Tag: facebook

DigitalOutbox Episode 56

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

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

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 54

DigitalOutbox Episode 54
In this episode the team discuss Broadband news, why Apple are shocked and Facebook panics.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
1:45 – Government spends thousands on iPhone apps
– NHS Drinks Tracker £10,000
– NHS Quit Smoking £10,000
– Jobcentre Plus £32,775
– DVLA Masterclass £40,000
– A report by the Central Office of Information has revealed that the government spent £94m on website development and running costs and £32m on web staff in 2009 – 2010.
– By the end of May there were over 53,000 downloads of the Jobcentre Plus app, although critics have asked why someone who can afford both an iPhone and the expensive running costs would need a Jobcentre Plus app.
– Surely adapting web content to work on all phones is a better way forward
4:57 – BBC Website Spend
– The BBC spent £199.3m on its BBC Online service in 2009/10, according to its annual report – 12% more than the previous year.
– The outlay is 6% of the £142.50 annual licence fee, or the equivalent of £0.67 per month…
– BBC Online reaches 37% of the population each week and therefore costs 8.9 pence per user hour.
– On a per user user basis, that makes it amongst the most costly of the BBC’s main services, with only BBC Alba costing more.
– More than 18m iPlayer requests per week.
– Monthly mobile users up from 4.4m to 7.8m.
– External suppliers received 26% of BBC Online spend – slightly more than its 25% quota.
– At the same time, BBC Trust endorses the 25% budget reduction
– New BBC News coming soon too
9:55 – Finland Makes Broadband a Legal Right
– From 1 July every Finn will have the right to access to a 1Mbps (megabit per second) broadband connection.
– Finland has vowed to connect everyone to a 100Mbps connection by 2015.
– In the UK the government has promised a minimum connection of at least 2Mbps to all homes by 2012 but has stopped short of enshrining this as a right in law.
– The Finnish deal means that from 1 July all telecommunications companies will be obliged to provide all residents with broadband lines that can run at a minimum 1Mbps speed.
– It is believed up to 96% of the population are already online and that only about 4,000 homes still need connecting to comply with the law. In the UK internet penetration stands at 73%.
– The British government has agreed to provide everyone with a minimum 2Mbps broadband connection by 2012 but it is a commitment rather than a legally binding ruling.
13:14 – Race Online 2012
– UK digital champion Martha Lane Fox wants to get everyone of working age online by 2012
– The Networked Nation Manifesto, published today, also highlights the lack of net access “among the disadvantaged, unemployed and retired”.
– David Cameron backed the campaign, saying that “digital inclusion is essential for a modern dynamic economy”.
– However, the issue of who will pay for it all has yet to be addressed.
– Race Online 2012, is asking for people, who are already online, to sign up to volunteer, donate money or equipment, take part in organising events, or contribute their own ideas about how to get others connected.
17:03 – Prince reckons the Internet is Over
– “The Internet’s completely over,” he said. “I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it, and then they get angry when they can’t get it.”
– “The Internet’s like MTV,” the star said to The Mirror’s correspondent. “At one time, MTV was hip, and suddenly it became outdated.”
– “All these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”
19:23 – Bye Bye Kin
– Microsoft has made the decision to focus on the Windows Phone 7 launch and will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned. Additionally, we are integrating our KIN team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from KIN into future Windows Phone releases. We will continue to work with Verizon in the U.S. to sell current KIN phones
– Less than 50 days on sale
– Already half price
– Sell off remaining stock
– Allegedly…..503 sold
– Actually – at least 8000
– Just a different way of saying…
– FAIL
22:53 – Apple Admit Signal Fault
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10490572.stm
– http://daringfireball.net/2010/07/translation_iphone_4
– To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.
– We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.
– Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.
– We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same— the iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologise for any anxiety we may have caused.
– As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.
– So not hardware but software….and software for all iPhones
– So why so many video’s of people stopping bandwidth with their finger if it’s just a display issue?
– Doesn’t add up…
– And was the formula wrong, or did they show more bars to make the iPhone look good?
30:55 – Section 44 Goes Bye Bye
– Police are to be stripped of the power to stop and search anyone for no reason, the Home Secretary has announced.
– Theresa May told the Commons she will immediately limit Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 so members of public can only be stopped if officers “reasonably suspect” they are terrorists. The threshold of suspicion will bring the Act into line with traditional stop and search powers.
– Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti hailed the withdrawal of the power today. “It is a blanket and secretive power that has been used against school kids, journalists, peace protesters and a disproportionate number of young black men,” she said.
– “To our knowledge, it has never helped catch a single terrorist. This is a very important day for personal privacy, protest rights and race equality in Britain.”
– Today’s announcement will be welcomed by photographers, who have battled police for the right to take pictures in public places in recent years. Often officers have used Section 44 to stop and search snappers when they are not suspected of doing anything wrong
