Category: Platforms

iMac G5 – World’s Thinnest Desktop Computer

Yes, that's the whole computer.Apple have unveiled their new G5 iMac, with a radical break in the series’ all-in-one design. The iMac now comes in a 20” and 17” TFT format – and the whole computer is built into the screen, making it just 2” thick.

“Just like the iPod redefined portable digital music players, the new iMac G5 redefines what users expect from a consumer desktop,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With the entire system, including a gorgeous 17- or 20-inch display, just two inches thin, a lot of people will be wondering ‘where did the computer go?'”

17” models come with 80 GB of disk, 1.8 Ghz processors and a SuperDrive or 1.6 Ghz chips and a combo CD-R/DVD drive. The 20” model has a 160 GB disk, a 1.8 Ghz processor and SuperDrive. The rest of the specifications are the same: 256MB of RAM, Firewire, GeForce FX5200 graphics cards and ethernet.

If you need more power, then you can specify up to 2 gig of memory and a 250 GB hard drive when ordering.

iMac

Intel’s New Transistor Technology

Intel have announced that they’ve produced a fully functioning memory chip using 35 nanometer transistors. The breakthrough, etching components that are 30% smaller than current processes, should be delivering production chips in 2005 – ensuing that Moore’s Law will hold true for a while yet. This will elicit relief from Intel whose main business is based around the capabilities of copper and silicon devices.

Intel developed special techniques to get round the heat dissipation and power consumption problems encountered with such dense components – such as shutting off areas of the chip that aren’t in use.

In 1965, Intel founder Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors in integrated circuits would double every two years in his paper “Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits”– and so far he’s been right. The law is expected to hold true until the end of the decade, by which time silicon and copper chip technology are expected to reach their physical limits. Capacitance and the laws of physics start to interfere with devices at this stage, and it expected that the next big advances will be made using optical and other technologies.

“Intel continues to meet the increasing challenges of scaling by innovating with new materials, processes and device structures,” said Sunlin Chou, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group. “Intel’s 65nm process technology has industry-leading density, performance and power reduction features that will enable future chips with increased capabilities and performance. Intel’s 65nm technology is on track for delivery in 2005 to extend the benefits of Moore’s Law.”

Intel on the news

Moore’s Law

HP Unveils HP-iPod, More Gadgets

HP will will be unveiling its new line of consumer electronics today at an event in Miami. By expanding its product range into devices like the iPod, the company is seeking to build a cooler image. But can they sell people TVs?

Dell and Gateway have had success with their own range of electronics – between them they offer LCD televisions, portable music players, DVD players and PVRs, so it looks like there is a market out there for them. If Sony can go from selling TVs to selling computers, then perhaps HP can do it the other way round.

HP issued a note to the press yesterday that they will be introducing digital photography, music and entertainment experiences – aside from the branded iPod, they are expected to introduce a 42” plasma HD TV and 26” and 30” LCD TVs, along with a storage device intended to be a entertainment hub.

HP Newsroom

Microsoft Launch “Plays For Sure” Campaign

Microsoft are keen to emphasise the range of support for Windows Media is in the market, from music stores to hardware players, though the freedom of choice can paradoxically confuse consumers.

Consequently, they’re planning a campaign to bring its forthcoming music store, Windows Media and the wide selection of compatible music players out there together. The “Plays For Sure” campaign is intended to inform consumers about Windows Media compatibility, so they know what tunes will play where and on what.

The campaign will also include a certification programme for hardware manufacturers and, once passed, their devices will be able to carry a “Plays For Sure” logo. Music stores selling tracks in Windows Media format will also be eligible to carry the logo.

Microsoft will be sure to play up the contrast between the amount of software and hardware support for its own technologies, contrasted with limited support for Apple’s iPod and Sony’s own Network Walkman offerings. Indeed, the move will contrast sharply with Apple’s own attempts to limit the iPod’s compatibility with other platforms.

