Tag: android

Myfitnesspal

My first pick of 2011 and it’s no surprise that it helps with one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions – dieting. Myfitnesspal is a web, iPhone and Android based weight/calorie tracking tool. It was first recommended by a friend last year and I immediately dismissed it as I hated the name and the web site design wasn’t the best. What a snob! Roll on a few months and at the start of 2011 I wanted to track more carefully my food intake. Partly to improve diet and partly to provide a food diary to help with migraine root cause analysis. After seeing myfitnesspal being recommended alongside RunKeeper I decided to look again at the service.

First good aspect of myfitnesspal is that it’s a totally free service. After downloading the iPhone app and creating an account the biggest plus of the experience so far was the capture of daily calorie intake. Myfitnesspal has a large database of foods that are easily searchable. It’s also stocked with lot’s of UK foods as well and it means a typical day’s food intake takes a couple of minutes tops to add in. The app also remembers foods you’ve previously eaten so if you are a Scot addicted to Frosties and Diet Irn-Bru (not at the same time I hasten to add) it takes seconds to add these in to the app. If a food doesn’t exist it’s fairly straightforward to add that to the database so it’s searchable from then on. Based on height, sex and weight myfitnesspal will display a daily target for calorie intake and guesstimate how your current intake will decrease, or increase, your overall weight. As I’ve only been using it for a couple of weeks it’s hard to say how accurate this side of the app is. However it really does hammer home how much you eat in a day to day basis. I’ve already switched a couple of foods to one’s with a far smaller calorie/fat/salt intake.

The app also allows you to track weight and exercise but these have to be manually inputted – no link up with other sites like Withings here. One interesting touch is that alongside weight tracking you can also track body measurements like neck size so you can see if you are staying static in weight but reducing fat/increasing muscle. The reports within Myfitnesspal are rudimentary and basic but allow you to see progress over time.

There’s also a social aspect in that you can have friends on the service but at the same time still keeping certain aspects of your profile private. I can see this being handy for people who are working together to encourage each other during weight loss but for me this is purely a solo adventure.

Overall I like the service myfitnesspal offers purely due to the functional rather than pretty front end making it easy to add data and the very complete food database. The fact it’s free is another plus point but I would be interested in hearing from anyone using a similar service that they would be happy to recommend.

DigitalOutbox Episode 73

DigitalOutbox Episode 73
In this episode the team discuss CES, App Stores and T-Mobile fail.

Playback
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Listen via M4A
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Shownotes
1:28 – Microsoft CES
– Underwhelming
– Kinect selling 8 million devices in 60 days – beats 5 million prediction – big news
– Kinect avatars coming later this year
– Their best product in 10 years?
– Windows 7 Phone – doing great – if it was, why not release sales figures? Microsoft has sold 1.5m Windows Phone 7 handsets in 6 weeks
– They have got some good idea’s in that O/S – I like tiles, snap tiles form other app’s to front page
– 5500 app’s though is a worry – Flickr and Kindle coming though
– Windows 7 – doing great
– IE9 looks a great upgrade
– Hardware
– Acer – 2 14” touchscreens – touch keyboard appears
– Samsung slider – slide screen over keyboard – very nice
– Asus tablet – touch and stylus, wireless keyboard, i5 chip, coming March – http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/04/asus-eee-slate-ep121-officially-unveiled-ips-display-core-i5-a/
– Surface – now 4 inches…thin 🙂
– Every pixel is an infra red camera – no big camera’s anymore
–
– Next Windows – support Intel, AMD and ARM
– Two big deals however:
– The abandonment of Windows exclusivity by practically all of Microsoft’s OEM customers.
– The abandonment of Intel exclusivity by Microsoft for the next generation of Windows.
– End of PC era – John Gruber?
– No breakdown of markets – netbook, tablets, desktops – basically if it’s a market, it will have Windows is the take away?
8:22 – CES
– Android 3 – Honeycomb looks very different – http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/01/sneak-peak-of-android-30-honeycomb.html
– GHz dual-core Tegra 2 will power this 10.1-incher, while 4G connectivity will be made available as an update in Q2 following a Q1 launch. Other specs include a 1280 x 800 resolution, 5 megapixel camera, 720p video recording and 1080p video playback, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and finally, a healthy 32GB of onboard storage. The battery is rated to be capable of supporting 10 hours of video.
– HP – No tablet – Feb 9th for launch
– Asus Eee Pad MeMO – http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/04/asus-eee-pad-memo-tablet-takes-a-pen-out-of-the-couriers-book/
– Blackberry Playbook – http://gizmodo.com/5726902/money-shot-the-blackberry-playbook-tablet
– Needs Blackberry phone – You have to tether to your BlackBerry to get your calendar or email.
– Performance though is very very good
– 3d cameras – 3D TV’s haven’t sold, now 3D cameras?
– Star Wars on BluRay this September with 30 hours of extras
– Super fast phones – dual core chips – 1ghz coming soon
– Motorola Atrix 4G
– Tegra 2-powered handset the best phone at the show, it’s hands-down one of craziest products we’ve seen in quite a while. The handset itself is glorious with its 4-inch QHD display, front-facing cam, and fingerprint reader, but its 11.6-inch Laptop Dock and its Webtop operating system turn it into one unique beast
– Anything else?
– Apple dominate CES again without being there
– Mac App Store
– iPad 2 Rumours
– iPhone comes to Verizon…allegedly (confirmed…)
19:26 – BT Eroding Net Neutrality
– The telecoms company’s wholesale arm is starting to sell a new service that allows broadband providers – such as Virgin Media and Sky – to put video from paying clients, like the BBC’s iPlayer or Google’s YouTube, in an internet fast lane.
– BT’s new service, dubbed Content Connect, has provoked accusations of breaching the broad principles of “net neutrality”, whereby all content is delivered equally to internet users.
– Content Connect enables ISPs to store video within their own networks, closer to the user, as opposed to third-party companies – such as Akamai, which delivers the BBC’s iPlayer – caching popular content around the globe. By paying the ISP, rather than the third-party company, users could get a guaranteed delivery of service even at peak times.
– But it would also create a situation where companies that are unwilling – or unable – to pay would have their content delivered less efficiently to the end user.
– But BT today denied claims the new service will create a two-tier internet, saying that it “supports the concept” of net neutrality but believes that ISPs should be free to charge content owners for a “higher quality” delivery service.
– TalkTalk has also openly expressed a willingness to charge content companies for better delivery of their video to the nation’s homes, while Virgin Media manages time-sensitive traffic at peak times but does not prioritise one company’s content explicitly over another.
23:25 – Government announce plans to block pornography in the UK
– The government plans to change the way broadband providers filter Internet access to help stop access to pornography. The step follows existing plans that ISPs have used to help block inadvertent access of child pornography websites. The government want providers to use the same technology to block pornography unless adults have opted in to viewing it. This should help stop children from gaining access to inappropriate material that is currently freely available on the web. TalkTalk are already in the process of implementing a system which scans websites for malware and will introduce parental controls that can be configured for all users of the connection.
– BT said it would be happy to discuss the implementation of such a system but there are many ‘legal, consumer rights and technical issues’ that need to be evaluated before it could go live. Trefor Davies of Timico was less keen on the idea and questioned how well a system like this could work. There are millions of sites that would need to be blocked and these are changing all the time.
– This would obviously please some industries who could piggyback on the system and use it to help stop access to illegally downloaded music and films for example.
26:45 – T-Mobile Cuts
– T-Mobile UK is cutting “fair use” data limits on Feb 1 from up to 3GB to 500MB and has sparked furious complaints from customers, who were told by text today of the move.
– T-Mobile customers on “unlimited” Android monthly data contracts who contacted The Reg were particularly aggrieved. Most were aware that the fair use policy was 3GB per month, but all felt this was sufficient for their smartphone use.
– But today T-Mobile invoked “subject to change” rights, outlined in the contract small-print, to reduce fair usage down to 500MB. – http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jan/12/t-mobile-data-limit
– The amendments, state that customers who exceed the 500MB cap can no longer download files or watch videos. Browsing sites such as Facebook, Gmail and BBC News will not be affected, though.