32:02 – Google Life in a Day
– a historic cinematic experiment that will attempt to document one day, as seen through the eyes of people around the world.
– On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a snapshot of your life on camera. You can film the ordinary — a sunrise, the commute to work, a neighborhood soccer match, or the extraordinary — a baby’s first steps, your reaction to the passing of a loved one, or even a marriage.
– Kevin Macdonald, the Oscar-winning director of films such as The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void and One Day in September, will then edit the most compelling footage into a feature documentary film, to be executive-produced by Ridley Scott, the director behind films like Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma & Louise, Blade Runner and Robin Hood.
– The film will premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and if your footage makes it into the final cut, you’ll be credited as a co-director and may be one of 20 contributors selected to attend the premiere.
– Regardless of whether your footage makes it into the final film, your video(s) will live on on the “Life in a Day” channel as a time capsule that will tell future generations what it was like to be alive on July 24, 2010.
35:36 – Google App Inventor for Android
– http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/
– what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) tool for app development on the Android platform
– Instead of having to learn code (in Android’s case, Java), App Inventor is a piece of software that allows you to drag and drop certain elements common to many apps to build a mobile app from scratch.
– Google quote – To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app’s behavior.
– Plus – takes away barrier of entry
– Minus – could be a Frontpage for Android Apps
– Potentially excellent though
38:49 – Fring vs Skype
– Call Fring to Fring, Skype to Skype
– 3G or wi-fi
– Still amazed Apple haven’t brought out updated iChat to allow Facetime to iChat or vice versa
– It’s also a popular upgrade – http://www.fring.com/blog/?p=2303
– Fring says Skype has apparently blocked fring and threatened legal action against the startup.
– An hour or so ago, Fring reported on its blog that we had blocked their access to Skype. I want to make one thing absolutely clear: this is untrue. Fring was using Skype software in a way it wasn’t designed to be used – and in a way which is in breach of Skype’s API Terms of Use and End User License Agreement. We’ve been talking with Fring for some time to try to resolve this amicably.
– However, over time, Fring’s mis-use of our software was increasingly damaging our brand and reputation with our customers. On Friday, for example, Fring withdrew support for video calls over Skype on iOS 4 without warning, again damaging our brand and disappointing our customers, who have high expectations of the Skype experience.
– We actively encourage developers to build products that work with Skype, acting, of course in accordance with our various API licences. At the same time, Skype will rigorously protect our brand and reputation, and those developers that do not comply with our terms will be subject to legal enforcement.
– In this case, however, there is no truth to Fring’s claims that Skype has blocked it. Fring made the decision to remove Skype functionality on its own.
43:23 – Youtube Mobile Updates
– m.youtube.com
– a more polished UI and better load time
– uses plenty of HTML5 features, including the video tag.
– But most important is the fact that the web app has superior video quality when compared to native applications — namely the iPhone’s — and it will soon feature more content as well
– widely available, with support for nearly any HTML5 compliant mobile browser, including those on the iPhone and Android devices.
– The web app offered a number of advantages, including auto-complete in search and a UI that’s more consistent with the latest version of the YouTube webpage (the iPhone app still uses YouTube’s 5-star rating system, which was abandoned in January in favor of a binary ‘Like’ system). Most important, the video quality of the web application was leaps and bounds ahead of the iPhone app — Doronichev explained that this was because the iPhone app still uses a video streaming format that was developed for Edge, not 3G. Video on the HTML5 app looked much better, and was snappier to boot.
– http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/07/youtube-leanback-tv
– Leanback
– http://www.youtube.com/leanback
– site will immediately start playing videos from a feed of suggestions, based on other videos you’ve liked
– keyboard driven
– Rentals aren’t live for Leanback yet, but the YouTube team says that this is due to a technical issue, not a licensing one, and that it hopes to offer rentals in the next few weeks. And yes, ads will eventually make their way into Leanback as well
46:39 – Facebook Adds Panic Button
– The button, aimed at children and teenagers, will report abuse to the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) and Facebook.
– Once installed, the application appears on their homepage to say that “they are in control online”.
– The launch follows months of negotiation between Ceop and Facebook, which initially resisted the idea.
– a Facebook UK representative has contacted us to clarify that Facebook does not perceive this app as a “panic button.” “The app is opt-in, so young people choose to download it/bookmark it to their page in order to use,” she said. A similar button, seen on other sites such as Bebo, is “not opt-in and is simply a reporting link, not teamed with messages of how to stay safe or further info from CEOP,” she said
49:21 – Amazon Does Groceries
Beta for moment
– 22,000 products
– Won’t replace weekly shop for most
– Amazons angle is twofold – better if user buys in bulk
– Amazon Prime – unlimited free one day delivery for annual fee of £49
– Supermarkets typically charge between £4 and £6 but shoppers can choose specific time slots.

