Category: Gadgets

Microsoft Previews 64 bit Windows XP Professional

Microsoft have released a preview of the 64 bit version of Windows XP Professional for beta testers. Now called Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, the final version of the OS will now be released in 2005, having been delayed from winter 2004, no doubt because of delays with XP SP2. Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition will also be released in 2005.

Those of you wishing to test the OS have a 450 mb download ahead of you – which doesn’t seem that bad, really though copies are available free on CD with a modest shipping charge. From a feature standpoint, 64 bit Windows is virtually identical to the standard version, the program and kernel code is compiled to take advantage of the increased processor world length. Pricing for the final OS will be similar to 32 bit versions.

64 bit XP will run on a range of 64 bit processors and support up to 16 gigabytes of physical RAM and eight terabytes of virtual memory. RAM support will increase as hardware manufacturers catch up. 32 bit users on some processors will be able to upgrade to the new OS for free.

An overview of Windows XP Professional x64

PS2 & Xbox: Euro price drop

Both Sony and Microsoft have announced the European price drop of their consoles at the Leipzig Games Convention.It is thought that Microsoft got wind of Sony’s intended price drop and preempted it by announcing their own reduction. The exact timings were 3pm CET for Microsoft and 4:30 SET for Sony.Sony new pricing for the PS2 will be £104.99 with immediate effect. The Xbox will drop to £99.99, just below the physiological £100 barrier, but will take effect on the 27th August.Sounds like Microsoft had made a decision to drop the price, Sony then dropped theirs and Microsoft felt they had to try and trump it. The end results will be close to zero Xboxes being sold between now and 27th August.Sales surged in the US when US retail prices were dropped in June; a similar effect is expected here.

HomeChoice and Sky Do a Deal on Sport and Films

VideoNetwork’s HomeChoice platform now carries BSkyB’s Sky Sports and Movies channels. Subscribers can now watch Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and Xtra, plus Sky Movies Screens 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.

This takes HomeChoices’ selection up to 80 digital TV and on-demand film, music and entertainment channels.

Roger Lynch, Chairman and CEO, Video Networks Ltd said: “The addition of these channels is great news for HomeChoice subscribers. Over the past 15 years Sky has helped shape the UK’s TV sector. Its sports channels offer fantastic coverage of events that are close to the hearts of all UK sports fans. Furthermore, the addition of Sky Movies means even more choice for our customers. There are currently over 1000 films at their fingertips via our on-demand film channels Film 1st and Movies Now. Factor in the movies delivered via Sky’s channels and the HomeChoice platform offers outstanding choice for film fans.”

Martin Goswami, Sky’s Commercial Director, said: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with Video Networks that enables Sky to retail its services on the HomeChoice platform. This is a new initiative for Sky and a further broadening of the distribution of our channels.”

VideoNetworks

AOL’s Optimised PC

AOL have launched the AOL Optimised PC – a cheap PC that gets the AOL brand into homes and under people’s noses.

The base US$300 (€246) cost of the system is subsidised by the AOL subscription purchasers also have to buy with the PC. That adds a further US$23.90 (€19.60) a month for a year to the total cost.

The base unit is built around a 2GHz Celeron processor, 256Mb of memory and a 40 gb hard dirve. The PC comes with a 17” monitor, printer and speakers and AOL Office – which is essentially Open Office. Naturally, the PC is preconfigured with AOL’s suite of tools and applications with parental controls, Computer Check Up and internet access ready to go.

“We’re addressing the needs of the millions of Internet intenders who are first-time PC buyers or novice computer users,” said Kenn Turner, Senior Vice President and General Manager, AOL Key Audiences.

“They’ve told us that affordability and an interest in making one simple buying decision for everything they need to use the computer and get online is important to them. We think the complete AOL Optimized PC solution delivers unprecedented value, while maintaining performance and quality.”

AOL are supplying the computer in with English and Spanish language options, and it can be easily swapped between them.

