October 2006

CCleaner Review: Windows Optimisation And Privacy Freeware (90%)
A long time favourite in Chez Digi Lifestyles, CCleaner is a superb system optimisation and privacy tool that comes with the best price of all: nothing!
A featherweight 1.42 meg download, CCleaner is short for ‘Crap Cleaner’ – a perfectly appropriate name, with the program doing an excellent job of turfing out unused and temporary files from your system.
Although the program is freeware and comes with no lurking steenkin’ spyware or adware, it does invite you to install the Yahoo toolbar on installation – just tick no if you don’t want it (we didn’t).
Cleaning out your dutty PC
Once fired up, a click on the ‘analyse’ button will get the program racing through your machine’s folders looking for files that can be removed.
CCleaner takes a high speed shufti in your Internet Explorer Cache, History, Cookies and Index.dat; as well as rummaging about in your recycle bin, temporary files, log files and lists of recently opened URLs and files.
Unlike some similar commercial products we’ve tested, CCleaner proved to be incredibly fast in use, with a full system scan taking a matter of seconds. Very impressive.
Once the program has completed its scan you’re given the option of deleting the files or going back and fine-tuning your scanning options.
Third-party application temp files and recent file lists (MRUs) can also be vamoosed from a long list of applications, including Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat and WinZip.
We managed to clear up over 1.5 gig of space when we first ran the program, and it continues to clear out junk at an impressive rate with each scan.
Registry
There’s also a powerful built in Advanced Registry scanner which helps you get rid of unused and old entries cluttering up your system.
Bashing the ‘scan for issues’ button will produce a list of problems with File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons and Invalid Shortcuts, with the option to individually fix them or just let CCleaner work its magic automatically.
Wisely, the program prompts you to make a registry back-up before it takes off its gloves and starts sorting out the errant entries.
There’s also a handy ‘tools’ interface letting users uninstall programs or simply remove programs from their start up menu, with an ‘options’ menu allowing more advanced functions like user-defined cookie removal.
Conclusion
This is a fantastic program for quickly and effectively zapping unwanted and private information from your PC.
The program’s easy to use interface and support for a wide variety of applications surpasses many of the commercial offerings we’ve seen, and regular use should help you get Windows running faster and more efficiently, while grabbing back precious hard drive space.
Although the program is freeware, those who donate £10 ($20) or more get new releases in advance of regular punters and they can also enjoy the warm glow of knowing that they’re contributing to the continued development of this fine product.
Features: 85%
Ease of use: 85%
Value For Money: 90%
Overall: 90%
CCleaner.com
13 October, 2006
Five Download VoD Launches With CSI
UK Broadcaster Channel Five have launched their Five Download, Video on Demand (VoD), service with US series CSI. They’ve previously offered downloads of the car show, Fifth Gear.
The new service is offering straight CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; CSI: NY and CSI: Miami.
This isn’t Just-Another-VoD-Service (JAVS), as there’s some innovation in here. CSI fans are mad keen on the programme (so we understand) and understanding this, Five is offering the episodes seven days ahead of the TV broadcast date. Fans will pay a premium price for this £2.49 vs the usual £1.49 per episode. We suspect that once hooked on receiving the content early, fans using the service will have to continue paying to stay ahead.
Engaging in some mutual back slapping Jane Lighting, Five’s Chief Executive, said: “I’m delighted that we are launching the service with CSI enabling us to offer the highest quality content to viewers with a viewing window which exceeds anything currently in the marketplace,” to which Ted Riley, Executive Managing Director, International Content Distribution, Alliance Atlantis whooped “The first-ever CSI Franchise VoD service outside the U.S., is both a thrilling proposition for U.K. fans,” adding that it “heralds the roll-out of other new media opportunities for this fantastic franchise internationally.”
One of the challenges for this service, as it is with all others – they’re competing against the same content being available on file sharing networks near-instantly available after they’ve been shown in the US – yonks before they hits the UK. Fanatical fan’s will more than likely not wait for the legitimate source and go the file-sharing route. The fact that the programmes won’t cost them anything will be incidental.
Five will be charging either £1.49 or £2.49 per download which we think it pretty steep given the episodes are only available for 14 days and is restricted to one computer. If you’re impudent enough to try the content that you’ve paid for on another machine, you’ll be completely locked out of that content.
To use the service you’ll need to download and install the Five Download Manager and Player which has been provided to them by BT Media & Broadcast, but the base level technology is from Entriq. Entriq’s MediaSphere is used by other companies such as BT Vision and with download services.
As Five are using Microsoft’s DRM, the service is only available to those in the UK who run Windows XP or 2000 and browse through Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and enable ActiveX. Users of Windows XP must use Windows Media Player 10 and 2K users must use Windows Media Player 9.
Microsoft has steadfastly not introduced their latest DRM on the Macintosh, so they’re excluded.
Those of you lucky/unlucky enough to not have the above, can still view the trailers (well we could on a Mac anyway).
