Stuart Miles continues his weekly look at the world of tech with this latest instalment that covers the hot tech topics of week.

Miles considers the now-available Firefox 3.5 that he thinks looks the same as all the other browsers and analyses the Pirate Bay sell-out, asking if it will become another Napster.

There's also talk of Europe standardising phone chargers and why Michael Jackson didn't manage to make a bigger dent on the Top 40. Hit play to see it all now...

Tags: Comment Video Megawhat Software Audio Phones

VIDEO: Megawhat's tech week in view - 3/07/09 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:20:10 +0100

Pocket -lint has teamed up with TomTom to bring you the chance of winning this top-of-the-range satnav.

The rules of the competition are simple, you can enter as many times as you like by simply commenting on any story. It doesn't have to be in depth, detailed or technical, but it does have to be useful, helpful or funny.

You don't have to sign up to comment on the stories, we just ask for your name, location and email address - that does not show up online and is not passed on.

The TomTom device measures 123 x 80 x 18mm and features 4.3-inch touch display, the screen being bright and a convenient size enabling ease of use whilst driving.

Along with Live HD Traffic, now with added support for Europe, the TomTom XL Live has excellent route guidance and with the added MapShare feature, it allows for easy updating of maps within the TomTom community.

To be in with a chance of winning this top-notch effort just comment on any story during the month of July. At the end of the month the Pocket-lint team will take a look and choose what we believe is the best one.

Make sure you take a look at Pocket-lint's full review via the link below where it received a 9/10 score.

Related links:

• Reviewed - TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe
• Link - TomTom

Tags: Audio Biz CarAndGPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware HomeAndKitchen HomeCinema Phones Cameras Software SportsFitness TomTom Satnavs Competitions

Win a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:37:31 +0100

A Sony patent could point to more motion controlled gaming than just the wand-based system the company has currently demoed.

Sharing a fair bit in common with Microsoft's Project Natal motion control system, the recently-revealed patent sees Sony gamers using ordinary, everyday objects as in-game game controllers.

The patent describes a way in which a camera can dynamically map any real-word object for use in a video game.

The patent blurb refers to "items such as coffee mugs, drinking glasses, books, bottles, etc", but in theory would see any three dimensional object able to be used.

Players would "show" the object to the cameras, rotate it, and save a profile of it for use in a game.

This description seems very similar to how Microsoft's Project Natal system appeared to scan and save a skateboard in the company's official promo video.

We will keep you posted with Sony motion control and Microsoft Project Natal news as we have it.

Read

Related links:

• News - Sony shows motion-sensing controller
• News - Microsoft reveals Project Natal for Xbox 360
• VIDEO - Microsoft Xbox 360's Project Natal

Tags: Gaming Sony Patents Project Natal PS3 Microsoft

Sony patents everyday objects as game controllers originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:34:30 +0100

Turns out that you lot aren't too keen on the idea of kids having phones. Maybe it's due to noisy encounters on the top deck of buses, or fears of happy-slapping, but 77% of you say that under-10s shouldn't be allowed mobile phones.

The arguments against are numerous. Aside from the noise and happy-slapping concerns, there's also the questions of who pays the bills, whether kids' brains are more susceptible to radiation, and fears of mobile bullying.

On the other hand though, equipping your sprog with a mobile phone lets you keep track of them, gives them some independence, and - well - why shouldn't they be able to do what they want?

We'd be interested in hearing the rationale behind your opinion. Should kids have phones, and if not, why not? Drop us a line in the comments.

Related links:

• News - 75% Pocket-lint readers say iPhone 3G S "too expensive"

Tags: Phones Statistics Survey Poll

77% of Pocket-lint readers say under 10s shouldn't have phones originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:57:52 +0100

Do you love your BlackBerry more than your girlfriend? More importantly, do you want the whole world to know?

If yes, then one of Alice Wang's "Commodity Love" badges, just gone up for sale through Generate Design, is just what you need to spread the word via stainless steel cut-out lettering.

There's no "I love my BlackBerry more than my boyfriend" option, but ladies can opt for the "I love chocolate more than sex" to keep the stereotype alive.

The badges are available now for $29 with free shipping in North America.

Related links:

• Shop - Generate

Tags: Gadgets Badges BlackBerry GeeBooTeek Generate Phones

"I love my BlackBerry more than my girlfriend" badge launches originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:38:38 +0100

We thought we'd give the nod to the US' 4th July celebrations with the news that Disney has made a robotic Barack Obama president to appear in the Hall of Presidents show at the Walt Disney World Resort. Due to be unveiled on the American holiday, hit play now to see the Obama-bot in action and get a little behind-the-scenes info on the show. Now if you'll all just rise for "The Star-Spangled Banner", we can begin...

Read

Related links:

• News - Obama gives the Queen a personalised iPod

Tags: Biz Robots Disney Barack Obama

VIDEO: Disney makes Obama-bot originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:19:23 +0100

Augmented reality concepts excite us. We love overlaying stuff on a video feed of the world around - it lets us feel like we're living in the future.

The latest application of the iPhone 3GS' video camera lets you overlay the nearest tube stops for every line on your video camera. To accomplish that, it uses the GPS, compass, and camera.

Holding it flat, the app shows an arrow pointing in the right direction, and holding it upward means that you can see more info - distance, relevant tube lines and other stacked stops behind the one you're looking at.

The app has been submitted by makers Acrossair for inclusion in the app store, but isn't there yet. Also, it'll only work on the 3GS, and is only really of use if you live or work in central London. Still, there's no reason why it couldn't be modded for other landmarks. More of this sort of thing please, developers.

Related links:

• News - iPhone 3GS gets a jailbreak - Purplera1n

Tags: Phones iPhone apps Video iPhone Acrossair

Video: Nearest Tube 3GS app augments reality originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:04:51 +0100

So this week I've been mostly eating... no really the food here is a whole different subject for a later date. This week I've found myself riding the New York subway quiet a bit, as I jot between meetings, filming Tech Week In View for Megawhat and basically roaming around the Big Apple.

Now while we don't cover transport here at Pocket-lint, well maybe the odd car, I've found that the subway is certainly an interesting subject to spend some time talking about. Why? Well because it's actually very antiquated compared to the London Underground.

Now these emails aren't for a “bashing America” session every time, but it's dawned on me this week that while the New York subway trains are air conditioned - a welcome advantage over the London Tube - the sheer lack of technology elsewhere, is well, rather upsetting, certainly for a gadget fiend like myself.

So let's start with the escalators. The New York subway has them, but they are few and far between, and for most of the time you get stairs, lots of stairs to get you to and from the ground to the platform. The idea of a lift, or elevator, is pretty much unheard of. I am sure there are some dotted here and there, but I've yet to find one.

Then there is the lack of advertising hoardings. In fact there seems to be virtually no adverts on the subway platform at all.

Okay so you get them in the train, but on the platform it seems to be a no go. It's a strange experience not to be sold something every moment you are underground. Like it not, it shows you how advanced the London Underground really is when it comes to getting a marketing message across.

Go to Oxford Street station in London for example, and not only will you get interactive digital screens as you descend into the station, but once you are on the platform you'll get projectors firing video at you, Bluetooth enabled adverts that talk to your mobile, and well, a whole host of light fantastic, singing and dancing its way in to your consumer heart.

In New York, you are more likely to jump off a cool train to be met with a blank, barren station platform with little colour (most of them are white) or excitement other than a sign for the exit.

Considering the abundance of advertising on television and the radio here in the US (see last weeks email from America) you can see why I'm slightly puzzled by the lack of consumerism underground. Maybe it's a taboo, a place where you are just allowed to hide behind a book and your iPod (which many people do).

What puzzles me more however, is considering all the advertising that the London Underground carries, all that innovation, all that interactive bamboozling of the mind with messages about beer, about holidays, about, well just about everything, it is still so bloody expensive.

If the New York subway has anything going for it, it is the price. Advertising or no advertising, entry either via a top-up card system that isn't as advanced as the Oyster card or just a regular ticket will cost you $2 (around £1.40) to anywhere in the subway system regardless of where you are going. Admittedly that $2 only lasts as long as you stay in the system. Once you exit you've got to pay another $2 to get back in, but it's considerably cheaper than the £3 or $4.50 you pay for a zone 1 single in London.

The network isn't as deep underground as London, but it's just as vast taking you from uptown Manhattan to the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, so why London has to charge as much as it does makes you wonder where the TFLs priorities lie.

So what have I learned travelling underground in the city they've named twice? It's cheap, it's peaceful and it's cool thanks to those lovely air conditioned trains.

In fact, if it wasn't for the platforms being ridiculously hot and muggy (well it is summer and you can't have everything) it might just have been the next hip place to hang out.

Stuart Miles is currently living in New York setting up the Pocket-lint US office.

Tags: Comment Emails from America Trains

Comment: Emails from America: Riding on the subway originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:00:08 +0100

Bosch and Tassimo promise freshly brewed hot drinks - from Twinings green tea and Milka hot chocolate to Starbucks filter and Kenco cappuccinos - but can this table top vending machine deliver designer drinks tastier than the office canteen?

At 20cm wide the Bosch is mercifully compact and nestled nicely on our worktop. It's also a handsome devil, with just enough tech detailing - LCD screen, bright LEDs - to keep us interested without looking like a hi-fi. It's also superbly built - the rear mounted water tank is robust and features a BRITA filter, the buttons are solid and the lid mechanism closes with a satisfying thud.

Turn it on and the LCD display lights up and helps you through the options. Once the 1.8ltr water tank is full you'll be prompted to insert a T-Disc (T stands for Tassimo), stick a cup under the spout and push the big green button. Thanks to a pump and heating element inside there's no waiting, it's ready to go instantly.

The T-Discs sit neatly in the slot and a built-in reader scans the disc's bar code to discover what flavour drink it is and adjusts the amount of water/pressure to suit.

The Bosch is a simple, well designed machine and takes no effort at all to use. The big button does all the work, the indicator symbols are clear and the LCD screen shows how long before drinks are ready and even offers top-ups. It's just a shame they've wasted a great machine on such a disappointing drinks system.

As a basic coffee maker the Tassimo does an OK job; it has the big brands - Starbucks, Kenco, Carte Noire - and can knock out an acceptable espresso or filter coffee in just 20 seconds. But if you want a cappuccino you have to use a concentrated milk disc to provide the froth. It's convenient, but the results make an in-flight coffee taste somewhat sophisticated.

But Tassimo isn't just about coffee; they also offer a variety of tea and hot chocolate delights. The chocolate actually scored points for being thick, creamy and super sweet, but the tea was nothing more than vending machine fodder.

Our other big bugbear with Tassimo is all the waste. After making two cappuccinos and two hot chocolates we were left with eight landfill clogging plastic discs. We might live in a disposable society, but the amount of plastic used with the T-Discs just seems unnecessary.

As for pricing, a box of 16 discs cost £1.99 to £3.49 from the Tassimo website. They are also available in supermarkets and discounts are pretty common. In total we counted 37 different drinks, so you're spoilt for choice. If you like that sort of thing.

Tags: HomeAndKitchen Coffee machines Bosch

Bosch Tassimo TAS8520GB coffee machine originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:00:00 +0100

Mac clone maker Psystar, currently involved in a legal battle with Apple, has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to offer new Mac-esque hardware.

The company, that makes unauthorised PCs running Apple's operating system, is offering a new high-end Open(7) based on Intel's Nehalem Xeon platform and running pre-loaded OS X.

MacRumours reports the company has issued the following statement:

"As you all may already be aware in late May, Psystar filed for Chapter 11 protection. Although this was critical to our continued daily operations, we now are ready to emerge and again battle Goliath".

"More information will be available in the coming days when we will be formally discharged by the Bankruptcy court. When life gives you apples, make apple sauce".

Apple's case against Psystar sees the cloning company violating its End User License of Leopard on non Apple-branded hardware, while Psystar says Apple "stretches copyright laws".

Read

Related links:

• News - Psystar files for bankruptcy
• Shop - Psystar

Tags: Hardware Desktop PCs Psystar Apple Lawsuits Operating Systems Mac software

Psystar back from bankruptcy with new Mac clone originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:51:48 +0100

You might think combining the hyper-social Twitter with the (arguably) antisocial World of Warcraft would be a bad idea, but someone's gone and done it anyway.

TweetCraft is an add-on for World of Warcraft that will let you use Twitter from within the game. Once installed, it sits alongside your game and then uses a script to read and write tweets to the outside world. As per Blizzard's rules, y'see, add-ons aren't allowed to interact with the Internet.

Be careful too, because the default settings mean that the app will auto-tweet when you do all kinds of stuff - like changing zones or getting achievements. If you don't want it to do that, you'll need to poke around a bit in the config files.

Read

Related links:

• News - World of Warcraft hits 11.5 million subscribers
• Via - Wow.com

Tags: Gaming Twitter PC games MMORPG World of Warcraft Blizzard

TweetCraft puts Twitter in World of Warcraft originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:49:08 +0100

Appealing to what must be a fairly niche market, Samsung has launched its first phone with a night vision camera.

The SCH-W760 has seen a launch in Korea, where the infrared capabilities mean folk can video-conference in dark places.

Elsewhere the phone offers a 2.8-inch AMOLED screen, 8GB memory and a TV tuner.

There's no news on a launch outside Korea, and perhaps even less idea of whether there would be a market if it did.

Read

Related links:

• News - HM Armed Forces launch night vision goggles for kids
• Via - Electronista

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Samsung Night vision Cameras

Samsung launches first phone with night vision camera originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:16:26 +0100

Firefox 3.5 has been a rip-roaring success it seems, with over 5 million people downloading the browser in 24 hours. The launch brought an extra 2% to Firefox's market share, upping it to 31.8%.

"The fastest version yet of Firefox has certainly sprinted out of the blocks with 2.06% usage in the US in a short time", said StatCounter CEO, Aodhan Cullen.

Meanwhile, Mozilla's already got another patch planned. 3.5.1 will be released "soon" to patch out bugs that the team behind the browser didn't manage to get rid of before the launch. It'll kill at least three major bugs.