“Fifty-five percent of English language dominant Hispanic households have Internet access at home, compared with only 20% of Spanish language dominant households, according to the Synovate 2004 Hispanic Report,” said David Wellisch, Vice President and General Manager, AOL Latino.

“The AOL Optimised PC is one of the only widely available PC plus internet solutions that makes it easy to select and switch between language preferences. Combined with an affordable price and a comprehensive PC bundle, we hope to empower these consumers to take advantage of all the resources the Internet has to offer.”

AOL is also hoping that the PC will raise awareness of their brand and get it into more homes, as Disney has demonstrated recently with their mouse-eared Disney PC.

The AOL Optimised PC

Blockbuster Launch Online DVD Rental Service

Blockbuster have launched Blockbuster Online, as service that allows subscribers to choose films from the company’s 25,000 title catalogue – and then have them posted to their home.

Not quite the giant leap we were all hoping for, and a bit late, but it’s a step forward. This is essentially the same service that Netflix and others have been providing for, well, months. Years, even.

Blockbuster don’t think they’re late to market at all: “We think now is the opportune time for Blockbuster to enter the online rental business, and we plan to quickly establish ourselves in this arena by aggressively marketing, pricing and combining our online program and in-store capabilities,” said Shane Evangelist, Blockbuster vice president and general manager of BLOCKBUSTER Online. “Very simply, we plan on providing the best online movie rental service available. To this end, the BLOCKBUSTER Online monthly fee is currently priced below our biggest competitor for the three-out rental plan. Plus, we are offering 25,000 new release and catalogue titles. We believe that all of this, combined with our marketing savvy, should help Blockbuster to develop a substantial share of the online rental business by the end of next year.”

Certainly, recognition of the Blockbuster brand should make it easier for them to gain ground in an already established market.

Subscribers can rent unlimited films, up to three at a time, for US$19.99 (€16.30) a month. As they’re paying a subscription and can only hold three titles at a time, there are not late fees – so that copy of Three Weeks Notice can sit there unwatched for as long as you like, just because you can’t get to the post office.

Blockbuster will be offering free rental coupons valid in its stores to encourage subscribers to still pop into the local branch now and again – of course, posting DVDs means that customers won’t be buying so much high-margin popcorn and chocolates anymore.

Blockbuster Online

PlayStation3 Will Use Blu-ray

Sony has a announced that its forthcoming PlayStation3 console will include a Blue-ray drive DVD drive. Blue-ray is a higher density DVD technology, and will be able to store around 50gb of data by the console’s release at the end of 2005.

The inclusion of the Blue-ray drive is sure to guarantee mass market acceptance for the format, in the face of competition from other high density DVD technologies. Sony are particularly keen to see the format flourish as it is one of the founders of the Blu-ray group and has invested heavily in the technology. The main competitor, HD-DVD, has recently received a boost from Microsoft when they announced that their next version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn, would support it.

Blue light optical disks can store more data on them because the wavelength of blue coherent light is shorter, and therefore can read smaller pits, which are also packed closer together.

As Blu-ray is not currently compatible with standard DVD technology, this means that the drive will not be able to play standard red laser DVDs, or run Playstation2 software. It remains to be seen if Sony will be using a special dual-format drive, of taking the expensive step of including two drives in the console.

Blu-ray Home

Disney’s Dream Desk PC

Disney have released their Dream Desk PC – a US$600 (€500) 2.6 gHz Celeron-based computer that comes complete with digital pen and suite of software. A 14” flat screen monitor with the characteristically round Mickey ears is a US$300 (€250)optional extra – but if you’re going to buy the PC, you have to have the ears too, right?

The striking blue computer was designed by Frog Design and made by Medion AG, a large German manufacturer. It even has a child-sized mouse for those little hands, and a unique cable management system to keep tempting electrical cables away from curious fingers.

To protect children, the PC comes with the EmailProtect and ContentProtect email and internet filtering applications. Plus on the entertainment side, the PC comes preloaded with several Disney games and tools for playing with Disney media (just play fair with the DMCA, kids!). A DVD player and CD writer is included for budding pirates.