– U-turn… now appears that this new cap will only be for new customers.
30:22 – Android in Space
– Google sends up payload of an Android mascot and a Nexus S into near space
– The video looks amazing
– Google still = fun for me
31:52 – Google Goggles Update
– Update will now solve Sudoku puzzles
– Also has faster barcode scanning and recognizes print ad’s
32:44 – Google TV Failing
– Google TV is second worst reviewed product according to Walt Mossberg
– Reports that Logitech are displeased with Google TV
– Reports that Google have asked manufacturers not to demo Google TV during CES
– Apple TV ships 1 million in three months
– Still no silver bullet in this market
34:11 – Skype Updated on iOS
– Video calling enabled on iOS devices
– Works over wifi and 3G
– Free
– Betters facetime which is wifi only
35:09 – 3D Game Warning
– The eyesight of children under six could be harmed by 3D games played on Nintendo’s forthcoming handheld console, the company has warned.
– The games giant posted the health warning on the website devoted to the 3DS handheld. It said specialists had warned of possible damage that could be caused by 3D games which present different images to the right and left eye.
– Younger children should only play 2D versions of 3DS games, said Nintendo.
– In issuing the warning, Nintendo joins Sony and Toshiba in alerting people to the ill effects that can attend watching 3D movies or playing 3D games.
– Sony has already said that parents should get medical advice before letting children watch 3D content on the PlayStation. Toshiba has said parents should keep an eye on children watching its TVs that can display 3D images without needing glasses.
– The companies have also warned that watching too much 3D content can cause adults discomfort.
– Price announced for 3DS – 300 Yen, £200 at least in UK
– Games – £30-£50
– Region locked
– Feb Japan, March in UK
38:21 – Open Source Kinect Drivers
– PrimeSense, the company responsible for the technology behind Microsoft’s Kinect camera system, has, in conjunction with Willow Garage and Side-Kick, released official Windows and Linux (Ubuntu version 10.10 and later) open source drivers for Kinect
– The drivers allow access to the Kinect’s audio, video and depth sensors and include a complete API known as OpenNI (open natural interaction).
39:51 – Canabalt goes Open Source
– Dev taking part in Indie Game Sale
– Has decided to open source Canabalt
– Newest version of game, high score and twitter back end support stripped as they didn’t want to risk someone hacking user data
– you can use it for anything you want, even for commercial stuff but it’s not our fault if it doesn’t work.” However, the Canabalt-specific game code, game art, animation, music and sound effects are all proprietary, and protected by our copyrights and trademarks.
– Download from GitHub – happy learning
41:52 – Kindle 3 is Amazons bestselling product ever
– Beats Harry Potter 7 as biggest selling product Amazon has ever stocked
– No idea on figures – guesstimate is 8 million this year
43:15 – Amazon App Store
– Amazon.com launched the Amazon Appstore Developer Portal. You can find the Portal at developer.amazon.com. It is a new self-service tool that allows mobile application developers—Android developers in particular—to join our Appstore Developer Program and submit apps for the upcoming launch of the Amazon Appstore for Android.
– Why should you submit your apps for inclusion in the Amazon Appstore for Android?
– For the first time, you will have access to tens of millions of active Amazon customers.
– Amazon’s proven marketing and merchandizing features will help you get your apps discovered and in front of the right customers.
– The convenience of using an existing Amazon.com account will make it simple and easy for customers to purchase your apps – both online and on their mobile devices.
– The Appstore Developer Portal is your one-stop location to manage account details, manage marketing materials, and track sales and projected earnings using self-service and customizable reports.
– Could they launch a Mac, Windows app store?
45:42 – Mac App Store Launched
– Mac app store launches – 1000 apps, not clear how many are new
– Can buy individual iLife and iWork apps
– Aperture – £173 boxed, £44.99 in the App Store or $199 and $79
(Why is Apple TV $99 in US and £101 in UK?)
– Some other bargains there too
– Many prices the same as there web store counterparts though – no race to the bottom
– Twitter for Mac also launched via app store (Tweetie 2)
– Streams enabled – feels like IM if you tweet back and forward
– Addicting, distracting
– Apple and Panic app’s already bought are identified as installed by App Store even though installed outside of the store
– Evernote – Rate of new users on Mac is 1800% higher than normal – http://blog.evernote.com/2011/01/07/mac-app-store-more-than-doubles-new-users/
– So far, 166,789 new users have started using Evernote in the first few days of 2011. Since the launch of the Mac App Store, more than half of them are coming from the Mac. About 40,000 new users have signed up from the Mac so far. Note that this is new users only! It’s not the same as the total number of downloads from the Mac App Store (we had 90,000 of those, from store launch till midnight last night), because a large number of people downloading us from the Mac App Store are already registered Evernote users from a different platform.
– http://www.macstories.net/news/developer-goes-from-7-sales-a-day-to-1500-with-mac-app-store/
– LittleFin was selling between 6 – 10 copies of Compartments, a simple home inventory app for the Mac we reviewed here, a day through their website. The day before the Mac App Store launch, they sold only 7 copies. But as soon as the Store launched on January 6 and Ap8.ple featured the app in the Mac App Store homepage and its “Great Mac Apps” webpage, LittleFin saw a terrific increase in sales. In fact, they sold 1,547 copies in the first 24 hours of the Mac App Store. The app, now featured under “Staff Favorites”, is available at $9.99. Before the Mac App Store the app was sold at $24.95; the developers decided to lower the price as an experiment. Since January 6, the app has been selling 1,000 copies a day on average.
– Confusion over App Store finding already bought app’s. I still think it’s confusing to end users who have already purchased app’s that the App Store doesn’t recognise these app’s. To get app store updates, buy them again. No easy way for dev’s to swap licence over.
– Macworlds Mac App Store faq – http://www.macworld.com/article/156962/2011/01/mac_app_store_faq.html
– No beta’s, demo’s or trials – that sucks
– Some piracy fears – but not if app is coded properly
– Developer should check for digital signature that matches their app’s sig. Angry birds checks for existance of signature…any signature so you can download a free app, copy that signature to angry birds and your good to go.
– You have to delve into the Package Contents of the app’s dmg file, navigate to a particular folder and delete specific files. You then copy and paste those same files from the free app’s folder to the paid one. In other words, you would need to know these specific instructions before doing this – it’s not a matter of simply copying-and-pasting a receipt number, like you would have on some brick-and-mortar retail store’s receipt, into a field or pop-up notification within the paid app.
– 1 million downloads in 24 hours….970,000 were Twitter for Mac
– Couple of funnies
– http://readthefuckinghig.tumblr.com/ – Read the Fucking HIG (human interface guidelines)
– http://ifiboughtyourappalreadycaniupdateitthroughthemacappstore.com/
54:05 – Verizon iPhone
– Moves to new network in America
– Nothing new…apart from Personal Hotspots
– Verizon iPhone will let you create a personal hotspot and share your data connection via WiFi with up to five other devices, such as laptops or other cell phones.
– Verizon only or coming to an iPhone near you soon
– Verizon iPhones running 4.2.5 – launch at start of Feb?
– Not 4G as was hoped by our American friends – also, not exclusive. iPhone perhaps making it finally onto all other US networks…
– Now looks like personal hotspots coming to all iPhones running 4.2.5 (although likely needs to be carrier supported) – March according to Boy Genius Report
– Phone has altered antena…
56:15 – Google Drops support for H.264 Video in Chrome
– Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies.
– So why is Flash plugin supported in Chrome?
– From DF – As it stands now, Chrome not only supports Flash, it ships with its own embedded copy of Flash. I don’t see how Google keeps Flash but drops H.264 in the name of “openness” without being seen as utter hypocrites.
– This is more Google vs Apple
1:01:26 – Microsoft object to App Store trademark
– Why Apple shouldn’t be allowed to trademark App Store – by the folk who trademarked Windows
– “Microsoft opposes Apple’s Application Serial No. 77/525433 for APP STORE on the grounds that ‘app store’ is generic for retail store services featuring apps and unregistrable for ancillary services such as searching for and downloading apps from such stores”.

Picks
Ian
MyFitnessPal
– Track food, excercise, weight
– Social networking part
– Free iPhone app – excellent app
– Easy to add in food intake from extensive database of foods
– Very impressed

Chris
Logitech HD Pro C910 Webcam
– Capable of capturing HD video / 10MP stills
– Stereo Sound… (good quality)
– Supports SkypeHD if your connection can…(1meg upload)
– Also supports Logitechs Cid HD service (but who uses that??)
– Built in upload to YouTube/Facebook if you want
– Comes with Magix vid/photo editing software
– Has silly options to add effects and avatars (very impressive facial tracking on show)
– Also, excellent motion detection so it can even act as a security cam should you wish!
– Downsides – expensive. Cheapest I’ve seen it is around £70… likely cheaper soon.
– Unless you have great connection and latest software – chances are you won’t really be sending over HD vid via skype but the high quality optics mean that your standard def vids are much improved.

