March 2006

Media Center PCs Grow In Popularity
A new report by analyst firm Current Analysis claims that consumers are warming to Media Center PCs, with the entertainment-focused PCs grabbing eight per cent of the US retail market in January 2005, soaring 48 per cent in December.
Current Analysis say that the demand was fuelled by a drop in price brought about when manufacturers left out the expensive tuners which allowed the systems to receive and record television signals.
However, tuner-toting Media PCs are already making a comeback, with the market share for TV tuner-equipped systems climbing from 8.7 per cent in October to 12.8 per cent last month.
Toni Duboise, senior analyst for desktop computing at Current Analysis, noted that although leaving out the TV tuners allowed Media Center PCs to reach a mainstream audience, the component remains critical if the system wants to grab a place in the digital home.
“The upward TV tuner-clad trend is a small victory for Media Center with regard to the digital home,” she said, adding that the TV arena is a “pivotal turf in the war for the digital home because it offers the most opportunities for lucrative infrastructure and broadcast content.”
With TiVo still doing good business, Duboise commented on the importance of TV tuners to PC makers, “Manufacturers that want the desktop computer to be the centre of the digital home will want consumers to use TV tuner-clad PCs instead of TiVo, dedicated digital video recorders or intelligent set-top boxes.”
Microsoft first rolled out their Media Center Edition back in October 2002, but consumers have been sniffy because users weren’t inclined to buy the more expensive hardware needed to run the software – neither did the idea of watching TV on a clunky computer monitor seem particularly thrilling.
Current Analysis
14 March, 2006
Cingular Go Mobile Content Mad with NCAA Games
The US mobile companies are finally, really getting hold of delivering content of all sorts to mobile phones.
Crisp Wireless are working with Cingular on the (deep breath now), Cingular MEdia Net NCAA March Madness Portal and Bracket Challenge (gasp).
It provides 3G mobile phone access to lots of content. The particulars worth mentioning being …
- a virtual leader board which can be played against others on the network
- video highlights two-minute video clips covering all 64 games will be packaged and delivered to the handsets of Cingular customers twice-daily during each day of the tournament.
- For the first time ever, will give wireless users the power to make, track and manage their tournament bracket entirely from their wireless handset.
As with all things to mobile phones, we’d love to see the figures as to who actually pays for access to this. A barrier which has yet to be consistently cracked.
Cingular NCAA
Crisp Wireless
14 March, 2006
Sony CD-U70/ U50 USB Voice Recorders Announced
As voice recorders go (and, let’s be honest, they’re not the most exciting of gadgets) Sony’s new CD-U70/ U50 devices look to be quite natty numbers.
Sporting Sony’s usual design flair, the voice recorders come in two flavours, the top of the range ICD-U70, touts a hefty 1GB of flash memory, and its smaller brother the ICD-U50, which comes with 512MB of memory.
You’d have no bother losing these fellas down the back of the sofa as the recorders are pipsqueak-sized, measuring just 30x20x99.7mm and weighing in at a trouser-untroubling 64g.
Touted as a ‘three in one’ gizmo, the Sony IC recorders can be used as a mass data storage drive, an MP3 player and a voice recorder, with the thing plugging straight into the USB port of a PC.
For voice recording, there’s three modes on offer – LP/SP/HQ, with the built in monaural microphone offering high and low sensitive settings.
Battery life is listed as an impressive 140 hours for voice recording and 6 hours for MP3 playback, with the unit offering Digital Pitch Control, Digital VOR (Voice Operated Recording) and 5 message folders to keep your perambulating wafflings filed away neatly.
For playing back your words of wisdom, there’s a tiny 10mm speaker onboard with a teensy-weensy 35mW output as well as a headphone socket (and bundled ‘phones).
The ICD-U70 comes in silver only while the ICD-U60 comes in groovier blue and white finishes.
