Mike Slocombe

Archos 404, 504, 604 PMP: Details
Details are still a little murky on this one, but some information on the upcoming range 404, 504, and 604 PMP devices are bubbling on up on t’internet.
The Archos 404 (already being dubbed the ‘Page Not Found’ player by some wags) looks set to a high-spec’d affair, sporting a 30 GB hard drive, a 3.5″ LCD display (320 x 240 px, 16 million colours) and MTP/UMS capabilities.
The thing looks like it will be able to play just about any multimedia file you throw at it too, with built in support for MP3, WMA, WAV, JPEG, BMP, PNG, MPEG4 ASP (Level 5), XviD, DivX 4, DivX 5 and WMV9 (up to a max resolution of 704x 480 @ 30fps, 720 X 576 @ 25fps).
Inside the highly pocketable player (100 X 77 X 15 mm, weight 190g) there’s also a PDF viewer on board, a handy PDF viewer and a built in speaker.
Audio playback battery life is claimed at 15 hours, dropping to 4 hours with video.
Archos 504/604
We’ve no details on the Archos 504 yet, but we can tell you that the Archos 604 offers the same feature set as above, but adds a man-sized 4.3″ display (480 x 272 px, 16 million colours) screen in a slightly bigger case (130 x 78 x 16mm, 260g.)
Accessories ahoy
Archos are rumoured to be producing an optional DVR station for all the new units, capable of recording video from external sources using MPEG4-SP (DivX 5.0) with ADPCM up to maximum 640 X 480 @ 30fps)
As with previous Archos models, there also looks to be a range of add-ons being made available later, including a line-in recorder, USB host module, and camera.
The players are expected to ship in October, although Archos have made no official announcement yet.
Archos
31 July, 2006
Internet Killed The TOTP Star
To a long, long fanfare that we began to fear would never end, Top of the Pops, the world’s longest-running weekly music show, was finally killed off last night.
A classic example of how the Internet is changing consumer’s habits, the once High Priest of Pop found its viewers tumbling as music fans flocked to the Web for the latest tunes, news and videos.
Despite being a major landmark on the UK music map for what seems like centuries, a new generation of impatient, tech-savvy and Web-connected listeners were hardly likely to warm to a format that only offered a distilled breakdown of chart acts once a week.
Why wait?
Way back when we were lads, music delivery on demand wasn’t quite the slick operation it is now, with music starved teens reduced to hanging about in smelly phone boxes, dialling ‘160’ and shoving in their 2p’s to hear a crackly rendition of the song of the day (which you hoped wasn’t the Wombles).
But kids today – spoilt rotten!
Thanks to the Internet, music lovers can now instantly gorge themselves on zillions of new tunes through social networking sites like MySpace, immerse themselves in vast oceans of songs on pay-per-download sites like iTunes or smuggle in tune booty from pirate sites like SoulSeek.
With this kind of personal music delivery, the days of families sitting around the gogglebox for a weekly fix of pre-programmed music entertainment are long gone, with music fans able to listen to music whenever they feel like it, via their computers, mobile phones, iPods and media players.
The figures back up the story too, with a recent survey revealing that people spend longer on the Internet than watching television, with the audience for Top of the Pops crashing to around a million viewers from its once-lofty peak of more than 15 million.
MTV
Meanwhile MTV are still battling on with the launch of a community-style site at MTV.co.uk followed by a new channel called Flux which will let viewers control what is aired on the station, and offer live chat with other users
Aimed at challenging the big-boy social networking sites like MySpace and Bebo, MTV are hoping their new product will appeal to the wired generation.
Angel Gambino, vice president of commercial strategy and digital media at MTV Networks UK & Ireland told Reuters, “If audiences are spending more time away from the TV it is important for us to make sure we have a really compelling product.”
“It’s critical to our success to make that transition from a broadcasting company to a multiplatform media company,” she added.
Whether MTV’s new interactive TV service will manage to make inroads into a music market increasingly driven by the Internet remains to be seen, but it’s clear that traditional heavyweights like record labels and MTV are very unlikely to enjoy the domination enjoyed in the past.