Firefox's last major launch - 3.0, a year ago - garnered 7 million downloads in 24 hours, though that was conducted alongside a large PR campaign for a record attempt at the most downloads in a day.

Are you running Firefox 3.5? Have you run into any show-stopping bugs? How's the speed, compared to 3.0? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Read

Related links:

• News - Firefox 3.5 download is now live
• Via - The Register

Tags: Software Browsers Firefox Mozilla Software updates Statistics

Firefox 3.5 gets 5 million downloads in 24 hours originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:11:08 +0100

ITV HD's debut broadcast of The Bill on Freesat did not go to plan.

The broadcaster was due to show the first episode of a brand new six-part story "Conviction Cover Up" in high definition, but this was not to be the case.

Those tuning in to watch the police drama in five times the resolution that standard definition television currently offers were disappointed.

Although the show was broadcast as planned, there was no red button prompt required to access the HD feed.

In addition, those that tried to record the show in high def were equally disappointed with no programming saved.

Read

Related links:

• News - "The Bill" goes high def on Freesat

Tags: HomeCinema ITV Freesat HDTV

ITV messes up The Bill's high def debut originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:38:15 +0100

Although we're sure nothing gets your tech-pulses racing like an external hard drive, some people can find the subject a little dull. Therefore, in order to lead them to light and enlightenment, we thought we'd cover this effort from Maxtor.

Ebuyer is currently selling the Maxtor 500GB hard drive for £43.99, which seems pretty reasonable money.

Ideal for storing all your songs, videos and photos, just slot the USB 2.0 cable into your Mac or PC and away you go.

Complete with shock protection. you also get a 3-year warranty. There's a link to the ebuyer website below and we'll have another tech deal for you on Monday.

Related links:

• Shop - Ebuyer

Tags: Hardware Storage Maxtor Ebuyer Daily Tech Deal

Daily Tech Deal: Maxtor 500GB external hard drive £43.99 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:09:39 +0100

Nintendo and Five have announced auditions for a television show that will see a nationwide quest to find the "best brains in Britain".

The two companies are putting prospective contestants through a series of challenges in a nationwide road show which will visit major cities across the UK during July and August.

The challenges are from Wii and DS games such as "Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old is your Brain?", "Wii Fit" and "Big Brain Academy".

Nintendo asks: "Are you a whizz at quizzes, nuts about numbers and have a mind boggling memory? Then you could be in with the chance of starring in Five's new prime-time TV show, Britain's Best Brain powered by Nintendo".

Prospective contestants can apply to be part of the show, and find out when and where the roadshows will be, by visiting www.britainsbestbrain.com.

Related links:

• Link - Britain's Best Brain

Tags: HomeCinema Nintendo DS Nintendo Five Gaming Puzzle games Nintendo Wii

Nintendo, Five announce auditions for "Britain's best brain" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:47:51 +0100

A silicon case has surfaced on a Hong Kong / US iPod accessories website that adds weight to rumours that the iPod touch will shortly be upgraded to feature a camera.

The device's specifications, along with "light weight" and "allows easy access to all buttons" includes the phrase: "Has a hole for a camera on the back". The accessory is labelled "Anti-slip Silicone Skin Case for iPod Touch 3G".

Previous reports have come from multiple sites - Hardmac and iLounge. Both predict that the refresh will happen in September, and include the iPod nano as well as the touch.

We'll have to see nearer the time, but the evidence is now mounting that Apple will be revamping its iPod range in September.

Read

Related links:

• News - Next-gen iPod nano to get a built-in camera
• News - Next-gen iPods to get cameras
• Via - Macsimum News

Tags: Audio iPod Apple Rumours iPhone

New case hints at iPod touch upgrade originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:34:29 +0100

A jailbreak has surfaced for the iPhone 3GS, the first available on the net. The creator, a young hacker named George Hotz who originally unlocked the iPhone, has dubbed it "purplera1n".

Jailbreaking is a process that frees up the iPhone so that you can install unofficial third-party apps, like the Synchstep3 app which Pocket-lint featured the other day. Purplera1n doesn't unlock the phone for use on any network, though.

You'll need a Windows PC (though not Windows 7, apparently), the latest version of iTunes, and the 3.0 firmware. Over to Hotz: "Connect your iPhone normally. Click "make it ra1n". Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app".

Make sure you backup first, and we wouldn't recommend you jailbreak unless you know what you're doing. Interestingly, Hotz says he only released his hack out of impatience waiting for the Dev Team:

"Normally I don't make tools for the general public, and rather wait for the dev team to do it. But guys, whats up with waiting until 3.1? That isn't how the game is played".

"We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn't worth waiting because you might have the "last" hole in the iPhone. What last hole...this isn't golf. I'll find a new one next week".

A version which works on OS X and Windows 7 is promised for "maybe Monday", according to Hotz's twitter feed.

Read

Related links:

• News - Apple says iPhone Jailbreakers breaking copyright law
• Link - iPhone 3GS Jailbreak

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Apple iPhone

iPhone 3GS gets a jailbreak - Purplera1n originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:02:27 +0100

Reuters is reporting that movie producer Universal has just acquired the movie rights to 1979's arcade smash hit "Asteroids", following a four-studio bidding war.

Matthew Lopez, the chap behind "Race to Witch Mountain", will be writing the script. It's billed as a completely new story - with a plot built entirely from scratch. Given that the original game has no real plot, that's probably wise.

Universal has some experience of that, Reuters says, as it's currently in the middle of translating Hasbro's "Battleships" and "Candyland" board games into an onscreen experience.

Given how awful the Mario, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider films turned out, we're not holding our breath on this one.

Read

Related links:

• Video - Office 2010: The Movie
• Via - Reuters

Tags: Gaming Retro gaming Universal Atari

Universal buys film rights to "Asteroids" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:01:10 +0100

Is there any kind of entry procedure for Mount Rushmore, or is it a closed shop and you have to be a long-dead president or summat? I'm just wondering, 'cos it's clear there's an argument that Clint Eastwood should be up there, something that Gran Torino backs-up in abundance.

Drawing upon that legendary Eastwood persona, here we find him playing Walt Kowalski, Korean war veteran and bang-up traditionalist, who just happens to look like he's been hewn straight from the Easter Islands. Staunch advocate of moral values and respect he may be, but Walt's also a racist curmudgeon from the top drawer.

Following the death of his wife, octogenarian Walt retreats into his shell, stopping merely to mow his lawn, tear strips off the local whippersnapper vicar, clean his beloved Ford Gran Torino and bemoan the influx of foreigners into his neighbourhood, in particular his new neighbours.

After the neighbours' son Thao has a run-in with a local gang, Walt becomes an inadvertent hero when he gets all medieval on the punks for breaking his gnome. Lauded by the immigrant community and charmed by Thao's forthright sister Sue, Walt's bigotry thaws as he's showered with more adoration than his own family can muster and display a respect for tradition and honour.

But sadly not everyone shares this, as the gang target Thao, evoking painful memories of Walt's time in Korea, and causing him to take Thao under his wing and teach him how to "man up".

As the film progresses, Walt's ill-temper is given shade, with his racial abuse serving not only as a tribal expression, but as a male bonding technique, a kind of industrial grounding he passes on. Walt is an arse, but one forged of experience rather than hatred.

Eastwood's performance allows this to resonate so convincingly, showing a man who has the strength of his conviction, but also as a prisoner of his own beliefs. His physical on-screen presence is mighty, carrying the weight of both his heritage and his generation, with his withering disdain for what the world has turned out seeping from his every pore.

As director and producer, Clint shows a vision that makes his advancing years an irrelevance - Walt and Clint's generation may be down on the modern world, but neither is afraid to admit they have exclusive ownership of the right way to live their life.

Tags: HomeCinema DVD

Gran Torino - DVD originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:00 +0100

As a marketing ploy it's certainly different.

Here's Mike Skinner, aka The Streets, turning his face into a crop circle. Whilst wearing rather noticeable Sony XB700 headphones.

Very rock and roll.

If you've seen a video online that you want to tell us about email us via the feed back form.

Tags: Video Websites Software Online

VIDEO OF THE DAY - The Streets crop circle originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:00 +0100

We brought you news of this kind of tech from CES earlier this year, and now Samsung is showing a touchscreen vending machine off.

The video above gives you a minute and a half of Samsung waffle about display tech before a Kraft exec demos the futuristic device.

Thanks to the 46-inch touchscreen panel, consumers have a new way to vend snacks from what the companies call, rather grandly, an "interactive communications network".

Because of the touch panel interface, much more information can be shared about the products than with traditional methods, with the option to display ingredients just one example. Hit play for more.

Related links:

• VIDEO - Touchscreen Coke vending machine

Tags: Biz Samsung Vending machines Video Kraft

VIDEO: Samsung shows 21st century vending machine originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:59:05 +0100

The basic premise here is pretty close to Command and Conquer. You take control of your LEGO characters to command them in various tasks around the game map. The map is fogged, and a few clear aims are given so you know what you are doing: fairly typical RTS stuff.

So you start off in LEGO Castle, taking control of your king and a few basic troops (guardsmen, archers, knights) as well as builders who create your base. Like C&C, you collect resources to give you the money to put up more buildings, defences and as levels progress, give you more options to create troops and vehicles.

Alongside the actual aims of the level, there are also bricks you can pickup as you roam around, which will allow you to unlock extras in the game. Some of these bricks are hidden in woods (in the Castle levels), which would have to be chopped down to reach them. It takes a fair amount of roaming to collect all the hidden extras, and there's a fair chance you won't bother, choosing to skip on in levels, rather than free roam.

Control is based around stylus highlighting and directing your LEGO troops. You can move them around or send them off to attack an enemy and so on. There are more advanced options such as a force attack, to fell trees, which they would otherwise just stand and look at. You can also get them to patrol an area, or stand their ground in defence, rather than running off after any enemy that shows themselves.

AI is always an issue in this sort of game and unfortunately it is something of an irritation here. Select a collection of men and send them to a location and you might find that half of them don't arrive, especially if they have to walk around a particular impassable object. They'll find they can't progress, so they'll stop.

The same problem can apply on bridges, when you want to send your troops over to set-up a defensive bridgehead and move more men in behind, you might find some of your cavalry stops on the bridge, and the army backs-up, unable to pass.

We are also not totally sold on the caps placed on available characters, although it does mean you have think a little harder. Usually victory can be yours through a simple formula or combining all your men and all your vehicles and roaming around destroying things, but you'll have to do that in stages because you can't highlight everyone and send them off all in one go.

This might be something to do with available processing power more than anything else, as in some epic moments we did see the odd stutter as a massive battle pulled itself through a sticky patch.

But the game moves along at a fair lick, with just about enough variety to keep things engaging. The format of levels is usually pretty similar: go here, find this, destroy these things. Each storyline has a good and bad side too, so you get a chance to play with all the different characters, once you complete the first Act of each story.

Gameplay is fun and with levels taking about 20 minutes or so each, this isn't something you pick-up and play for a few minutes here and there. Equally, it won't take you too long to get through the game, with the difficultly set pretty low, although we found a few levels where our poor strategy led to a last minute defeat.

There are also a Free Play option and Multiplayer options, allowing you to battle it out in a head-to-head with various different types of battle available. It extends the life of the game and gives a chance to get away from the story mode if you find it getting a little stale.

Tags: Gaming Nintendo DS Lego Warner

LEGO Battles - Nintendo DS originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:26:57 +0100

Word from Korea suggests that LG is about to pull out the big guns in the fight for dominance of the consumer smartphone market.

In an interview with Yonhap News, LG's head of mobile Ahn Seung-kwon has revealed some exciting future plans.

It seems as a bid to take the global number two spot in the mobile phone market LG is planning, among other things, an ultimate iPhone competitor.

Due for release in the fourth quarter of 2009, LG is currently prepping a new "Black Label" handset that will go head-to-head with Apple's iPhone.

In addition, LG will churn out a Prada III, the - you guessed it - third iteration of the designer team up.

Finally LG is planning an "extreme premium brand", said to be along the lines of Nokia's Vertu range, and likened to Toyota's Lexus models in terms of quality.

Read

Related links:

• Reviewed - LG GD900 Crystal mobile phone
• News - LG GT500 launches as T-Mobile exclusive
• Via - BGR

Tags: Phones Mobile phones LG Prada Rumours Biz

LG planning "Black Label" iPhone rival originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:21:56 +0100

MySpace is dropping its "A place for friends" tagline in a rebranding exercise that commenters suggest could see the company move further towards its music strengths.

It's also losing 100 jobs from its UK office, as part of global cutbacks - previously reported on Pocket-lint - that will see it axe 300 of its international staff and 420 of its US workers. That'll bring the total number of UK staff to 50, down from 150.

MySpace's CEO, Owen Van Natta, has admitted that the social network had become "bloated" and users were abandoning the site for arch-rival Facebook. In May, according to ComScore, its traffic fell behind Facebook's.

The cuts will mean that MySpace will no longer operate its own in-house PR team, and the PR company which has taken over has, at the time of writing, declined to comment to Pocket-lint. We'll update you if we hear anything back.

Read

Related links:

• News - Myspace axes two thirds of international staff
• Via - BrandRepublic

Tags: Biz MySpace Websites Software Online Social networking

MySpace is no longer a place for friends originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:56:58 +0100

Another entrant in precentral.net's what-would-you-do-for-a-Pre contest, this nutcase opted for his very first tattoo of - you guessed it - a Palm Pre. Anyone else thinks he looks a little like that Zune tattoo guy?

Related links:

• VIDEO - Car gets turned into a Palm Pre

Tags: Phones Palm Pre Video Mobile phones

VIDEO: Palm fan gets Pre tattoo originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:40:58 +0100

BT has announced a partnership with the Football Foundation that it hopes will reach out to people who are "not confident with technology", and help them learn about the digital world.