Picks
Chris
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 6 (and designer Pro 6)
– A largely unknown gem of a piece of software. Vector based graphics program. Exceptionally fast rendering engine. Over time they have increased support for photo manipulation and now have a very powerful photo engine.
– £69 for the standard version.
– Pro comes with a £249 pricetag but comes with some pretty impressive web development features. Literally draw your site.
– Free trials as ever if you want to play.
– PC only – although there is an open source project for lunux

Ian
Osmos HD
– Game for iPad
– Ambient and addictive

DigitalOutbox Episode 50

DigitalOutbox Episode 50
In this episode the team discuss the iPad.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
1:50 – Facebook Privacy Updates
– Facebook is to revise its privacy settings within weeks to make it simpler for people to keep their information private, according to Mark Zuckerberg, its founder and chief executive of the giant social network
– Admits they missed the mark in trying to provide a lot of granularity
– But Zuckerberg insisted that concerns that Facebook is selling personal data to advertisers were misplaced. “We do not give advertisers access to your personal information,” he said. “We do not and never will sell any of your information to anyone.”
– May 26th – new features demo’d, goes live over the coming weeks
– Guide – http://lifehacker.com/5548375/a-guide-to-facebooks-new-simpler-privacy-controls
http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/
6:15 – Dell Streak
– Dell Streak to launch on the UK in June on O2
– 5in tablet device
– Android powered, 3G and wi-fi connectivity, 16GB of storage, GPS and two cameras; one on the front and one on the back.
– Unlike many other Android tablets, owners will be able to download applications from the Android Marketplace. Google has blocked some tablet makers from installing the marketplace app on many devices larger than a mobile phone.
– Hello Dell, hello competition
8:28 – Xbox In Trouble
– The two men primarily responsible for Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division are leaving the company.
– J Allard, a senior VP of design and development who worked on the Xbox and Zune, and Robbie Bach, the division’s president, will both be stepping aside as CEO Steve Ballmer takes more direct control of the department. Remaining execs in the division will report directly to Ballmer.
– Doesn’t sound good
– Surely hurts the Xbox platform
10:09 – iPlayer Beta Launches
– updated site is certainly much cleaner, with TV and radio separated. For new users, the site is divided into two categories: Featured and Most Popular.
– iPlayer will make recommendations, stored in local cookies or via BBC ID. If you use the latter option (BBC ID is currently used to make comments on the 606 message boards and has 1m+ users), you can access these recommendations from any of the 25 devices supported by iPlayer. So if you bookmark a programme at work, your iPlayer at home will remember to download it after broadcast.
– The BBC ID is key to a couple of other new features. Once you’re logged in, you can recommend content to your friends on Facebook and Twitter without leaving the site. The My Friends category that appears alongside Featured and Most Popular displays which programmes your friends are recommending
– integrated Windows Live Messenger function. This allows you to see what your friends are watching right now, jump in on their viewing experience and start a conversations, so you can OMG over The Apprentice in real time, together.