31 July, 2006
Google Grabs Half Of All Web Searches In June
When it comes to web searches, Google still remains the world champ, with the latest figures showing that the search giant had notched up nearly half of all web searches last month.
Figures released from research firm Nielsen//NetRatings show that a massive 2.67 billion searches were carried out on Google during June 2006, which represents 49.4 per cent of all web searches carried out during the month.
These latest figures represent a mighty impressive year-on-year growth of 31 per cent for the Google gang.
Waddling some way behind in second place is Yahoo, who could only manage 1.24 billion searches, or 23 per cent of the total, although the company is enjoying a healthy 29 per cent year-on-year growth.
Looking further down the rankings, we can see MSN with 10.3 per cent and AOL with 6.9 per cent shares, with both companies registering around three per cent year-on-year growth.
Although Ask.com and My Way managed to score year-on-year growth of 66 per cent and 51 per cent respectively, the search sites only account for a mere two per cent of all searches in June.
At the bottom of the pile were Netscape, Dogpile, iWon and EarthLink, all of whom experienced “negative annual growth,” with just 0.5 per cent of all searches last month.
Zombie bars
Elsewhere, security firm SurfControl has warned users about a fake e-mail purporting to come from Google.
The Google-branded email includes a link to a well-dodgy site that looks like the real thing, offering a fake Google Toolbar Web site for download.
What users actually download is the Win32.Ranky.fw trojan that can turn users’ machines into ‘spam zombies,’ allowing a remote intruder to route HTTP traffic through an infected PC.
Google
Win32.Ranky.fw trojan
27 July, 2006
Annual Global Mobile Shipments To Reach 1.5 billion By 2011
Global sales of handsets are set to reach 1.5 billion in five years, according to a new report by IT research firm Analysys.
The “Evolution of Mobile Handsets to 2011 and Beyond” study forecasts that mobiles will evolve into three broad categories, comprising voice-centric, converged-function and specialist handsets.
After imbibing deeply on a large bowl of buzzwords, report author Dr Yanli Suo-Saunders exploded into a frenzy of tech-speak, “The handset market is transforming as traditional voice-centric devices diversify with the incorporation of a range of multimedia functions.”
“Future handsets will develop into voice-centric, converged-function and specialist categories, driven by increasingly segmented consumer demand,” he continued, as we grappled to sync up with his mindshare paradigm shift.
The good doctor reckoned that voice-centric handsets will remain the largest single product category in emerging markets; while developed economies will see converged-function and specialist handsets taking the lead in 2011.
Ball rubbing
After giving their crystal ball a good rub, the report authors predicted that annual global handset shipments will reach 1.5 billion in 2011 – up from just over 800 million in 2005 – while voice-centric handsets will still make up more than half of shipments in emerging markets in 2011.
Converged-function handsets look set to become a mainstream product in developed markets by 2011, hogging over 30% of the market, with a range of specialist handsets looking to be the biggest sellers in the majority of developed economies by the same time period.
Analysys
26 July, 2006
Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z700 Announced
Looking to scoop up some late summer sales action is Casio’s new Exilim Zoom EX-Z700 digital camera, available in silver and gunmetal.
This latest addition to the popular Exilim family serves up a beefy 7.2 megapixels-worth of resolution, with a large 153k LCD screen offering 1200cd/m2 brightness – claimed to be bright enough to let you see what’s going on in the dazzling sunshine of Grimethorpe and Abu Dhabi.
Despite its pocket-sized dimensions (88.5 x 57 x 20.5 mm ), the battery life looks pretty healthy, with a claimed 460 still images on a single charge.
New modes
The auto-everything camera boasts two interesting new ‘Best Shot’ modes; the first being Auto Framing.
This claims to keep “dynamic subjects like playful, active children at the centre of the photograph” apparently “solving one of photography’s most perplexing challenges” on the way. Phew. Thanks for that, Casio!
When the camera is set to Auto Framing, a thin, outlined frame appears on the LCD, centred on the moving subject of the photo, with the area within the frame being captured when the shutter is fully depressed.
