn’t spoil the consistency of the image. While there is evidence of light pooling in the corners of the screen, it’s not at an intrusive level.
The picture presets tend to over-crank sharpness, which needs to be taken back to around 22 per cent for a naturalistic, but crisp, image.
To guarantee that you make the most of the screen’s image quality, ensure that you turn Off Auto Display Area. If you don’t, the TV overscans and you’ll lose picture information behind the bezel.
While the KDL-40EX724 generally pleases with its hi-def performance, it disappoints with 3D in equal measure.
Normally, a 3D screen receives demerits if it suffers from excessive crosstalk (double imaging caused by an overlap between left and right eye images). However crosstalk (of which there is plenty) is the last thing wrong here.
Three-dimensional images suffer from huge parallax problems; items that should sit in the background are brought incongruously forward.
A poster on the wall of the Antartic survey station featured at the beginning of Monsters Vs Aliens floats away from the wall and sits on the zero parallax plane; structural elements of the long stasis chamber when Jake Sully awakens from animation at the start of Avatar don’t recede into the background as they should, but pop defiantly forward. There is also noticeable solarisation around objects, with bizarre colour shifts; images stutter and judder. The 3D picture on this TV is, in no short order, unwatchable.
The screen also offers 2D-to-3D conversion. This feature is designed to add realistic depth to any regular broadcast or DVD content, but you can also three-dimensionalise video games from a connected console (PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii). The resulting effect should be fun: here, it’s anything but.
Sound
The KDL-40EX724 tries its best when it comes to audio fidelity, but doesn’t have an awful lot to play with. There’s no subwoofer and consequently there’s a predictable absence of mid to low bass. The overall volume is loud enough – driving the downward facing speakers is a 2 x 10w S-Force digital amplifier, but the stereo spread is polite at best.
There’s the choice of the usual Dynamic, Standard and Clear Voice modes as well as faux-surround with four DSP settings. Take the latter with a pinch of salt.
Value
Taken at face value, this 40-incher would seem a reasonable bet. It’s fashionably swish even though it’s built to a price, offers access to a superior selection of IPTV channels when you take it online and can deliver highly credible 2D hi-def images.
Sony’s Motionflow XR200 picture processing is demonstrably beneficial to the clarity of its images; its inclusion here warrants the price hike from cheaper EX iterations which lack the technology.
For telly addicts stepping up to Freeview HD and net connectivity for the first time, the KDL-40EX724 would seem well worth investigation.
What should cause pause for thought is its inexplicably poor 3D performance. This TV behaves completely differently once you don those Active Shutter glasses. 3D on this set is the visual equivalent of sticking your head in washing machine full of multicoloured smalls – and then activating the Fast Spin cycle.
Ease of use
Sony has totally overhauled the user interface on its 2011 TV models. The old XrossMediaBar, which spread like a virus through the previous Sony hardware fleet, has been pensioned off, giving way to a new system that enables you to navigate while live TV plays in a minimised window. It’s an intuitive and attractive upgrade.
This digital paint job extends to the brand’s online service, too. Whereas before, channels within the Bravia Internet Video portal tumbled in an interminable list from the main menu, they now appear in an ordered grid.
The KDL-40EX724 does stumble a little in some apparently forgotten areas of the UI, though. Call up the 3D menu and you’ll be given an opportunity to adjust the severity of the ‘outy-ness’ of its 3D presentation. Unfortunately this menu obscures 50 per cent of the screen. Trying to adjust 3D depth when you can only make out half the picture will defeat most users.
The remote appears the same as the 2010 vintage, complete with perplexing secondary power button on the flip side of the controller. Once you get used to its main, circular Home/Options/Return buttons though, it’s a simple enough handset to use.
As a feature-stacked mainstream TV, the 40-inch KDL-40EX724 delivers. Its internet connectivity is first rate and, thanks to a sensible integration of social media widgets for Facebook and Twitter, it edges ahead of its net connected competition.