– TV Channels menu will soon include non-BBC offerings such as ITV Player and 4oD. Searching iPlayer for any programme, broadcast on any channel, will take you to the relevant site. Sky is noticeable by its omission; Huggers said that they would “welcome the participation of Sky” but that the BBC hadn’t heard back from the Murdoch-controlled broadcaster
– No dedicated iPhone or iPad app but anew mobile version will appear in a few weeks
– iPlayer will work on the iPad from Friday 28th – it does and it’s wonderful. Full screen, great quality – all from a web app
13:25 – Apple bigger than Microsoft
– (if measured by Market cap. – profits and revenues still less)
– But is it as evil?
15:58 – Cloud based Apple TV
– http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/28/new-apple-tv/
– The new architecture of the device will be based directly on the iPhone 4, meaning it will get the same internals, down to that A4 CPU and a limited amount of flash storage — 16GB to be exact — though it will be capable of full 1080p HD (!).
– The device is said to be quite small with a scarce amount of ports (only the power socket and video out), and has been described to some as “an iPhone without a screen.”
– the price-point for the device will be $99.
– Apple is moving away from the model of local storage, and will be focusing the new ATV on cloud-based storage (not unlike Amazon’s streaming scheme, though we’re talking instant-on 1080p, a la Microsoft)
– For those still interested in keeping their content close, there will be an option to utilize a Time Capsule as an external storage component, but the main course will be all about streaming
– Surely app store will feature too
21:41 – Bing on the iPhone
– Multiple sources at Google tell us that in informal discussions with Apple over the last few months Apple expressed dismay at the number of core iPhone apps that are powered by Google. Search, maps, YouTube, and other key popular apps are powered by Google. Other than the browser, Apple has little else to call its own other than the core phone, contacts and calendar features.
– Interesting – new sources are saying “It’s more complicated than this” and not to expect Google search to be removed from the iPhone next month. Also hearing that Google isn’t paying anything like $100 million/year to Apple for the search rights to the iPhone.
23:50 – Skype over 3G
– http://mashable.com/2010/05/29/skype-for-iphone-3g-calls
– Skype 2.0 launched yesterday and allows calls over 3G
– Finally
– The catch?
– After August 2010, Skype will start charging a “small monthly fee” for use of the 3G calling feature
25:41 – iPad UK Launch
– Hardware
– Software
– Frustrations – iTunes, workflow
– Verdict
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTSDPKktbUk ipad and velcro match made in heaven
1:10:44 – Google Sued
– Lauren Rosenberg walked onto a highway because Google told her to and got hit by a car.
– Rosenberg, who apparently takes things very literally, was reading the directions on her Blackberry and thus wasn’t privy to the warning that shows up when you access walking directions on a computer:
– Deer Valley Drive, also known as Utah State Route 224, was one such route, and following Google’s instructions to brave it on foot, Rosenberg was hit by a car and is now suing the company for $100,000

Picks
Shakeel
iPad

Ian
FT Mobile Edition
– FT on the go
– Looks fantastic on the iPad

Henry
Rework
– “Rework- Change the way you work forever”
– A book by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson- creators of 37signals (Basecamp – online project management software).
– Short pithy chapters. Interesting read.