A Plays For Sure website is coming soon, and the timing for the campaign is set to coincide with the range of new players will be appearing later this year that have enhanced Windows Media 10 compatibility through Microsoft’s Janus technology.

Microsoft’s Windows Media

Gizmondo News

Tiger Telematics, the manufacturers of the Gizmondo, a handheld games console not unlike a super-powerful N-Gage with GPS, has announced that the unit will feature a new type of Flash chip.

The new chip, the snappy mDiskOnChip G3 from M-Systems is the smallest Flash memory chip on the market – it must be very small indeed as neither M-Systems or Tiger Telematics seem to have published the physical dimensions of it anywhere.

The Gizmondo is shaping up to be a potentially exciting console – it will feature a 400MHz ARM9 processor, 2.8 inch colour screen and a 64 bit graphics accelerator, a camera, MP3 player and GPRS phone. Location-based gaming will be enabled through the device’s GPS unit, and Bluetooth will let you fight with your friends. Oh, and in there somewhere is the new 64mb Flash memory chip.

“I am sure that customers will appreciate the overall user experience achieved through the impressive combination of the latest technologies that is found within Gizmondo,” said Francois Kaplan, general manager of M-Systems Europe. “I am pleased to see our new mDiskOnChip G3 product contribute to the high-performance, small size and long battery life of this exciting multi-entertainer.”

The Gizmondo will be based on Windows CE.NET and cost between US$300 and US$400 (UK£166 to UK£222) when it launches later this year – and it will appear in the UK first, no less.

Can the PSP, Nintendo DS, Gizmondo, Series 60 games phones and the N-Gage QD all survive in this market? We’ll have to wait until Christmas 2005 to find out.

Gizmondo

BBC Weather Revamps with Weatherscape XT

BBC Weather are revamping their reports with a new application from Metra that will allow them to make accurate 3D depictions of current weather conditions.

Weatherscape XT is also capable of automatically repurposing 3D weather information to other platforms – like 3G phones for example.This would make weather information in interactive services far more localised and perhaps even customised to each user – and 3D weather reports on mobile phones could be a potential revenue stream.

The BBC is hoping that 3D flythroughs and zooming into topographical areas will improve understanding and retention of what the weather is actually doing. “We hope that by showing the weather that will actually go over your head, you will know whether it is going to be sunny or cloudy where you are” said Colin Tregear, project director at the BBC’s Weather Centre. Well, if someone still can’t work it out from that, perhaps it’s in everyone’s interest just to stay at home.

Weatherscape takes data from the Met Office and can generate the required graphical tour in real time, whereas the current graphics take around four hours per broadcast on the existing six year old system.

The system is PC based and requires a couple of dual Xeon servers for the database. Broadcasters’ terminals are simply PCs with high-end, though off the shelf, graphics cards in them. The BBC has described the shift to the new system as rather like the leap from Super Nintendo to the XBox. I’m sure that’ll make a lot of sense to my mother.

Metra, a New Zealand company, have already licensed the system to CNBC, TVNZ and Australia’s Nine Network.

I, predictably, miss the days of magnetic clouds stuck onto metal boards, kipper ties and outrageous facial hair.

Weatherscape XT

Dualdisc – Yet Another Disc Format

The big four record labels have decided that the way to sell more is to launch a new format – and here it comes, DualDisc. EMI, Song BMG, Universal Music and Warner Music have been quietly scheming away to produce the new format, which, as its name suggests, is a CD – DVD hybrid.

Playable on just about any drive that can play either CDs or DVDs, the DVD partition of the disk can contain extras like videos, interviews and photo galleries. How does it work? It’s really not that sophisticated – it’s just a double-sided disc with a CD substrate on one side and a DVD substrate on the other. As the format has been approved by the DVD forum, it will be allowed to carry the DVD logo.

DVD-Audio and SACD have not been very successful, and this is an attempt to recapture a lost market.

CDs are about 1.2mm thick – the new format can be about 1.5mm thick, which may cause it to jam in some players, though it is still within the upper limit for the CD standard.