Cheese FX
The second, less useful, new mode is called Layout Shot, which lets users create collages made up of multiple shots of chums taken against the same scenic backdrop, or mix shots with different compositions to create a, err, “single artistic layout.”
Users keen to get a bit Salvador Dali on their Casio have to select one of two predefined layout templates, blast out 2-3 photos and then let the camera create its masterpiece.
To be honest, the thing sounds absolutely dreadful to us, but there may be some folks out there who can’t get enough of cheesy effects like this. But not us.
Rounding up the feature set of this thoroughly unremarkable camera is Casio’s Anti Shake DSP, a 38-114mm (35mm equiv) 3x optical zoom
The Casio Exilim EX-Z700 will be shunting off the shelves in the UK and Eire in August 2006, with priocing to be announced.
Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z700 specifications
Sensor: 7.20 million effective pixels
Image sizes: 3072 x 2304, 3072 x 2048 (3:2), 2560 x 1920, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480
Movie clips: 640 x 480 @ 30fps, 512 x 384 @ 30fps, 320 x 240 @ 30fps
File formats: JPEG (Exif v2.2), DCF 1.0, DPOF, AVI Motion JPEG
Lens: 38-114mm (35mm equiv), 3x optical zoom
Image stabilization: Anti Shake DSP
Digital zoom: up to 4x
Focus Contrast Type AF (selectable between spot, multi)
AF assist lamp: Yes
Focus distance: Normal: 40cm-infinity, Macro: 15-50cm, Manual: 15cm-infinity, Metering Multi-pattern, Centre-weighted, Spot
ISO sensitivity: Auto, ISO 50, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400
Exposure compensation -/+2EV in 1/3 EV steps
Shutter speed 1/2 to 1/2000 sec
Night Scene: 4 to 1/2000 sec
Aperture: F2.7 / 4.3 (auto switching)
Modes: Still, Still with audio (max 30secs), Continuous, BEST SHOT, Macro, Movie with audio, Voice recording
Scene modes: BEST SHOT
White balance: Auto, Fixed (6 modes), Manual switching
Self timer : 2 or 10 sec. Triple Self-timer
Continuous shooting: approx 1fps, High-speed continuous shutter and Rapid Flash approx 3fps
Flash: Auto, On, Off, Soft Flash, Red-eye reduction
Range: 0.15-3.4m (w) 0.4-1.8m (t)
Viewfinder No
LCD monitor 2.7-inch TFT colour, 153,600 pixels
Connectivity USB 2.0
Storage SDHC / MMC / SD card compatible, 8.3 MB internal memory
Power Lithium-ion NP-40 rechargeable battery, AC Adapter
Weight (no batt) 112 g
Dimensions 88.5 x 57 x 20.5 mm
Casio
26 July, 2006
Pentax Optio S7 Announced
Pentax have announced their new ultra-compact Optio S7 camera which features a seven megapixel sensor with high sensitivity up to ISO 1600 (at 4 mp).Released almost a year after their popular Optio S6 model, the camera upgrade features Pentax’s “Face Recognition AF & AE”, a 2.5″ non-glare LCD monitor, DivX Movie Mode and support for the new SDHC card format.
Slippy slidey lens
The Optio S7 comes in a suitably fashionable thin and compact body with a 3X optical zoom which uses Pentax’s proprietary original Sliding Lens System to keep the camera pocketable.
The lens offers a par-for-the-course 37.5 – 112.5 mm (35 mm equiv) 3x optical zoom range, with an aperture of F2.7 to 5.2.
There’s also 4x digital zoom onboard, but we never recommend using built in digi-zooms (you’re better off blowing up the images on your home PC).
Blur be gone
The camera features a Blur Reduction High ISO mode to help reduce camera shake and blur.
This ramps the ISO up to 1600, letting the Optio take advantage of faster shutter speeds in low light situations, but at the expense of image size, with the resolution slipping down to 4 MB (2304 x 1728 pixels).
Phizzog snapping
Employing the Face Tracker face-recognition technology from FotoNation, the new Face Recognition AF & AE mode claims to simplify portrait-taking by “automatically detecting the position of the subject’s face and adjusting the focus and exposure based on the detected position.”