DigitalOutbox Episode 49

DigitalOutbox Episode 49
In this episode the team discuss Google IO.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
0:47 – British Net Use Increases
– British web users are spending 65% more time online than three years ago, according to research of net habits.
– average surfer spends 22 hours and 15 minutes on the net each month
– Social networking gains, IM drops, e-mail rising
2:16 – Newzbin Gone
– owe the MPA £230,000 just in interim costs
– owe a software development house over £500k
– Newzbin closed May 19th
– The original site owners have confirmed that, based on source code fragments examined by them, and supplied by a third party, the site source code does appear to have been stolen and is in the hands of unknown parties.
5:36 – Google IO Day 1
– WebM Project
– http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/19/webm-google-h-264
– open, royalty-free codec that can run in HTML5 browsers without the need for Flash
– Google is donating a much better codec, called VP8, which it acquired with its purchase of On2 Techchnolgies. The WebM Project is a new container file format for Web video. It includes the VP8 video codec, the open Vorbis audio codec, file extensions and a new mime type.
– Any video player can adopt it, including Flash. And, in fact, Flash is one of the 40 launch technology partners supporting WebM.
– Chrome, Firefox, and Opera browsers will all support WebM, and Google will give it a big push by making YouTube videos support it as well. IE9 will support it too
– Google Wave Now Open
– Mmm, ok then
– Tech looking for a purpose?
– 1 million active users
– Can add to Google Apps for Domain
– Google Buzz API
– Now available and open to devs
– Tweetdeck, Seismic quick to support
– Will this save buzz or at least increase it’s usage?
– Chrome Web Store
– it’s a new store for finding and buying applications for use online
– Plants vs Zombies available for example
– HTML5 being pushed heavily
– Sports Illustrated demo HTML5 mag
– Chrome Web Store provides developers a window to over 70 million people, according to Google. It’s available in Chrome and Chrome OS and will be available in the Chrome Dev Center soon. For now, Chrome only.
– App’s will update automatically if bought via store
– Google Font Directory
– http://mashable.com/2010/05/19/google-font-api
– http://code.google.com/webfonts
– Google’s cross-browser solution is similar to what companies like Typekit and Fontdeck are doing, that is, providing users with a library of available fonts that they can easily embed into their sites.
– Google’s solution is unique in that it is comprised of open source fonts. Google’s Font API can be integrated into websites using either HTML or using a JavaScript WebFont Loader co-developed with Typekit.
– While Google’s font library isn’t as robust as some competing solutions, it is open source. In fact, the fonts in the library can even be downloaded and used in other ways including print.
22:17 – Google IO Day 2
– Android Stats
– http://mashable.com/2010/05/20/google-reveals-android-2-2-and-more-live
– More than 60 compatible devices.
– 21 OEMs, 48 countries, 59 carriers.
– Announcement: 100,000 daily activations of Android devices every day.
– Shot across the bow of Apple: Android is growing faster than every other smartphone maker except RIM, makers of the BlackBerry.
– Announcement: 50,000 applications in the Android marketplace.
– Froyo
– Better support for Microsoft Exchange, as well as new device admin APIs.
– Application data backup API.
– Cloud-to-Device messaging API. You can send a message to Google’s servers and can trigger an Android intent.
– If you send directions to your phone, it automatically opens up maps. No need to launch applications.
– Tethering and portable hotspot. We knew this would be coming, but it’s very cool. Demo’d iPad tethered to Android phone
– 2x-3x Javascript performance improvement. In addition, the V8 codec (announced yesterday) is coming to Android
– Google Maps tilts in the Android browser based on compass.
– Voice triggers: Saying “call” and a contact triggers the call.
– The microphone is in the browser. They’re showing it off in Google Translate, where “Can you help me find the nearest hospital,” is not only translated, but it’s repeated via voice to others
– Gundotra is railing againts Apple for not playing Flash, telling a story about how his daughter couldn’t go to her favorite website (Nickelodeon) on an iPad and asked for an Android phone.
– Android apps finally support installation on SD Card. If there is no space on your phone, it’ll automatically place the app onto your SD card.
– One-step updating of apps announced. Much easier to update.
– Marketplace is much improved
– Buy an app from marketplace – sent to your phone – no need to desktop sync
– Also allows buying of music – web competitor to iTunes?
– Android Froyo can bring your entire home music library to your phone as a stream. So yes, all of your iTunes songs can be streamed onto your Android phone, so long as you have an Internet connection. They’ve bought Simplify Media – wowsers.
– Android – It plays nicely with Flash and HTML 5. It does native and web apps. It makes devices run faster than the iPad. It streams music from iTunes or any other desktop music library. It does painless, wireless tethering. It makes transferring apps from the desktop to mobile completely automatic.
