Content – Page 43 – Digital-Lifestyles

MySpace News Take On Google News and Digg

MySpace News To Rival Google News and Digg It is perfectly logical that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp that owns MySpace would use it to trial new features and services that will be of use across their vast empire of media companies.

To this end, MySpace will be launching MySpace News, expected to launch into Beta later today.

They will be scraping news site across the world and presenting them in the same way that Google News does so successfully.

Once the stories are presented to the MySpace users, they’ll be able vote on the quality and content of the stories, in much the same way as Digg users currently do.

So it looks like they’ve taken Google News and Digg and glued the two together.

We’re not sure if Rupe has this one right, as it’s widely known that the younger end of the population doesn’t really care that much about news.

Time will tell if they choose to spend their leisure time (as that’s what MySpace is) reading news stories and voting on them.

Myspace News (still currently private)

Wii Warm-up!

The London Times has a piece the drags up the now-old idea of the Wii being bad for you physically, with them highlighting “aching backs, sore shoulders and even “Wii elbow”.”

Wii Warm-up! We’ve recently been playing the Wii intensively for two weeks and did find that our right (playing) wrist aching, but that’s probably because we haven’t used it for much besides mousing-around for the last couple of years.

At the bottom of the ‘we’re out to bash the Wii’ piece, there’s something that we can’t work out if this is meant as a joke or not – a Wii Warm-up.

Here it is, just in case you’re concerned about your Wii-age.

Tim Hutchful, of the British Chiropractic Association, gives a guide to a pre Wii warm-up:
1 Shoulder shrug — slowly shrug your shoulders towards your ears. Hold for two to three seconds, then relax. Repeat three times. Because it is easier to relax a muscle after you have tightened it, you will relax the muscles in the shoulder and allow the blood to flow into the arms.
2 Wrist stretch — slowly stretch the wrist backwards, hold for two to three seconds, then slowly stretch it forwards and hold for two to three seconds. Repeat three times. This exercise prevents tightening of the wrists.
3 Make a fist — hold the arm at right angles from the elbow. Make a fist and tense it, and the whole of your arm. Hold for two to three seconds, then relax and let the arm flop to your side. Repeat three times. This will help the blood flow and tone the muscles.
4 Neck muscle stretch — try to make a double chin, to stretch the muscles at the base of the neck. Hold this position for two to three seconds and repeat three times. Always stretch very slowly.
5 Lower back loosen — standing with your feet a shoulder-width apart, slowly circle your hips five revolutions to the right and then five revolutions to your left.

Resident Evil x 2 on Wii: European Details

There have been mutterings for a while about the classic, long-running gore/terror-fest, Resident Evil, coming to the Nintendo Wii in Europe.

Resident Evil x 2 on Wii: European Details Official confirmation of the European release has this morning been announced – and it’s to arrive in two flavours.

The first, on 29 June, will be Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition, which is a “re-mastered version” of the game, utilising the all-new motion sensitive controls that make the Wii what it is.

Resident Evil 4 has already been on the GameCube, PlayStation2 and PC is confusingly the sixth instalment of the Resident Evil series.

Coming “later in the year” will be Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, which looks to us like it’s been designed to appeal to those who are long-in-the-tooth Resident Evil players.

It’s a brand new title for Wii that allows players to gain a greater insight than ever before into the back story behind the outbreak. Capcom, the developers of both titles, describe it as an “action/shooter hybrid,” which has locations from Resident Evil 0, 1, 2 and 3 as well as new never-before-seen locations, such as Umbrella’s stronghold. Woooo!

One enterprising site has even mocked up a version of how they think the Wii-mote might be used to play Resident Evil.

The Umbrella Chronicles has been designed to use gun controllers – shooting is a large part of Resident Evil after all. Those in the frame are the yet-to-be-released Wii Blaster gun and possibly the now-selling JoyTech Sharp Shooter.

Netvibes Universe Offers Personalised Web Portals

Netvibes Universe Offers Personalised Web Portals We’ve been feeling the love for the Netvibes aggregator for some time, and we look to be cuddling up a bit closer now that the company is letting users publish their home pages as personal Web portals – for free.

In case you haven’t already hooked up to this Web 2.0-tastic, AJAX-fuelled marvel, Netvibes is a customisable home page that lets you add and configure a personalised page to include live news feeds, Last.FM players, blog updates, weather reports, text, image and video search tools, email inboxes and a ton of other stuff.