Five download
13 October, 2006
Carphone Warehouse Shares Drop On Vodafone News
The Herald is reporting that the shares in Carphone Warehouse took a bashing on the news that Vodafone is switching away from them, to sell their mobile phone contracts through Phones 4U instead.
The shares dropped 13.9%
Vodafone cited that Phones 4U charging Vodafone a lower commission was the reason for the change. We suspect that doesn’t quite tell the whole story.
Carphone (as those in the industry call it) is becoming a major threat to Vodafone as they both move into other areas of communication – in the big communications convergence rush.
Carphone has been building up its bought AOL UK two days ago.
Vodafone themselves have recently moved into broadband, in a deal with BT. With Carphone effectively becoming a competitor, we assume that Vodafone don’t want to carry on giving them money.
If Vodafone’s choice to dump Carphone hurts them more will be revealed in the future. As Roger Taylor, FD for Carphone points out, “Every Vodafone customer that walks into our stores now will not walk out on a Vodafone contract.”
13 October, 2006
iPod (RED); Razr RED; Slvr RED:Help Eliminate AIDS in Africa
If you haven’t heard of (RED) yet, you certainly will – there’s a ton of celebs involved and it’s going to be all over the media. It was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA and it’s already been on Oprah in the US with Penelope Cruz and Kanye West.
(RED) tell us they’re not a charity, they’re a business model. “You buy (RED) stuff. We get the money. Buy the pills and distribute them. They take the pills, stay alive, and continue to take care of their familiaes and contribute socially and economically in their communities.”
Apple have a Nano (RED), which is not surprisingly red. Buying one will give you the prefect opportunity to show that you are supporting the (RED) cause. $10 of each one sold goes to (RED). Apple will also offer a £15 and £25 iTunes (PRODUCT) RED gift card available for purchase at Apple’s retail and online stores next month.
Motorola are the “exclusive wireless partner” for (PRODUCT) RED and have two handsets of the red hue. The red MOTOSLVR is exclusive to the UK and the MOTORAZR V3m is only available in the US. The deal with the phones sounds like it’s actually better for (RED) long term depending on the service provider. With Orange, 5% of your monthly phone bill spend will also be donated to (RED).
We’d normally be dismissive of red-ipod-type-stunts, but an effort like this can’t be a bad thing. Tune in to their blog to stay current.
(RED)
13 October, 2006
Spoof David Cameron Video Brouhaha
Some MP’s are trying to create brouhaha (fuss) about a spoof video put out by labour MP Sion Simon mocking the first video of Conservative party leader, David Cameron on his Webcameraon site.
If you’ve not seen Cameron’s first piece, which was put out in advance of the Tory party conference, take a trundle through – it’s only just over a minute long.
When we saw it, we found it pretty contrived, with “Dave” just about to do the “washing up” – clutching his Ecover washing-up liquid (look how green I am), without rolling his sleeves up!
Sion Simon’s video repost parodies Cameron’s “hey, I’m just like you” approach and ~~can be seen below~~ can’t been seen on YouTube anymore as someone has pulled the video. To see it now, you’ll have to watch it via the BBC.
The criticism of Simon is being lead by Peter Luff and given Luff’s comments, it appears that he’s not too secure in his position, “When you go over the top like this, you bring all of us in politics into disrepute.” If you’ve watched the film I think you’ll agree that the video is hardly over the top, just gently mocking.
Criticism of the video isn’t just restricted to the opposition. Labour MP Stephen Pound said he thought Mr Cameron’s wife Samantha would be “hurt and insulted” by remarks made by Simon, referring to his comments suggesting that Cameron would be fine with people sleeping with his wife.
It’s not just MPs that are creating spoof videos. Someone calling himself WebCameraOn has created a number of videos pocking fun as well.
Cameron is playing the “am I bovvered” card. 2:49 minutes into this piece, Cameron mentions that there had been a number of spoofs of his piece, calling them “The greatest form of flattery, imitation.” Bizarrely Cameron also says, “Hope that you people are enjoying the Web site,” “You People”?
Cameron – or at least someone in his team – has clearly seen that he now has the ability to bypass the media and the filter that they apply to his comments.
13 October, 2006
Palm Treo 680 Affordable Smartphones Announced
Palm has introduced a new range of quad-band Palm Treo 680 smartphones, running the tried and trusted Palm OS.
Backed by a $25 million marketing campaign – their biggest marketing campaign in half a decade – Palm is hoping that the lower priced Treos will attract customers beyond their traditional business base.
The GSM/GPRS/EDGE phones will be offered in a range of attractive colours (Graphite, Copper, Crimson and Arctic), weighing 23g lighter than the last PalmOS Treo, the 700p, and measuring up at 6mm longer and 3mm thinner.
Like the Windows-powered Treo 750w released earlier this year, the Treo 680 comes without the pocket-bulging, iconic chunky antennae, something which Palm thinks will have a positive impact on the European market.
The Treo comes with a large and bright 320×320 screen and the well regarded full QWERTY keyboard, with a raft of multimedia functions including an integrated digital camera, Bluetooth 1.2 , MP3 player, video recorder and player.