– 2-5x performance increase for Android users…demo showed it outperforming iPad
– Ads
– Google’s railing against Apple iAds for costing way too much. They don’t mention Apple during the entire keynote, but there are so many subtle blows that you can’t help but notice.
– AdSense for Mobile Apps — AFMA. Serving contextually relevant ads in the web browser. The ads can take you to the Android marketplace, to another website, etc. It works within applications or web apps.
– They’re showing off banner ads. And now a new format: expandable ads by tapping the ad.
– There is now a click-to-call option for Google mobile ads, starting today.
– Yet another: expandable ad with Google Maps and directions and click-to-call.
– HTC Evo
– .3-inch display, 1 GHz processor, 4G network, 8MP camera, HD video recording and has an integrated kickstand. Front facing camera too. Looks amazing.
– Everyone at Google IO got one.
– Watched the keynote – two hours of Apple attack 🙂
– Never again will someone tell me only Apple keynotes are smug. Google out Appled Apple on that front.
42:35 – Google TV
– Key elements of Google TV: “Less time finding, more time watching,” “Control and personalize what you watch,” “Make your TV content more interesting” and “more than just a TV”
– Google TV lets you search TV shows just like you would Google Search. It provides results from the web and from TV. You can tune in directly to your show.
– Google TV lets you search through the entire web.
– The demo is getting hurt by bad Wi-fi and connectivity. They’re trying to show off search and navigation.
– They searched for House — as in the FOX TV show. In search, it shows full episodes not only from TV (FOX, USA, Bravo, etc), but also from Fox.com, Hulu.com, and Amazon
– Transition from TV to web is seamless. No changing inputs, no different remote controls.
– With one button, you can flip right back to TV.
– Google TV allows for PIP mode (Picture in Picture), allowing you to browse the web while still watching the game. You can track what’s happening in the game (say via Yahoo Fantasy Sports) while watching it. It’s also easy to switch so that the web is the PIP.
– Google is showing how Google TV is superior as a photo viewer, game player, etc.
– Broadband connectivity, it’s “easy” to integrate with your Cable or Satellite Box, and it has a strong processor: enhanced GPU for graphics (even 3D).
– Google TV input devices include a keyboard and a pointing device. It combines keyboard, remote, and mouse.
– Phones can also be paired to Google TV devices over WiFi. He is using a Nexus One to “speak to his TV.” You can use Google Voice Search on your TV.
– Multiple phones can be paired with the same Google TV.
– You can push whatever website is on your phone onto your TV from your phone. Very cool.
– http://www.google.com/tv/developer/ – Designing websites for Google TV
– It runs on Android, it uses Google Chrome and it runs Flash 10.1.
– Google TV automatically syncs your Android apps to your TV.
– YouTube Leanback announced: It pushes YouTube videos to your TV from your friends, YouTube’s recommendations, your subscriptions and favorites, etc.
– YouTube Leanback is a web interface, not an application just within Google TV. It’ll be available in the next few weeks.
– Now they’re talking about Google Listen, a product for Android that is now in Google TV. It allows you to search and subscribe to audio podcasts and audio shows. Oh, and it allows you to watch podcasts too.
– You can search Google Listen & Watch via the quick search box.
– Google TV is open-source on Android and Chrome. Platform, not a single product
– Hardware partners – Sony, Logitech and Intel
– Fall 2010
– Early 2011 will have updates with Android market, Google TV SKD, and TV Web APIs. In summer 2011, it will open source Google TV.
– It’s everyone against Apple – people catching up and overtaking
– Apple’s arrogance starting to bite?
50:06 – Google Secure Search
– Not on .co.uk yet.
50:49 – Facebook Roundup
– Continuing ground swell of negative articles against Facbook and privacy.
– Wallstreet Journal highlighting that advertisers are able to gain user details (something that isn’t supposed to happen).
– Campaign for “Deactivate your Facebook account Day” on May 31st.
– Facebook announce they will once more look at their privacy and simplify.
– Facebook kiss and make up with Zynga. Deal to keep Zynga games (farmville et all) on Facebook not announced but safe to say that Faceook aren’t taking 30% of their sales.
57:51 – Spotify New Accounts
– A Spotify account that allows full PC access without adverts but not phone access
– £10 gives you mobile access as well
– Also added spotify open -free, no invite but limited to 20 hours per month
– Lots of competition in this space now, price drop is evidence of that. Is Spotify struggling to make money?
59:44 – HP future with WebOS
– To be added to printers, netbooks, phones, tablets
– Also indicating that the purchase was for IP
– $1.2b well spent???
1:01:55 – Mubi Comes to PS3
– From Autumn, UK PS3 users can download Mubi
– independent, international and classic cinema
– 300 films at launch, quickly growing to over 1000
– streaming – not downloading
– pay per view, rent for a week, all you can watch monthly subscription and also free movies