This is Disney’s first attempt at a PC aimed at children. Bob Iger, Disney President said at the unveiling yesterday: “We’ve travelled a long way since that first Mickey writing tablet hit the market in 1929. At the core of Disney is our mission to entertain and enlighten audiences through products that spark the imagination. With the launch of the Disney Dream Desk, a computer designed with kids in mind, we’ve developed a tool box for children to unleash their imaginations and expand their minds.”

Disney Consumer Products

FCC Approves TiVo Content Sharing

The Federal Communications Commission has approved TiVo’s new content sharing facility, TiVoToGo. Possibly the ugliest neologism I have ever seen TVTG (I’m not typing it again), allows TiVo owners to share recorded programming with a limited number of approved associates and friends over the internet. The FCC has approved the security features that only last week were causing the MPAA and NFL to throw their toys out of their prams.

The FCC is now satisfied that digital broadcast television is adequately protected by TiVo, and that content should be made conveniently available to users – but without indiscriminate distribution all over the internet.

TVTG limits sharing to nine other users, who must have a certificate and be registered with the host TiVo before they can view content.

The MPAA is still disappointed though – they’d like to see tighter controls as programmes can be streamed to users outside the intended market: “technologies that enable redistribution of copyrighted TV programming beyond the local TV market disrupt local advertiser-supported broadcasting and harm TV syndication markets.”

A breakthrough for consumers? Not so fast. Even if the FCC has approved the technology there are still plenty of opportunities for the MPAA or anyone else who doesn’t like TVTG from reaching the market, or crippling it when it gets there.

TiVo on the FCC news

321 Studios Closes

321 Studios has closed down after a series of court decisions that ruled that its key product, DVD X Copy, was illegal to distribute.

The software had been marketed as a tool that allowed consumers to exercise their legal right to make backups of legally purchased products. Whilst consumers do have this right, they must defeat the copy protection present on disks in order to do so. Defeating a copy protection system is illegal in a number of countries, including the US and Europe.

Since copy protection systems are seen to interfere with consumers’ fair-use rights, groups like the EFF believe that revisions to the law to make it fairer for customers are not far off.

321 Studios, based in St. Louis, had faced several court cases this year from industry leaders such as Vivendi Universal Games and Atari, and had even revised their product to remove the DVD descrambling component, CSS.

At the high of its business, 321 Studios employed nearly 400 staff and expect make US$200 million (€166 million) in sales in 2004.

The injunction only applies to 321 Studios – it is not illegal to own or even operate the software itself.

321 Studios

AMD Launches Sempron on Wednesday

AMD launches its Sempron processor brand today with twelve new processors – eight for desktop PCs and four for laptops. The new processor is aimed at the low-cost PC market, with prices for the Sempron as low as US$39 (€32) in quantities of 1000.

As the chip is on sale now, you can look forward to it showing up in PCs and laptops in time for Christmas.

AMD are keen to maintain the image of their Athlon processor as a quality, high-spec product, so have not produced a low-cost version of flagship product. Instead, the Sempron will allow them to compete in the sub-US$550 (€456) PC market whilst keeping the Athlon brand intact.

John Morris, manager of desktop product marketing at AMD said: “If you look at the brand promise of the Athlon, it’s been about performance computing, so we want to make sure that (chips like the) Athlon 64 continue to stand for performance computing… Sempron reflects a completely different strategy that says, ‘There’s a growing group of people that have basic computer needs…so let’s provide a solution for them.'” However, Sempron will eventually replace the Athlon brand at some point in 2005.

AMD will be offering the desktop processor with the following model numbers: 2400+, 2500+, 2600+, 2800+ and 3100+. The 2200+ and 2300+ are to replace the Duron in emerging markets. Please note that AMD model numbers do not reflect the internal speed of their processors.

The Semprons have lower clock speeds than their Athlon cousins and have a smaller cache, but if they are powerful enough may encourage more PC manufacturers to produce media centre PCs featuring them.

AMD Sempron