The key advantage for audiophiles is that music quality is preserved. Extras on CDs tend to eat into the amount of space available for storing music, so bit rates can suffer on longer discs. Better still, listeners can enjoy DVD-A quality encoding on the DVD side at home whilst using the CD side in their cars and personal stereos. Perhaps it’s not so evil after all.

The first titles will include albums from Five for Fighting, Audioslave and Dave Brubeck. Sorry, who are these things aimed at again?

“We are delighted to be offering the first in a series of DualDisc titles,” stated Doug Morris, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group. “By combining music, video, interactivity and portability in a single disc, DualDisc will add an exciting new dimension to the consumer’s musical experience.”

“Dual Disc opens a new, exciting creative dimension for artists to express themselves and connect with fans. It’s an entertainment-packed product and is a big step in our effort to give fans music whenever, however and wherever they want it,” said David Munns, Chairman and CEO EMI Music North America.

DVD Plus International, a German company, is claiming ownership of a patent relating to a dual-format DVD, called, predictably, DVD Plus. Since Dualdisc is set for an October launch, they had better sort that one out pretty sharpish.

DualDisc – coming soon

Sharing iTunes With ourTunes

Apple disabled iTunes sharing some time ago, but David Blackman has produced a Java application that puts that functionality back, whilst respecting Apple’s FairPlay copy protection.

Blackman’s ourTunes program allows authorised users to browse iTunes libraries on remote computers and download unprotected songs. DRM-protected tracks bought from the iTunes music store cannot be copied, and the program is not a P2P client. Additionally, MyTunes only works with iTunes clients on the same network, so there’ll be no naughty browsing and copying over the internet.

“ourTunes isn’t that type of program. It’s designed to only function within your local network. This is partially a design constraint of Apple’s iTunes program, and partially a decision on our part. ourTunes is not meant to be Kazaa. It’s only useful for exchanging music with people close by, who you more than likely know.” Blackman explains.

Blackman describes ourTunes as a continuation of several existing open source projects with additional features like a search function a user-friendly interface.

The Java application works on Window, Linux and Macintosh computers with a Java Runtime Environment installed.

OurTunes

CVS Launch Disposable Digital Camera With LCD

CVS have launched a new disposable digital camera with a 1.4” TFT preview screen. Customers can new take up to 25 pictures, preview them, delete the ones they don’t like and take it back to a CVS store for printing.

The camera is fully functional and features an automatic flash, self timer and automatic exposure all for US$19.99 (€16.27). Digital cameras have come from being expensive high technology items to throw away entertainment items very quickly indeed.

Now, I know these things aren’t really disposable – they get recycled and sold onto the next person, and the advantage is that they’re cheap and you don’t worry about losing them. The key difference between this camera and a non-disposable camera is that there’s no way for the end-user to get their pictures off – they have do trot down to CVS and hand the camera back. That US$20 you’re paying isn’t really for the camera – it’s essentially a deposit. I give it a week before someone reverse engineers the electronics in the CVS camera and works out a way for consumers to get the data off.

CVS

Apple Recalls 28,000 Notebook Batteries

Apple don’t have much luck with batteries, do they? First, the iPod batteries were too weedy to play tunes for a day, now the G4 Powerbook batteries are so beefy they overheat with a risk of fire with four cases of overheating reported worldwide.

Although no fires or injuries have yet to be reported, Apple have recalled 28,000 batteries from the popular 15” laptop range, as some of the units manufactured in the last week of December 2003 may short circuit and overheat. I wonder who was on the production line that week? Too many Christmas parties? The laptops themselves would have been sold between January and August 2004.

Apple have implemented a battery exchange programme in co-operating with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and international safety authorities.

Users are urged to contact Apple with the serial number of their laptop to see if they might be at risk. Apple will then ship a new battery to the customer free within five days, and provide a label to return the faulty unit.

The A1045 batteries were manufactured by LG Chem Ltd, and have series numbers beginning with HQ404 to HQ408. No other batteries are part of the recall.

Apple’s battery exchange