Availability should be from mid March, 2006, with prices around $179.00 for the and $129 for the ICD-U70
Sony
14 March, 2006
National Express Coaches Offers WiFi To Cambridge UK
We’ve already run several stories about WiFi being made available for some passengers, sorry customers, on the UK’s rail network, but until now coach users have been left unconnected.
That’s all set to today, as travellers on the 010 National Express London to Cambridge coach service will be able enjoy free wireless Internet access via their Wi-Fi enabled laptops, PDAs and other handheld devices while on the move.
Coaches on the service will use Telabria’s mSystem MobilAP-3G radio system, which combines an 802.11b/g access point with a 3G receiver, letting bored passengers surf while stuck on the M11.
With real world 3G speeds hovering around 384kbps, connection speeds are unlikely to impress passengers used to nippy home broadband connectivity but hey! What do they expect for free?!
Of course, connection speeds will vary depending on the amount of passengers using the Wi-Fi – and how many tailgating cars may be lurking behind the coach, keen to take advantage of the free Internet access.
With luck, the free trial may give the rail companies currently charging hefty prices to use their Wi-Fi a well-deserved kick up the buffers.
London to Brighton Wi-Fi commuters, for example, may be able to shuffle around the Web at true broadband speeds but it’s at a painful price: £23.50 a month for unlimited access or £5 for just an hour’s use.
Gerry says
National Express chief engineer Gerry Price was ready to puff on the well-chuffed PR pipe: “We are very excited about the potential of this trial and the benefits it will bring to our customers, particularly those on busy commuter routes who increasingly see the value of staying connected before they reach their place of work and after they leave.”
“But it’s not just the business community who will benefit. Mobile communication is increasingly being seen as a pre-requisite by a wide variety of travellers on the move,” he added.
National Express
GNER Promises Wi-Fi On All Trains By 2007
14 March, 2006
Google Mars Launched
Google’s plans for galaxy-spanning domination have continued apace with the launch of Google Mars, giving surfers the opportunity to explore the surface of the Red Planet.
Coinciding with the arrival of the MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) into Mars orbit on Friday, the new map of the Red Planet offers a familiar ‘Google Earth’-like interface with three viewing modes.
The Elevation mode offers a shaded relief map, colour-coded by altitude and generated with data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft.
The Visible mode gives a bird’s eye view of the planet (yes, we know there aren’t any actual birds there), displaying a mosaic of images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft.
Finally, the Infrared mode offers a mosaic of infrared images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft.
In this view, warmer areas appear brighter, and colder areas are darker, and because clouds and dust in the atmosphere are rendered transparent by infrared, the map is incredibly sharp.
Using the Google Mars interface, it’s possible to view and zoom into areas by categories – mountains, canyons, dunes, plains, ridges and craters – or by regions.
You can also track the landing sites of failed and successful space missions and find the probable crash landing site of the much loved – but totally unsuccessful – Beagle 2 mission.
A listing of Mars related stories, articles and links wraps up the feature list of this impressive resource.
Google Mars appears to be just a small step for Google’s space plans with the company owning domain names for all the planets.
Google Maps
13 March, 2006
Wireless Voice Chat First: Metroid Prime Hunters on Nintendo DS
At eTech last week I pleasantly surprised to see a hard-core of Nintendo DS users with the majority of them running Animal Crossing at breakfast, to ensure their lands were set up for the day.
This news, literally just in, extends the DS to include wireless voice chat – a significant change that will enable another channel of free voice communication between people that probably like chatting quite a lot.
IN SPACE NOBODY CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM… -At least not until now! Metroid Prime Hunters launches with wireless voice chat technology –
13th March 2006 – The wait for the interstellar bounty-hunters, and gaming’s toughest heroine is finally over as Metroid Prime Hunters launches across Europe on 5th May 2006. This game features touch-screen controls, Wi-Fi game play, a fully-fledged single player 3D first person shooter mode as well as an extensive online multiplayer first person shooter mode. For the first time on a Nintendo DS game, Metroid Prime Hunters include wireless voice chat technology allowing players to talk with friends before and after battle, whilst using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and microphone, wherever they are in the world.