The Paris-based company is now hoping to sock it to The Man by letting users publish their own standalone portals, and steal a march on the big Internet playaz like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL.

“The portal is dead. Long live the portal,” air-punched Tariq Krim, Netvibes’ founder and chief executive.

Netvibes Universe Offers Personalised Web Portals Mix’n’matching the webThe power of the Netvibes portal means that users can mix and match email accounts from the likes of Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo, and add whatever content they fancy, regardless of the source.

The Web based interface is a marvel of modern web technology too, letting users drag and drop ‘modules’ around the page without any need to delve into the dark world of coding.

Netvibes Universe Offers Personalised Web Portals The new Netvibes Universe service lets users design their own homepage and slap it on the web in minutes via the Netvibes Ecosystem. These pages can be configured to include personalised feeds such as videos, photos, podcasts, news, e-mail and eBay auction notifications.

Netvibes has also signed up over 100 publishing partners, including pop stars and media companies like Time, USA Today, and the Washington Post, who will offer their own versions of Netvibes homepages.

Welcome to the world of Web 2.0
“Netvibes provides open access to the world of Web 2.0 content,” said Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li. “Traditionally, you had to ask each company permission to do this on any Web site. Now you can read Gmail alongside Hotmail and Yahoo Mail,” she added.

Netvibes Universe Offers Personalised Web Portals Li reckoned that even folks working in Google and Yahoo felt that the big boys should give up trying to stop surfers from using competing products, as the shiny Internet of the Noughties means that services need to live side-by-side with competitors.

“With Web 2.0, no one can own the whole space. In the past, you wanted everyone to come to your site. Right now, you need to figure out how to distribute your content to the widest number of platforms,” said Netvibes’ Krim. “We try to be the glue between all these Web services,” he continued.

Netvibes Universe goes live next Monday.

CNet

Apple Final Cut Server Launched

Apple has also announced the summer release of Final Cut Server, a cross-platform (Mac+PC) piece of software designed to serve the Final Cut’s 800,000+ users, alongside its announcement of Final Cut Studio 2.

Apple Final Cut Server Launched We think that given the Mac OS is based on a form of Unix, and Apples dislike for Microsoft, it’s surprising that Apple hasn’t released a Linux-based server.

The software automatically catalogues large collections of assets and lets editors collaborate and share videos with each other, supported by keyword searching of video clips, access controls and workflow templates.

This is an aggressive move by Apple into the area that has until now been dominated by highly specialised video editing packages.

Final Cut Server will cost $999 (£649) for a 10-user license or $1999 (£1,299) for one server and unlimited concurrent users.

It is expected to be released in Summer 2007.

Apple Final Cut Server

Apple Final Cut Studio 2 Announced

Apple has released a significant upgrade to its Final Cut Studio package, a high-end bundle of video editing applications for pros and rich enthusiasts alike and Final Cut Server.

Apple Final Cut Studio 2 Announced The Final Cut Studio 2 package includes Final Cut Pro 6, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Compressor 3, DVD Studio Pro 4.2 and a new app called Color, described as a, “professional colour grading and finishing application.”

Also new is ProRes 422, a new full raster, 10-bit 4:2:2 post production format that produces stunning HD quality at “SD file sizes,” with Apple claiming that industry heavyweights like Panasonic, Sony and RED are also feeling the love for the format.

Motion 3 now offers a 3D environment, paint and new drag-and-drop camera behaviours, vector based paint tools, and a match moving tool for mapping images or effect to the path of any other object.

Apple Final Cut Studio 2 Announced The Soundtrack Pro 2 audio editor adds tools for multitrack editing and surround mixing with a new Conform tool which makes it easier to precisely align effects and dialogue with footage.

Apple’s encoding tool, Compressor 3 offers a more streamlined interface with a simplified workflow, and extends support for codecs such as MPEG-2 and H.264 with presets for television, Web, iPod, Apple TV, DVD and mobile phone delivery.

Apple Final Cut Studio 2 Announced Finishing off the package is DVD Studio Pro 4.2 which takes care of SD and HD DVD authoring.

In line with its professional status, Final Cut Studio costs a ruddy packet, retailing for a whistle-inducing £849 (current version users can upgrade for £329, otherwise it’s £449 for all other Final Cut Studio users).