Picks
Ian
Springpad
– web, iphone, android – lets you save things you want to remember
– todo’s, recipies, movies, books
– tasks, list support
– can add friends, see what they are doing/adding/sharing
– slick iphone tool

Chris
Nike – Write the future

DigitalOutbox Episode 47

DigitalOutbox Episode 47
In this episode the team discuss Facebook, iPad and HTML5.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
3:31 – Facebook Privacy Mess
– In an attempt to reduce concerns about user privacy, Facebook has inadvertently opened a security hole that let 3rd parties view your friend requests and your private messages sent through the chat system.
– In trying to do the right thing… they still get it wrong!
– And they believe ignorance is bliss for their users
– Ethan Beard, director of Facebook’s developer network – Facebook Blames Riot Over Privacy On Media, Says Users “Love” The Changes
– “the reason that people use Facebook is to share information with their friends and to connect with things that are important to them.”
– My biggest issue is that there is no way to extract your information from facebook and the speed of privacy changes has happened too fast for people to keep up to date.
– There has been a change of stance to a default of locked down, to an assumption of openness.
– If something is made public by a policy change, you do not have the any option to completely remove previous content. Event “De-activating” content does not remove it. Facebook have also made changes so that whereas content was time-limited in the past, they now have the option to keep all content for as long as they want, regardless of whether you want to de-activate or not.
– Evolution of privacy on Facebook – http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/
10:09 – Microsoft Cancels Courier
– At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The “Courier” project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.
– Gutted.
11:55 – HP Kills Slate
– Hewlett-Packard has killed off its much ballyhooed Windows 7 tablet computer, says a source who’s been briefed on the matter.
– HP may also be abandoning Intel-based hardware for its slate lineup simply because it’s too power hungry. That would also rule out Windows 7 as an operating system.
– Wow
– Surely not – only site to report this and HP Slate was shown to investors after Palm acquisition
– iPad and Android the only real options?
– Chrome OS
– Other Linux mashups designed for different form factors.
– Can Linux react quick enough to offer a controlled tablet/touch focused interface?
15:16 – UK iPad Priced
– pre-order May 10
– release May 28
– £429/£499/£599 for WiFi
– £529/£599/£699 for 3G.
– Orange pricing
– http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/32979/orange-reveals-ipad-3g-rates
– Pay as you go, daily, weekly and monthly. With the PAYG option, each MB will cost 5p, up to a maximum of £40 in a month (so 800MB in total). This will appeal to users who will only use their iPad for emails or a bit of light surfing when out and about.
– Next up is the daily option at £2 for up to 200MB worth of data for you to use before midnight, this can be bought on an ad-hoc basis. The weekly option takes this limited data plan a bit further – £7.50 for 1GB’s worth of 3G data. It might be an idea to try out these plans before deciding whether you need to opt for the final option – the monthly plans.
– Orange has put two packages in place – Monthly 15 and Monthly 25, naturally costing £15 and £25 per month respectively. The major difference between them is either a 3GB limit or a 10GB limit, but both also grant access to 750MB Wi-Fi when away from home via BT’s Openzone
– Importantly, the iBook store will also be there for the May 28th launch
23:41 – Google Flurry
– Google Editions book
– http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10098111.stm
– Google book store
– Not tied to single device
– To date Google has scanned over 12 million books, both in-print and out-of-print, giving it a greater selection of material than either Apple or Amazon.
– Works on any web enabled device
– books will be purchased directly from Google and also from retailers who will keep the majority of the money earned.
– Out in the summer
– Google buys BumpTop
– http://gigaom.com/2010/05/02/google-buys-bumptop-3-d-multi-touch-tablet-interface-on-the-way/
– For Android tablet?
– I tried it and didn’t like it as an interface
– However…for a touch driven device…maybe
– Looks nice. Some nice interface ideas. But surely power hungry for a tablet/touch device? Reminds me of Microsoft Surface.
– Google brings back Gmail to the UK