The camera also sports an auto-tracking AF feature to provide continuously focus on marauding kids, mauling pets and passing UFOs.
Making movies
The Optio S7 can capture movies at 30 fps at sizes up to 640 x 480 pixels, with the DivX (MPEG-4 compliant) movie format offering longer recording times.
There’s also a movie anti-shake feature, although this will give users a narrower field of view than during normal recording.
Auto modes
Naturally, the camera comes stuffed with a ton of auto picture/scene modes, covering subjects such as Flowers, Kids, Pet, Nifgt Scene and the all-important Food mode (has anyone ever used this, anywhere?!).
Storage
Accompanying the 23 MB of built-in memory, the Optio S7 unusually supports two removable storage media formats; the tried and trusted SD memory cards as well as the new SDHC memory cards.
The Optio S7 will be available in September for “under US$300.”
Pentax Optio S7 specifications
Sensor , 1/2.5″ Type CCD, 7.0 million effective pixels
Image sizes 3072 x 2304, 2592 x 1944, 2304 x 1728, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480
Movie clips 640 x 480 @ 30 fps, 320 x 240 @ 30 fps, AVI (DivX compatible MPEG-4), With sound, movie anti-shake
File formats Still: JPEG (3 compression levels), Movie: AVI (DivX, MPEG-4), Sound: WAV
Lens 37.5 – 112.5 mm (35 mm equiv) 3x optical zoom, F2.7 – 5.2
Digital zoom Up to 4x
Focus TTL contrast detection autofocus ystem with AF spotbeam
AF area modes 5-point multi AF, Tracking AF switchable, Spot AF
AF assist lamp Yes
Focus distance Normal: 0.4 m (1.31ft) – infinity, Macro: 0.15 m – 0.5 m (0.49 ft – 1.64 ft), Pan focus: 1.1m (3.6 ft) to infinity at wide-angle setting/ 4.5m (15 ft) to infinity at telephoto setting
Metering Multi-segment, Center-weighted, Spot
ISO sensitivity Auto, ISO 64-400, ISO 400, ISO 800/1600 (Blur reduction mode; 4 mp)
Exposure compensation o +/- 2EV, 1/3 EV steps
Shutter speed 1/2000 – 4 secs
White balance Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescen, Manual
Drive modes One shot, Self-timer (10 / 2 sec), Continuous, Remote control (3 / 0 sec)
Flash Built-in
Modes: Auto, on, off, soft flash, red-eye reduction
Range: Approx. 0.15 m – 5.1 m (0.49 ft -17 ft) at 5.8 mm, Sensitivity
Auto Approx. 0.4 m -2.7 m (1.31 ft -8.9 ft) at 17.4 mm, Sensitivity Auto
Viewfinder No
LCD monitor 2.5″ TFT LCD, 232,000 pixels
Connectivity USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed), AV out, DC in
Storage SD / SDHC card, 23 MB internal memory
Power Rechargeable D-LI8 lithium-ion battery
Weight 100 g (3.5 oz) (no battery or card), 120 g (4.2 oz) (loaded and ready)
Dimensions 86 x 54 x 20 mm (3.4 x 2.1 x 0.7 in)
Pentax Optio s7
26 July, 2006
Motorola Unveils 3G MotoRAZR MAXX
Somewhat earlier than expected, Motorola has officially announced the follow up to their wildly successful V3x phone, the new MotoRAZR MAXX.
Wearers of tight spandex pants will appreciate the 0.2-inches that has been carefully shaved off the V3x’s dimensions, giving the MAXX a super-slimmer width of just 0.6-inches.
Lurking inside the sleek black flip handset is a veritable GCHQ of connectivity, with the phone now offering nippy EDGE and HSDPA connectivity, GSM 900/1800/1900MHz, as well as the speedy UMTS (2100MHz).
Motorola claim that the phone can reach download speeds as fast as 3.6MB per second using the High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) handsets.
As ever, the phone looks slicker than a Torey Canyon coastline, with a large 2.2-inch QVGA display, flat metal keys and external touch sensitive music controls backlit with a lovely blue glow that screams, “I am a hip fecker” to any passers by.