Apple Final Cut Studio 2

Ricoh GX100 Digicam Packs In The Innovation

Last time we looked at one of Ricoh’s upmarket cameras, the Ricoh GR, we went all Victor Kyam and liked the camera so much we went out and bought the thing, and Ricoh’s new GX100 has got our wallet hand twitching again.

Ricoh GX100 Digicam Packs In The Innovation Never a company to run with the pack, the new Ricoh Caplio GX100 serves up an innovative feature set, with a super wide 24 to 72 mm wide zoom lens (35mm film equivalent), a fast F2.5 aperture and 10.01 Megapixel CCD sensor.

Billed as the successor to the popular Caplio GX8, the GX100 has inherited some of the features of the GR, including the fabulous two mode dial system which makes up what Professional Photography magazine recently described as the ‘best control system of any compact camera’ (once you get used to it, Canon and Nikon compacts seem clunky in comparison).

Ricoh GX100 Digicam Packs In The Innovation Another innovation that has set photo-nerd hearts a-fluttering in Chez Digi Lifestyles is the optional removable electronic viewfinder.

This clips on to the hotshoe (yes, it’s got one of them too) and offers a high resolution LCD display including all the necessary exposure information. If they get the quality right, this will be as close as you can get to a real street shooter experience in a camera this size.

Architecture and landscape fans will also like the optional ultra-wide-angle 19mm lens for those big panoramic shots, with spot-on exposures guaranteed via a host of manual and scene modes and RAW file recording.

Ricoh GX100 Digicam Packs In The Innovation As with the GR, macro focussing goes all the way down to a frankly ridiculous 1 cm (any closer and you’ll be burrowing into the subject), with a built in CCD shift method offering vibration reduction.

Ricoh claim that their ‘Smooth Imaging Engine II’ image-processing engine will keep the noise down, but with so many pixels packed onto such a small sensor, we expect the processor will be kept busy.

Ricoh GX100 Digicam Packs In The Innovation With the Ricoh Caplio GX100 measuring up at just 25mm, this looks to be a great carry everywhere camera, and with a claimed battery life of 380 exposures, this looks to be a very, very interesting camera.

European pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but a Japanese site is quoting a retail price of 80,000 Yen (approx $670, 500 Euro, £340).

Specifications:

CCD Effective 10.01 million pixels (total 10.30 million pixels ), 1/1.75-inch primary-colour CCD
Lens Focal length f=5.1 to 15.3 mm (equivalent to 24 to 72 mm for 35 mm film cameras)
Aperture (F value): F 2.5 – F9.1 (Wide-angle) , F4.4 – F15.8 (Telephoto)
Lens structure 11 glass elements in 7 groups
Shutter speed 180, 120, 60, 30, 15, 8, 4, 2, 1 to 1/2000 sec. 1/30 – 1/2000 sec.
Picture modes F (Fine) / N (Normal) / RAW *2
Exposure adjustment TTL-CCD Metering Method: Multi Light Metering (256 segments),
Centre-weighted Light Metering, Spot Metering
White balanced Auto, Fixed (OUTDOORS, CLOUDY, INCAND., FLUORES., MANUAL) / White Balance Bracket
Ricoh GX100 Digicam Packs In The Innovation Memory SD Memory Card ( 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 MB, 1, 2 GB), SDHC Memory Card (4 GB),
Multi Media Card, Internal Memory (26 MB)
Recording modes Still image modes (Still Image, CONT., S-CONT, M-CONT), Program Shift, Aperture-Priority,
Manual Exposure modes, Scene modes (Portrait, Sports, Landscape, Nightscape,
Skew correction, Text, Zoom macro, High Sensitivity) , Movie mode, My setting 1&2
LCD 2.5-inch Transparent Amorphous Silicon TFT LCD (approx. 230,000 pixels)
Dimensions 111.6 mm (W) x 58.0 mm (H) x 25.0 mm (D) (excluding projections parts)
Weight Approx. 220 g (excluding batteries, Memory Card, strap), Accessories: approx. 30 g (battery, strap)
Battery Rechargeable battery (DB-60) x 1, optional AC adaptor (AC-4c), AAA battery (alkaline/oxyride/NiMH) x 2
Shooting capacity Conforms to CIPA standard: using the DB-60, approx. 380 pictures
(Using AAA alkaline batteries: approx. 35 pictures *4)

Ricoh GX100

Full Version of Wii Internet Channel Now Available

To celebrate the release of the Wii Internet Channel
Digital-Lifestyles now is formatted specifically for
the Nintendo Wii. To see it, just look us up on your Wii.