DigitalOutbox Episode 71

DigitalOutbox Episode 71
In this episode the team discuss Google, Google, Google and that man Jeremy Hunt.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
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Shownotes
3:21 – Google Ebooks
– Google eBooks will be available in the U.S. from a new Google eBookstore on 6th Dec. You can browse and search through the largest ebooks collection in the world with more than three million titles including hundreds of thousands for sale
– the Google eBook store there will be 2.8 million books available to download free of charge, since they are in the public domain, and the rest will have a “buy” button next to them that takes readers directly to the eBook store.
– Many devices are compatible with Google eBooks—everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers. With the new Google eBooks Web Reader, you can buy, store and read Google eBooks in the cloud.
– In addition to a full-featured web reader, free apps for Android and Apple devices will make it possible to shop and read on the go. For many books you can select which font, font size, day/night reading mode and line spacing suits you—and pick up on the page where you left off when switching devices.
– Google lets consumers buy books either from its store or any other online vendor that sells books in EPUB and PDF formats. You can choose where to buy your ebooks like you choose where to buy your print books, and keep them all on the same bookshelf regardless of where you got them.
– So same as Kindle – software everywhere except they’ve provided a web front end as well
– UK launch not mentioned but eBook service is expected to launch in Europe in 2011.
7:13 – Google Nexus S and Gingerbread
– Nexus S is the lead device for the Gingerbread/Android 2.3 release; it’s the first Android device to ship with the new version of the Android platform. We co-developed this product with Samsung—ensuring tight integration of hardware and software to highlight the latest advancements of the Android platform. As part of the Nexus brand, Nexus S delivers what we call a “pure Google” experience: unlocked, unfiltered access to the best Google mobile services and the latest and greatest Android releases and updates.
– Nexus S is the first smartphone to feature a 4” Contour Display designed to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand and along the side of your face. It also features a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, front and rear facing cameras, 16GB of internal memory, and NFC (near field communication) hardware that lets you read information from NFC tags. NFC is a fast, versatile short-range wireless technology that can be embedded in all kinds of everyday objects like movie posters, stickers and t-shirts.
– The 4 inch Super AMOLED 480×800 touchscreen has very deep blacks and viewing angles and is, as we said above, second only to the slightly smaller but higher resolution iPhone 4 display.
– Techcrunch – The bottom line is this. If you are an iPhone user this isn’t going to make you switch. If you’re an Android user you will want this phone more than any other. If you’re currently neither, we recommend that you go with the Nexus S.
– Things Android has that iOS needs – http://brooksreview.net/2010/12/android-helping-ios/?isalt=0
– Mobile hotspot, home screen customisation, keyboard apps, notifications, multi tasking
– Gingerbread – Android 2.3 – support for NFC, refinements to GUI (but not a re-write which is Honeycomb), imporved keyboard and cut/copy/paste and gyroscope sensor support, improved power and task/app management,
– Will launch in December for £550 unlocked or £35 per month
– Carphone Warehouse is taking orders for the phone from today, but could not be definite about when it will be able to sell it – although it hopes to be able to begin deliveries before Christmas.
– The phone will be available unlocked for £550 (compared to £500 for Apple’s iPhone 4) or for free from £35 per month, according to Graham Stapleton, CPW’s chief commercial director, who says that the retailer is talking to networks in the UK to set up deals.
14:13 – Android Tablet Prototype
– On stage at D: Dive Into Mobile, Google’s Andy Rubin has brought with him a prototype Android tablet from Motorola.
– Video chat
– New version on Google Maps – vector based, infinite loading, offer offline caching, and use the compass to orient the map.
– no more tiles, building outlines, shadows and 3d via touch – very impressive – android only at the moment – other devices in the future
16:56 – Apache Wave
– Google Wave now Apache Wave
– Wave now handed to Apache, codebase to be migrated to Apache control
– Hope to kickstart development as there’s still some big active users
18:38 – Google Chrome Event
– Chrome Browser
– 70m active users (6 months ago) – now 120m active users (active means they use it often as primary browser)
– Adding Google Instant to omnibox
– Added PDF reader for speed
– Hardware acceleration via GPU
– Chrome Web Store
– Rich, visual and interactive
– Installed NPR
– Interactive app, different from web page, but viewed and ran within the browser
– Sports Illustrated
– Visual gallery running in tab
– Rich interactive app, not what your used to on web
– Games
– Purchase easily, hooked to google account, downloads in seconds
– Has monthly subscription options and also demo’s
– NYTimes for Chrome
– HTML5, CSS3 etc
– Skin your news, headlines, print view, photo view etc
– Works offline as well
– Nice
– EA
– Converted PoppIt to HTML5 in 48 hours
– Performance is great
– This game will be embedded in new Chrome 9
– Also available today on Google Chrome Web store
– Amazon
– WindowShop
– Now available on store
– Fluid interface to Amazon
– Needs Flash…fail
– Kindle
– Kindle for the web (early next year)
– HTML5
– Access books via browser
– Link to books from own site
– Web store – chrome.google.com/webstore
– 500 apps as they are partners
– Now open – expect a large growth in apps
– From q1 rolling out around world
– Chrome OS
– Nothing but the web
– Simpler, safer, secure experience
– Chrome OS looks like iOS
– Login, take a pic, check for updates, then desktop
– 0-60secs for above and all your apps and links are available
– Resume is very fast
– Laptop in standby
– Instant resume – milliseconds – very impressive
– Changes on OS propagate across machines in seconds – looks good
– Sharing – pick up notebook, and login with your credentials
– Sharing with friend – guest mode – full incognito session for friend
– Everything he does in this mode is private and removed on exit
– Google Docs bringing an offline mode
– Lots of apps will work offline – game cached locally
– If no wifi, enable cellular connectivity – every chrome netbook will have a cellular option
– Google cloud print – print on any device connected on network without drivers
– In beta, rolling out shortly
– Partnered with Verizon in US
– 100mb free data every month for 2 years
– No contracts – pay for what you need
– Plans for $9.99
– Security – auto updates, sandboxed, data encrypted, verified boot – most secure consumer O/S
– Citrix receiver demo’d
– Cloud print, USB support and speed need working on
– Acer, Samsung Chrome notebooks powered by Intel – mid 2011
– Other OEM’s will follow
– Chrome OS Pilot Program
– Beta
– Reference hardware – CR48 device – 12.1” display, Oversized touchpad + full keyboard, 3g built in, 8+ hours active use, 8+ days of standby, web cam
– No caps lock, no function keys, no hard drives, jailbreaking mode built in
– Businesses part of pilot program
– Consumers – new tab page of chrome – offer to users
– Quiz a few days ago for a sticker – sticker ships with notebook
– Youtube comp
– Everyone at demo
– google.com/chromenotebook – fill in the form
– Still not answered – why choose this over a netbook, ipad or laptop
– Think the pilot program is a really good move
38:22 – Google Earth 6
– Integrated street view
– 3D trees
– Easier to discover historical imagery in new version
39:23 – Watch That Twitter Name
– User @theashes went from 300 to 6100 followers in a couple of days
– She finally complained by tweeting that she was “not a freaking cricket match”.
– Ashley Kerekes, from Massachusetts, tweeted that “this is not the account of the cricket match. Check profiles before you send mentions, it’s incredibly annoying and rude”.
– In spite of her initial anger over the cricket tweets, she told the Brisbane Times that becoming an overnight Twitter celebrity was “amazing”.
– She has also started to sell T-shirts with the slogan: “I am not a freaking cricket match.”
– Same for users @justin and @gordon – lot of justin bieber tweets and gordon brown hate last year
41:59 – Wikileaks under attack
– Releases biggest leaks so far – American diplomatic papers
– Leaked by American soldier who also leaked the Apache helicopter attack
– Embarrassing for America and many of its allies
– As the site is being hammered they move to partial hosting with Amazon – a day later and Amazon removes them from their hosting due to the content they host
– EveryDNS, wikileaks DNS provider, cuts off it’s main domain, wikileaks.org – wikileaks.ch is still running
– Paypal blocks Wikileaks funding via it’s services – State department said wikileaks was illegal
– They have now moved away from any American infrastructure so that America cannot easily tamper with the service
– So, are the leaks correct? Is this freedom of speech? Future of journalism?
– Universities advising students not to link to Wikileaks articles – http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201048/6509/Talking-about-WikiLeaks-cablegate-can-hinder-job-placements – wow. Just wow. So much for freedom of speech.
– Swiss post office has now frozen Julian Assange accounts – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11929034
– Extradition paper served and now in custody until Dec 14th in UK – refused bail
– Hackers linked to 4chan DOS Paypal, Postfinance and Mastercard
49:37 – UK to get super fast broadband everywhere by 2015
– Extra 50m to take total to £830 available for firms to help roll out ‘super fast’ network
– Some of that (£300 million) comes from BBC
– Ministers say they aim for the UK to have Europe’s best broadband network.
– Mr Hunt said the strategy would give the country Europe’s best broadband network by 2015 and will be central to economic growth and the delivery of future public services, dependent on quick, reliable access to the internet.
– Really.
– Really?
– What the heck is super fast? the government does not define the minimum speed it hopes super-fast services will achieve.
– If it was at the centre of those plans it would be afforded more money even in these times of austerity
– Every community is to get a digital hub – a green cabinet? WTF is a community?
– Of course, Jeremy Hunt was called something else on Radio 4 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JpNravrwZc
54:52 – About that subsidised iPad
– Orange selling 16gb 3G ipad for £199 assuming you sign u for monthly contract for two years
– £27 a month for 1Gb of data – thats £848
– Buy an iPad for £529 and pay O2 or Vodafone £10 a month and you pay £769
– And you can get 3GB 90 day Three sims off ebay for £9, so bringing cost down even more
– Three offering same price and £25 a month
57:21 – Windows Phone 7 Not a hit
– Belfiore refused to talk sales numbers when interviewed by Walt Mossberg of the WSJ. And when asked if WP7 might be a ‘real’ rival to Google’s and Apple’s mobile platforms in a ‘couple of years,’ Belfiore reportedly answered ‘Maybe’.
59:28 – Lastpass acquires XMarks
– Xmarks has been acquired by LastPass, makers of a leading cross-platform password manager
– Free option remains
– Users can opt to purchase Xmarks Premium for $12 per year, which includes new enhanced features like Android and iPhone mobile phone apps, priority support, and more.
– The Xmarks and LastPass Premium offerings are also available bundled together at a reduced subscription rate of $20 per year.

Picks
Ian
Printopia
– App for your mac that enables AirPrinting
– Can also print to PDF…and send to Dropbox or Evernote

DigitalOutbox Episode 69

DigitalOutbox Episode 69
In this episode the team discuss Net Neutrality Threat, Don’t Joke on Twitter, Facebook Messaging and Kinect.