Moto has wedged in VGA and 2.0 megapixel cameras for two-way video calling, with Bluetooth 2.0+ Enhanced Data Rate, 50MB of internal storage and a microSD slot (up to 2GB) for storing tunes, videos and data.
If you’re already salivating at the sight of all this lovely technology, you’re going to have to keep your hanky to hand for a while longer as Motorola have yet to give specific release/pricing/market details.
Motorola
25 July, 2006
US Stays Top Of The Spam League
Once again, America remains firmly rooted to the top of the league of spam-relaying nations, accounting for a hefty 23.2 per cent of the world’s unsolicited email during the second quarter of 2006
Lurking close behind with a 20 per cent contribution to the global spam total is China (inc. Hong Kong), with South Korea in third with 7.5 per cent.
However, the figures from IT security firm Sophos reveal that both China and South Korea have managed to reduce their spam output since the first quarter of the year, unlike the US which has failed to reduce its spam for the first time in over two years.
Botnets of zombies. Aaaieee!
Sophos explained that the vast majority of the spam tracked by the company was relayed by botnets of ‘zombie’ computers hijacked by Trojan horses, worms and viruses, controlled by devilish hackers.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos commented that the introduction of the 2004 US Can-Spam legislation in 2004 had resulted in a regular quarter-on-quarter drop in the proportion of US-based spam, Until now, of course.
“Given the number of arrests, and the huge fines dished out to guilty spammers, it is hard to criticise the US for failing to take action, said Cluley.
“Perhaps the reality is that the statistics cannot be reduced any further unless US home users take action to secure their computers and put a halt to the zombie PC problem,” he added.
Eurospam
When it comes to spam-per-continent, Sophos found Asia the busiest around, but noted that spam relaying in Europe continues to grow.
Europe collectively accounted for 25 per cent of the world’s spam in the first quarter of 2006, a figure that has now increased to 27.1 per cent, overtaking North America in the spam spreading league.
Ruski controllers
There may be no sign of Russia in the “dirty dozen” of steeeenkin’ spam-relaying countries, but Sophos reckons there’s still ’nuff bad boys to be found, claiming that Russian spammers may be controlling “vast networks” of zombie PCs.
Embedded spam
Spams containing embedded images have seen a huge rise this year, leaping from 18.2 per cent in January to 35.9 per cent in June.
Using images instead of plain text lets spammers bypass some anti-spam filters that weed out spam by analysing the textual spam content.
Pump and dump
Sophos reckons that 15 per cent of all spam emails are now ‘pump-and-dump’ scams, up from just 0.8 per cent in January 2005.
We’ve suffered a ton of these scams which are designed to boost the value of a company’s stock in order for spammers to make a quick profit
“It is worrying to see so many pump-and-dump emails, often with embedded graphics, being spammed out to the general public,” commented Cluley.
“The people that act on these emails are not skilled investors, and do not realise that purchasing the shares is likely to reap no reward, benefiting only the spammers while creating a financial rollercoaster for the organisation in question,” he added.
Although we sympathise with his words, you’d have to be madder than Jock McFruitloop wearing jelly trousers to even consider buying any stocks recommended by these emails.
The Bad Boy tables
Spam relaying countries, April to June 2006:
1. United States 23.2%
2. China (inc. Hong Kong) 20.0%
3. S Korea 7.5%
4. France 5.2%
5. Spain 4.8%
6. Poland 3.6%
7. Brazil 3.1%
8. Italy 3.0% new entry
9. Germany 2.5%
10. United Kingdom 1.8%
11. Taiwan 1.7%
12. Japan 1.6%
Others 22.0%
Spam relaying continents, April to June 2006:
1. Asia 40.2%
2. Europe 27.1%
3. North America 25.7%
4. South America 5.5%
5= Australasia 0.7%
5= Africa 0.7%
Others 0.1%
Sophos
25 July, 2006
Brits Love Affair With Mobiles Continues
In the largest UK study of its kind, the Mobile Life Report has revealed our attitudes towards mobile phones and how they have impacted on our lives, with more than 90% of UK mobile users saying they can’t get through the day without using their phone.