Raised by an ancient alien race, Samus is the galaxy’s top bounty hunter, utilising her advanced Varia suit to give her near super-human powers and using an arm mounted cannon to blast her way past any opposition. Now Samus has been hired by the Galactic Federation to recover powerful alien artefacts before deadly bounty hunters get their hands on them. In space there’s no law and no back up, Samus will have to use all of her skills to return alive.
Featuring some of the most advanced 3D graphics for a held-held system, playing Metroid Prime Hunters brings you the great graphics seen in Metroid Prime on Nintendo GameCube with the added benefit of it being on a portable handheld system. The vast single-player mode in Metroid Prime Hunters is among one of the most exciting seen on a hand-held console to date and the game can also proudly claim to be the first multiplayer first person shooter to grace a hand-held system. While playing, the fast-paced seamless levels are displayed with perfect clarity on the top Nintendo DS screen, while a map and radar showing enemy locations is visible on the bottom.
The gameplay possibilities that the Nintendo DS can offer really allows Metroid Prime Hunters to stand out from the rest. Players use the Nintendo DS d-pad to walk around while the stylus is used to look about the area and aim their weapon, much like a PC based First Person Shooter. The stylus control allows players to turn and target with pinpoint accuracy. Icons strategically placed on the touch-screen also allow players to switch weapons and convert Samus into her Morph Ball form with ease.
The fun doesn’t stop there either! You might have proven yourself against intergalactic bounty hunters in the game’s single player mode, but there is still much more to experience with the game’s expansive multiplayer modes. Metroid Prime Hunters features numerous online and offline multiplayer modes, allowing players to compete locally with friends using the Nintendo DS wireless link and then battle people across the globe thanks to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service.
Players without access to Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection service can use Single-Card Play to enter battle in a selection of arenas with three friends, using only one cartridge. Or if all players have copies of the game, they can engage in one of the game’s seven multiplayer modes in Multi-Card Play with a selection of seven characters and ten arenas to choose from.
Playing Metroid Prime Hunters using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection allows players to take their newly honed skills and show them off to players around the world for free* using their home broadband connection or one of Nintendo’s public Wi-Fi hotspots. Players can select Find Game to play against opponents from across the globe, chosen by their skill level or battle friends from the list saved on their Nintendo DS in Friend’s and Rivals mode.
Prepare for the ultimate space mission as Metroid Prime Hunters goes on sale across Europe on 5th May 2006 at the estimated retail price of around £30.
13 March, 2006
Writely Grabbed By Google. Does Microsoft Quake?
In what some are viewing as a challenge to Microsoft’s Office software, Google has dipped into its deep pockets and snapped up Upstartle, a small company best known for their online word-processor, Writely.
The software – still in beta – employs ‘Web 2.0’ technologies, like those used in Google Maps and GMail – to let users to create, edit and store documents online.
Crucially, the program also supports documents created in the Microsoft Word format and with Google’s proposed GDrive plan (which gives users massive storage on the Web), some pundits suspect that this could be the start of an onslaught on Microsoft’s Office 12.
Blog announcements
As is now the vogue, the two companies announced the deal via their respective corporate blogs, and although details are still scarce, it’s been revealed that Upstartle’s four staff members will join Google immediately.
“Writely is now part of Google,” wrote Upstartle co-founder Claudia Carpenter on the blog, commenting that the two companies were “matched in their culture and goals.”
There have been whispers circulating for months that Google was looking to develop a direct competitor to Microsoft Office, although analyst firm Ovum think that the acquisition is more about increasing revenue streams.
Writing in a research note, Ovum analysts David Bradshaw and David Mitchell observed that buying Writely would give Google another place to push online advertising and protect its revenue streams.
