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Are Wii Players Babies?
In an interview with the New York Times, John Rodman, group product manager for the Xbox platform and Xbox Live, took a swipe and said:
“We don’t feel like the Wii
customer and the Xbox customer are the same thing. We think that as soon as the
Wii customer turns 14 they want something else.”
Meow! The comments seem 
like sour grapes to us since the Wii and the
older Nintendo DS are trouncing both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 in US sales right
now. For instance, in February the PS3 and Xbox 360 sold 127,000 and 227,000 units, respectively. The Wii managed 335,000 while the older DS handheld racked up an astonishing 485,000. Do you think there’s a connection?
Labelling the Wii as a platform for kids is simply not fair though since we have
reports of lots of adults and old people using the Wii. OK, the old people
might wear nappies too but that doesn’t make them babies, does it?
news technology gadgets wii console life PS3 xbox
Sky Launches Video-on-Demand Service
Sky has introduced a free video-on-demand service that will store up to 30 hours of week-ahead programmes, movies and music highlights on a Sky HD set-up box.
Called
Anytime On TV, uses space on the HDD inside the set-top box, which is not
accessible for recording, to store a range of programmes that Sky viewers might
want to see and add to their regular schedule of things to record. 
The content
is added to a user’s service overnight and they will have up to seven days to
view the programmes or add them to their planner. Newer programmes will be
added after that period, replacing older ones.
The service is only available to Sky HD customers for now but the broadcaster said it will roll it out to all Sky+ customers with newer set-top boxes. There will be an option for other customers, not subscribing to premium channels, to pay for certain programmes they see on the service.
Programmes, which will be in high defintion (HD) where possible, will come from a variety
of channels including Sky One, Sky Movies, Sky Arts, National Geographic, Sky
Sports, Disney, Biography and others.
Xbox 360 Elite Confirmed
The new version, which will be decked
out in black, will boast a 120Gb internal hard disk drive - a massive boost
over the puny 20Gb drive in the current Xbox 360. Even better, the drive will
be made available as a standalone add-on too so that existing Xbox users can
take advantage of the long awaited storage boost.
The console will also feature a HDMI
port for watching high-definition games, movies [HD-DVD format] or high-def
downloads on a HDTV. 
More importantly, Microsoft will be bundling the required
HDMI cable – something Sony has failed to do with its expensive PS3.
The black wireless controller has a
range of 30-feet and will run for 30 hours off two AA batteries. There’s also
a wireless black headset, power charger and two other cables: component video and
composite. The US price is $480, just $80 more than the current Xbox 360 Pro
version which is very good value.
The downside for existing Xbox 360
owners is that the standalone 120Gb hard drive will cost $180. The Elite launches on April 29 but there are no details yet of when it will launch
here in the UK or, how much it will cost.
[More]
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Would You Spend £550,000 On A Laptop?
If you have a spare £550,000 pounds just lying around the house you
might want to think about upgrading your laptop. A mysterious London company
called Luvaglio is claiming to have created the first laptop with a ludicrous £550,000
price tag.
That said, this close to April Fool’s day, one would be wise to proceed
with caution here and a pinch of salt. For that cash, you’d expect to see a lot of
diamonds on the outside but as you can see there’s no bling in sight. So what
is there to justify the cost?
It sports a 17in widescreen LED lit screen with an anti-reflective glare
coating for a brighter image. There’s also 128GB solid state disk (SSD) drive 
which I
find hard to believe since we’ve only heard about 32GB versions and no one has
yet managed to launch a system with more than one inside. The power button is actually a rare
coloured diamond piece of jewellery that you insert to boot up
and there’s also a slot loading Blu-ray drive. Diamonds, of course, will be
present but we’ve not been told where.
You can check a video of a the very cool presentation case here but
there’s nothing on the Web site but a snooty message.
[More]
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Technology Wiping Out Privacy
People’s privacy in the long term is being eroded by technology to the
extent that we may have very little of it left in years to come, unless the
government takes action. According to a challenging report from the Royal
Academy Of Engineering, called Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance, there has
to be a better way forward than increased use of ID cards and CCTV and, it
feels, engineers have a key role to play.