Based in football clubs across the UK, "Communicating for Success" will fund IT illiterates to create content for BT Vision that'll be available on-demand to all customers.

Marc Watson, BT Vision's chief executive said: "The Communicating for Success Channel is a milestone in the development of BT Vision. It engages the creativity of people who may have had limited access to technology, allowing them to make programming for their own communities".

The Communicating for Success channel will be available from the BT Vision listings guide at channel 965.

Related links:

• News - BT Vision customers get 20th Century Fox movies

Tags: HomeCinema Biz Video on demand BT Vision

BT Vision launches community channel originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:27:27 +0100

It's been talked up before, but the transport ministry in Japan is currently seriously considering forcing car manufacturers of near-silent hybrid vehicles to add sound to their motors.

"We have received opinions from automobile users and visually-impaired people that they feel hybrid vehicles are dangerous", a transport ministry official told the AP.

"Blind people depend on sounds when they walk, but there are no engine sounds from hybrid vehicles when running at low speed".

A panel of experts including the police and groups representing the visually-impaired have met to discuss the matter and, after the first meeting, decided that a "sound-making function" should be introduced.

This would mean hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius, would be manufactured to create noise when in electric mode.

Read

Related links:

• Feature - Five easy eco tech tips

Tags: CarAndGPS Eco cars Cars Toyota Eco

Japan considers adding noise to hybrid cars originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:15:23 +0100

A team of German scientists claim to have invented an ultra-thin battery that weighs less than a gram, measures less than a mm in thickness and can be printed out.

They can provide 1.5V each, so in series they'll put out up to 6V. What's more, the team reckons the batteries could be ready for commercial-scale duplication by the end of the year.

"They contain no mercury, so aren't particularly environmentally unfriendly. They are printed using a silk-screen method just like that used for t-shirts and signs".

"A rubber lip presses the printing paste through a screen onto the substrate, with a template covering the areas that are not to be printed on. The individual layers are slightly thicker than a hair".

So where's the downside? Well, the scientists say that they won't hold much charge for very long, so they won't be powering your mobile phone just yet. They could, however, be perfect for musical greetings cards and other similar applications.

Read

Related links:

• News - iPhone battery life complaints flood in
• Via - Gadget-venue

Tags: Hardware Batteries ENAS

Printable ultra-thin batteries due by end of year? originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:46:09 +0100

The Exilim EX-FS10 is a stylishly smooth and slim line model yet with a tough aluminium casing with a highly lacquered finish available in a range of of blue, gray, red and white colours for those wanting a slightly different slant to the camera.

So, what kit do we find on-board such a camera that is just 16.3mm thin by 97.1mm wide and 59.4mm high and that weighs in at just 121g with both battery and SD storage card safely slotted home in the camera's base?

Casio's new 9.1MP, high speed CMOS sensor starts the ball rolling allows for some pretty amazing snapping trick and was technology first introduced by the companies groundbreaking EX-F1. For a start there's 720p HD movie capability and this is dovetailed to the cameras 30fps burst shooting mode, though that's limited to (a still respectable) 6-megapixel maximum.

Add to this the camera's ability to shoot at 1000fps giving ultra slow speed movies and the clever kittery of the new model starts to look very interesting indeed. However, in the 1000fps mode, the movie resolution is limiting to say the least, since the resolution drops to 224 x 64-pixels, so very tiny indeed. It lacks sound too and will inevitably look terrible - even if used on YouTube.

Yes, it's great to have the ability to shoot ultra slow motion movies and as a proof of technology, it works, but what can you do with a silent movie that's so small it is almost unusable? Even if it is a slow motion movie of, say, a popping balloon or your granny bouncing on a trampoline! No matter how novel, it'll still be almost unusable.

However, there is another slow motion shooting mode on the EX-FS10 that comes as a result of the high-speed sensor and that is the slow motion pre-capture mode. Here at a separate button on the top of the camera, helpfully marked “slow”, the camera starts to preview the action before the lens in slow-motion, you watch the action and press the shutter button at the point you want to take a shot.

Now that's useful, you can (almost) control the capture point in fast action scenes as needed - it's like slowing down time in the camera, very clever and simple to use too. In terms of controls the camera looks rather complex for a ultra compact having a set of four shooting button for stills, 30fps burst, slow and movie recording, the latter on the back of the camera denoted by a red dot.

You have the lens zoom control surrounding the “normal” shutter button and a tiny on/off sliver of a switch that's just usable with a fingernail. On the back you have a jog button set and central set button for scrolling and selecting menu options with playback and shooting direct buttons then a menu control and finally the Casio Best Shot button.

There are a range of 21 scene modes that make up for the lack of any manual control options apart from exposure compensation to +/-2EV activated along with other key settings from the on-screen active display on the camera's 2.5-inch LCD and activated by pressing down on the jog button in single shot mode.

Here you can adjust resolution, ISO, white balance time and date and adjust the slow motion view between 1-second for 30fps, 2-seconds for 15fps or 3-seconds 10fps. The slow motion view speed can be tweaked here to with a one to eight range of adjustment, one being the slowest.

The camera's lens is quite limiting in terms of its focal length of 38-114mm, this is not wide enough for larger vistas and not long enough to get really close; the 10cm macro is not that impressive either. And so what you have here is a camera that while full of technical innovation in terms of its high speed shooting, starts to look a little less exiting when you get back to its main still shooting capability.

Image noise suppression seems to be overly aggressive, for example, meaning images lack detail even at lower ISO settings and it just gets worse the higher the ISO goes, as does the image noise, even with the over processing.

The camera's dynamic range (the amount of detail from black to white that can be successfully captured) is rather disappointing with highlight and shadow detail dropping away far to quickly in a shot, again exacerbated by higher ISO settings.

Colour leaches as the ISO rises too but otherwise natural and the white balance control is okay. Focus control is very good and quickly latches onto the main subject and the metering is rather impressive too and that goes for the flash metering too, which, although very underpowered, can shoot close to a subject without bleaching out highlights.

Tags: Cameras Digital cameras Compact cameras 9 megapixels Casio

Casio Exilim EX-FS10 digital camera originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:41:05 +0100

Part of a what-would-you-do-for-a-Pre contest, the crazy funsters at precentral.net have transformed a VW Golf "into a Palm Pre" (they stuck some stickers on it) before driving said vehicle to an Apple Store and shouting "iPhone sucks". Hit play for more...

Related links:

• News - Palm plans Pre announcement for UK

Tags: Phones Mobile phones CarAndGPS Pre Palm Video

VIDEO: Car gets turned into a Palm Pre originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:40:30 +0100

Spotify has announced it is to offer its first audiobook on the music streaming service.

Rather than a complete change of direction, it's a trial, to see what people think, with Spotify stating: "who knows, maybe this is the start of something new for us…"

The first title is Chris Anderson's new book "Free: The Future of a Radical Price", that follows "The Long Tail".

Spotify describes the release as: "Personally narrated by Anderson, Free considers a brave new world where the old economic certainties are being challenged by a growing flood of free goods - newspapers, DVDs, T-shirts, phones, even holiday flights".

The new book is available to all UK users now.

Read

Tags: Audio Spotify Music software Websites Online Audiobooks Chris Anderson

Spotify offers first audio book originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:13:28 +0100

If you're anything like us, it's safe to say you spend a fair amount of time talking, thinking and dreaming about gadgets.

You're not alone.

This new site has been set up by a bunch of veteran tech bloggers and it knows its subjects. No ranting and raving, just tips, tricks and new-fashioned advice.

We approve and have signed up to keep track of the chat.

www.gdgt.com

If you have a website that you want to tell us about email us via the feedback form.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY - gdgt originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0100

O2 has already reported that the iPhone 3GS launch was a hit for the operator in the UK, but now AT&T is confirming it's been a success in the US too.

In a leaked memo, that you know was just dying to be leaked out, AT&T reportedly says that iLaunch day 2009, as it calls it, "was one for the record books, as AT&T customers scrambled to get their hands on the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet".

The memo, which was subsequently picked up by MacNewsDaily, an Apple news website, goes on to say that the sale of the new iPhone from Apple proved to be:

* Best-ever sales day in our retail stores
* Second-largest traffic day in our retail stores
* Most transactions processed via our IT systems in a single day
* Most upgrade eligibility checks in a single day
* Largest order day in att.com history
* Largest features sales day in att.com history"

In the UK, O2 has already said that the new iPhone 3GS outsold the iPhone 3G on launch day.

The operator, who is rumoured to have also managed to bag the Palm Pre exclusive in the UK, said that footfall to shops on the 19 June was 10 times higher than an average day and the online site saw a 150% increase in traffic.

As a result the handset is currently out of stock from O2 in the UK.

Read

Related links:

• News - O2 out of stock of iPhone 3GS
• News - O2 gets exclusivity on the Palm Pre?
• Reviewed - Apple iPhone 3GS mobile phone
• Link - o2

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Apple iPhone AT&T O2 Statistics

iPhone 3GS breaks AT&T sales records originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:38:22 +0100

Remember those wacky IE8 ads with ex-Superman Dean Cain? While most were off the wall, one has been deemed a little too off the wall, and been pulled by Microsoft.

O.M.G.I.G.P. standing for Oh My God I'm Gonna Puke, depicted a women throwing up after she saw something on her partners laptop.

The online-ad, which was one of four adverts staring Dean Cain, was designed to illustrate Internet Explorer 8's Private Browsing mode.

However, following feed back from users, it seems that the advert was perhaps a little too much for some.

"We make a point of listening to our customers. We created the OMGIGP video as a tongue-in-cheek look at the InPrivate Browsing feature of Internet Explorer 8, using the same irreverent humor that our customers told us they liked about other components of the Internet Explorer 8 marketing campaign. While much of the feedback to this particular piece of creative was positive, some of our customers found it offensive, so we have removed it", a microsoft spokesperson told Pocket-lint.

Still, while Microsoft has pulled the ad from its website, that hasn't stopped it appearing on YouTube for you to catch again.

Just make sure when you press the play button that you don't have any sympathetic vomitors around, else it could get messy.

Related links:

• Link - broswerforthebetter.com
• NEWS - Microsoft launches wacky IE8 adverts

Tags: Software PC software Browsers Microsoft Video

Microsoft pulls IE8 vomit ad originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:45:57 +0100

Apple has issued a warning to iPhone 3GS customers that its spanking new mobile phone might be prone to over-heating.

The warning appears on an updated support document from Apple suggesting users should be careful about using the device.

Some owners have already reported that their white 3GS models are starting to turn pink or brown through overheating.

Apple suggests users should "Operate iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a place where the temperature is between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F)", suggesting that "low- or high-temperature conditions might temporarily shorten battery life or cause the device to temporarily stop working properly".

Not much help when the UK is currently experiencing its worse heatwave for the last 3 years.

Apple recommends that users "Store iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a place where the temperature is between -20º and 45º C (-4º to 113º F)," as well as suggesting users "Don't leave the device in your car, because temperatures in parked cars can exceed this range".

The comments are a far cry from Nokia's testing procedures which bake its phones to a high 85 degrees Celsius heat, before freezing them in a -40 degrees Celsius cold freezer as part of the testing process.

Apple warns users, of the phone that has already sold 1 million units worldwide, that "If the interior temperature of the device exceeds normal operating temperatures, you may experience the following as it attempts to regulate its temperature:

- The device stops charging
- Display dims
- Weak cellular signal
- Temperature warning screen appears with the message "iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it"

However it doesn't mean that you've got a timebomb in your hand. The Apple support document states that the handset does comply to worldwide safety standards.

Are you experiencing issues with your iPhone 3GS? Let us know in the comments section.

Read

Related links:

• News - Behind the scenes at the Nokia Test Centre

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Apple iPhone

Apple iPhone 3GS overheating warning issued originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:30:30 +0100

Archos also showed off its Classmate PC at a media event in London on Thursday.

Pitched to the education sector, we've seen the Classmate in another guise as the FizzBook Bang. Archos have at least kept the name of its original form, the Intel Classmate PC.

With an integrated handle, the Classmate is shock-proof and waterproof with a keyboard designed especially for kids, although adults may well find it just too small to use.

Complete with educational software, the 9-inch Classmate boasts an Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM memory, a webcam, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Ethernet connections and Windows XP.

The Archos Classmate can be yours for £319.99.

Related links:

• Review - Zoostorm FizzBook Bang notebook

Tags: Hardware Netbooks Notebooks Archos

PHOTOS: Archos Classmate PC originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:08:19 +0100

EMTEC today flashed their forthcoming nettop at an event in London. Currently going under the internal name of "G Box", it is lined-up to compete in the nettop market against the likes of the Acer Aspire Revo.

When questioned, a spokesperson for EMTEC confirmed that it did pack Nvidia's ION chipset to handle graphics, although the absence of an HDMI on the version we saw raised an eyebrow.

EMTEC clarified that two versions were being prepared, the first pitched at the business market as a dummy node PC, without the HDMI, whilst a higher-spec entertainment version would follow along.

Details are scant, however EMTEC did confirm the Intel Atom processor supported by the Nvidia ION chipset, 160GB hard disc drive and Windows XP.

The unit sees a VGA port, 4x USB connections on the rear alongside the Ethernet connection, and a further 2x USB on the front, along with 3.5mm jacks for headphones and a mic.

The suggested price would be around £179 for the HDMI-less version and yes, it will come with a bracket to mount it on your monitor.

We will keep you updated.

Tags: Hardware Nettops EMTEC

EMTEC plans Revo-style "G Box" nettop originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:50:12 +0100

Packard Bell's "imedia" desktops have been "refreshed" with a new design and features, aimed at those looking for a "fully featured and cost effective PC".

The range is offered in various configurations and specs, including an Intel Core 2 Quad processor or an AMD Phenom II X4 quad-core processor and up to 8GB of DDR3 memory.

Available with up to 1TB hard disc drive with optional Blu-Ray combo drive, other specs include six USB 2.0 connectors, an e-sata connector, optional Firewire connector, HDMI output and a multi-card reader.