“That could provide enough revenues to pay for the acquisition in months and provide an interesting diversion to keep Microsoft looking over its shoulder,” said Bradshaw and Mitchell, adding that Writely’s integrated collaboration and blogging tools could also prove useful resources for Google’s hugely popular Blogger service.
Joe Wilcox at Jupiter Research was also dismissive of claims that Google were getting ready to do battle with Microsoft: “Speculation is that Google will take on Microsoft in the productivity suite market with a hosted product. I suppose Google could do this, but why?”
“Microsoft has so many other word processing competitors already, at least in the consumer market … If Google is smart, Writely technology will bolster products Blogger, GMail and Google Talk (instant messaging),” he added.
For the time being, Upstartle has cut off new registrations following the announcement while the service is scaled up and moved over to Google’s systems.
In the meantime, interested users can sign up to a waiting list.
Writely.com
13 March, 2006
USB Hub Vanity Mirrors, Ashtrays, Coffee Warmers And Heated Gloves
You know the problem: you’ve rushed into work late, sat yourself down at the desk only to realise that there’s not enough USB ports on the machine so you can’t plug in your DVD backup.
And – even worse – there’s not a mirror around so you can’t check if the chocolate topping from the cappuccino you hastily slurped down on the train into work is smeared all over your face.
And the boss is coming in at any minute!
Well, thank goodness for the thoughtful folks at Brando, who have designed just the thing for you – a combination USB hub and vanity mirror!
The ‘Mini Mirror Hub’, described as “the most tiny, fashionable USB 2.0 HUB,” can connect up to four USB 2.0 (or USB 1.1) devices, supporting 480Mbps, 12Mbps and 1.5Mbps speeds.
Powered by the host USB computer (or via an optional adapter), the teensy-weensy hub measures just 40 x 40 x 10 mm, which makes it of rather limited use as a vanity mirror – although we could imagine some city types finding an, err, somewhat alternative use for its shiny surface.
The Mini Mirror Hub is available from here for $14 (~£8, ~e12).
USB Ashtray
If your company has a no-smoking policy and you’re desperate for a sneaky drag at your desk, once again the diligent designers at Brando have just the gadget for you.
Their USB Ashtray – inexplicably shaped as a little blue car – promises to, “minimise smoke and odours” by passing the smoke through a carbon-absorbing filter – and it’s yours for just $22 (~£13, ~e18) – details here.
USB Cafe Pad
With the winter snap still carrying on, there’s always the chance that your coffee may go cold just a little too quickly for your liking, so once again we are grateful for Brando’s engineers for dreaming up the USB Cafe Pad.
Simply plug it into your USB port, switch it on and slap your beverage of choice on top for permanently hot drinks – for just $15 (~£9, ~e13)!
USB Heating Gloves
Finally, we found ourselves unable to resist mentioning Brando’s USB Heating Gloves.
“Ever experience that your hand freezing and slowing down your reaction when you are playing game?”, asks their Website.
Well, we can’t say we ever have, but we can sleep easy in the knowledge that should we ever suffer any heat-related problems when ‘playing game’, we could shell out $22 and slip on their natty heating gloves.
More details here: USB Heating Gloves.
13 March, 2006
LCD TV Revenues Outstrip Cathode Ray TVs
It looks like the days of chunky, clunky cathode ray tube TVs are numbered as worldwide revenues from slimline LCD (liquid crystal displays) TVs surpassed those of cathode-ray (CRT) televisions in the fourth quarter last year.
Fuelled by football-crazy punters grabbing a gogglebox in time for the World Cup, revenues of LCD TVs in the last quarter sailed past $10 billion for the first time, with flat panel displays now commanding more than 50 percent of the global market.
The figures come from DisplaySearch, a US-based display market research firm, who recorded LCD TV revenues reaching $10.09 billion (£5.84bn, €8.4bn) in the fourth quarter last year, adding up to a hefty 54.3 percent increase from the previous quarter’s $6.48 billion (£3.75bn, €5.43bn).