There’s also much to commend its picture performance – at least when viewed flat. Unfortunately, a worst-in-class 3D turn rather blots its copy book. Let’s hope that this inability to deliver convincing 3D is restricted to Sony’s EX range and doesn’t extend further up the brand’s TV hierarchy. Remember, should you want to use them, Sony’s Active Shutter 3D glasses are an additional (and expensive) extra.
We liked
Sony’s new look user interface is a pleasure to use, the Bravia Internet Video IPTV portal is impressive and the 2D picture performance is excellent. The built-in Freeview HD tuner is a boon, meanwhile, as are the high motion resolution and low power consumption.
We disliked
The 3D performance is surprisingly poor, uncommitted media streaming support grates and the audio is lacklustre.
Final verdict
It doesn’t really matter how much we laud Sony’s 2011 facelift, nor praise the wealth of content available to watch on the Bravia Internet Video portal.
The KDL-40X724 is defined by its 3D performance, which is inexplicably poor. This is a set which is genuinely painful to watch when you put on 3D spex. And that’s enough to guarantee two thumbs down.
Posted under Technology on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
As the AC Ryan Playon! DVR HD hybrid PVR media server has been designed to satisfy most European territories (AC Ryan is Dutch), its twin DTT tuners predictably don’t cater for Freeview HD reception.
It’s fairly nondescript to look at (like an off -the-shelf media centre PC, which in some ways is what it is), but it runs quietly and its black casing should be a match for most people’s living rooms. A large blue LED readout sits atop a row of operating buttons on the fascia.
It’s sold with a choice of internal 3.5-inch SATA hard discs – either 500GB, 1TB, 1.5 and 2TB, or can take drives attached by eSATA or USB (there are two ports on the right and one on the rear). Alternatively, you can stream from networked drives (DLNA/uPnP and Samba are supported), though wireless functionality requires adding a dongle.
Other connections (for which a generous amount of cabling is provided) on the rear include HDMI, component, optical and coaxial S/PDIFs, a multi-format memory card slot and composite and phono inputs for external capture.
The remote is cheap but effectively signposts most key features, though it’s strange that there’s no dedicated button for ‘jumping’ to TV and easy to get the start and end buttons confused with fast-forward and rewind.
The interface is shortly to be overhauled but it’s currently serviceable with a side-scrolling Home menu providing access to the main options. The TV portion includes a seven-day-ready EPG where you can view a list of what’s on or coming on the current channel day by day, with the live channel inset on the right and synopses displayed at the bottom. Oddly, you can’t browse what’s on other channels without the box needing to change over to them.
The same goes for the now-and-next programme information bar. Recordings can be scheduled from the EPG by using a manual timer with repeat options, or by pressing record when watching a channel where you’re given the option to set the duration in 30-minute increments.
You can also schedule them online using a web interface. This isn’t Freeview+ certifed, so there’s no series link recording. Up to two channels can be recorded at once (including while playing media or recordings) and you can timeshift (constantly if required).
Recordings (and video files in general) can be fast-forwarded or rewound at up to 32x normal speed, slowed down up to 1/16x or you can ‘goto’ a desired time. You can record (in .ts format only) to USB, eSATA or internal drives (files can be copied between storage including via FTP) and recordings are automatically labelled with broadcast info and placed in sub-folders in a REC folder, where they can be viewed while still in progress.
There are five recording quality levels. HQ and SP are perfectly acceptable virtual facsimiles of the native broadcast but results get progressively smeary from then on.
The Windows-style Browser option is the quickest way to access files either networked or physically attached with media divided into Music, Movies and Photos.
The player handled all the file formats we threw at it with nary a glitch and you can view photo slideshows and import playlists.
Now obligatory ‘apps’ comprise no-frills Picasa and Flickr photo browsing/searching, plus Weather and RSS news feeds (you can add your own). YouTube and BBC iPlayer (predictably) are notable absences. It can also act as a BitTorrent client.