It points out that we shouldn’t need ID cards 
to prove who we are when
shopping, merely that we are old enough and we have the money to pay. The Academy
maintains that authorisation, not identification, is all that’s needed
“It should be possible to sign up for a loyalty card without having to
register it to a particular individual - consumers should be able to decide
what information is collected about them,” says Professor Nigel Gilbert,
Chairman of the Academy working group that produced the report. “We have
supermarkets collecting data on our shopping habits and also offering life
insurance services. What will they be able to do in 20 years' time, knowing how
many donuts we have bought?”
The report is also damning in its criticism of increased CCTV usage,
claiming they can now record images of people that can be stored forever,
allowing authorities to track a person’s movements throughout a particular
period in time. It wants some restriction on how CCTV can be used in public
places.
The report will be officially launched at a free evening tomorrow night at the Science Museum's Dana Centre in London. You can find a copy of it here.
news technology gadgets CCTV privacy life security
Sky Fights The Power
Sky wants to do its bit for the environment this year by introducing an
automatic standby mode for all of its Sky HD boxes and, later, for its Sky+
boxes.
‘Auto-Standby’ will monitor whether or not you are using your Sky box
late at night between 11pm and 4am. If it’s not in use for two hours during
this window, the box will go into standby mode after flashing up a message on
screen. 
It will remain in standby until it is switched on again. Interestingly, the boxes will still be able to
record in standby.
The idea is to cut the amount of
power being wasted by entertainment devices that people forget to, or don’t
bother to, switch off.
According to Sky’s maths, this will slash the electricity bills of Sky
customers by around £7.6m a year, and result in enough spare juice to light all
the homes in Wolverhampton for a year or, more amusingly, all of Liverpool’s
washing machines. Wow, power savings and improved hygiene in one.
Fold-Away Home Cinema
BTX Technologies is out to prove the opposite by launching an innovative
series of portable projector screens which fold away when you are done. The
NUVU series, 
once removed from the handy bag just pops into the correct shape
in a matter of seconds and folds away just as easily once you’ve finished that
10-hour Lord of the Rings marathon.
You can hang the larger ones on the walls using a permanent fixture or
use a separate magnetic hanging set for £60. The screens come in 16:9 widescreen,
regular 4:3 and self-standing table-top models for easy presentations. Screen sizes range from 40ins to 88ins.
For anyone that wants to try out
the cinema-at-home experience without destroying the living room, this could be
a safe, first step.
news technology gadgets home cinema entertainment home
Flash And Flat Speakers From TDK
The TDK Tremor XA-10s are colourful and thin, measuring 117mm x
80mm x 16mm. They join the larger XA series of speakers that use NXT’s flat
panel audio technology but these are the first designed for tunes on the go.
They have a 3.5mm stereo output and can be run off the mains, some AAA
batteries or USB, which would prove very handy for mobile use. OK, the 1.2Watts
of output is not going sonically blast your ears off but they are designed as
travel speakers and should be enough. However, whether that 1.2Watts of sound
contains any bass or is comprised of tinny, shrieking treble remains to be seen.
They are not due to ship for another month or so but will come in lime, orange, and silver and, with a suggested price tag of around £15 (probably £20 by the time they get here), they’re not going to burn a hole in anyone’s pocket.
news technology gadgets music MP3 shopping
Philips Jazzes Up The Kitchen
Forget the bulky 14in TV on the counter because this is designed to be
installed underneath your presses/cabinets, and has a flip down 8.5in LCD TV
screen. 
This can be used for keeping up with those all-important day-time TV
chat-shows and soaps or – thanks to an in-built iPod dock – for playing back
videos or music.
There’s a motorised CD/DVD drive as well as an AM/FM tuner, a pair of
small speakers, clock and wireless remote. And, because it’s kitchen-based, you
also get a handy cooking timer.