But the trusty old cathode ray tube isn’t dead yet, with CRT TV sales rising 9.6 percent from the previous quarter, a modest jump from $6.88 billion in the third quarter to $7.46 billion (£4.32bn, €6.25bn) in the fourth quarter.
Sales were healthy for plasma-screen televisions, growing 31.3 percent to reach $5.29 billion in the same quarter, giving them the third-largest share of the market after LCD TVs and cathode-ray TVs.
Trailing in fourth place were projection TVs, notching up a 38.4 percent rise in sales revenue to net a record-breaking $2.87 billion.
Looking at the global TV market, the total volume revenues for the fourth quarter last year was estimated to reach $25.49 billion, with LCD TVs accounting for 39 percent, cathode-ray TVs 29 percent, Plasmas at 20 percent and projection TVs at 11 percent.
Commenting on the booming LCD sales, Ross Young, president and CEO of DisplaySearch said, “Now that LCD TVs have overtaken CRT TVs on a revenue basis, the next target for TFT LCD manufacturers is to overtake CRT TVs on a unit basis.”
Look out LCDs – here comes SED displays
Despite the healthy sales of LCD and plasma screens, it seems that there’s another new technology on the block to tempt upmarket TV-viewers.
Called SED – short for Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display – the technology is a result of a joint venture by Toshiba and Canon, who have described SED as a major industry milestone, “a once-in-50-years historical turning point for the TV industry, comparable to the initial introduction of CRT television”.
Thinner and more energy efficient than LCDs and plasma display panels, SED screens are reputed to deliver clear and vivid images thanks to a light-beaming technology similar to cathode-ray tube TVs.
The sets are due to be out in time for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, although some pundits are already suspecting that plummeting LCD/plasma prices may seriously damage SED TVs’ commercial prospects.
Cathode Ray Tube
SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display)
13 March, 2006
BenQ Launches Six Handsets Including The P51
With a veritable orgy of announcements, BenQ Mobile rolled out six new mobile phones at the CeBIT trade show in Germany.
The phones, all going under the BenQ-Siemens brand, include the P51, a quad-band GSM/EDGE GSM/EDGE handset running on Windows Mobile 5.0.
Definitely not one for the pockets of the tight trouser brigade, the chunky P51 wedges in a Treo-like QWERTY keyboard, a large 2.8inch 240 x 320 pixels screen, an integrated SiRF Star III GPS module and a somewhat underwhelming 128MB of memory, along with an SD slot for expansion.
VoIP calls are made possible through the built in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connectivity and pre-loaded Skype software.
The P51 also comes with a music player (MP3, AAC, AAC+) offering a sound equalizer and 3D surround sound and an integrated 1.3 megapixel camera with LED flash.
The handset is due to be made available in Q3, with prices, networks and stockists to be confirmed.
Also announced was the flagship EL71, a tri-band, 16.5mm thin slider phone with a metal casing in brushed aluminium finish. Designed for the “young professional,” the phone sports a 2-inch, 260,000-color QVGA display.
The C81 comes with a built-in multimedia player supporting MP3, AAC, AAC+ and AAC++ formats and an integrated 1.3-megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom. Pictures can be printed directly – no PC needed – by Bluetooth via Pictbridge and the phone has a 1.8- inch TFT 262k screen.
The CL71 slide phone is another slim number (17.8mm) with built-in 1.3-megapixel camera, MP3 player and radio with a 2-inch TFT 262k display offering 176 x 220 picture resolution.
The consumer-oriented CF61 also comes with a music player, Bluetooth and exchangeable covers. The integrated 1.3-megapixel camera allows capture of nine images in quick succession and a voice commentary can also be added to pictures. There’s also a built-in music player supporting the usual formats.
Finally, the wedge shaped E61 comes in orange, yellow, or silver, with a built-in VGA camera with 2x/4x digital zoom.
BenQ Mobile
10 March, 2006