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Appolicious – Just in time for the holidays, we have new “information” about the supposedly imminent iPad 2. As usual, the rumors come from anonymous sources in China, and have slight technical details about Apple’s (AAPL) next-generation tab.
Read More: New iPad 2 rumors focus on smaller size and louder speakers
(Appolicious)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Macworld – The iPad has taken yet another step toward becoming a full-fledged laptop replacement for business users with Quickofficeâs release of a free update for its Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad. The 2.0.0 version of the suite adds extensive text formatting and graphical editing abilities for PowerPoint 2003 files as well as viewing and presenting capabilities for PowerPoint 2007 files.
Read More: QuickOffice Connect for iPad gets PowerPoint editing ability
(Macworld)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Reuters – U.S. online shopping rose 15.4 percent to $36.4 billion for the holiday shopping season, a MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse report showed on Thursday.
Read More: Online holiday sales up 15.4 percent: SpendingPulse
(Reuters)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
NewsFactor – Mozilla launched a new Firefox 4 beta release for PCs and laptops Wednesday featuring expanded support for 3-D graphics, together with a revamped Firefox add-on manager. And on the mobile side, Mozilla introduced several enhancements to the mobile version of Firefox 4 beta for smartphones based on Google’s Android and Nokia’s Maemo platforms.
Read More: Firefox 4 Beta Provides Support for 3-D Graphics
(NewsFactor)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Macworld – Bluetooth already helps us make hands-free phone calls, but now it can help us cook a perfect steak. iDevicesâs iGrill is a Bluetooth-enabled thermometer that communicates with an app on your iOS device, keeping you updated on the temperature of your food, while freeing you from the confines of your kitchen when you cook.
Read More: iDevice releases iGrill Bluetooth kitchen thermometer
(Macworld)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Ben Patterson – What could be more fun than blogging about the latest and greatest gadgets? Beats me, but even an avowed gadget hound like me needs a break once in a while. Anyway, I’ll be going offline during the holidays â and …
Read More: Happy holidays from the Gadget Hound
(Ben Patterson)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Reuters – The Federal Communications Commission’s top official has backed Comcast Corp’s NBC Universal purchase, subject to conditions addressing competition in areas like online video and program access.
Read More: FCC chair proposes Comcast-NBC conditional approval
(Reuters)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Digital Trends – We just posted a Black Ops parody, but the news doesn’t end there. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick spoke with CNN about the insane popularity of the newest Call of Duty game, which he claims is so popular it is on par with common activities like texting and Facebooking. “More people play Black Ops every day than watch Jay Leno, David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon, combined,” Kotick gloated. “The audience of Call of Duty is probably greater in terms of size … than in any other interactive form of entertainment.” 60 percent of all Xbox Live traffic comes from Call of Duty games, he added.
Read More: Activision CEO: Call of Duty is as popular as Facebook, texting
(Digital Trends)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
AP – If you voted this fall, there’s a good chance you were texting about it.
Read More: Study: 26 pct in US used cell phones for activism
(AP)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
AFP – Air-powered batteries, 3-D cellphones that project holographs and personalized commutes are among the predictions of IBM scientists gazing into their crystal balls.
Read More: IBM offers glimpse into the future
(AFP)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
NewsFactor – It’s one step forward and one back for security on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. A new report from a security firm found that IE9 beta offers “vastly” more protection from malware than other browsers, while Microsoft on Wednesday issued a warning that there is a vulnerability in IE 6, 7 and 8 that could allow someone to take remote control of the computer.
Read More: IE9 Blocks Malware, But Older Versions Are Vulnerable
(NewsFactor)
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Read More: DC Universe Online Gets a Release Date – Techtree.com
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Read More: IBM predicts holographic calls, breathing batteries – CNET
Posted under Technology on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Read More: FCC Net neutrality rules reach mobile apps – CNET