Playback
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Shownotes
0:59 – Google Rewards and Punishes
– Gives all employees $1000 extra bonus
– Also increases all salaries from 1st Jan by 10%
– And…
– “We’ve heard from your feedback on Googlegeist and other surveys that salary is more important to you than any other component of pay (i.e., bonus and equity),” the memo reads.
– “To address that, we’re moving a portion of your bonus into your base salary, so now it’s income you can count on, every time you get your paycheck… Thank you for all that you do, and for making Google a place where magic happens.”
– But they weren’t happy that the actual memo got leaked so….
– Within hours, Google notified its staff that it had terminated the leaker, several sources told CNNMoney. A Google spokesman declined to comment on the issue, or on the memo.
– Offer engineer $3.5 million to not join Facebook
– http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/11/google-offers-staff-engineer-3-5-million-to-turn-down-facebook-offer
– We’ve confirmed today that a staff engineer at Google being heavily romanced by Facebook was offered a jaw dropping $3.5 million in restricted stock by Google (this means Google is handing over stock worth $3.5 million based on its value today, and that stock will vest over time). He quite wisely accepted Google’s counter offer. Facebook lost this one.
– Also up to 30% increase for top execs
– Stories that Google may be planning “G-Town” – A town for Google employees to live, work and play! OMG. We said that Google had the cash of a small country… now they might have the infrastructure.
5:24 – End of Net Neutrality?
– http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11773574
– http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/4475-government-rocks-the-net-neutrality-boat-by-avoiding-regulation.html
– Culture minister Ed Vaizey has backed a “two-speed” internet, letting service providers charge content makers and customers for “fast lane” access.
– It paves the way for an end to “net neutrality” – with heavy bandwidth users like Google and the BBC likely to face a bill for the pipes they use.
– Ditching net neutrality could lead to websites paying ISPs to ensure their content gets priority.
– Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are supposed to treat all web traffic equally – serving only as a one-size-fits-all pipe for whatever data is passing from content providers to end users.
– But some traffic management, where traffic from one source is favoured over another, is likely to be allowed, with a ruling due next year, Mr Vaizey suggests.
– In his speech, he argues that the continued quality of internet services in the UK is under threat due to the rapid expansion of mobile and wireless networks and the “massive investment” it needed.
– As a result, ISPs had to be free to experiment with new ways of raising revenue – provided customers were clear about what they were buying.
10:52 – Stop the Broadband Con
– http://www.virginmedia.com/information/richard-branson-broadband-honesty.php
– Why are services advertised as up to 20 or 24mb when average speed is just 6.5Mb – The average download speed received for ‘up to’ 20/24Mb DSL packages was 6.5Mb according to Ofcom’s 2010 UK broadband speeds report
– Virgin Media is already delivering the fastest broadband in the UK and it’s prepared to be open about the exact broadband speeds it delivers. It’s the first ISP in the UK to publish the typical real world speeds its customers receive each month.
– They want other ISP’s to sign up to this campaign
– Virgins typical speeds for October – http://shop.virginmedia.com/broadband/about-virgin-broadband/speed-matters.html?buspart=6469
13:47 – HM Government EMail
– Response to petition regards not disconnecting file-sharers.
“It is clear that online copyright infringement inflicts considerable damage on the UK’s creative economy including music, TV and film, games, sports and software. Industry estimates place this harm at £400m pa.
– The Digital Economy Act includes a number of measures to tackle the problem and we expect these to be successful in significantly reducing online copyright infringement. However this is an area of rapid technological change and developing consumer behaviour. The Act therefore includes a reserve power to introduce further “technical” measures if the initial measures do not succeed. These technical measures would limit or restrict an infringers’ access to the internet. They do not include disconnection.”
– Loving the subject of another email this week – from Adobe
– “Why explore new Acrobat X? It’s magic.”
16:34 – Facebook Messaging
– “This is not an email killer. This is a messaging experience that includes email as one part of it,” Zuckerberg said. It’s all about making communication simpler. “This is the way that the future should work,” he continued.
– To do that, Facebook has created three key things: Seamless messaging, conversation history, and a social inbox. Essentially, they’ve created a way to communicate no matter what format you want to use: email, chat, SMS — they’re all included. “People should share however they want to share,” engineer Andrew Bosworth said.
– All of this messaging is kept in a single social inbox. And all of your conversation history with people is kept.
– Alongside the product on Facebook.com, this is going to work on their mobile applications as well. An updated iPhone app is launching shortly. It’s important that you can keep messages going while you’re on the go, Bosworth noted.
– But you don’t need an app. It’s important to note that this can work with SMS too.
– And yes, everyone can get an @facebook.com email address if they want. But they don’t need to get one — you can use any email address. And yes, IMAP support is coming soon too (but not just yet)
– This messaging system will be rolling out pretty slowly over the period over the next few months, Zuckerberg said.
– He said that 15 engineers have worked on this product — remarkably, this is the most that have ever worked on a single Facebook project.
– http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_integrates_microsoft_office_web_apps_into.php
– Also be able to view office attachments without leaving Facebook using MS Office Web apps
23:09 – Twitter joke trial: Paul Chambers loses appeal against conviction
– The man convicted of “menace” for threatening to blow up an airport in a Twitter joke has lost his appeal.
– Paul Chambers, a 27-year-old accountant whose online courtship with another user of the microblogging site led to the “foolish prank”, had hoped that a crown court would dismiss his conviction and £1,000 fine without a full hearing
– But Judge Jacqueline Davies instead handed down a devastating finding at Doncaster which dismissed Chambers’s appeal on every count. After reading out his comment from the site – “Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!” – she found that it contained menace and Chambers must have known that it might be taken seriously.
– He was also saddled with a legal bill three times higher than his original £384 with £600 costs, as the court ordered him to pay a further £2,000 legal bill for the latest proceedings.
– Stephen Fry offers to pay for fine
– Twitter campaign to raise funds for appeal
– I Am Spartacus
– http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/nov/12/iamspartacus-campaign-twitter-airport?CMP=twt_gu
– Twitter users angered by the conviction of a man who threatened to blow up an airport in a Twitter joke showed support for him in their thousands today, thumbing their noses at the law by republishing the words that landed him in trouble.
– Under the hashtag #IAmSpartacus – a reference to the film in which Spartacus’s fellow gladiators show their solidarity with him by each proclaiming “I am Spartacus” – thousands of people have copied Chambers’s original message.
– As a result of the show of support for him, #IAmSpartacus was the most popular worldwide subject being referred to on Twitter at the time of writing.
– Even Daily Mail think it’s absurb – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1330049/Paul-Chambers-Twitter-bomb-joke-trial-thats-blown-justice-bits.html
– But as Paul said this morning – “Support from The Daily Mail is like kissing your sister. Essentially it’s the same, but it just doesn’t feel right.”
27:29 – Tory councillor arrested over Alibhai-Brown Stoning Tweet
– Police in Birmingham today arrested a Conservative city councillor who sent a Twitter message saying that the newspaper columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown should be stoned to death.
– Alibhai-Brown said last night she would report Gareth Compton, a councillor for the Erdington district, to police following the tweet
– The Conservative party said Compton had been suspended indefinitely over the alleged tweet.
– The message – now apparently deleted – said: “Can someone please stone Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to death? I shan’t tell Amnesty if you don’t. It would be a blessing, really.”
– Alibhai-Brown, who writes columns for the Independent and the London Evening Standard, said last night she regarded his comments as incitement to murder. She told the Guardian: “It’s really upsetting. My teenage daughter is really upset too. It’s really scared us.
– “You just don’t do this. I have a lot of threats on my life. It’s incitement. I’m going to the police – I want them to know that a law’s been broken.” She added that she regarded Compton’s remarks as racially motivated because he mentioned stoning.
30:13 – Twitter and Ping
– Like a track in iTunes Ping and it will auto tweet for you
– Set it up and it defaults to tweeting everything you like (can be changed)
– Click on link on Twitter and in side panel track is listed and can be previewed – click again to buy in iTunes
– Awful – nothing about social, like last.fm, and all about commerce
– Noise in my twitter stream
– Don’t cross the streams!!!
32:13 – Google TV Being Blocked
– Fox has finally made a decision, following the other major networks, Hulu and several cable channels by opting to block streaming video on its website from Google TV devices
– Blocking by Flash ID is the order of the day and takes simple browser workarounds out of play, so unless users want to go the PlayOn route, there’s large swaths of legitimate video on the web that’s now inaccessible. This same type of blocking is likely to affect other devices like the Boxee Box
– It’s the old empire logic again. Even though you can view the content online, because this is being delivered on a TV, it MUST BE STOPPED…. we’ll see more of this as the lines blur between tech.
35:06 – Beatles on iTunes
– Finally Beatles available on iTunes
– Great, just….
– In some cases double the price of cd’s that can be bought online and shipped to you by couriers – physical media!!!
– or that Apple grossly over hyped the event as contractually they probably had too
– “Tomorrow is just another day. That you’ll never forget. Check back here tomorrow for an exciting announcement from iTunes.”
– Ringo Starr added: “I’m particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes.”
– They do have exclusive digital rights that extends into 2011…and they’ve made some adverts for it so they think it’s a big deal
– Steve thinks he’s the fifth Beatle
38:11 – Google Voice App Finally hits App Store
– US only and it only took a year or so
– This is Apple saying sorry for all the Beatles shit.
39:13 – Gingerbread will have NFC
– Near Field Communication will be in next Android release
– New Android phones will have a chip that let you tap your phone against special sensors to complete an action
– Payments – hook up credit card to phone
– Location – sign in
– This was a rumoured feature of next iPhone – Google look to be beating Apple
– Coming…within a few weeks
– Also, Schmidt Schmidt has finally made it clear what differentiates Google’s Android OS from the soon-to-be-released Chrome OS: keyboards.
– That’s a rather simplified expression of the bigger picture, but ultimately, Google sees Chrome OS as the operating system for traditional computers, such as PCs, netbooks and laptops, which may include touch interfaces but always include keyboards; and the company sees Android as an operating system best suited to mobile devices, which may include keyboards but almost always include touch interfaces.
– Chrome OS – next few months for release (rumoured to be November)
43:33 – Edit Google Docs on your Mobile Device
– Google now rolling out editing of docs on your iOS (version 3.0+) and Android with Froyo (version 2.2) devices over next few days
– Great for iPad users
– Works for docs and spreadsheets
44:23 – GT5 Release Date
– Finally announced – Wed November 24th
– Will have…1000 cars
– Lots of tracks and modes
– 800 “standard” cars and 200 “premium” cars (premium cars have deformation, standard, just get scratched)
46:57 – COD Black Ops Breaks Records
– $360 million revenue in…..24 HOURS
– Avatar – $232 million in its opening weekend
– UK – £58 million day one sales ($93.5 million) – 1.4 million units
– $650 million in five days – first patch now out

Picks
Chris
Kinect
– I weakened like Ian at an Apple store.
– For all the jibing it has solicited, I love it.
– Of course early days. Honeymoon period, but this turns an xbox into something else. I know it’s not for all, but it’s like getting a new console. The games even come in a purple box rather than green.
– Played multiplayer yesterday, and it’s all good.
– Technology is impressive. It works. It does track behind, but this doesn’t really affect as the games don’t require pixel perfect precision.
– It does indeed need a lot of room. For 2 player, the start of the play area is about 6ft and the back of the play area is about 12ft. Need 6ft sideways as well.
– It costs. Sure. But it will come down in price. I also have confidence that it will have its killer game next year some point.
– Already 1m units sold. I am not alone.

Ian
Boxcar for iPhone
– Notification app for iOS
– Instant push notifications for your social networks, email accounts, RSS feeds and more.
– Receive super fast notifications when someone comments, updates or messages you.
– Buzz, Twitter, Facebook, RSS, Growl
– Track when someone else tweets

DigitalOutbox Episode 67

DigitalOutbox Episode 67
In this episode the team discuss Firesheep, Adobe, Samsung Tab and Cloud Backups.