Since the launch of the Wii there’s been a beta version of the Opera Web browser available for the surprise success active console.

That all changes today when the full version becomes available for download through the Wii Shop Channel – the area on the console where additional applications and services are accessed.

Nintendo are really pushing the Family Web browsing feature of the new setup – wisely in our view. Multiple controllers can be used during a Browsing session, letting many members of the family point out areas of interest

The release version adds features such being able to set the resolution of the browsing to the size of your monitor; having no margins when browsing; two types of zooming when browsing (continual zooming is now included); fonts now remain anti-aliased no matter how deep the zoom; searching Google and Yahoo is offered by default; scrolling using the up-down-left-right control pad. The comprehensive list of these and their description are available at the bottom of this article.

Full Version of Wii Internet Channel Now Available

What’s it like to use?
Travelling to and through the Internet Channel is remarkably easy on the Wii. Given its built in Wi-Fi connectivity and simple menuing, getting it running is simple.

This is added to by navigating the Web pages being a doddle using the position-sensing pointer device known as the Wii-mote. In fact, we found it makes you wish you always had something that simple available when you have to navigate your computer from a sofa.

If you’ve not used the Wii (we recommend that you do, if you haven’t), take a look at the video that Opera has created to show the experience

[QUICKTIME http://www.opera.com/products/devices/nintendo/wii/video/wii-demo.mov 320 240]

Strangely the download is only free until 30 June this year, but once downloaded will remain free for “the lifetime of the system.”

Checkout the feature at the Opera site

New Internet Channel features

Zoom – The Internet Channel features two types of zoom: manual and automatic. The automatic zoom was first introduced in the trial version and allows users to select a point with the remote and zoom into that point at an auto-detected level. Manual zoom now gives the user the option to zoom the entire page at self-determined intervals. Nintendo also introduces the “outline font” feature which prevents fonts from appearing blurred no matter the zoom level in use.
Search – A search button has been added to the start page and to the browser toolbar. Choose between Yahoo! Search and Google as preselected search engines. Your selection can be changed at any time, or a different search engine can be used by typing the address of the search engine you wish to use.

Scroll – To help users understand their scrolling motions, a new scrolling display guide has been added to the Internet Channel that indicates the direction and speed of the scroll. In addition to scrolling by pressing the B Button, users can also scroll by pressing the +Control Pad, for four-directional scrolling. This allows you to scroll the screen without having to point the remote at the TV.
Ease of use – The Internet Channel now offers more user feedback when surfing. Users will encounter new sounds, animations and loading cursor graphics, creating a more complete browsing experience.
Multiple cursors – The Internet Channel now displays the cursors of multiple Wii remotes. The primary Wii Remote can control actions on the screen, while the other Wii Remotes can point out interesting content.
Hide the toolbar – Users are now given the option to display or hide the toolbar in the settings menu. Also, there are new advanced key presses for each toolbar function allowing users to surf with the toolbar off.
.B Button + Left Arrow = Search
.B Button + Right Arrow = Enter web address
.B Button + Up Arrow = Reload
.B Button + Down Arrow = Favorites
.B Button + (+) key = Page forward
.B Button + (-) key = Page backward
Response time – The Internet Channel now sports improved performance and response times upon start up, when loading the favourites menu and in the toolbar.
Parental Controls
Parents who want to control access to the Internet Channel should refer to the Parental Controls options available in the Wii System Settings. To access these settings, return to the Wii Menu and select the Wii icon.

24/24 Video By Orange France Gets Paramount Deal

Orange France have picked up a deal with the US studio Paramount Pictures, to distribute their content in France.

24/24 Video By Orange France Gets Paramount Deal It’s not just old content that will be available, but new productions from Paramount including DreamWorks titles, which will be among the latest films available.

Orange France customers with a broadband digital television package or a High-Speed Internet package will be able to enjoy a Video-On-Demand programming schedule including the studio’s latest releases, such as Mission Impossible III, Over the Hedge and World Trade Center, among others.

There’s over 2,500 films, in French or original language versions with subtitles, available on the 24/24 Video service currently, which costs from 3 Euros to rent for 24 hours. Usual features such as unlimited viewing, pause functions and fast forward and rewind are available.