This goes on sale in the US next week for around £220 with a – hopeful – launch date over here in the coming months.
news technology gadgets TV music ipod home
Mobile Phone For Old People
It boasts big keys, a big display, easy menu navigation, hearing aid
suitability and an emergency call key function. In other words, the kinds of
things that modern mobiles don’t have, which is why older people tend not to
buy them. 
Features have been kept to a minimum to reduce the complexity with support for calls and texting and little else. There’s even a big red button on the back which, when pressed, will
call one of the owner’s emergency numbers.
“The success since market launch has confirmed our strategy,” said
Emporia owner and head developer, Albert Fellner. “We have taken the challenge
to take a close look at the target group 40+ and their needs and developed
mobile phones that meet customer wishes not only with regards to handling but
also design.”
news technology gadgets phone mobile elderly
Sony Re-designing The PSP
He also revealed that the new version will be “slimmer and lighter” than
the current model. However, there was very little detail of what’s going to be
available under the hood although everyone is interested to see if the company
will opt for a 60GB hard disk drive from the likes of Samsung or opt for newer
8GB Flash memory drives. There’s also no news on what will become of the
unpopular UMD movie disc format.
Sony really has to do something about its 
PSP which is suffering against
Nintendo DS – especially in Japan. According to the latest figures from
Bloomberg, the PSP has just passed the 5 million mark in Japan but it’s being
outsold three-to-one by the DS.
In other, unconfirmed reports, large retailers have allegedly told Sony
that they need to drop the price of the PSP to boost sales or they will be
forced to drop the product.
news technology gadgets PSP sony games
No HDTV For Freeview Viewers
Despite the protests from leading companies and broadcasters, including
the BBC, Dixons, Samsung, Sony and Channel 4 among others, the regulator Ofcom
is still proposing to sell off publicly owned air-space to the highest bidder.
If this goes ahead then the likely winners will be the mobile phone companies
and there will not be enough spectrum to carry HD broadcasts to millions of UK
Freeview viewers. One-in-four TV sets in the UK are hooked up to Freeview
devices.
The sale of this air space would mean that most people would have to
subscribe to a pricey HDTV service like Sky. There is still one week left to
sign the HDForAll petition to government, while the Ofcom public consultation period
ends on March 22nd. Ofcom will report its findings in the summer.
If you want to help ensure that you can get HDTV without paying through the nose for it, then now’s your last chance. Go here.
news technology TV music freeview BBC HDTV
Renault’s Ingenious Gadget Holder
Anyone
gadget lover that drives will know that storing an iPod, phone and any other
gadget safely and within reach is virtually impossible.
Car maker Renault has found a very clever,
yet simple, solution with its ‘grass mat’. It’s featured in the Twingo, a new
small, hatchback coming to the UK in September. As you can see, the rubber
grass stalks have been designed to flex around whatever gadget you need held
safely. 
The good thing is that everything is within easy reach and not bouncing
around in some compartment on the other side of the car.
The Twingo – what a silly name – has been kitted out to be friendlier than most to gadget lovers. It sports the ‘TunePoint’ audio connection box which allows for tunes on USB sticks, MP3 players or iPods to be played through the car’s audio system and operated via steering wheel controls. It also offers hands-free Bluetooth telephone controls, with a “‘hold’ function for safer motoring”, the company said.
I do like that holder and the other gadget-oriented tweaks but I'm pretty sure I couldn't tell anyone that I just bought a 'Twingo'.
news technology gadgets car speed motoring
Al Gore Beams DIY TV To The UK
The former US vice president and eco-warrior, Al Gore, is to launch his TV
channel in the UK where programmes made by the viewers will be aired.
Called Current TV, the channel already reaches 40 million people in the
US, mainly in the 18-34-year old bracket, and 10 million UK viewers will now
have access too.
Available through Sky and Virgin
Media, Current TV will feature short, non-fiction content from three to eight
minutes long, called Pods, many made by viewers. 
The majority of the content
will come from sources not generally tapped by regular TV stations. For
instance, a third will come from video subscriptions via the Internet which are
first cleared by the TV execs, while the rest is voted on by the general public.