Playback
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Shownotes
3:22 – FireSheep
– Firesheep takes almost everything required for stealing people’s Facebook and Twitter sessions – along with those from many other sites – and puts it into one attractively designed Firefox extension.
– Password stealing from open networks is nothing new, and the flaws that Firesheep exploits have been known for more than a decade
– However it required some knowledge and skill – this makes it easy
– Firesheep, though, has an easy-to-use interface and, perhaps most importantly, a cute name. To use it, you simply install it into Firefox and click a few buttons. One minor additional step, installing WinPcap, is required for Windows users.
– Cookies passed in the clear…cookie stores password – tada!
– 104,000 downloads in 24 hours
– Solution – https or turn on wpa for open access point and make password known to customers – cookie then encrypted
– Force major players like facebook and twitter to move to https
– Just remember – this is illegal!
7:04 – Google creating stringer privacy controls
– Appointing director of privacy across engineering and product management
– All employees to receive training on Googles privacy principles and are required to sign Googles Code of Conduct
– Every project now requires a privacy design document
– Finally, the street view cars and wifi capturing – a number of external regulators have inspected the data as part of their investigations (seven of which have now been concluded). It’s clear from those inspections that while most of the data is fragmentary, in some instances entire emails and URLs were captured, as well as passwords. We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and I would like to apologize again for the fact that we collected it in the first place. We are mortified by what happened, but confident that these changes to our processes and structure will significantly improve our internal privacy and security practices for the benefit of all our users.
– Information Comissioners Office to re-investigate – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11614970
9:10 – Android hits 100000 Apps
– Rampaging app store
– Not much more to say
10:03 – Blekko
– http://mashable.com/2010/10/31/blekko-launch/
– http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/11/blekko-launches/
– http://www.skrenta.com/2010/09/crowdsourcing_search_relevancy.html
– Search is dead – everyone uses Google…or Bing
– Blekko’s alternative search engine — a $24 million venture-backed project that’s been three years in the making — is today launching its public beta.
– Blekko is designed to eliminate spam search results, allowing users to search just a subset of the web through its proprietary slashtag technology.
– The most significant upgrade to Blekko’s search engine is the addition of slashtags that auto-fire for queries that fall into one of seven categories: health, colleges, autos, personal finance, lyrics, recipes and hotels. Every time a Blekko user’s query is determined to be in one of these categories, Blekko will automatically append the associated slashtag to the query and limit results to just the subset of URLs that fall under that slashtag.
– Basically slash tags tell Blekko to limit your search to a human-curated category of websites — a custom search. So say you want to find good resources for learning about arrays in PHP? Type “arrays /php.” Need a good pumpkin pie recipe. Yup, you guessed it — append the /recipes slash tag.
– Well, according to CEO and co-founder Rick Skrenta, it’s because the web is filling up with spam and low-rent webpages from content farms like Demand Media, saying the web now has 100 billion urls, most created by bots.
– “You need to bring large-scale human curation and combine it with algorithmic techniques to bring the quality back,” Skrenta said. “If you have the set of the top 150 health sites, you know what, you really can answer nearly any health question, and you know what, you really don’t want to be searching outside of that set.”
– More people use it and curate, the better the results?
15:56 – Microsoft in the money
– Microsoft Corp. today announced record first-quarter revenue of $16.20 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2010, a 25% increase from the same period of the prior year.
– Worth noting, also, that Microsoft’s fallen behind Apple in the revenue race. Although Microsoft’s still winning where it counts, posting $5.41 billion in net income to Apple’s $4.3 billion.
– net income by division:
– Windows and Windows Live: $3.32 billion
– Business: $3.39 billion
– Entertainment and Devices: $382 million
– the Online Division. Last quarter, the division lost $560 million for Microsoft. That’s better than the previous quarter when it lost a staggering $696 million, but it’s much worse than a year ago, when it lost $477 million. In the past year, Microsoft has lost well over $2 billion from the division.
– Major shift with silverlight – Silverlight is our development platform for Windows Phone – Bob Muglia – Microsoft’s SVP of the Server and Tools Business
– the technology has some “sweet spots” for media applications (presumably like Netflix, which uses Silverlight on the web), its role as a vehicle for delivering a cross-platform runtime appears to be over. “Our strategy has shifted,” is how Muglia put it.
– Instead, as they made clear during PDC, Microsoft is putting their weight behind HTML5 going forward. Hallelujah. But what if you’ve invested in Silverlight – like Netflix?
– http://team.silverlight.net/announcement/pdc-and-silverlight/
– More info…in a few months
– Also, every microsoft employee is to get a windows phone 7 device – 89,000 employee’s
– Another 1000 free WP7 handsets were handed out to Professional Developer Conference attendee’s
– Cost – $20 million but will generate a whole load of chatter
20:49 – Adobe Digital Publishing Suite
– The Digital Publishing Suite will let publishers create, produce, distribute and monetize their digital magazines and content across different devices and marketplaces.
– The Digital Publishing Suite is an add-on that will let publishers assemble editorial and advertising pages and then preview and test complete issues, including interactive elements.
– Issues can be previewed both in InDesign, an iPhone or iPad simulator, or on testing hardware units.
– Great publishing options, sending to multiple targets and devices
– Supports subscription options and brings a lot of analytics
– Price – $700 a month (per publisher not app) with a per issue cost on top
– Massive potential
24:32 – Adobe Air 2.5
– New version of Air for computers, smartphones and tablets and TV’s
– Big push for Adobe
– From engadget – Air will also come standard in RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, but it’s not just for fun, productivity and games there — Adobe told us that the PlayBook’s entire UI is built on Air.
– Wow. Great for Adobe, really poor for RIM?
– Confirmed on RIM’s tablet OS dev page – The initial release of the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK allows developers to create Adobe AIR applications. Leveraging Adobe design and development tools, the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR allows you to create rich, powerful applications like never before.
27:42 – iPhone Daylight Savings Bug Hits Europe
– Europeans’ recurring alarms are going off an hour later following the switch to Standard Time.
– Same bug that affected New Zealand and Oz
– alarms set never to repeat, or set to repeat every day, are unaffected; just the selective repeat alarms (only weekends, only weekdays) are getting munged
– In less than a week, Apple’s largest customer base, its US iPhone users, will likely have their recurring alarms go off an hour later, too, unless Apple can address the problem before November 7
29:23 – Coming Soon for Kindle
– we are making Kindle newspapers and magazines readable on our free Kindle apps, so you can always read Kindle periodicals even if you don’t have your Kindle with you or don’t yet own a Kindle. In the coming weeks, many newspapers and magazines will be available on our Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, and then we’ll be adding this functionality to Kindle for Android and our other apps down the road. Our vision is Buy Once, Read Everywhere, and we’re excited to make this possible for Kindle periodicals in the same way that it works now for Kindle books. More details when we launch this in the coming weeks.
– later this year, we will be introducing lending for Kindle, a new feature that lets you loan your Kindle books to other Kindle device or Kindle app users. Each book can be lent once for a loan period of 14-days and the lender cannot read the book during the loan period. Additionally, not all e-books will be lendable – this is solely up to the publisher or rights holder, who determines which titles are enabled for lending.
36:52 – Samsung Galaxy Tab Launched
– Launches on O2 on Mon 1st Nov
– £599 on a range of pay an go tariffs
– http://www.reghardware.com/2010/11/01/samsung_galaxy_tab_tariffs/
– All prices compared – £499 – £599 for hardware depending on tarrif
– Average reviews too – http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/samsung-galaxy-tab-903545/review?artc_pg=3
– Pros – good multitasking, flash support, camera
– Cons – juddery scrolling, lag, over sensitive accelerometer, battery life 4 hrs against claims of 7, gets hot when playing video, Android 2.2 not optimised for tablets (admitted by Google), worse screen outdoors than iPad (ouch), 7 inches a little too small for tablet, poor camera
– or great reviews – http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/01/samsung-galaxy-tab-review/
– Perhaps the best part about the Tab is that you don’t have to worry about the sluggish performance we’ve seen on other Android and Windows tablets. The entire experience is very snappy, and it kept up with us even when we had four or five applications open.
– On our taxing video rundown test, which loops a standard definition video at about 65 percent brightness and 3G off, but WiFi on, the Tab’s 4000mAh battery lasted for 6 hours and 9 minutes.
– After spending the last couple of days with the Galaxy Tab, we can confidently say it’s the best Android tablet on the market. Now, that’s not saying much given the state of the Android competition, but we can also assuredly say that the Tab is the first true competitor to Apple’s iPad.
42:11 – Virgin launches 100Mb Broadband
– Virgin Media today said it will begin increasing the maximum downstream broadband speed available via its network to 100Mbit/s, and maximum upload speed to 10Mbit/s.
– The gradual programme will take more than 18 months to cover the country, it said, and is due for completion in mid-2012. The first areas scheduled for upgrade, in December, are in London, the South-East and Yorkshire.
– The 100Mbit/s service will come with a new Virgin Media-branded combined cable modem and 802.11n router. It will launch at £45 per month as a standalone package, or £35 with an £11.99 per month phone line. The current top package costs £38 per month on its own.
– 10,000 sign up on first day (for interest)
45:38 – Nintendo makes a loss
– The Japanese computer games firm posted a net loss of 2bn yen ($24.7m; £15.6m) for the six months to 30 September. This compares with a net profit of 69.5bn yen for the same period in 2009.
– Nintendo’s sales for the first half of its financial year were down 34% to 363.16bn yen, partly due to lower demand for its Wii console.
– Need to innovate – 3DS a gimmick?
50:04 – Playstation Phone Leaks
– Familiar bumpers, slide out controls
– Android 3, usual tech specs
– No memory stick – microSD card
51:36 – Xbox 360 New Dashboard
– Restyled dash is out in time for Kinect
– Biggest features aren’t in UK – ESPN, Zune, Netflix
– However we get
– Improved voice chat quality
– Some minor stuff around re-orged content to make navigation easier i.e. for Kinect
– thats it but here’s a nice post on Xbox Live and NAT (Network Address Translation) – http://www.xbox.com/en-US/Live/EngineeringBlog/NATs-and-xbox-live

Picks
Ian
Amazon Web Services
– Free tier from 1st Nov for a year – http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2010/11/servers-for-nothing-and-bits-for-free.html
– 5gb/month of S3 storage, 15gb of internet data transfer (out and in), 25 SimpleDB machine hours, 750 hours of free time on an Amazon EC2 micro instance running Linux + a whole load more – setup a web app for free for a year
– Also reduced Amazon S3 storage prices – http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2010/11/what-can-i-say-another-amazon-s3-price-reduction.html
– Using Arq for backups
– http://www.haystacksoftware.com/arq/
– Keep multiple versions of a file (think dropbox)
– No limits on file size or number of files
– Flexible scheduling and bandwidth options

DigitalOutbox Episode 58

DigitalOutbox Episode 58
In this episode the team discuss Net Neutrality and Chris buys a Mac.