Multimedia performance is helped along by Nvidia GeForce graphics or Intel integrated graphics, supporting Microsoft DirectX 10 and high definition 7.1 surround sound with a SPDIF connector.

Further options include a DVB-T TV tuner with remote control and Wi-Fi.

Said to be 60% smaller than a standard desktop, looks-wise the imedia models offer a "sleek glossy black chassis with matt accents and soft curves highlighted by a glowing blue power on/off button".

Complete with a multimedia keyboard, and running Windows Vista Home Premium, the starting price for the imedia range is set at £299.

Tags: Hardware Desktop PCs Packard Bell Blu-ray Intel AMD Nvidia

Packard Bell imedia desktops refreshed originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:44:11 +0100

How do you get more mentions on Twitter than Michael Jackson or Wimbledon? Dangle ten MacBook Pros in front of the Twitter community, is how.

DIY website-making company Moonfruit has done just that and managed to top the Twitter charts, so to speak, with its prize bribe.

Moonfruit is currently giving away 10 MacBook Pros over 10 days as a celebration of its 10th anniversary.

In order to be in with a chance to win, Twitter users have to include #moonfruit in a tweet and are then automatically entered in a prize draw.

As Twitterers rush to do so, the hashtag #moonfruit is now Twitter's top trending topic today, with around 400 tweets a minute and rising.

Moonfruit claims it's one of the most successful Twitter marketing campaigns to date and says visits to its site are up a massive 600% as a result.

The company has now extended the comp to include prizes for the most innovative or creative tweets that incorporate the hash tag.

Tags: Software Websites Twitter Moonfruit MacBooks Competitions

#moonfruit dominates Twitter with MacBook giveaway originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:57:22 +0100

New patent applications uncovered by MacRumours reveal potential future iPhone plans from Apple, that cover tactile feedback for the touchscreen, biometrics and wave-and-pay possibilities.

Unlike rival's touchscreens the iPhone's multi-touch display does not currently give "haptic" feedback that provides a tiny vibration to let a user know they've hit the virtual button.

Apple's patent notes: "When the user is unable to view the display... the user can only feel the smooth hard surface of the touchscreen, regardless of the shape, size and location of the virtual buttons and/or other display elements. This makes it difficult for users to find icons, hyperlinks, textboxes or other user-selectable input elements that are being displayed, if any are even being displayed, without looking at the display".

The solution suggests a "grid of piezoelectronic actuators" that would offer the user variable feedback depending on what was displayed on the screen.

The biometrics-related patent covers fingerprint patterns that would recognise different fingers, rather than just different users, as many security application now do.

This would mean the phone would activate different functions depending on which finger the user held to the display, so the index finger might mean email, while the middle finger music, etc, alternatively different fingers could mean different actions, so again index finger might play music while the middle finger might stop it.

Lastly, a patent reveals Apple is looking into RFID technology, where an RFID antenna could be placed behind the phone's screen so that the device can be used as an RFID reader, similar to the NFC trials that have been carried out in the UK.

Read

Related links:

• News - Apple patents "movement-aware" iPhones
• News - Nokia launches NFC-enabled 6216 classic

Tags: Phones Apple iPhone Patents RFID

Apple patents haptics, fingerprint reader and RFID for iPhone originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:00:30 +0100

Digital Vision announced the launch of its GiGo Digital Freeview Recorder.

Rather than take the usual approach of bundling an internal hard disc drive into a tuner box, the GiGo has three slots on the front to plug in USB sticks. The box will then record in MPEG2 format straight to USB.

The idea isn't to blow away the likes of Humax and its comprehensive PVR offerings, but rather to appeal to those who see the decline of their humble VCR as the end of their TV recording days.

The GiGo Digital Freeview Recorder contains a single tuner, allowing you to receive Freeview transmissions and record at your leisure through the electronic programme guide.

The operation is intentionally basic so it will appeal to those who don't want an overly-complicated solution.

Rob Musk, head of retail sales at Digital Vision, told Pocket-lint that they saw the GiGo fitting into kitchens and bedrooms, rather than leading the charge into the lounge. "It's a simple and affordable approach", says Musk. "We've connected a 500GB hard drive with no problems". You'll then be able to archive to your PC to watch on the move.

The GiGo will allow you to record one channel, whilst watching previously recorded programmes from the USB stick.

Musk hinted that future products would compete with more sophisticated PVR systems, bringing MPEG4 recording and an internal hard drive.

The cost is expected to be £69.99 when it launches later in the year.

Tags: HomeCinema PVRs Digital Vision

Digital Vision GiGo looks to replace the VCR originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:23:22 +0100

IOGEAR has announced that its Wireless USB to VGA Kit is now available in the UK.

Said to be a simple-to-install solution, the kit will allow users to wirelessly show PC content on another screen with a VGA port.

The receiver works up to a distance of 30 feet. As well as suitable for uses such as presentations, IOGEAR is angling the solution as perfect for those that want to watch iPlayer content, or similar, on a remote monitor or television.

The kit runs the PC desktop alongside live TV, so users can surf between television and whatever is showing via the PC input.

Set up requires bundled driver software to be installed, the USB adapter is in the PC, then connecting the VGA adapter to the VGA display which will display images of up 720p quality.

IOGEAR say the Wireless USB to VGA Kit is available now for £169 from Tenzy.co.uk - although is currently showing as around £155.

Related links:

• Shop - Tenzy

Tags: HomeCinema Hardware IOGEAR Wireless Networking Wireless USB

IOGEAR offers Wireless USB to VGA kit originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:06:46 +0100

With just the coming soon HTC Hero on its books to fill the large, high-end, touchscreen, smartphone gap in Orange's portfolio, it seems the operator has grabbed at the chance of offering Toshiba's high-end TG01.

Slightly spoiling Toshiba's planned press conference on 9 July to announce the phone for the UK market, a "coming soon" page has appeared on Orange's site.

It seems Orange will be offering the handset on a pay monthly basis with £35 per month contracts, but little else is revealed at this stage, presumably with more due after the 9th, unless Orange is planning further revelations before then.

Recent rumours have suggested that Orange has lost out to O2 in the bid to offer the Palm Pre in the UK, so if this is the case, although a very different handset proposition from the Pre, the decent TG01 will go some way to make up for that loss.

Read

Related links:

• News - Toshiba TG01 UK details coming 9 July
• VIDEO - Official Toshiba TG01 hands-on
• News - Toshiba TG01 mobile phone debuts
• Shop - Orange

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Toshiba Orange TG01

Orange grabs Toshiba TG01 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:43:22 +0100

YouTube has increased the size limit of uploads to the video sharing site for its millions of users. The authorised size of standard uploads has been doubled from 1GB to 2GB.

This move is a response to user demand, considering the amount of new devices on the market offering better, and in many cases, high def video quality recording.

Although no doubt popular with some, more experienced YouTube users are bemoaning the fact that it's just file size that's been increased, rather than length of video - currently curtailed for standard users at 11 minutes.

YouTube user nineko says: "I don't care about those 2 gigabytes, I never had problems even with the old 100 megabytes limit, people who need all that filesize for their videos are people who fail at encoding, seriously, H264 doesn't need all that bitrate to look good".

While cmyanmar13 chimes in with "Only the most dreadfully badly encoded 11-minute file could possibly take up 2GB".

But YouTube says the move is so that some users won't have to worry about encoding files with the 2GB limit, meaning users can upload "large HD files directly from your camera".

In addition, YouTube has now made it possible for users to share links directly to the HD version of a video - by adding "&hd=1" to the end of the URL as well as embed the HD versions directly in sites.

Read

Tags: Software YouTube Websites

YouTube ups upload limit originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:18:28 +0100

O2 has launched a new chargeable phone service for its broadband customers called "O2 Tech Support".

Rivalling services such as the Geek Squad and the TechGuys, users will be able to "benefit from a range of expert technical services providing peace of mind for all their home and business electronic needs", says O2.

As well as help on the home broadband, mobile broadband and laptop front, the service will assist "whether it is removing a virus, setting up software, linking up home cinema systems or even connecting to a CCTV system".

The O2 Tech Support is said to be available now online at www.o2.co.uk with a minimum 3-month term from £7.34 per month, or on a "Pay as You Use" basis from £14.69 where O2 offers a "No Fix - No Fee" promise.

Tags: Biz Phones O2 Mobile phone industry Hardware HomeCinema

O2 Tech Support launches originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:50:14 +0100

To celebrate 50 years of the F-Mount lens system, Nikon UK is offering cashback on D5000 and lens combination purchases.

The 12-megapixel effort has received a 9/10 score from Pocket-lint's full review (link below) and offers the ability to shoot 720p high-def video.

The choice of lenses is restricted to the AF-S models, which comprise of internal motors for auto focusing - the single lens option giving you £50 cashback, whilst going for two lenses will see you receiving £75.

All purchases need to be made between 1 July and 31 August and your claims, no later than 30 September.

If you're looking to enter into the DSLR market this camera appears to be a good all rounder, catering for both semi-enthusiast and semi novice. So the introduction of this offer makes the D5000 an even more compelling option.

Available from Amazon for £619.98 there's a link below that'll take you directly to their site.

Related links:

• Reviewed - Nikon D5000
• Shop - Amazon

Tags: Cameras DSLR cameras Nikon Daily Tech Deal

Daily Tech Deal: Cashback on Nikon D5000 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:00:00 +0100

Archos has unleashed its Archos 3 Vision, the 3-inch PMP, designed to take on the likes of the iPod touch.

Designed as an all-round entertainment device in your pocket, it will give you music, video and photos, all controlled through a touch interface.

It also packs in an FM radio and an FM transmitter, TV out and a Composite cable to hook-up to a TV on your travels.

The Archos 3 Vision can be yours for £89.99, which will give you 8GB capacity, and is available in August.

Related links:

• News - Archos announces Vision range of PMPs

Tags: Audio Archos MP3 players PMPs

PHOTOS: Archos 3 Vision PMP originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:27:46 +0100

Archos said that it was "absolutely delighted" with its Archos 10, but was aware that the product had attracted some criticism.

Its answer is the Archos 10s, a slimmer model at 20mm and weighing only 1kg. It features a magnesium alloy skin for strength and durability.

It still packs in fairly regular netbook stats, running a N270 Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, and running Windows XP.

The Archos 10s will be available July 2009 in 2 versions, with a 3 cell retailing at £329.99 and 6 cell at £349.99.

The Archos Classmate will be available in the UK from August 2009 with a recommended retail price of £319.99.

Related links:

• News - Archos announces 10s, 13s and Classmate netbooks
• News - Archos announces 9-inch tablet PC

Tags: Hardware Archos Netbooks Laptops

PHOTOS: Archos 10s hands-on originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:08:11 +0100

The netbook market has pretty much saturated itself over the last year. With Archos better known for their internet media tablets, it is perhaps a surprise to see them step into the world of netbooks.

Yes, they do sort of punt into the same territory, but to impress in the netbook world these days you have to deliver on battery life, price, connectivity or design. Unfortunately the Archos 10 gets off to a slow start in all these areas.

First up the Archos 10 is very openly a rebadged Hasee MJ125. This isn't a problem in itself as many netbooks are rebadged models from various suppliers. It sports a 10.2-inch LED backlit display, with an averaging resolution of 1024 x 600px. It does have a matte finish however, unlike some current netbook offerings, meaning you can use it in brighter conditions without too many problems.

Sitting at the core of the netbook are a fairly typical set of hardware components. It packs in an Intel Atom N270 processor running at 1.6GHz, with 1GB RAM and 160GB hard drive, which comes pre-partitioned. The Archos 10 measures 258 x 189 x 28mm.

In terms of connectivity you get Wi-Fi of the normal g variety and an Ethernet port for wired connections. Notably missing is any form of 3G connection or Bluetooth, although there is a keyboard shortcut for Bluetooth on other models - presumably in another skin.

In terms of other physical connections you get 3x USB 2.0, 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks, and a multicard (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO) reader, so fairly typical.

With netbooks being compressed in form the keyboard is of extra significance. In this case there is nothing to get excited about. The keyboard is of the flat variety, with small flat keys. There is also a wasted 15mm on each side of the keyboard that could have been used to increase the size a little.

We're also not a fan of the key layout, a common problem on netbooks. The Ctrl and Fn keys are reversed, the brightness and volume adjusters are reversed too. Keys that you might use often, such as return and shift are too small to hit reliably when typing with any speed. It is also a noisy keyboard, clattering away as you bash out emails.

The trackpad at the bottom is a little better, with reasonable size and response to touch. The conventional two-buttons below layout works too, although the bottom edge has a tatty bit of chrome detailing which houses the status LEDs. In reality, losing that and giving the whole thing a few extra millimetres all round would have been a better move.

There is a fair amount of bundled software on the Archos 10 at arrival, including BitDefender, Parental Filter, Lotus Symphony, Skype (to use with the 1.3-megapixel webcam in the screen bezel), XnView and vTuner. These may appeal, but we don't really feel it adds much value to the offering here.

In operation it works well enough. As a general netbook it happily got to work handling documents and general usage on the move. In that regard, it is pretty average. Unfortunately the Archos 10 is let down by poor battery life. We managed to get nearly 2 hours from the battery before it was calling for more juice, which by current standards isn't enough, but there is mention of a 6-cell battery as an optional extra.

Tags: Hardware Notebooks Netbooks Archos

Archos 10 notebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:00:00 +0100

Orange has announced it will be offering the "ultimate high-end Windows Mobile PDA phone" to its business customers.

The phone? The HTC Touch Pro2. The Touch Pro2, announced earlier this year, gets a 3.6-inch WVGA touchscreen and a slide out five row QWERTY keyboard.

Packing HSDPA (7.2Mbps), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity the handset is powered by a Qualcomm processor (MSM7201a, 528 MHz).

Elsewhere there's 512MB of ROM, 288MB of RAM and storage for files provided by microSD card. GPS and A-GPS will help with direction finding while photos can be captured with the 3.2-megapixel auto-focus snapper on the back.