There will be news bulletins on the half-hour and Google will be
providing access to its top searches. Gore has assured people that the channel
will not push the green agenda, nor will it endorse any political stance.
He was quoted as saying: “This is not going to be a political or
ideological channel - it's more revolutionary than that.”
news technology gadgets TV UK internet
The World's First Bamboo Notebook
Environmentally-friendly products are
all the rage these days but Asus is taking the whole ‘green’ drive to a new
level with plans for a bamboo notebook.
The company has just released a preview of what its new bamboo-clad laptop, the EcoBook, will look like when
it ships next year. There are those that think building a notebook from wood is
a risk in itself and I’m not sure how the pandas will feel when they can’t
find some chow, but the EcoBook is certainly a looker.
The bamboo casing is matched by
bamboo wrist-rests on the inside. Asus came up with some of the first
leather-clad notebooks so it knows a thing or two about making non-standard
machines. Others have even been experimenting with suede.
There is no news yet on specs for the EcoBook but then a year to launch is a long
time in the technology business and anything announced today would likely be old
hat by then. More photos here.
news technology laptop notebook gadgets entertainment
Microsoft’s New Photo Format
Formerly known as Windows Media
Photo, HD Photo offers a lot of advantages over JPEG, including higher image
quality, greater preservation of data and advanced features. HD Photo offers
compression with up to twice the efficiency of JPEG, with less 
damaging
artifacts, leaving you with files that 50 per cent smaller. This is good news
for the many digital camera owners that never get around to transferring their
favourite snaps off their storage cards.
“With HD Photo, we’re taking a new
approach to creating and editing photos that simply isn’t available to
photographers with today’s formats,” said Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice
president of the consumer media technology group at Microsoft. “HD Photo fully
preserves the original image fidelity with high dynamic range while still
allowing for significant improvement in compression size.”
The company has announced set of HD
Photo plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop software, that will run under Windows Vista
and XP, as well as Mac OS X. You can download a beta version of the plug-ins
here. Final versions of the plug-ins will be available for free in May.
news technology gadgets digital camera photo hd photo microsoft
JVC Revamps Everio HDD Camcorders
The Everio G series arrive with a new
imaging engine for improved picture quality, unchanged 30GB hard disk drives
but with the added advantage of support for high capacity SD (SDHC) cards on all
models. The support for SDHC will allow users to record directly to newer
storage cards with capacities of up to 4GB now, but which will come in larger
sizes throughout 2007.
Most of the models announced come a
with a new Everio Dock. This can be left connected to a TV or display and once
a camcorder is dropped in, the video is ready to watch without any other
cables. It will also act as a battery recharger. 
Other new features include
one-touch DVD burning and one-touch back-up of video content to PCs. In
addition, there is some new in-camera editing features like Partial Delete,
which lets users save a portion of video file and discard the rest.
The four models are the GZ-MG130,
GZ-MG155, GZ-MG255 and GZ-MG555 (pictured). No UK pricing details yet.
news technology gadgetscamcorder camera tech consumer
Archos PMP With WiFi Internet Access
It comes with a 7in touchscreen and
will allow you to play stored music, photo or video content, access content
stored on your PC wirelessly or connect to online video and music download
sites. It can be hooked to a TV for playback or, 
even better, used as a
portable digital video recorder (DVR) for recording your favourite TV shows or
DVD movies.
Archos has pushed the boat out on
this one in terms of features, with the screen boasting a high resolution of
800 x 480 pixels and housing an 80GB hard disk drive, which will allow for 100
hours or video, or about 70 DVD-quality movies. Battery life is estimated at 25
hours for music playback and five hours for video playback and Net browsing. It
measures 7 x 5 x 7.75in and weighs 1lb
6ozs.
The US price is $549 but that will be
closer to £400, or more here. For what’s on offer though, this is not all that
expensive. More here.
Women Buy More Gadgets Than Men
It might come as quite a shock to the
lads out there who think all toys are for boys because latest research from
the US is showing that women, not men, are the leading purchasers of wireless
gadgets.