Playback
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Shownotes
0:54 – Pc vs Mac
– Some people didn’t like the Mac vs PC ad’s – arrogant, untrue (not really) but I think the bit that annoyed PC users was that they were on average pretty funny, especially for Mac users, that tiny 5-6% of the desktop market
– Microsoft just couldn’t let it go, so they’ve done a campaign – Deciding between a PC and a Mac
– Some of this stuff is just complete bullshit 🙂
– You can’t get a Mac that ships with a Blu-ray player, TV tuner, memory stick reader, or built-in 3G wireless
– Things just don’t work the same way on Macs if you’re used to a PC. For example, the mouse works differently.
– If you use Apple’s productivity suite, sharing files with PC users can be tricky
– Most of the world’s most popular computer games aren’t available for Macs. And Macs can’t connect to an Xbox 360. PCs are ready to play. Umm…yes they can 🙂
– With a Mac, it’s harder to set up secure sharing for your photos, music & movies, documents, and even printers with other computers on your home network (It’s one fucking checkbox)
– Macs only come in white or silver. PCs are available in a full spectrum of colors across a range of price points.
– What the buzz is about, which looks like a live twitter feed, is actually a carefully selected list of tweets, that’s the same no matter when you visit the page.
7:29 – Net Neutrality
– http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/10/google-verizon-net-neutrality-reaction
– http://www.buzzmachine.com/2010/08/10/internet-schminternet/
– http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/why-google-became-a-carrier-humping-net-neutrality-surrender-monkey/
– http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2010/08/a-paper-trail-of-betrayal-googles-net-neutrality-collapse.ars – fact based rather than opinion based
– One of the biggest, important topics of the next couple of years
– Google and Verizon announced a 7 point proposal on net neutrality
– However, they controversially agree that neutrality and regulation of the home broadband market shouldn’t happen BUT
– Mobile internet…and anything new – that’s fair game and according to Google and Verizon, should be subject to restrictions and tiering
– My take on net neutrality – the fear is that if a deal is put in place then video from Verizon or Google say, will be streamed at 1 mb/sec, and video from everywhere else would be subject to throttling (management) and delieverd at 200k/sec
– Obvious advantage, and the end of the open internet as we know it today
– Couple of interesting points – everyone expects mobile to be the future of internet delivery, with many thinking that wireless is the only way to reach all consumers – easier and cheaper than laying miles and miles of fibre (or copper!!!)
– So I could watch a video at home, but then want to watch it out in the car and I can’t?
– Or I could watch a video at my house but visiting a friend who has wireless only, I can’t?
– Or some new technology comes along that the telco’s don’t like…so it’s instantly constrained, and I don’t mean pirate material, but anything that could be seen as a competitor
– Biggest surprise is Google – why did they sign up to this? What happened to ‘Do no evil?’. http://www.google.com/help/netneutrality_letter.html – Times are a changing.
– Android is the biggest seller, telco’s love Android because it is free, and Google needs the telco’s. Played the Apple is closed, you will like us card, now they are biggest seller, need to protect and side with telco’s. Stinks but like I said with Apple, it’s just business. See through the bullshit.
– It’s attempts to break down the carriers failed – Nexus One etc
– My fear is that where America leads, the rest of the world does tend to follow
– Google Responds – http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/08/facts-about-our-network-neutrality.html
– Myth and Fact 🙂
– Goggle says the compromises are good
– Myth – don’t be evil
– Fact – show me the money
– Shouldn’t overlook the FCC’s lack of action on this matter. They have the power to set rules and haven’t managed to do so. This agreement can be superseeded and it’s up to the FCC to find that agreement. There is an underlying problem in America in the faith of a market free from regulation – in the US, where there are only few large players, this is worrying. In Europe, there are more, smaller players and also a fragmentation between ISP’s and infrastructure.
16:44 – Trade ADSL Download for Upload
– Missed this last week – Bt offering “Annex M”. Basically, adjusting to 85% of download speed to allow higher upload rates.
– BT charges ISP’s £7 per user (Not sure monthly?)
– Only available on LLU or 21Century network and only on good quality lines.
– Could see uploads increased to 2.5Mbs for close exchange lines. More like 1
17:38 – Oracle sues Google
– Is this why they bought Sun?
– In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement.
– Claiming that Android competes with Java as “an operating system software platform for cellular telephones and other mobile devices” and that the Android stack employs Java apps running on a Java-based framework, Oracle says that Android and the Android SDK infringe on its patents, and it wants to see some cash for its unwitting involvement in the mobile OS’s success.
– Oracle also says Google has known about these patents since the middle of the decade when the latter company hired several Sun Java engineers.
19:20 – Jump or Push
– Hardware chief, Mark Papermaster, leaves Apple. No comment from Apple for reasons.Obviously sparked rampant internet speculation over reasons for leaving.
– According to John Gruber, although his background at IBM was semiconductors he was known at Apple as ‘the antenna guy’
– Also seemingly didn’t fit in with the Apple culture
– Is it the Antenna, the white iPhone delay or just a convenient way of getting rid of someone who hadn’t embedded well and can take the hit, without anything being said publicly?
– Sacrificial lamb
– Antenna Guy title smacks of being created after he left… like Antenna Gate.
21:21 – Apple Plug Security Hole
– A hole was uncovered on the iPhone operating system that could allow unauthorised code to run.
– Relates to the phone auto-loading PDF files (think it might be the reason you can jailbreak just by visiting a website…)
– Apple have come out quickly and plugged the gap with 4.0.2.
– Hate these updates – 5-600mb for a few lines of code
– 3gb for Xcode updates – get a grip – must cost them a fortune in download costs never mind our time
– This was why I could run the jailbreak last week…
– Which after two days I swapped back
– App’s a bit crashy and system as a whole more unstable
– Cydia’s ‘make my life easier – sending my unique Apple ID to some server…somewhere to do…something…what?
– Just not compelling enough for me
26:47 – Android News
– Google Voice Recognition in Android allows you to now send texts and do other things via voice commands
– Voice Actions can send emails. “Send Email to Hugo Barra: I just booked a scuba diving trip to the turks and caicos for September!” You can even add onto the message after it’s been written. Saying “smiley face” also inserts the smiley emoticon.
– go to popular websites with Voice Actions. “Go to Wikipedia
– 10 actions, available now for Android 2.2
– Interesting – the voice recognition takes place on Google servers
– Voice on iPhone is a far simpler version of this
– Chrome-To-Phone
– extension allows you to take a page you’re currently viewing on your web browser and send it to your Android 2.2 device
– if you’re looking at a map and want it on your phone, you can just click the ‘Chrome to Phone’ button in your browser, and your phone will immediately open that map in the Maps application
– Closest on iphone is Prowl but it doesn’t have the same action contexts that Android does – http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/08/10/prowl-push-websites-from-chrome-to-iphone/
– Tasker
– http://tasker.dinglisch.net/
– Tasker is an application for Android which performs Tasks (sets of Actions) based on Contexts (application, time, date, location, event, gesture) in user-defined Profiles, or in clickable or timer home screen widgets.
– change phone settings by
application: long screen timeout in a book reader
time: screen brightness lower in the evening
location: ringer volume high at the office, turn off ke yguard at home
– take a time-lapse photo series (possibly ‘secretly’)
– make a regular backup of a file on the SD card
– track your phone location via SMS in case of theft
– sounds wonderfully geeky
33:33 – Camera+ Pulled from iStore
– This was Ian’s pick from a couple of weeks back
– Great app, version 1.3 was submitted and included an option for using the volume buttons as a camera button – easier and far less camera shake
– Apple rejected – it will confuse the users
– Taptaptap then revealed via twitter that current version had option – type camplus://enablevolumesnap into safari to enable
– 24 hours later, app gone – Apple removed? Hidden features, breaking rules?
– Biggest well known publisher to get into difficulty I think
– Before we get all fanboyish, Google does the same with their app’s
42:30 – iTV
– Apple TV to be rebranded iTV which is actually it’s original name
– releasing a $99 version of the set top box, similarly sized and packed with internals akin to that of the iPhone 4 (A4 CPU, 16GB of flash storage), and will introduce new iTunes streaming services the box could take advantage of
– Get this – 720p only – no 1080i or 1080p
– the device will be getting apps and presumably an App Store entry, though it’s unclear if there will be cross-pollination between iPad and iPhone / iPod touch offerings and new Apple TV applications.
– Seemingly ITV are ‘furious’ and will vigorously defend their ttrademark
– Apple spokesman – denied the names will be too similar
44:01 – News Fail
– http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/11/elyse-porterfield/
– Telegraph report on girl that quit via a whiteboard
– Pretty funny
– Not the story, but the reporting – it’s a hoax
– Techcrunch revealed all the details
– Don’t believe what you read…

Picks
Chris
FamFam Silk
– Free
– Great icons for web development

Ian
Devour
– Devour sifts out the best videos and posts the well-curated collection every weekday. Fewer cute kittens, fewer skateboarding nutshots, fewer tween heart throbs, and lots more awesome.
– Hand picked (on Youtube there is 25 hours of video posted….every minute)
– every single video on Devour.com is in HD
– every single video plays on the iPhone and iPad
– Left out on thing – comments

DigitalOutbox Episode 57

DigitalOutbox Episode 57
In this episode the team discuss the new Kindle and Phones, Phones, Phones.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
1:17 – Virgin Making Strides
– Adds customer base, increases profits
– Broadband grows – 43% of its broadband subscribers now take packages of 20Mbps or 50Mbps. Broadband growth was five times that experienced last year, with 28,100 net new customers added over the quarter
– Virgin Media has also confirmed plans to launch its 100Mbps broadband service by the end of the year, along with its first set top boxes enabled with technology developed by US DVR giant TiVo.
– will launch its first set top boxes featuring a new television and broadband interactive User Interface (UI) created by American firm TiVo.
– The new UI is designed to seamlessly blend linear TV and on-demand content, along with opening up a range of online functionality, such as recommendations engines and social media functions.
4:49 – Sky Soars
– Almost 10m subscribers
– 400,000 new HD subs
– 30% of its 9.86m customer base now takes Sky+ HD
– 50 HD channels by Christmas
– Average revenue – £508 per person
– £1bn profit in year to June
– The firm added 119,000 broadband customers in the second quarter to bring its total base to 2.6m. The service also reached profitability for the first time since it launched in 2006.
– 3D channel launches on Oct 1st for home users
– Only in pubs, hotels so far
– Films and sport the drivers
– Ryder cup in 3D
– Premiership football
9:51 – New Amazon Kindle
– The new handheld — slated to be released on August 27th — is 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the previous model
– has a 20 percent faster refresh rate on its E Ink
– graphite and white
– £109 wi-fi only and £149 for 3G version (free 3G from Vodafone)
– Smaller, faster, cheaper
– Jeff Bezos
– For the vast majority of books, adding video and animation is not going to be helpful. It is distracting rather than enhancing. You are not going to improve Hemingway by adding video snippets,” adding later, “there are going to be 100 companies making LCD [screen] tablets… why would we want to be 101? I like building a purpose-built reading device. I think that is where we can make a real contribution.”
– Amazon predicts they will sell more ebooks than paperbacks by end of 2011
– Surpass hard and paperback combined sales shortly after
– I think that looks really nice, especially compared to original version
– http://mashable.com/2010/08/05/kindle-store-uk/
– UK Store now launched
– features more than 400,000 titles (compared to the U.S.’s roughly 650,000)
– customers can purchase e-books in pounds, most of which range from
about £3 to £11
– UK shoppers can now read e-book reviews from fellow countrymen, and see which e-books are selling best locally, rather than across the Atlantic
16:31 – Google Cleared
– The “pay-load” data collected by Google’s Street View cars did not slurp up “meaningful personal details”, the UK’s privacy watchdog concluded today
– the company hadn’t grabbed information that “could be linked to an identifiable person.”
17:43 – Wave Goodbye
– Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked.
– We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects.
– Wave has taught us a lot – yep – stop releasing products with no real world use case
20:44 – Jaibreak Me
– http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/browser-based_jailbreak_available_for_almost_all_i.php
– Works for all iphones, iPads, iPod touches
– The jailbreak works by navigating to the site in Apple’s default browser Safari and “sliding to jailbreak.” The process can take as little as a minute to download, declare that it’s added itself to the home screen, and tell you to “Have fun!”
– relies on the exploitation of an unpatched mobile Safari vulnerability
– Jailbreaking will void the warranty on a device, Apple says. However, the action is easy to undo by resetting a device to factory settings (and will be undone by downloading any new version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS).
– Some reports of bricks!
– Some users are reporting that this jailbreak interferes with Facetime and Multimedia Messaging on the iPhone 4.
– What’s so different with this jailbreak – sooooo easy
22:39 – iPhone Loses to Android in first half of the year
– With a margin of 27% to 23% of the US market, Google Android platform has shown continues rapid growth and has has edged past the Apple iPhone platform with new subscribers.
– So more people bought android phones in the first 6 months
– Android now sells 200k a day – http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/05/googles-schmidt-boasts-200k-android-devices-sold-daily-waxes-i/
– 21 phones, 4 providers against 1 phone and 1 provider
– Stolen/lost iPhone 4 probably killed iPhone 3GS sales
– Inevitable
– Move along, nothing here to see
24:56 – Blackberry Torch
– Too little, too late
– The Torch seems sluggish, underpowered, and dated from a hardware design standpoint, and BlackBerry 6, despite its new features and polish, still feels woefully behind the curve. To call the Torch the “best BlackBerry ever” wouldn’t be an understatement, but unfortunately for RIM and the faithful, their best isn’t nearly good enough.
– Android = Windows
– iPhone = Mac
– Blackberry/Windows Phone 7 = Corporate – Sun/IBM
29:48 – Every 2 Days We Create As Much Information As We Did Up To 2003
– Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003, according to Schmidt. That’s something like five exabytes of data, he says.
– “The real issue is user-generated content,” Schmidt said. He noted that pictures, instant messages, and tweets all add to this.
– Naturally, all of this information helps Google. But he cautioned that just because companies like his can do all sorts of things with this information, the more pressing question now is if they should. Schmidt noted that while technology is neutral, he doesn’t believe people are ready for what’s coming.
– “I spend most of my time assuming the world is not ready for the technology revolution that will be happening to them soon,” Schmidt said.