Running Windows Mobile 6.1, the business angle for the phone comes in with its hands-free tele-conferencing feature and HTC's "Straight Talk" that lets users switch from an email account to single or multi-party voice call by pressing the image icon of the email sender.

The HTC Touch Pro2 is available now to Orange business customers.

Related links:

• News - HTC Touch Pro 2 launches
• PHOTOS - HTC Touch Pro2
• Link - Orange

Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC Orange Biz

HTC Touch Pro2 available for Orange business customers originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:52:22 +0100

Archos are expanding beyond the internet media tablet for which they are traditionally known. We've already seen the Archos 10, their take on the netbook, but here we have the Archos 9, a tablet PC running on Windows.

Sporting Windows 7 at launch - as was the sample we saw today - the 9-inch capacitive touchscreen device will also come with twin Freeview/DVB-T tuners giving you digital TV on the move.

The Archos 9 tablet will be available in autumn 2009 at £449.99 for the 80GB version and £499.99 for 160GB version. For more information, head over to our news story, link below.

Related links:

• News - Archos announces 9-inch tablet PC

Tags: Hardware Archos Tablet PCs

PHOTOS: Archos 9 tablet PC originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:46:32 +0100

Vodafone contracts will make a return to the shop shelves of Carphone Warehouse after 3 years.

Thought to be a move to "take back" the UK-based operator's home market, currently led by O2, it ends a 3-year absence from Carphone Warehouse stores.

In 2006 Vodafone signed an exclusive deal with Carphone Warehouse rival Phones4U, ending the sales of Vodafone contracts through Carphone.

Carphone Warehouse is now set to offer Vodafone's contracts throughout its 820 shops from next week.

Another option currently open to Vodafone to expand in the UK is the potential purchase of struggling T-Mobile, currently said to be under consideration.

UPDATE: Vodafone has now issued a statement, saying it will offer pay as you go mobiles, upgrades, pay monthly contracts and mobile broadband connections through the Carphone Warehouse from 7 July. It will also continue its partnership with Phones4U.

Read

Related links:

• News - Vodafone reveals mobile internet roaming charges

Tags: Biz Phones Mobile phone industry Vodafone Carphone Warehouse

Vodafone returns to Carphone Warehouse originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:26:32 +0100

Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, has announced it will be introducing real-time search data from micro-blogging service Twitter to its results.

Describing the move as an "initial foray into integrating more real time data into our search results", it's limited now to the "more prominent and prolific Twitterers".

This includes those from the world of tech such as Danny Sullivan and Kara Swisher as well as people with a more "general consumer appeal" like Al Gore and Ryan Seacrest.

When Bing users search for the names above in association with Twitter, they will see their latest tweets come up in real time on Bing's search results, along with a link to "see more tweets" from that individual.

So who will be included? Microsoft says: "We picked a few thousand people to start, based primarily on their follower count and volume of tweets".

Read

Tags: Software Microsoft Twitter Websites Search engines Online

Microsoft Bing gets real-time Twitter search originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:51:35 +0100

A date for the unveiling of Archos' "ultra-thin Internet Media Tablet combined with a mobile phone" based on both its own and Google's Android operating system, has been revealed.

Those who fancy such a device should mark 15 September in their diaries, as that's when all will be revealed an Archos exec has announced at a media event in London.

Archos has previously revealed that the new device will get all the "functionalities of a premium smartphone" plus its applications whilst Archos' multimedia framework will offer entertainment and web-browsing.

As well as the Android functionality, the gadget will offer "PC-like" internet on a high-resolution 5-inch screen and full-width page viewing, full screen Adobe Flash and Flash Video support, and on demand access to Archos' multimedia library as well as TV recording.

Archos is claiming hundreds of hours of video storage with up to 500GB capacities in a compact 10mm "ultra-thin" tablet, plus 7 hours video playback from one battery charge and 3.5G/7.2Mbps HSUPA connectivity.

We will keep you posted and bring you more on 15 September.

Related links:

• News - Archos to launch Android-based Internet Media Tablet

Tags: Hardware Archos Android Phones Internet tablets Netbooks PMPs

Archos dates mystery Android internet media tablet originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:45:17 +0100

Archos has introduced a new range of portable media players under the "Vision" sub-brand, that it says offers the "best price and quality mix".

The new range of PMPs offers screens up to 3-inches in size, with 4-inch and 7-inch screen models planned for an autumn launch.

First off is the Archos "Clipper", described as an "ultra-mini" MP3 player, weighing in at 20 grams, aimed at the gym and jog markets.

The Clipper is designed for music and podcasts and launches with the claims of being able to store over 1000 MP3 or WMA encoded songs or 60 hours of music with 2GB of storage capacity.

The Archos 2 Vision, an "all in one affordable credit card size device", gets a 2-inch colour touch display and scrolling abilities with the flick of a finger.

As well as MP3, WMA and WAV music playback, it can display lyric and photo viewing, boasts an FM tuner and a mic for voice recordings.

With 8GB of storage, Archos says the 2 Vision is good for 4000 songs while a micro-SD card slot expands the memory.

Next up is the Archos 3 Vision, a "full featured, affordable" player with a 3-inch touchscreen, 8GB capacity, 14-hours battery life and comes with a composite cable for TV hook-up.

It improves on the 2 Vision with video playback, an FM transmitter, a stopwatch and calendar.

All three players are due in August. Pricing is £19.99 for the Clipper, £49.99 for the 2 Vision while the Archos 3 Vision will cost £89.99.

Related links:

• PHOTOS - Archos 3 Vision PMP

Tags: Audio Archos MP3 players PMPs

Archos announces Vision range of PMPs originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:28:16 +0100

Google has announced changes to Gmail's labelling toolkit.

The location of Gmail's labels has changed, now grouped together with Inbox, Drafts, Chats and other system labels, users now have control over which of their labels show.

Google automatically displays the labels that are used most, and hides the rest, but users can over-ride Google's defaults by clicking the down-arrow to the left of that label to select show, hide or delete.

Another improvement is the ability to drag messages into labels, or drag labels onto messages, which works the same as using the "Label" button.

Google says these changes mark the end of "Right-side Labels", one of the experimental Gmail Labs features. Apparently this is the first Labs feature Google has retired.

The new labelling features will be rolled out to all users over the next day or so.

Read

Tags: Software Websites Google Gmail

Gmail makes changes to labels originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:41:31 +0100

Facebook for iPhone 3.0 "is coming very soon", according to the site's official blog, but will not offer the push notifications the iPhone OS 3.0 update has technically allowed.

Facebook says of this functionality "you can expect it in a 3.1 update later this summer" despite admitting it's "the one feature everyone is asking for".

The improvements, changes and updates in Facebook for iPhone 3.0 are listed here.

1. The "new" News Feed
2. Like
3. Events (including the ability to RSVP)
4. Notes
5. Pages
6. Create new photo albums
7. Upload photos to any album
8. Zoom into photos
9. Easier photo tagging
10. Profile Pictures albums
11. A new home screen for easy access to all your stuff, search, and notifications
12. Add your favourite profiles and pages to the home screen
13. Better Notifications (they link to the comments so you can reply)
14. Quickly call or text people right from the Friends page
15. Messages you are typing will be restored if you quit or are interrupted by a phone call

Facebook says it "can't predict an exact date" that 3.0 will go live, but it's about "98% done" and will be submitted to Apple soon.

We will keep you posted.

Read

Tags: Software Websites Facebook iPhone iPhone apps Software updates

Facebook for iPhone 3.0 coming soon originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:30:50 +0100

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the meteoric rise of digital video is the massive range of format types, resolutions and codecs available, which in most cases are tied specifically to platforms and portable devices.

MediaShow Espresso is the latest application to promise hassle-free conversion and tips its hat towards a range of popular portables by offering presets for Apple's iPod range, Sony's PSP/PS3 and the Xbox 360. For each of these you'll find the necessary file type hardwired but usually have an option to adjust resolution and aspect ratio and where relevant select a preferred audio format.

You'll also find presets here for YouTube videos and luckily there is still a custom "other formats" conversion that offers a choice of MPEG2, MPEG4 and WMV, selectable resolutions and bitrates and the ability to create profiles to save common settings for easy access later.

None of this is particularly new so far, but the way in which MediaShow Espresso goes about the task at hand elevates it above the majority of rivals in this market.

For a start, the software is far more polished than we expected, utilising an adjustable thumbnail display to show imported video clips along with the ability to preview or play them using the integrated media player. Multiple clips can be selected for batch-conversion, though it's not possible to select multiple formats on a single job, and current file information can be viewed through file properties.

Conversion quality is as you'd expect and speeds are also very good, particularly if you're able to benefit from its support for Intel Core i7, Nvidia CUDA and ATI Stream CPU/GPU technology, in which case it claims up to 10x faster performance.

A few handy little extras designed to make your life easier offer added appeal, such as the ability to export Apple conversions directly to the iTunes library, and upload video directly to a YouTube account.

MediaShow also claims "green" credentials by giving the option to switch off a computer after a job is finished and generally we were impressed by the attractive yet no-nonsense approach Espresso takes to media conversion and transfer.

Tags: Software PC software VideoAndEditing Cyberlink

Cyberlink MediaShow Espresso - PC originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Navteq - the company owned by Nokia that's behind the maps and navigation systems in almost every satnav around - has been discussing the future of the PND - the portable navigation device.

Pocket-lint had a chat to the company's vice president, Serge Bussat, who disagrees with most commenters, predicting the death of standalone PND units in favour of mobile phones.

"The phone will not replace the sat-nav", he says confidently, explaining instead that his company's philosophy lies in integrated solutions. Maps that reside in your car dashboard.

Currently, solutions like that are available for high-end cars but not to the majority of consumers. The issue being that cars have a much longer development cycle - many years - than most portable satnav units. "The phone is an intermediate step", he adds.

The company also spoke about competition from Google, who offers free maps through its API. "We invest in good quality maps and content, which is navigable. We collect over 200 attributes of information at every junction".

"It's not about building the map, it's about building the layers on top of it". By layers, Bussat is referring to the applications that the company collects and judges every year at its "LBS Challenge" awards at Mobile World Congress.

"Christmas could be a huge high for navigation", Busset says. Given the popularity of mapping apps on phones, dedicated satnav units and with a future that involves in-car embedded mapping, it's no surprise Navteq is predicting a rosy future.

Tags: CarAndGPS Navteq GPS software Phones

Navteq: "The phone will not replace the sat-nav" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:10:42 +0100

We've brought you news already of Disney's 3D Toy Story Mania! game for the Wii and it seems it's not the only 3D gaming experience incoming from Disney Interactive Studios.

G-Force, based on the film of the same name and featuring "a unique team of specially trained guinea pigs that use high-tech gadgets and specialised talents to complete a dangerous secret mission", will also offer "three-dimensional stereoscopic technology".

By wearing the special "anaglyphic" glasses bundled with the games, players will see the action extend and "come out" of their screens.

The glasses will mean both players can experience 3D during a two-player Toy Story Mania! game or for an accompanying family member to view that perspective in G-Force.

The 3D expert that worked on G-Force says: "Like the 3D effects in some feature films, the goal for adding 3-D in G-Force enabled the two miniature creatures - guinea pig Darwin and housefly Mooch - to appear to come forward from the screen, which creates a unique experience for the player".

G-Force will be available in 3D on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on 31 July while Toy Story Mania! is still scheduled for autumn.

Related links:

• News - Disney announces Toy Story Mania for the Wii

Tags: Gaming Disney 3D Dad Nintendo Wii Xbox 360 PS3

Disney announces 3D "G-Force" game originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:02:55 +0100

Further to our story that more info about a UK launch of the Pre will be coming next week, sources are reporting that Palm will announce O2 as its official network partner for Great Britain.

O2 already has an exclusive on Apple's iPhone, and adding the Pre to its stable will no doubt increase the company's lead on its competitors.

Similar to the iPhone, the Carphone Warehouse is also tipped to be selling the Pre. It'll be interesting to see whether the Pre will be available from O2 stores - Nokia's N97 isn't, presumably on Apple's request, despite O2 offering contracts for it.

Many are eagerly anticipating the handset, which has received rave reviews in the USA and is ranked towards the top of the large pile of smartphones released this summer.

O2 has refused to comment on the rumours, but confirmation should arrive next week when the details are published publicly. We'll bring you the news as it breaks.

Read

Related links:

• News - Palm plans Pre announcement for UK
• Via - Guardian

Tags: Phones Mobile phones O2 Palm Pre Rumours

O2 gets exclusivity on the Palm Pre? originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:20:43 +0100

Video might be all the rage at the moment, but that shouldn't stop you from making your own podcast to share your thoughts and experiences with the world wide web.

Here are five gadgets to get you started.

Samson microphone, £145
If you're going to record sound then you'll need a decent microphone, and the Samson C01U promises to be just that. With no drivers required for either PC or Mac use, all you have to do is plug in the microphone via a spare USB socket and away you go. Software in the box consists of an LE version of Sonar for the PC and you'll also get a stand so you can perch it on your desk just like you're a radio DJ. If you're looking to make decent recordings this is a good place to start whether you're a Mac or PC user.

Olympus LS-10, £269.99
Who says you need to be sitting in front of the computer to record your podcast? With the summer fast approaching the Olympus LS-10 will let you venture out into the wide open, with the opportunity of grabbing the odd comment from passers by. Coming with stereo microphones, the option to plug in an external mic and plenty of recording options on to an SD card this is the bees knees when it comes to digital voice recorders.

GarageBand, £79.99
One for the Mac boys, but while the software's main aim is to edit and master tracks for your burgeoning band, that doesn't mean it's no good for editing your podcast chatter. With plenty of features and the ability to lay multiple tracks and micro-manage them all, this will even help you create that opening jingle too with little trouble.