Onboard, there’s 64MB of user-available storage – nearly three times the capacity of the original Treo 650 smartphone – with expansion card support up to 2GB.
Although the Treo 680 is still lagging behind with the latest technology – there’s still no W-CDMA or Wi-Fi support – its superb user-friendly interface still puts it streets ahead of some higher spec’d phones.
Software
Like its Palm OS predecessors, the 680 displays text-messaging conversations as IM-like “threaded chats,” a fabulous feature that should be introduced by law on all phones.
The phone also lets users respond to calls by firing off a preset text message (“bog off weird stalker person”), and there’s support for three-way calling.
Along with the usual bundled applications for e-mail, Web browsing, messaging, multimedia, calendar and contacts, there’s a special version of Google Map for the Treo.
Billed by Google as,”the fastest, slickest version yet,” the application offers real-time traffic reports, detailed directions, integrated search results (search for cafes/bars etc, get addresses and call them with one click), satellite imagery and fast-downloading detailed, draggable maps with translucent pop-up balloons.
Sadly, us in Britland will have to wait for a while as the program currently only offers maps for Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the US.
Palm has also announced that it will be partnering with several media companies, including Yahoo, Google and blogging firm Six Apart, to make their products available on the new device – these will join the enormous back catalogue of commercial and free software that’s already available for the OS.
Availability
Palm head honcho Ed Colligan said he expects the new smartphone to be available around the world by the end of June, 2007, “competitively priced with comparable smartphones in the marketplace,” with the price rumoured to be around the $200 mark.
Palm 680
13 October, 2006
Orb MyCasting on Nokia N80 In US
Orb MyCasting has been grabbed by Nokia to be bundled in with the Nokia N80 Internet Edition, in the US only.
When US N80 owners are swanning around, they’ll be able to watch live TV, videos, listen to music and podcasts and video images on their PC. Not just that, but they can set programs to record on their PC from their mobiles.
The TV and media companies have not, to say the very least, been particularly keen on letting people do this. We’ll see if they come out against Nokia.
Back in August this year, Orb MyCasting were keen to “share”, that 19 months after the service was launched, they’ve had over 1.5m hours of digital media transfered over their service – equivalent to 125 years of media-idge. Interestingly up to 45 minutes per user per day, on average.
Orb has similar deals with companies such as AMD, Vodafone, Hauppauge, Intel and Creative Labs.
Programming video recordings is not unique – Sky TV has been offering this since July this year through their Mobile Sky+ Programming
Orb Networks
12 October, 2006
Writely and Spreadsheets Combined By Google
docs.google.com is the new destination for Google’s Web-based Writely word processor and their companion spreadsheet.
Given both of the apps are Web-based, anyone with a Web browser can use these apps, no matter where they are. It’s not surprising that Google also offers extensive searching within the documents that are created.
Just how long the Writely name will survive, now it’s being referred to as Google Docs?
Google bought Writely back in March and got to work with bringing it into Google-dom.
Back in June, Google let it be known that they’d matched Writely with a spreadsheet, causing waves of discussion as to them treading on Microsoft’s toes.
One of the nifty features is the ability to collaborate with other people in your Google address book and choose to share the documents in an area created with anyone on the Web. Once created, the authors can attach tags to the content to locate them again.
This is great for Google, not just because they are knocking one on the chin for Microsoft, but because they’re giving people tools to generate content … for them to search on Google. Pretty cyclical init.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets
12 October, 2006
Parliament And The Internet
12.Oct.06 The Parliament and the Internet Conference will bring together leading figures from Government, Parliament, academia and industry to discuss and debate the most pressing policy issues facing the internet The Conference will centre on a keynote speech from William Dutton, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute and six workshops which will each consider a major policy issue facing the internet. Topics for discussion will include consumer protection issues, UK competitiveness in the digital age and next generation services. Each session will be led by an MP or senior industry figure. Portcullis House, London http://www.parliamentandinternet.org.uk/
12 October, 2006
Sony NW-S700 Walkman: Noise Cancelling
Sony have released the latest of their Walkmans – with the added bonus of having noise cancellation built in. It’s the first for a portable music player.
Over recent years Bose has done very well from their noise cancelling headphone, particularly from regular plan travellers attempting to negate the horrid din.
The headphone that comes with the NW-S700 Walkman, named 13.5φEX, have built-in microphones that capture, examine and then neutralises the surrounding noise. They call it Clear Audio technology.
The neat little player comes in 1Gb, 2Gb and 4Gb capacity and has a stunning charge to playback ratio. For all of you with soooper busy lives, a 3 minute charge will give 3 hours of playback. Those who are more relaxed, a maxed out charge will give 50 hours of playback.
There’s built-in audio encoding, letting you record for an analog source directly and it comes in violet, black and pink.
One of the options that you’ll be able to get for it, is a Bluetooth Audio Transmitter, letting you send the music via stereo bluetooth to your ears. Expect to see lots of this feature soon.
It’s going to sell for £189 starting in November – just in time for you little cousin’s xmas present.
It sounds like a great idea, that we can’t wait to get our hands on.
SonyStyle Euro site
12 October, 2006