Picks
Chris
Astraweb Hosting
– Pay as you go – topsmart $25 = 180Gb – doesn’t expire. ($10 25Gb)
– Perfect.
– You can have monthly sub if you want – but why would you.

Ian
Sabnzbd
– Open source newsreader
– Fast, feature rich
– Great for my mac mini
– Controlled via web client, easily extendable

DigitalOutbox Episode 56

DigitalOutbox Episode 56
In this episode the team discuss Wikileaks, Apple and Microsoft Quarters and Flipboard.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
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Shownotes
2:36 – Broadbands Broken Promises
– http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2010/07/ofcom_broadbands_broken_promis.html
– No surprise to UK broadband users, ofcom’s report is pretty damning
– Its analysis of broadband speeds in the UK shows that, for some services, 97% of consumers do not get the advertised speed.
– It also shows a growing gap between the claims ISPs make for broadband and the speed being delivered.
– average residential broadband speed in the UK has risen in the last 12 months from 4.1Megabits per second (Mbps) to 5.2Mbps
– Virgin closest – 8.6 to 9 Mbps for it’s 10meg service
– Best adsl – O2, 4.3 to 5 Mbps for it’s up to 8 service
– the advertising of broadband speeds in Britain is scandalously misleading
– BT’s copper is incapable of delivering decent speeds
– Virgin Media is showing that fibre is the future
– the digital divide between town and country is bound to get wider
– Whenever I’ve looked at BB packages, I would say that they have been pretty clear that they would connect at the fastest possible speed up to a maximum possible. Also, BT offer an estimated line speed that other sites hook into. I don’t think it’s particularly misleading.
7:23 – Wikileaks Afghan War Diary
– 90,000 leaked coalition documents from the Afghan war
– Biggest leak ever
– Quote from Julian Assage, Wikileaks founder:
– This situation is different in that it’s not just more material and being pushed to a bigger audience and much sooner … but rather that people can give back. So people around the world who are reading this are able to comment on it and put it in context and understand the full situation. That is not something that has previously occurred. And that is something that can only be brought about as a result of the Internet.
– Old reports, not future plans
– The Afghan War Diary was simultaneously given to reporters from The New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel several weeks in advance so those reporters could study the documents and provide context with their public release. It was also given to those three publications so that no one national government could censor it.
– WikiLeaks removed data that could implicate its sources, but the U.S. military already has an alleged WikiLeaks source in custody: 22-year-old intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, who The Guardian says is suspected as the source of the video that depicted U.S. soldiers killing civilians. So far we’ve seen no evidence for or against any connection between the Afghan War Diary and Manning.
– Guardian has mapped the 300 major incidents – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/interactive/2010/jul/25/afghanistan-war-logs-events
– Created a glossary for understanding those pesky TLA’s
– http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/2010/jul/25/wikileaks-afghanistan-war-logs-glossary
– Every IED attack with co-ords – map and spreadsheet – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/2010/jul/26/wikileaks-afghanistan-ied-attacks
– US says it is irresponsible- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10758578
13:25 – EFF Victory Against DRM
– US only but major major legal victory
– Electronic Frontier Foundation had applied to the Copyright Office to grant exemptions permitting the cracking of DRM in three cases
– “jailbreak” a mobile device, such as an iPhone, where DRM is used to prevent phone owners from running software of their own choosing
– allow video remix artists to break the DRM on DVDs in order to take short excerpts for mashups posted to YouTube and other sharing sites, as long as it’s use is non-commercial or educational
– EFF got the Copyright Office to renew its ruling that made it legal to unlock cellphones so that they can be used with any carrier
– So apple and others can say your voiding your warranty, but they can’t say your breaking the law..but, thats not what the ruling says. the ruling says your not violating copyright law
– So still might not be legal…yet
– Of course, Apple isn’t very happy with this
– Biggest is probably the mashup ruling – fair use of material you have bought, but of course it will be ‘you can legally jailbreak your iphone’ that will be most reported as that drives traffic – see leak of iphone 4 and antennagate for example
– in theory, should put a stop to many of the DMCA (1998’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act) removal requests sent to services like YouTube
17:03 – Android Updates
– Sales of Android-based phones more than quadrupled in the UK during the most-recent quarter.
– According to GfK, Android’s share of UK smartphone contract sales sales was a mere three per cent in the first three months of 2010, but skyrocketed to 13.2 per cent in the second quarter.
– Apple, conversely, saw its UK market share decline from 75 per cent to 64 per cent during the same period. And it wasn’t only Android phones that took a bite out of Cupertino: RIM’s UK share rose from two per cent to seven per cent from January through April.
– Samsung S is the new hotness in Android phones
– Were sending out free phones to twitter users complaining about iPhone dropped calls
– Also running Facebook competition
– Best mobile add for a while
22:25 – Apple Quarterly Results
– Boom
– Over 3 milllion iPads – almost outsells Macs, and that was their biggest Mac quarter ever
– Great sales for iphones which is only 2 days of iPhone 4
– They made billions…
– Can’t make enough iPhone 4’s and ipads – LG can’t make enough iPad screens – says it will do better
– Few days later, white iPhone 4’s are delayed again, just a few days after saying end of July:
– White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.
– Coupled with September 30th limit on free bumper, iPhone 4 ver B later this year?
– Creating a version B probably raises more questions than answers… if it fixes aerial, won’t all “version A” users want one?
29:46 – Microsoft Quarterly Results
– Boomer
– revenues were up 22 percent, to more than $16 billion
– bigger quarter than Apple
– Strong Windows 7 sales + Office 2010 and a strengthening economy helped
30:57 – Facebook Hits 500 Million Users
– To celebrate, we’ve put together a collection of stories you’ve shared with us about the impact Facebook and your friends have had on your lives.
– We’re launching a new application called Facebook Stories where you can share your own story and read hundreds of others, categorized by themes and locations around the world.
– 5 1/2 months since they hit 400million – around same time to go from 300 to 400 million
– Details of 100m Facebook users collected and leaked
– http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10796584
– The personal details of more than 100 million Facebook users have been harvested and published on the net.
– Ron Bowles, an online security consultant, used a simple piece of code to collect the data from Facebook.
– The list, which has been shared as a downloadable file, contains the URL of every searchable Facebook user’s profile, their name and unique ID.
– In a statement to BBC News, Facebook said that the information in the list was already freely available online.
– “People who use Facebook own their information and have the right to share only what they want, with whom they want, and when they want,” the statement read.
– “In this case, information that people have agreed to make public was collected by a single researcher and already exists in Google, Bing, other search engines, as well as on Facebook.
– “No private data is available or has been compromised,” the statement added.
33:54 – Flipboard
– Personalised social magazine
– It turns your Facebook and Twitter account into something that looks like a magazine.
– It also lets you build a custom magazine, either by choosing from Flipboard’s pre-built curated “boards” or by importing Twitter lists.
– You can also turn a single person’s Twitter account, or a single brand’s Twitter account, into a Flipboard. For instance, you can follow Techcrunch on Twitter with it and it will turn Techcrunch into a beautiful magazine-like interface that’s easier to read than any other reader.
– Massive buzz, unusabale (for Ian) on day one. Creating invite system to manage demand. Sigh.
– iPad killer app?
– Why does it need to sign into Facebook and Twitter via their own servers?
– May be controversy over how they deliver content – not using RSS, scraping from source websites – http://gizmodo.com/5594176/is-flipboard-legal
– Revenue not from users but from content owners
40:24 – Skype
– http://blogs.skype.com/en/2010/07/iphone_multitasking_3g.html
– Supports calls over 3G
– More importantly, works in background – you can now receive Skype calls, and instant messages, while running any other application.
– Even more importantly – scrapped their planned move to charge for calls over 3G
41:32 – BBC News App Launched
– http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/july/mobile_apps.shtml
– iPhone News and Sports app’s approved
– Launched on Friday 23rd
– News will add regional news in future
– News will come to blackberry, android and other devices later in the year
– Looking at findings, why did this take 3-4 months to review?
– To appease “industry”? Doesn’t matter though, correct consumer decision.
43:44 – Daily Star Lies
– The Daily Star has today expressed its “fury” at news that a Raoul Moat version of Grand Theft Auto is in production.
– Apparently “gaming websites” (though obviously not the ones we read) have shown the cover of “a version of the XBox hit Grand Theft Auto”, supposedly called GTA Rothbury, that’s based on the recent Northumberland shootings that dominated the news earlier this month.
– “It is sick – it’s blood money,” the sister of Moat’s ex-partner Samantha Stobbart told the paper. “The game is beyond belief.”
– Journalist, Jerry Lawton, defends his story
– http://www.mcvuk.com/news/40124/Journalist-defends-GTA-Raoul-Moat-story
– “Baffled by the fury of adult gamers,” he wrote, as reported by Destructoid. “These are grown (?!?) men who sit around all day playing computer games with one another who’ve today chosen to enter the real world just long enough to complain about my story slamming a Raoul Moat version of Grand Theft Auto!
– “You would think I’d denied the Holocaust!!! Think I’ll challenge them to a virtual reality duel….stab….I win!!!”
– Cue Apology
– http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/145880/Rockstar-Games-Grand-Theft-Auto-An-apology/
– Grovel grovel grovel
– We made no attempt to check the accuracy of the story before publication and did not contact Rockstar Games prior to publishing the story. We also did not question why a best selling and critically acclaimed fictional games series would choose to base one of their most popular games on this horrifying real crime event.
– It is now accepted that there were never any plans by Rockstar Games to publish such a game and that the story was false. We apologise for publishing the story using a mock-up of the game cover, our own comments on the matter and soliciting critical comments from a grieving family member.
– We unreservedly apologise to Rockstar Games and we have undertaken not to repeat the claims again. We have also agreed to pay them a substantial amount in damages which they are donating to charity.