According to industry body, the
Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), women are outspending men by shelling
out $55bn a year compared to $44bn for men. 
This is a real turnaround in an
industry stereotypically fuelled by gadget-obsessed men. In addition, women are
influence almost 90 per cent of all purchases. The results come from the U.S.
Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts 2002-2007 report and have been
announced today as part of International Women’s Day on March 8. Overall, the
industry is looking good – better than expected.
Todd Thibodeaux, CEA's senior vice
president of industry relations, said sales have exceeded earlier conservative
forecasts.
“We originally forecast eight percent
growth, but when all was said and done, we saw an impressive 13 percent growth
for the year. Consumers started the year investing in innovative consumer
electronics products and seemingly never stopped. With the 2007 forecast, we
see the consumer love affair with technology continuing at a healthy clip.”
[More]
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Memory Boost For Xbox 360
In addition, the company has announced that the
official size limit on Xbox Live Arcade games will be trebled from 50MB to 150Mb, which
is good news to all those out twere developing games for Xbox Live Arcade.
“The new size limit offers developers
increased flexibility and continued opportunities for innovative game
development, while also ensuring that the millions of gamers on Xbox Live can
continue to easily access, download and play all Xbox Live Arcade games on Xbox
360,” said Chris Early, product unit manager for Xbox Live Arcade and Microsoft
Casual Games. “If you take a look at current games like 'Roboblitz' and 'Small
Arms,' it's clear that our developers deliver amazing game experiences within a
compact size limit.”
The new memory module, eight times larger than its
predecessor, will start shipping on April 3rd and will cost around $50 in the
US but expect it to cost closer to £40 here. The 64MB unit costs £22.99 here
now but there will be a 25% price cut coming when the 512MB unit launches. The
company said that all of the new units will come with a free Xbox Live Arcade game, "Geometry
Wars: Retro Evolved" – but only for a limited time.
With the PS3 just around the corner,
you can expect to see Microsoft churn out the Xbox 360 add-ons and news over
the coming weeks.
news technology gadgets games xbox console PS3
Telekinetic Video Games Proposed
Australian start-up, Emotiv has
created the Project Epoc helmet which hails directly from some sci-fi movie
props box. It might sound like a wind-up but the Australian government is actually
one of the backers and, since politicians are not known to be the greatest
gaming enthusiasts nor generous with public cash, there might be something to
it after all.
The headset uses a network of 
sensors
that tune into the electric signals produced by the brain to detect player
thoughts, feelings and expressions. This is achieved using three sets of
software called Expressiv for identifying facial expressions in real-time,
Affectiv for measuring discreet emotional states and Cognitiv which detects
players' conscious thoughts.
The idea is that games developers
will be able to create games in which charactyeers can react differently to the
player’s facial, emotional or mental state. Emotiv says that the helmet connects wirelessly to any PC or console.
It’s a funky idea but I’m pretty sure
that mind-reading is still a scientific Holy Grail. The company though will be demonstrating
the technology at next week’s big 2007 Game Developers Conference in San
Francisco.
[More]
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Sky Launches Online Recording Service
Open to subscribers to Sky+ or Sky HD, people will be
able to rectify all those times when they left the house for work, having
forgotten to set the recorder for those all important episodes of X-Factor and
Big Brother.
This service joins the remote record text messaging
service (pictured) 
launched last year by Sky, which the company says has received tens of
thousands of remote record requests.
The service is free and once users register, they can
go online, access Sky's
seven-day TV electronic programming guide and select programmes to record with
a few clicks. The guide can be searched by time, day or programme name.
“Remote Record is perfect for those situations when
you hear about a TV show and want to record it there and then, if you're stuck
late at work or if you've simply forgotten to record that programme you want to
watch." said Stephen Van Rooyen, Sky's director of product management.
“It's about making TV fit around people's increasingly busy lives.”
Recording
requests can be made from outside the UK also but must be submitted 30 minutes
before the start of the programme. All in all, very handy if you use Sky but for the rest of the UK, it's back to scribbling reminders on the back of our hands.
[More]
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