Belkin TuneStudio, £136
If you're inviting more people to get involved, that might mean multiple mics and a bigger setup than just you in front of your computer. The Belkin TuneStudio for iPod is a 4-channel audio mixer that lets you create digital recordings directly onto your iPod, meaning you can listen back to your recording without having to even touch a computer. While the mass of dials and buttons might be off putting at least it will let you turn down that rather annoying guest when you next want him or her to speak.

iPhone 3GS, Price dependent on contract
It might be a phone, and yes there are plenty of other phones on the market that offer this feature as well, but the new iPhone 3GS comes with its very own Voice Memo App that lets you, that's right, record voice memos by pressing a button. Once you're done, you can then send your ramblings to your mates in an email. Creating a podcast on the bus home never was so easy.

Do you podcast? If so, what gadgets do you use to produce and share your recordings? Let us know in the comments below.

Related links:

• Link - Podcast news and reviews

Tags: Audio Software Phones Microphones Five things Samson Olympus Apple Belkin Podcasts

Five podcasting gadgets originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:43 +0100

Blu-ray disc sales are rising despite the depression, says the British Video Association, the trade body that represents the interests of publishers and rights owners of video home entertainment.

It's been revealed that more than 3.1 million Blu-ray discs have sold in 2009 to date, a rise of 231% on the same period last year.

The BVA says that this "signifies public interest in the high definition format's unparalleled picture and sound quality".

We say that considering that Blu-ray's next-gen rival HD DVD officially croaked in February 2008, leaving Blu-ray as the only high-def disc format on the market since that time, the rise is not only to be expected, but not particularly impressive.

The BVA suggests that Blu-ray success (as opposed to perhaps downloads, streaming or rental services) has in fact led to the decline of DVD, with SD disc sales down 9.5% year-on-year bringing the total number of discs sold in 2009 to just 100 million (compared, of course, the BD's 3.1).

Tags: HomeCinema Blu-ray DVD Statistics

Blu-ray "defies recession" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:32:12 +0100

Can you afford to drop two grand on a laptop? Do you like Lamborghinis? Then race your eye-balls over this quick video that gives the Asus VX5 luxury laptop a speedy once-over, all for your viewing pleasure.

Related links:

• PHOTOS - Asus-Lamborghini VX5 snapped

Tags: Hardware Laptops Asus CarAndGPS Lamborghini Video Megawhat

VIDEO: Asus Lamborghini VX5 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:29:13 +0100

Gear4 has announced an upgrade for its CDM-D100 microsystem (pictured), which was released earlier this year. The CDM-D150 has exactly the same specs as its little brother, but also contains a DAB radio.

For the forgetful amongst you, the CDM-D100 had a top-loading CD player, universal iPod dock, built in FM (to which DAB has been added) and a line-in port for plugging in your MP3 player.

There's also an alarm clock, and 5 preset EQ settings, for bass fiends. There's a remote control provided, too. It'll be available in August, and will cost £120.

Related links:

• News - GEAR4 KRG-D50 announced
• News - GEAR4 launches CMD-100 micro system

Tags: Audio Radios DAB Radios GEAR4 Hi-Fi

Gear4 launches CDM-D150 microsystem originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:05:24 +0100

Hyundai's plans to launch its mobile phones into the UK market have been scrapped.

Oxfordshire-based Hyundai Mobile UK was due to enter the competitive UK market in the first half of 2009, following an announcement in January, but the collapse of its distribution partner, Advantage Cellular, has severely hindered the launch.

Although an alternative partner was said to be being considering, the company is now understood to have "ditched" the mobile plans "for the foreseeable future".

Hyundai Mobile UK exec Graham Jelfs told Mobile: "It's really sad after all the hard work that we're not able to launch as planned. The excellent PR campaign led to numerous phone calls and emails from consumers requesting our products".

Among the phones Hyundai was planning to offer UK consumers was a reasonably low-cost watch phone and a mobile shaped like a dolphin based on the rationale, "everyone likes dolphins".

Read

Related links:

• News - Hyundai Mobile to launch in the UK
• News - Hyundai Dolphin phone debuts

Tags: Biz Phones Hyundai Mobile Mobile phone industry

Hyundai Mobile ditches UK launch plans originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:40:43 +0100

The LG GT500 has launched as a T-Mobile exclusive, described as a good all-rounder, available free on £25 per month tariffs.

The HSDPA 3G handset gets a 3-inch touchscreen and a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, image stabilisation, digital zoom features and GPS technology.

As far as getting online goes, the phone can be used as a modem with a laptop, while the handset itself has quick links to sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Music fans should note the built-in Dolby 2.0 sound and T-Mobile's multimedia offerings include Mobile TV and T-Mobile Mobile Jukebox.

Whether this is the same as the recently announced GT505, what memory capacity the phone has, whether it's GPS or A-GPS, what OS it runs and whether it has a 3.5mm jack are all unanswered questions at this stage.

The LG GT500 is available from T-Mobile stores now, with prices starting from free on a £25 a month tariff - but again we're waiting to hear how long those contracts are.

Related links:

• News - LG announces GW520 and GT505 phones

Tags: Phones Mobile phones LG T-Mobile

LG GT500 launches as T-Mobile exclusive originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:10:12 +0100

We've previously brought you whispers that online video site Hulu is said to be due a UK launch around September, but a senior VP of the company has announced at a London event that the "UK is our number one priority".

Speaking at the IEA's Future of Broadcasting event, Johannes Larcher said the UK is "very ready for a product like Hulu", especially considering the demise of Project Kangaroo which was to be a similar service from the UK's main broadcasters.

"We are talking to everyone. UK is our number one priority in terms of international expansion. We are very interested in the UK. We hope in the very near future we will have some plans to reveal for the UK", said Larcher, leaving no doubts that the UK market is under consideration.

Larcher would not be drawn on a launch date or any details of UK partners it had managed to sign up, but said it would be tailored to the UK market: "We will localise our model so we are not perceived as a US company".

Read

Related links:

• News - Hulu launching in the UK in September

Tags: HomeCinema Video on demand Software Websites Biz Hulu

UK is "number one priority" for Hulu originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:04:54 +0100

Pocket-lint has just been invited to attend a briefing with Palm about its new Pre smartphone in the UK next week.

Technically we can't come out and say that the Palm Pre is about to be announced for the UK, because we don't know that's the case, however, it seems fairly likely that's what Palm wants to discuss.

The UK press briefings are scheduled to take place on Tuesday 7 July with Palm's marketing director and,of course, Pocket-lint will be attending.

Palm's new Pre smartphone was just launched in the States in the first week of June, so it seems we might not have to wait as long as was thought for the device to come to Blighty.

Since then Pre sales are thought to have topped 300,000 while sales of apps for the device are said to have hit a million.

Stay tuned - Pocket-lint will bring you all the Pre news on the 7th.

Related links:

• News - Palm Pre sales top 300,000
• Reviewed - Palm Pre

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Palm Pre Rumours

Palm plans Pre announcement for UK originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:49:15 +0100

The BBC has announced that live Championship football will make a return to the public broadcaster for the first time since 1987.

And, marking the changes in how such events are broadcast, and how we watch them, since the late Eighties, the games will also be broadcast live on the web at BBC Sport Online.

As part of the announcement, the first four live and exclusive Football League Championship games to be broadcast during the forthcoming 2009/10 season have been revealed.

The first will take place on 8 August and see West Bromwich Albion take on Newcastle United. The 26 September brings Ipswich Town versus Newcastle United while on the 24 October Derby County goes up against Queens Park Rangers.

The final confirmed match (with more details promised soon) is on 1 November and will be Cardiff City playing against Nottingham Forest.

Tags: SportsFitness HomeCinema BBC Football

Football League Championship games return to BBC originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:26:02 +0100

Following a similar deal for the N97, Expansys are trying to make the most of the launch hype around HTC's new effort, the Hero.

As reported earlier in the week by Pocket-lint, the Hero will be available SIM-free, so for anyone in the market for that non-contract experience Expansys will be selling the phone for £399.99. This is a marked difference to Amazon's price of £429.99.

In terms of availability it is possible to place your order of the Android phone now, and the "estimated" time for delivery is 7 days, which ties in with the expected early July launch date.

With the order you'll also be getting £30 worth of Expansys vouchers, which can be used to buy accessories for your new phone - though extra memory is excluded, according to the terms and conditions.

There are links to the Expansys online shop as well as our First-Look review, news story and hands-on pics.

Related links:

• News - SIM-free HTC Hero up for pre-order
• Reviewed - HTC Hero
• Photos - HTC Hero
• Shop - Expansys

Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC eXpansys Daily Tech Deal

Daily Tech Deal: HTC Hero with £30 of free vouchers originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:00:00 +0100

We're not entirely sure if these are just concept, mock-up designs or if there are such decaled Minis currently on this Earth, but either way, they sure are nice to look at.

A creation of Portland-based graphic artist Matt W Moore, as well as a jazzy, stripey effort, Moore has looked to retro games for inspiration.

With a Pac-Man-themed motor and a rainbow-esque Space Invaders offering, we're sure both Mini and games fans would be delighted to get behind the wheel of one of these.

Read

Tags: CarAndGPS Mini Gaming Retro gaming

Mini Cooper gets a retro gaming make-over originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:50:48 +0100

Do you need an excuse to do something fancy? Let's take the GD900 from LG. It has a transparent keypad that slides out, adding to what is a full-touch device. Is this just LG showing off, or is this a phone you actually want to live with?

Ignoring the slider to begin with, you have a svelte handset, measuring 105 x 52.5 x 13.5mm and weighing 126g. It nestles well into the hand, with soft edges and a pretty solid feel throughout, if a little plasticy.

Three touch controls sit across the bottom of the screen, to accept and reject calls, as well as access the multitasking screen, or deploy the 3D interface of the S-Class user interface. The top sees a lock button, with a small but responsive volume control lying on the right-hand side. The camera button sits on the slider element, also on the right.

The screen is a 3-inch 480 x 800px display, as we saw on the Viewty Smart and Arena, which does suffer in bright condtions, being almost impossible to see.

The touch response is good, and as in both those previous models, the S-Class interface is a pleasure to use and runs slick enough. As previously, we found that disabling the haptic responses and touch noises tended to make it that bit sharper.

The S-Class interface in this form is easy enough to use only through touch: it works on both the new Viewty and Arena without a keypad and the same is true here. The experience is very close to both those models, with a few little quirks.

Of course the biggest quirk, from which the phone draws its name, is the Crystal keypad. The construction is actually similar to any other slider, but in this case the working area of the keypad is translucent. Standard 12-key digits illuminate in white and it all looks pretty cool. Press the numbers and off you go: it works just like a normal keypad, with T9 entry and so on.

But this isn't just a slide-out number keypad, it is so much more. The first thing it does is provide a shortcut scratchpad. There are a few preprogrammed shortcuts assigned by default, like "M" for music, "S" for email or a triangle for messaging. These can be customised to a certain extent, with a selection of shapes to choose from for other applications.

It works, but thanks to the customisation options on the S-Class interface, you can pretty much access anything with a few taps anyway.

But there are a few extra treats tucked away in the form of shortcuts. For example you can swipe through the 3D home page and tap to select the one you want. Again, it's recreating what you can do on the screen, but it does at least stop it getting all smeary.

But when you've got a snazzy touchpad, why not go the whole hog? So it also recognises letters, so you can scribble text messages, although it is pretty slow compared to text entry on a Windows Mobile device, for example. Letter recognition is good, but you need to tap various on-screen buttons for caps, numbers and so on, so it is a little laborious compared to both the on-screen option or the normal T9 keypad option.

In web browsing it is a little more useful, because you can manipulate the page you are on without having your fingers all over it. You can do the normal two-finger zooming, which is slick and fast, whilst a long press takes you to a mouse pointer so you can click on those tricky hyperlinks. It does take a while to get into things as it isn't always obvious what will and won't work, which is also the biggest drawback of this arrangement.

For example, if you've selected scribble letter entry, then this applies across all functions, on both the screen and the keypad. So if you then enter the browser, go to "enter address" where it suggests websites you've visited from your history, you can't press one, because it thinks you are scribbling text. Little things like this mean you do occasionally find yourself doing something completely random (although you can just disable letter writing at a single press, so it isn't a huge issue).

You can also use the keypad to pause or change volume in the music player, although we found it didn't always comprehend when we were trying to change volume and when we were trying to scroll the list of tracks.

So yes, the transparent keypad is something of a novelty, but isn't just about looking pretty. The transparent sections are well mounted on a metal sliding frame, so it all feels good quality too. The rear of the transparent section unclips to give you access to the phone's innards, the SIM slot and battery (neatly finished to look like the rest of the phone's rear). The slider also supports the shutter button and reveals the external microSD card slot, and the camera.

The camera is relatively high-spec at 8-megapixals, featuring an LED flash and portrait mirror for those who like taking pictures of themselves, although there is a forward-facing camera too. The design means you have to have the slide open to use the main camera. The keypad can be used to adjust sliders by drawing a circular motion, for example to zoom in (although it's digital zoom, so try to avoid using it).

What you don't get is the full range of camera controls that you get on the Viewty Smart (nor the Schneider Kreuznach lens either), but it is autofocus. Video is also supported at a maximum resolution of 720 x 480px at 30fps.

Still image results are reasonable, but we did find noise creeping in where you wouldn't expect it. Colours are relatively well represented, but high-contrast scenes do lead to a fair amount of fringing. It isn't as good as the Viewty Smart due to the lower quality lens, but as a camera phone it isn't too bad.

Video results too are pretty good, responding quickly to changing light conditions. That higher resolution beats some competitors hands down, so your YouTube videos will better than many. A YouTube uploader option is provided through the handset, but we prefer the web version.

Like LG's latest range of handsets, the GD900 doesn't scrimp on the connectivity front either, except for the missing GPS. It packs in HSDPA for the full internet browsing experience, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The handset also boasts DivX support.

Unfortunately there is no 3.5mm headphone socket either, so you'll have to make do with the bundled Micro-USB headset, although this is a dongle type arrangement, so you could swap in your own headphones. That said, those provided aren't too bad. The box also contains a nice silky case for your phone, if that's what you are into.