Picks
Chris
Limbo
– Limbo is a truly stunning looking (and feeling) game. Xbox Live Arcade.
– Eerie, dark, mysterious, funny, scary, frustrating, satisfying.
– No colour, very little sound, no dialogue, largely silhouettes

Ian
Camera+
– Great camera app for iPhone
– Faster than built in app with a lot more features
– Filters, borders etc
– Now my goto app for taking pictures – can also share on the Camrera+ website or to flickr, e-mail etc

DigitalOutbox Episode 48

DigitalOutbox Episode 48
In this episode the team discuss Android and iPad pricing.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
2:47 – Be Careful What You Tweet
– Fines £385, costs of £600
– The Tweet he sent to his 600 “followers” in the early hours of 6 January said: “Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week… otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!”
– The court heard he had now lost his job because of the prosecution.
– Be careful what you tweet
– Ridiculous
5:37 – Pirate Bay Offline
– several Hollywood film studios won an injunction against its bandwidth provider CB3ROB via a court in Hamburg
– It has no internet connection
– A Pirate Bay source told TorrentFreak that it is already working on a backup solution to bring the site online; the servers themselves haven’t been touched (or moved) rom their well-guarded – and highly secret – location; they simply need to be routed through another provider.
– Might not be that easy – running out of friends as movie and music industry pursue it
7:02 – Android OS pulls ahead of iPhone in smartphone market
– slips into second place behind RIM
– RIM 36%, Android 28%, iPhone 21%
– possibly to do with 2-for-1 sales at Verizon???? (Chris disagrees ;P )
– having a variety of handsets from different manufacturers obviously helps
– http://www.tuaw.com/2010/05/10/android-os-pulls-ahead-of-apple-in-smartphone-market/
– Apple spokesperson responds by adding in ipod touches to the iphone sales figures and says “So what?” – http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20100511/apple-on-npd-android-outselling-iphone-claim/?mod=ATD_rss
Chris – I think the impact of an upcoming new iPhone, plus people now buying iPad as well. Plus some VERY compelling Android devices that are now fairly ahead of the curve and maybe (just maybe) some backlash about Apple approach.
12:22 – Google stops selling Nexus One direct online
– U-Turn for search giant.
– Store “not lived up to expectations” people like to try before they buy with phones apparently.
– Customer service issues perhaps? Or simply a lack of marketing $ spent promoting Nexus one?
17:44 – Google WiFi collection blunder
– Google has admitted that for the past three years it has wrongly collected information people have sent over unencrypted wi-fi networks.
– came to light after German authorities asked to audit the data the company’s Street View cars gathered
– These snippets could include parts of an email, text or photograph or even the website someone may be viewing.
– As soon as we became aware of this problem, we grounded our Street View cars and segregated the data on our network, which we then disconnected to make it inaccessible
– Maintaining people’s trust is crucial to everything we do, and in this case we fell short. So we will be:
– Asking a third party to review the software at issue, how it worked and what data it gathered, as well as to confirm that we deleted the data appropriately; and
– Internally reviewing our procedures to ensure that our controls are sufficiently robust to address these kinds of problems in the future.
– In addition, given the concerns raised, we have decided that it’s best to stop our Street View cars collecting WiFi network data entirely.
– Henry’s just waiting for the lawsuits
22:27 – UK iPad Pricing
– Best for light/irregular 3G usage: Orange’s 5p/MB pay as you go tariff
– Best for regular 3G usage: Orange’s pay monthly £15 for 3GB
– Best for heavy 3G usage: Orange’s iPad Monthly £25 for 10GB
– Best for light/irregular 3G and wi-fi usage: O2’s £2 a day/500MB offer (unlimited wi-fi on 7,500 BT Openzone and The Cloud hotspots)
– Best for regular 3G and wi-fi usage: O2’s £10 a month for 1GB offer (unlimited wi-fi on 7,500 BT Openzone and The Cloud hotspots)
– Best for heavy 3G and wi-fi usage: O2’s £15 a month for 3GB (unlimited wi-fi on 7,500 BT Openzone and The Cloud hotspots)
– O2’s unlimited wi-fi offering makes its offer best for customers who expect to use their iPad on the go.
– http://electricpig.co.uk/2010/05/17/ipad-uk-apple-approved-routes-to-an-ipad-discount/
– In a complete failure of foresight, Henry’s prediction of a network subsidised ipad looks increasingly unlikely.
– Henry is clearly rubbish at this prediction lark… 🙂
– Co-Pilot for the iPad!!! Stick that bad boy to the car windscreen!
30:50 – Get your eBook in the iBook store
– Lulu is a certified aggregator – will allow you to publish your book to iBook store – wow
– Must be valid epub file and have an ISDN number – Lulu will assign for free and convert to epub
– Pricing – 80% of profit after Apples cut – On a $9.99 book, for example, you will receive $5.60 .
– Apple can decline content – only one so far out of hundreds
34:28 – BT extend broadband rollout and OnLive
– Originally its fibre services, offering speeds of up to 40 megabits per second (Mbps), were due to reach around 40% of the population by 2012.
– A £1bn investment will see the project roll out to a further 20% of the population by 2015.
– Secretly OnLive has been operating a test site in Europe from a BT (British Telecommunications plc) data center in Wales since 2009. And I’m happy to report, that over the European Internet infrastructure, OnLive is AWESOME. We’ve tested OnLive across all of Western Europe spanning from the UK to Italy and from Scandinavia down to Spain.
– Today we are announcing that BT, the largest broadband operator in the UK, has formed a partnership with and has made an investment in OnLive. We’ll be working together with BT to bring the OnLive Game Service to the UK, such that it operates reliably and with high quality over the UK’s Internet backbone to BT’s broadband customers. BT has an exclusive right to bundle the OnLive Game Service together with their broadband service offerings in the UK, although UK gamers will also be able to order the OnLive Game Service directly from OnLive to run over any UK ISP.
– Once we get the US service up and running, we’ll be sharing more details, including when we’ll be starting a UK public Beta (with UK postcodes, no less). One thing I can say is when we do launch in the UK, gamers will have the benefit of everything we’ve learned from the US launch, as well as the latest OnLive features. Also, unlike the US launch, where we are ramping up with PCs and Macs, then introducing the OnLive MicroConsole™ HDTV adapter later, the UK will launch on PC, Mac and HDTV from the get-go. BT say later this year in UK
– BT has also taken a 2.6 percent stake in the company.
41:01 – Used Games Tax
– EA introduce $10 online pass
– Comes included with game
– Sell game, new owner has to pay $10 to get online
– Sneaky.
44:59 – Red Dead Redemption
– reviews starting to trickle out – Game Informer: 9.75/10, Games TM: 9.00. IGN 9.8/10. Eurogamer 8/10 (!losers)
– http://ps3.nowgamer.com/reviews/ps3/9197/red-dead-redemption – 9.3/10
– metacritic – 96 (based on 16 reviews)
– looks awesome
– My pre-order is being processed 🙂
46:20 – Nintendo – Apple is the enemy of the future
– Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata says battle with Sony is over, Apple is the ‘enemy of the future’
– this is a month after semi-transformed-Hulk Reggie Fils-Aime stated iPhone OS wasn’t a viable platform for game development
– battle with Sony is a “victory already won”

Picks
Chris
Friv
– A plethora of flash games… Some bad. Some good. Some great.

Henry
Fish Text
– cheap international txts iphone app

Ian
Steam
– steam for mac….and pc.
– Front end on Mac is pretty poor
– 63 games at launch incl Civ 4, Braid, Portal
– Portal free until May 24th for both platforms too
– Downloading…slow….

DigitalOutbox Episode 22

DigitalOutbox Episode 22
In this episode the team discuss Droid, Google Navigator, Shakeel gets struck off and not much Apple news.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
1:51 – Internet Turns 40
– Who could have predicted just how engrained it would become
5:26 – Google Maps Navigation
– Connected to net
– Free
– Search in plain english and by voice and search along route
– Traffic flow – shows traffic, easy to find alternative route
– Satellite and street view – great
– Android 2.0 at the moment. Great USP for Android phones – killer app. Google are ‘working with’ Apple in bringing it to iPhone
– UI looks great – if only the other Google app’s had same care and attention (harsh – web based gmail is great)
– Garmin and TomTom shares down 16 ans 20%!
– What happens if you’ve no signal?
– Reviews say it’s not bad but has major UI and usability issues.
13:06 – Droid and Android 2
– Droid
– Nov 6th, $199 (after $100 rebate)
– 3.7inch screen at 480×854 pixels
– Removable 16GB SD memory
– Removable battery
– 5MP camera
– Physical and virtual keyboard
22:46 – Twitter Lists
– Rolled out to all users
– Allows users to create lists of twitter users
– Lists are public by default (but can be made private) and the lists you’ve created are linked from your profile. Other Twitter users can then subscribe to your lists. This means lists have the potential to be an important new discovery mechanism for great tweets and accounts.
– Sounds trivial – replaces follow friday
– Allows groupings of users
– Some great lists out there – http://twitter.com/DigitalOutbox/podcasters
25:40 – Three Strikes Then Disconnect
– cost of monitoring to be spread between ISPs and Rights owners
– ISP’s preparing legal challenge saying proposals are “wrong in principle, and won’t work in practice”
– Lord Mandelson seems more and more clueless whenever he opens his mouth on this issue.
– From 2011 but bill heard in late November
30:59 – Spotify Drop Prices
– Now only £6.99 for the first 6 months – offer ends soon
– CTO has left the building, announced he’d was taking “a better offer” on twitter
– Competition stronger than ever, with a price war going on.
– Noticed that some tracks are now listed as “Premium members only”… hadn’t seen that before but time limited to certain artists and releases – Chris
– Some albums and tracks were released early to premium owners for a couple of months now….I think…maybe – ian
34:38 – Google Powermeter
– Partnered with first:utility, small energy supplier
– See power usage on the web, in igoogle
– Free service
– Also partnered with http://www.alertme.com/
– £69 for device and £3 monthly subscription
36:07 – Microsoft Watches Family Guy
– What a surprise, after seeing a recording of the half hour show, MS have pulled out saying that “the content was not a fit with the Windows brand”
– Apparently jokes about deaf people, the Holocaust and incest – normal Family Guy content then!!
– Chickens
37:27 – VMWare Fusion 3
– Excellent Windows 7 support
– Improved speed of XP too
40:50 – iTunes 9.0.2
– Apple TV 3 support
– Kills Palm pre sync
43:15 – Apple Patents
– iShoe
– head mounted mp3 player
46:43 – iPhone on Orange Nov 10th
– Day after O2 exclusivity finishes (Nov 9th, 2 years from original sale of iPhone)
– Prices….still no news
48:07 – Sky on the 360
– October 27th it’s launched…
– October 27th it’s removed…
51:57 – DSi XL
– New DS, exactly the same functionality, just bigger
– Q1 2010 in Europe – strange time to announce a new product next year
– Interested?
54:24 – Demon’s Soul
– bit of a sleeper hit, gaining a large following world-wide purely through word of mouth and high review scores
– ultra hard
– out in US now, published by Atlus.
– no UK availability, but it’s region free so you can import it from a site such as Video Games Plus for around £41 + P+P
– http://www.videogamesplus.ca/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=demon+souls

Picks
Shakeel
RedLaser
– surprisingly accurate, even with the crap iPhone 3G camera
– searches for items on Amazon and Google
– for me so far, more fun than of real use
– but … if i was out and saw something I wanted to buy, then it could come handy

Ian
Listorious
– The directory of awesome lists on twitter
– View lists by type/tag
– Great way of finding useful content
– Can add your list to listorious

Henry
Mockups
– demo version online allows you to create mockups of web apps, iphone apps etc
– export to PNG or XML, import from XML if you’re collaborating with someone.