More than 16,500 people were surveyed for the report, which was published by The Carphone Warehouse in collaboration with the London School of Economics.
Text-tastic
The report revealed that the British love affair with texting is still in full flow, with people sending an average 3.6 mobile text messages a day compared with 2.8 voice calls a day.
Not surprisingly, it’s amongst da yoot that texting is the most popular with 51% of 18-24 year-olds sending/receiving at least six text messages a day, but with only 15% troubling themselves to have six or more mobile phone conversations a day.
Better than the tele
In the same 18-24 years old age bracket, mobile phones were declared to be more important than television (26% to 11%), with the figure jumping to 32% for women in the same age group.
Thievery
Mobiles continue to be hugely popular with muggers/thieves, with nearly one in ten people (9%) reporting that they’ve had a mobile phone stolen.
Not unexpectedly, 18 to 24 year olds were found to be at the most at risk, with 17% of women in that age group having had their phone purloined compared with 10% of men.
Citizen journalism
People were also found to be ready and willing to use their camera phones to record evidence of a crime (50%), or to snap a crime in progress (47%), with more than a third (36%) saying that they’d use their mobiles to grab a mugshot of a passing celebrity or newsworthy event.
Sex and mobiles
With a keen eye to garnering some press in the tabloids, the research bothered to ask about ‘relationships and mobiles’.
Lord knows why people bothered to answer these questions, but the survey found that a quarter of people bothered to disconnect their mobiles before indulging in a bit of hanky panky, with 11% switching them to silent (writer resists cheap joke about vibra-alerts) and 14% turning their phones off altogether.
The study also found that phones could be used to ward off unwelcome suitors, with over half of women under 25 admitting to getting out their mobiles in public situations to deter people from approaching them.
Tribes
For reasons best know to itself, the study also identified six tribes or groups of mobile phone users.
These are:
Generation Mobile – single, style conscious, 18-24 year olds who are students or working in their first jobs
Phonatics – single, employed folks aged 18-34 who elevate their mobile into being their most important electronic possession.
Practical Parents – young, cost-conscious families aged 18-34 who choose their mobiles for practical rather than style or function.
Smart Connecteds – affluent families and professionals aged 25-44 who use their mobile to organise their hectic work and social lives.
Fingers & Thumbs – married, middle-aged or retired folks with children or grandchildren.
Silver Cynics – affluent, married with children rapidly heading for retirement.
Mobile Life Report
25 July, 2006
Microsoft Zune Targets Apple’s iPods, Finally
After an eternity of denials, obfuscation, rumour and counter-rumour, Microsoft have finally confirmed that they will be launching their own rival to Apple’s iPod range.
In a statement late last week, the company said, “Today we confirmed a new music and entertainment project called Zune. Under the Zune brand, we will deliver a family of hardware and software products, the first of which will be available this year. We see a great opportunity to bring together technology and community to allow consumers to explore and discover music together.”
This announcement posits Zune as a brand name for an entire family of hardware and software products, supported by music, movie and media services, much like Apple’s iPod, iTunes and iTunes Music Store offering.
Billboard Magazine, who broke the story, has speculated that the Zune-branded range of products will include music players, video players, WiFi-enabled devices and possibly even a portable video game device, with Microsoft incorporating social networking and mobile media purchasing.
The first Zune device (which may or may not look like the one illustrated) is scheduled to be launched late this year ready for Christmas, with further devices following in 2007.
Microsoft has already busied itself with the dreadfully punned ComingZune.com viral marketing site which, bizarrely, features a big bloke and a tiny bloke stroking a rabbit to the strains of the excellent Regina Spektor song, ‘Us.’
Because we’re all being strung along by Microsoft’s teaser campaign, details are still very sketchy (like the illustrations on the site) although some rumours suggest that there’ll be a 30GB Zune with the “same pricing, look and feel as the 60GB iPod,” with Wi-Fi functionality letting users share music with up to 10 nearby chums.
We’ll keep you posted with more information just as soon as we hear summat.
24 July, 2006