Battery life is reasonable but not great. As a full touch device and well-connected data junkie, you'll probably find yourself charging it every evening.

Related links:

• Photos - LG GD900 Crystal mobile phone
• Video - LG GD900 Crystal mobile phone

Tags: Phones Mobile phones LG 8 megapixels

LG GD900 Crystal mobile phone originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:44:11 +0100

Crikey, we had a hunch that Spotify was popular, but in an interview with The Register, Spotify's Daniel Ek claimed that his service has "five to six times" the usage of other streaming music services.

He also disclosed the original rationale of the company - "It's not hard to do illegal software... Spotify would be the most popular service in the world if it was illegal". He called going "legal" a challenge.

"It's sad that the one dominant player, iTunes, doesn't care about the music industry", he said. "We want to be the second company that writes huge cheques to artists".

Ek also admitted, however, that his company wasn't making money: "We're in one of the world's worst recessions, and it's taken longer to get started. We view it as we haven't really started yet. In four months you can't build a self-sustaining model, like iTunes".

He disclosed that he'd thought about video, but wasn't planning anything yet because it would mean competing with YouTube. He also fleshed out the company's plans regarding downloads - emphasising how simple it needed to be.

Spotify is still a young company, but there are many who already regard it as the future of music. Whether it's "access over ownership" philosophy succeeds will depend on how quickly it can bring mobile and offline services to market. We're looking forward to hearing more.

Read

Related links:

• News - Spotify updates playlist interface, promises more payment options
• Via - The Register

Tags: Audio Spotify Software Websites Music software Online Media streaming

Spotify has "five to six times" the usage of other streaming services originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:38:02 +0100

A little over a month after entering beta, Skype 4.1 has gone gold and is now available. You can get it right now from the Skype website.

As previously reported on Pocket-lint, the new version includes screen sharing between Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as birthday reminders and the ability to send contacts to other Skype users.

The company's also promising better video and call quality, and various accessibility features. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then head over to the Skype website to download it.

Related links:

• Link - Skype 4.1

Tags: Phones Skype VoIP Software Software updates

Skype 4.1 for Windows goes live originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:06:03 +0100

In a move that will have iPhone critics spitting bricks, Apple's latest iPhone advert focuses on the copy and paste functionality the 3.0 update has finally granted the platform.

The iPhone 3GS can do "pretty incredible things", cheesy voice-over man informs us. "You can copy a phone number and paste it in a text".

Hit play now to see the other things the iPhone 3GS can copy and paste, and hit comments to let us know just how incredible you think this is.

Read

Related links:

• Feature - A quick guide to iPhone OS 3.0

Tags: Phones Apple Video Advertising iPhone

VIDEO: Latest iPhone ad says copy and paste is "incredible" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:52:56 +0100

Denon has upgraded the "affordable" end of its Blu-ray player range, and has introduced the DBP-2010. The player offers Profile 2.0 capability, multiple format playback and 10-bit video processing.

There's 1080p upscaling, as well as digital noise reduction and an HDMI Source Direct feature for native resolution output. On the audio side, there's 7.1 channels of surround and full Dolby and DTS decoding.

There's also an Ethernet port for BD Live functionality and firmware updates, along with support for DivxHD and AVCHD video formats. The DBP-2010 will be available in July, come in silver and black, and cost £600.

Related links:

• News - Denon launches F-Series compact hi-fi system
• News - Denon launches DVD-1800BD Blu-ray player in the UK

Tags: HomeCinema Denon Blu-ray

Denon launches DBP-2010 Blu-ray player originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:38:42 +0100

Ixos has launched a new clock radio speaker system for use with iPods, the "Neo".

The Neo offers an FM radio, 4 speaker drive units and a 10W RMS amplifier along with 6 preset EQ settings.

It can charge iPods while playing music and users can also sync their iPod with iTunes when docked thanks to the USB PC hook-up.

This also means it can be used as a laptop or netbook speaker as well as offering stereo phono inputs and 3.5mm jack input for other devices.

As far as clock radio functions go, the Neo offers what's said to be an easy to programme alarm clock with the option to wake to iPod music, FM radio or tone.

With a blue backlit LCD display, the Neo gets a "gun metal black" finish while the iPod docking cradle has a flip down lid to protect the connector when not in use.

The Ixos Neo is available now from high street shops for £109.99.

Tags: Audio Ixos iPod speakers Alarm clocks Radios Speakers

Ixos Neo launches originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:33:01 +0100

Playfish, the social gaming company which was recently profiled on Pocket-lint, has announced that it's met a pretty impressive milestone - 100 million of its games have been installed.

The company relies on social networks to spread its games, such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. It formed 18 months ago and is aggressively expanding, having released seven games - all of which have made the Facebook top 10.

The company's most popular game - Pet Society - is played by 12 million people each month, and the newest is Restaurant City which launched in April and has seen 5 million installs in 10 weeks.

"Reaching 100 million installs in such a short time is clear proof of social gaming's popularity and how loyal, enthusiastic and deeply engaged the Playfish community is", said Playfish's co-founder Kristian Segerstrale.

Related links:

• News - Playfish COO touts success of "social gaming"
• Link - Playfish

Tags: Gaming Biz Playfish Facebook

Playfish hits 100 million installed games originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:13:22 +0100

Michael Hickox is a YouTube user who's rather adept at stop-motion animation using Lego. His latest video pulls in all manner of retro gaming fun, from Asteroids to Space Invaders.

He's also got a tonne of other videos on his YouTube channel which we highly recommend checking out, including homages to Super Mario and Donkey Kong.

There are plenty of other retro arcade game Lego videos on YouTube, but Hickox's work is some of the more impressive we've seen. It certainly gives us a hankering for the golden age of video games.

Read

Related links:

• News - New BBC drama covers 80s home computer battle
• Via - Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Tags: Gaming Video Lego Retro gaming

VIDEO: Lego Arcade originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:48:34 +0100

"Pocket Tweets" is described as a mobile phone-display enabled Twitter shirt for everyday use.

"Why invent a new screen when the mobile phone, our private mobile window to the digital world is already there?" ask the Rotterdam V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media.

A Java application developed by Simon de Bakker can display the latest tweet from a selected account and displays the message on the screen of a phone, peering out from a doctored shirt pocket, although you're on your own for the sewing.

"The ubiquitous mobile phone turns a normal shirt into wearable technology. The private screen of the mobile phone becomes a public display", say the creators of the concept.

Read

Related links:

• News - Flickr announces Twitter integration
• Via - urlesque

Tags: Software Twitter Clothing

Twitterers get "Pocket Tweets" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:44:24 +0100

Ahead of the device going on sale this month, here is footage, from the London launch, of the HTC Hero.

HTC's third Android phone, and Orange's first, the phone will also launch as the G1 Touch on T-Mobile.

Hit play now for a quick walkthrough of the handset's features and functions, including the new "Sense" UI.

Related links:

• PHOTOS - HTC Hero hands on
• News - HTC Hero launched in London

Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC Android Video Megawhat

VIDEO: HTC Hero originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:25:59 +0100

Yahoo!'s photo-sharing website Flickr has announced that users will now be able to automatically share any photos uploaded to the service on Twitter.

To set up your account, go to Flickr's "add a blog" page, follow the steps to authorise Twitter, and then save the email address provided to your phone's address book.

From there, whenever you want to upload a pic, just email it to the address. The subject line of the email will be the Flickr title and the wording of the tweet. As a result, it's limited to 116 characters.

Alternatively, from the Flickr website, just find a "blog this" button on a photo page. If you don't want people tweeting your photos then you can turn that button off.

Read

Related links:

• News - Flickr intros mobile "nearby" feature
• Via - Flickr Blog

Tags: Software Online Websites Flickr Twitter

Flickr announces Twitter integration originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:09:56 +0100

Messaging company Acision has published research which indicates that 75% of consumers believe they're being overcharged when they use their phone abroad.

2000 phone users were surveyed in June 2009, and 62% of those admitted that they were "completely unaware" of what they were being charged to call, text and use the web abroad.

Intriguingly, 42% of consumers said that if they were made aware of exactly how much they were spending, then they'd use their phones more, which Acision VP Mike Beech calls an "untapped market":

"Consumers would be put at ease and would actually use their mobile phone more when abroad if they were able to view their real-time spending".

Although that would be easy to do for pay-as-you-go customers, it's a little more tricky for pay-monthly customers. "It's a complete change in their systems - a major upgrade", Beech told Pocket-lint.

However, operators shouldn't be scared, he says: "There is an opportunity to make more money - if you implement minimum legislation, it's likely to cap people's spend - the upside will be difficult to see, (however) if you can offer other limits, packages in advance, there is demand there".

Vodafone is making inroads into that space, with its removal of extra roaming charges for UK customers this summer and recently-announced roaming data package offerings.

However, it'll take more than that, says Beech. "There is varying levels of interest from different operators". If roaming charges weren't so costly, Acision claims, over half of consumers would talk and text more, and over a third would send photos home via their mobile.

Do you know how much you're charged for roaming? Have you been hit with a sky-high bill after a few mobile Facebook sessions in Europe? Would you use your phone abroad more if you knew what it cost? Share your thoughts with Pocket-lint in the comments box.

Related links:

• News - Vodafone reveals mobile internet roaming charges
• News - EU cuts cost of roaming

Tags: Phones Acision Mobile broadband Tariffs Roaming Statistics

Roaming charges are "untapped market", says Acision originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:09:44 +0100

Following the news we brought you that Vodafone was considering a buy-out of struggling mobile phone operator T-Mobile, it seems both Orange and O2 are also looking at the option.

Orange is now said to have entered into the negotiations for Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile while O2 is said to have also expressed an interest in an acquisition.

T-Mobile is said to be up for grabs for around the £3 billion mark, but if an existing operator attempts to take over the company, will likely face scrutiny from regulators.

T-Mobile has a networking sharing deal with 3, as well as being the network behind Virgin Mobile, although it's said Virgin has an opt-out clause to partner with someone else if T-Mobile is sold.

Read

Related links:

• News - Vodafone considering T-Mobile buyout

Tags: Biz Phones Mobile phone industry O2 Orange T-Mobile Vodafone

O2 and Orange eye T-Mobile originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:06:30 +0100

The BBC is plotting a new one-off, film-length drama that will make for fascinating viewing for retro-gaming and computer fans.

Due to be shown on BBC Four, "Syntax Era" is said to "provide an affectionately comic account of the Eighties race for home computer supremacy".

The drama documents the rivalry between Sir Clive Sinclair, who will be played by Alexander Armstrong (Armstrong & Miller) and his former colleague, Martin Freeman's Chris Curry, as they go head to head in the growing home computer market.

"Those of us that lived through the Eighties will remember the sense of excitement when gadgets and technology started to appear in our homes, but not many of us will know the fascinating stories behind their arrival", said Richard Klein, controller of BBC Four.

The Beeb promises classic clips within the drama from programmes including John Craven's Newsround.

Tags: Gaming HomeCinema Retro gaming

New BBC drama covers 80s home computer battle originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:25:53 +0100

Though an attractive brushed metal faceplate and solid build distracts from its otherwise boxy dimensions, Panasonic's latest Lumix FX550 point and shoot is certainly one of the more conventionally styled yet premium priced compacts (at £294 SRP) we've seen of late. Especially coming after Sony's slim-line Cyber-shot T90 and Canon IXUS 110 IS rivals. That said, at a width of just 21.9mm with lens retracted, it still slips comfortably into any trouser pocket or handbag.

Given that its traditional design carries over to the FX550's back plate, where we find a familiar smattering of disappointingly plastic buttons ranged right of its 3-inch, 230k dot LCD, it's a surprise to find said screen incorporates touch operation. The camera's shooting and review modes are revealed as reactive lozenge-shaped icons on-screen with a press of the "mode" button alongside it.

Other features of note include a 12.1-megapixel effective resolution, a Leica-branded wide-angle 5x optical zoom lens with a focal range stretching from 25-125mm in 35mm terms, a manually selectable light sensitivity range of ISO 80-1600, with an ISO 6400 setting accessible when shooting in High Sensitivity scene mode, plus the ability to capture 1280 x 720 high-def movies.

Whilst far from the worst we've seen, we discovered image noise starts to intrude at ISO 400, detail noticeably softening by ISO 800, while at ISO 1600 results look painting-like, suggesting Panasonic was right to halt proceedings there.

Action fans meanwhile can take advantage of up to 10 frames per second continuous stills capture mode thanks to a 2.4x faster Venus Engine V processor, though with the compromise of resolution dropping to just 3 megapixels. Otherwise it's a respectable 2.3fps at top resolution, 4:3 image ratio. Response times are likewise pretty good. With a flick of the on/off switch on the top plate the camera powers up for action in 2 seconds, the rear LCD blinking into life a fraction later.

Go on to take a picture and there's no discernable shutter delay (well, officially it's .007 seconds); a full resolution JPEG format image committed to memory - a 40MB internal cache or optional SD or SDHC media - in a further 2 seconds.

As expected the camera, like other Panasonics in the Lumix family, features intelligent auto (iA) functionality - actually the camera's default setting. In this mode the FX550 analyses and recognises the subject the user is pointing it at and adjusts its contrast and exposure settings to suit. It's not all fully auto though; if desired, by pressing the AF/AE icon that hovers on screen users can direct the camera's focus to an area of the subject by simply tapping at that point on the screen. A yellow square then appears on the LCD hovering over your intended subject as you re-compose the shot.

The model's other talking point is obviously its inclusion of HD movies, here of the 1280 x 720 pixels variety rather than the preferable Full HD 1920 x 1080. Still, at least it means users can fit longer clips on their cards, with further options to downgrade to 848 x 480, 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels if space is an issue or the higher quality simply isn't required.

As with its compact rivals, an optional component cable is required for hooking the camera up to an HD TV, though regular AV and USB leads are included in the box, along with wrist strap and plastic stylus. Disappointingly though, the Panasonic's optical zoom cannot be accessed when shooting movies; it simply stays put in the position it was in before recording commenced.

Though of course you do get a zoom switch encircling the shutter release button for incrementally adjusting the position of the lens, there's an additional small button on the FX550 marked "E.Zoom" or Eazy Zoom. Press this and in a swift transition the camera jumps from maximum wideangle to telephoto setting.

Press it once more and it will zoom to an equivalent 9.8x. If this sounds too good to be true, it is. Since only the central part of the sensor is now being utilised, resolution drops to 3 megapixels again.

Battery life is good for 350 shots from a single charge, which is fair given that the rear screen is in constant use. Bit of a shame though that alternating between capture and playback modes means physically flicking a switch in the top right hand corner of the back plate; we found ourselves occasionally missing a shot because a half press of the shutter button wouldn't automatically throw us back into shooting mode.

Tags: Cameras Compact cameras Digital cameras 12 megapixels Panasonic

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX550 digital camera originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:00:00 +0100

While HTC CEO Peter Chou says it might, and lawyers and saying it's unlikely, it was only a matter of time before some enterprising software bod managed to port the HTC Sense interface found on the newly announced HTC Hero to the HTC G1.

And so that's what they've done. Before you rush to the interweb to find the low down on how to turn your G1 or Magic into the HTC Hero though, it is probably worth noting that, if the video has anything to go by, you'll have a rather sluggish phone afterwards.

Additionally, and this might be a biggie for most, you'll also lose some functionality of the phone. But hey these guys are so on the cutting edge they are almost falling off.

I mean why else would they choose such an awful soundtrack to walk you through 8 minutes or so of new features?

Read

Related links:

• Via - mobilecrunch.com
• News - HTC Sense interface coming to HTC Magic?

Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC Android Video

VIDEO: HTC Sense comes to HTC G1... originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:33:55 +0100

Palm has reportedly sold over 300,000 Palm Pre handsets since its launch earlier this month, according to analyst firm Charter Equity Research.

The news, which falls short of Apple's iPhone 3GS launch and Samsung's supposed 2 million Jet handset pre-orders, is no doubt still being seen as a positive by company staff keen to see the company come back from the grave.

Ed Synder, the analyst who is making the claims, reports that the company is now making around 15,000 handsets a day as it hopes to push sales further, following out-of-stock issues experienced in the first week of the handset.

It means Palm should reach the "magic" 1 million handsets by the end of the quarter, giving it a nice headline with which to launch in the UK.

Outlining rumours already doing the rounds, Synder believes that other webOS devices from Palm are coming, and not just to mobile operator Sprint in the US, suggesting that Verizon will get a webOS powered handset some time in 2010.

In the UK Palm has yet to announce an operator for its new multi-tasking handset with some believing it will be either Vodafone or O2 to bag the deal when it eventually launches later this year.

Read

Related links:

• Via - gizmodo.com

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Palm Palm Pre Biz Rumours

Palm Pre sales top 300,000 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:13:17 +0100

Dell has released a new Vostro laptop today; the 12.1-inch Vostro 1220, as it moves to expand its ultraportable range aimed at small businesses.

The new model, available in obsidian black or deep cherry red rather than the usual array of smartie coloured variants will come with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the promise up to 9 hours of battery life on the optional 6-cell battery. The usual array of connectivity options will include 802.11 draft-n wireless LAN or an optional mobile broadband module.

Elsewhere, you'll get support for up to 8GB Dual Channel 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM, the option of either a 16GB or 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) over an 500GB hard drive for the storage hungry, and a Blu-ray drive, if that's your thing, in a model that weighs 1.52kg.

Prices start in the US from $799 although expect that to increase rapidly to $1869 if you go for the top line option with SSD and Blu-ray drive.

Dell says the new model is shipping globally, although the new laptop has yet to show up on the Dell UK site.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Dell

Dell Vostro 1220 laptop debuts originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:50:13 +0100

Dell has announced that it will be adding the option to add a GPS chip to its Dell Mini 10 netbook from next week for customers looking to track their whereabouts on the netbook.

According to the computer company, the move comes as more and more customers look to track their movements when out and about.

Currently only available in the US for starters, with the promise of more regions being added in the future, the new Dell 700 GPS module will be a bolt on extra for the netbook.

"Starting next week in the United States, we're offering the Dell 700 GPS solution for our Mini 10 netbook that is a combination of hardware and software", said Dell in a blog post on their Direct2Dell website.

The hardware part, says Dell, is an internal GPS card with built-in Wi-Fi location technology that calculates your position using Wi-Fi access points or using GPS satellites.

On the software side, the Dell Wireless 700 system comes with CoPilot navigation software to provide turn by turn directions, and open-source software Loki for the browser location element.

Initially only supported in Windows XP, (the OS that the Mini 10 comes with) Dell says there are plans to add Vista and Windows 7 support in the coming months.

The company has also said that it plans to bring the Dell 700 GPS module option to other lines within its range in the future.

We will keep you posted.

Read

Tags: Hardware Netbooks Dell CarAndGPS Satnavs CoPilot

Dell Mini 10 Netbook gets GPS originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:29:19 +0100

O2, the exclusive operator of the Apple iPhone 3GS, has said that it has run out of stock of the new Apple mobile phone, suggesting that the new handset was more popular than previously thought.

In a statement on the company's website the operator says:

"iPhone 3GS is currently out of stock: Due to the phenomenal demand for the new iPhone 3GS, we've temporarily run out of stock online, over the phone and in our retail stores".

O2 says that it expects additional stock of the new iPhone 3GS to be available online, over the phone and in their retail stores at the end of this week.

As a consolation, the operator says that the iPhone 3G 8GB model is still currently available.

However, the news comes as many customers are complaining that the white version of the new handset is already starting to discolour over time due to heat issues.

Apple has yet to respond to the claims.

Meanwhile Play.com announced today that it would be selling the new iPhone 3GS without contract for £899.99. Those willing to opt for the phone that costs more than your average laptop will be pleased to hear the online retailer is offering free delivery to would-be customers to seal the deal.

Related links:

• Link - o2
• Reviewed - iPhone 3GS
• News - Play.com offers 32GB iPhone 3GS for £900

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Apple iPhone O2

O2 out of stock of iPhone 3GS originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:11:48 +0100

Toshiba has confirmed to Pocket-lint that it will be releasing the UK launch details of its Snapdragon powered TG01 mobile phone at the beginning of July.

The phone, first announced back in February, will be the first handset to feature the Qualcomm 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and promises to take on the iPhone, Palm Pre and HTC Hero when it eventually launches in the UK.

Although Toshiba is keeping quiet on an operator launch partner, it has already teamed up with O2 in Germany following an announcement on Monday.

The Windows Mobile device is based on the speedy Snapdragon platform and offers a 4.1-inch touchscreen display. In Germany it will be offered with Nimbuzz pre-loaded.

From a translated version of the O2's German site, it appears pricing for the TG01 is a pre-payment of 20 euros followed by a 24-month contract priced at 20 euros per month.

Pocket-lint will be bringing you all the news as it happens from the 9 July launch event.

Related links:

• News - Toshiba TG01 launches in Germany

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Toshiba TG01

Toshiba TG01 UK details coming 9 July originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:29:05 +0100

DAB radio listeners now have a new station to try out, as "Amazing Radio" has debuted on the platform this month.

Available nationwide (or, more accurately, where there's a DAB signal) the station plays 100% new music from unsigned bands and artists.

An offshoot of the music website amazingtunes.com where, over the last 4 years, unsigned artists have been able to upload and sell their music - receiving 70% of the download revenue, the station is on a 6-month pilot.

While the site now offers 15,000 tracks from a variety of music genres including indie, urban, rock, jazz and pop, this is the catalogue the station can select from.

Paul Campbell, founder of amazingtunes.com and Amazing Radio, said: "It's normally impossible for new artists to get onto big radio stations. So we made our own".

The station also plans to feature unsigned voices as presenters and allow listeners to choose the playlists.

Tags: Audio DAB Radios Websites Amazingtunes

"Amazing Radio" debuts on DAB originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:17:12 +0100

Right on schedule, the download page for Firefox 3.5 is now live. You can mosey on over to mozilla.com and grab it.

As previously reported on Pocket-lint, the new browser is claimed to have over 5000 now features including private browsing, geolocation functionality and improved performance.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on the new browser. Are the improvements worth the wait? Do you worship the fox? Or have you jumped ship to Opera or Chrome? Share your thoughts on the new browser in the comments.

Related links:

• News - Firefox 3.5 to arrive 30 June
• Link - Download Firefox 3.5

Tags: Software Browsers Firefox Mozilla Software updates

Firefox 3.5 download is now live originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:32:03 +0100

Borders has announced that it'll be selling a new e-reader from Elonex, called the ebook. It's been specially developed for Borders, and is aiming directly at the Sony Reader.

It comes packed with 512MB of memory - enough for approximately 1000 eBooks - and 100 "classic titles" preloaded. You can also get an accessory pack which includes a 4GB SD card and leather case.

Borders' commercial director, Peter Newbould, said: "Digital bookselling is still in its infancy, but we believe it is here to stay. We were first to market with an e-book reader when we introduced the iRex Iliad last year and (with this release) we hope to bring new customers into the market".

The reader weighs 180 grams and supports ePub and Adobe formats. It has a 180 degree viewing angle, and anti-glare facility. It costs £190 and is available now.

Related links:

• News - Borders launching iLiad e-book reader

Tags: Gadgets E-Books Elonex Borders Sony

Elonex launches e-book reader through Borders originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:24:17 +0100

Play.com is offering unlocked iPhone 3GSs for those that are prepared to pay the price.

The top-of-the-range 32GB iPhone 3GS is currently being offered for sale by the online retailer for £899.99. Delivery is free.

The 16GB model is also up for grabs, a little less at £799.99.

Play.com made headlines earlier this year by offering unlocked iPhones in the UK where only O2, Apple and Carphone Warehouse officially sell the phone.

It's thought Play.com sources the handsets from France, where they are legally obliged to be sold unlocked, although for a higher price, hence the cost.

Both models are available now with dispatch said to be in 4 to 5 days.

Related links:

• Shop - Play.com

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Apple iPhone Play.com

Play.com offers 32GB iPhone 3GS for £900 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:18:05 +0100

Designed to make playing games more accessible on the go, Sony has created the PSP Go, a smaller, more pocketable offering of its handheld gaming console. But can a smaller new slider design be the answer? We managed to get some hands-on time with the new console when it visited New York, months ahead of its official launch later in the year.

The PSP Go, as it will be known, is around 50% smaller and 40% lighter than the original model, making it considerably smaller overall than the PSP-3000 model that is currently available.

But rather than reduce the size of the screen or the keys - it features a 3.8-inch screen, by the way - Sony has gained that extra space back by opting to move the controls found in the original PSP either side of the screen, on to a slide out panel. When not in use, those controls hide under the screen just like your standard sliding mobile phone handset.

That move from side to underneath is really where most of the space has been saved, making the PSP something that could theoretically fit into a pocket.

So instead of a plethora of buttons that adorn the panel around the display, now you just get two small speakers (either side) and a single button - the PlayStation one to the left.

The slide-out panel gives you a d-pad, the usual square, cross, circle and triangle buttons, start/select and an analogue stick just as before (there is still only one and it's a little bit more central now). The new layout is of course closer than before as it is not separated by the screen, but it's still comfortable in the hand - some would say more so in fact.

Get past the design and you'll notice some other differences too. The main one being that Sony has ditched the UMD drive around the back. It's good and bad news really. The good news is that you get a smaller design, as well as more battery life because the system isn't having to run any mechanical parts. The bad news is that you won't be able to play any of your UDM disks if you're a PSP-3000 owner.

To get around the lack of game cartridge slot you get a Sony Memory Stick Micro slot and 16GB of onboard storage to save music, movies and of course games that you've either side- or downloaded from the PlayStation Network Store (PSN).

Connecting the PSP Go to the rest of the world can be done either by Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or of course USB.

The Bluetooth function, while not actually letting you connect the gaming console to your mobile phone so you can play online, will let you connect Bluetooth standard peripherals such as headphones and headsets, as well as a PS3 wireless controller to be used when watching video content on a TV via PSP at home, although that surely defeats the object of making the device smaller in the first place.

Firing up the console was quick and simple with an identical interface to the original PSP (if you haven't seen this before its virtually identical to the PS3, if you haven't see that either just look at our gallery of hands-on pics).

We played with the new system watching (we should probably say scanning) a movie and playing a little bit of yet-to-be-released Little Big Planet. The result? Well it's the PSP being the PSP to be honest, with the performance not really improved or changed from the PSP-3000 experience.

The screen, which is incredibly crisp, is both the console's championing element and its biggest downfall. How? Well because it is so crisp, clear, and luscious, that you just want to reach out and touch it, swipe your finger across and pinch it (to zoom in, etc) just like you can on numerous mobile phones. The trouble is, is that the PSP Go doesn't sport a touchscreen display and so doing so will only result in smudges across that screen. It's a screen so tasty that you'll want to cover it too so you don't scratch it to pieces in your pocket.

Tags: Gaming PSP Sony First Look

Sony PSP Go console - First Look originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:11:52 +0100

A company called Arimaz has launched a tiny robot penguin that sits on your desk, pootles around a bit, and - more impressively - interacts with Facebook.

The eyes change colours to convey its mood, but if the video above is anything to go by, then it seems to only ever experience terror and hatred, like most small animals. You can get it to follow your finger, and it uses 5 infra-red sensors to stop it falling off your desk.

But the coolest part is the Facebook integration. The robot "needs" certain things, like food, exercise, and - alarmingly - "meds". Both you and your friends can give it, or deprive it, of those things using an application on the social network.

It comes with a dock for charging, and should be available in September. It'll cost $99 - about £60.

Read

Related links:

• News - Murata Girl - robot unicyclist
• Via - Technabob

Tags: Gadgets Robots Arimaz Facebook Video

VIDEO: MyDeskFriend - Creepy web-controlled robo-penguin originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:47:19 +0100