– http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10096107.stm
– Bye bye Googlemail.co.uk, hello gmail.co.uk. Long dispute finally resolved with uk owner of gmail.co.uk. Originally wanted £27 million from Google but no details of how much Google finally coughed up.
– Google Search changed
– http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/spring-metamorphosis-googles-new-look.html
– Streamlined
– Flattened logo
– Left hand side navigation – mostly hidden
– Also applies to mobile site
– Chrome Update
– http://chrome.blogspot.com/2010/05/pedal-to-chrome-metal-our-fastest-beta.html
– Another speed jump
– Not only bookmakr sync, preference sync as well
– HTML5 features – geolocation, file drag and drop
– First beta to have Flash baked in and updated via auto-update mechanism
– To finish off, IE falls before 60% market share
– http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/04/internet_explorer_market_share_decline/
– 15 months to drop 10%
34:19 – Microsoft Stands with Apple on H264
– Microsoft said Thursday that Internet Explorer 9 will support the variety of Web video Apple built into Safari but not the one embraced by Firefox and Opera.
– “In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only,” Internet Explorer General Manager Dean Hachamovitch said in a blog post.
– His reasons for the support: the format is widely used in the computing industry, from video cameras to Google’s YouTube, it benefits from hardware decoding support that improves performance, and there are questions about the rights to use H.264’s chief rival today, Ogg Theora.
– Google’s Chrome supports both H.264 and Ogg Theora.
– The lack of one format being used across all formats undermines the move from Flash, costs website hosts and devs more cash
– But H.264 patent encumbered and is licensed by the MPEG-LA, with Apple and Microsoft members with patents in the patent pool so it’s in their financial interest to promote H.264. Licences don’t transfer downstream which may be a real problem for consumers in future.
40:36 – Scribd scrapping Flash moving to HTML5
– Scribd co-founder and chief technology officer Jared Friedman tells me: “We are scrapping three years of Flash development and betting the company on HTML5 because we believe HTML5 is a dramatically better reading experience than Flash. Now any document can become a Web page.”
– Documents will simply become very long Web pages. A new bookmark feature will help you keep your place in especially long documents. Scribd’s documents will be especially iPad friendly.
– Instead of downloading a book from Apple’s iBooks store or Amazon’s Kindle app, you can see if an electronic version is on Scribd and read it in your browser. Pinch and zoom to make the text bigger. No download necessary. The books and other documents are stored on the Web. They can be shared via Facebook and Twitter, or sent to a mobile phone.
– Documents and video moving away from plugin, especially Flash, dependancy
– Flash won’t die – just be less widely used, focussing more on interface, games, interactivity which it should do
– http://www.scribd.com/documents/30964170/Scribd-in-HTML5 – test page
43:10 – Dropbox API
– Android app
– Native iPad app
– Mobile API – Dropbox Anywhere – Desktop API later this year
– Dev’s could integrate DropBox into their app’s via API – very exciting for mobile dev’s
– Why didn’t Apple include this – every iPhone/iPad owner gets 2GB of web space?
46:06 – Skype 5 Way Video Calling
– Within next week
– Windows first, Mac later this year
– Free for first three to four months, they paid for
– Great for our podcast 🙂

Picks
Ian
Halo Reach
– Fantastic update
– Single player and co-op is good
– Multiplayer is quite awesome

Henry
Cupidtino
– Cupidtino is a beautiful new dating site created for fans of Apple products by fans of Apple products!
– Find the apple fanboy/girl of your dreams.

Chris
Movie Peg
– £5 a lot for a bit of plastic for sure… still.
– Like the idea.

DigitalOutbox Episode 46

DigitalOutbox Episode 46
In this episode the team discuss Facebook privacy, Spotify, and Apple vs Adobe again!

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
1:41 – Facebook f8
– 400 million users
– We’re going to combine all the permissions dialogs that you use using Connect into a single Permissions dialog. Someone comes to a site. You show them a dialog that shows all the permissions you need. They click once.
– “Once upon a time, Facebook could be used simply to share your interests and information with a select small community of your own choosing. As Facebook’s privacy policy once promised, ‘No personal information that you submit to Facebook will be available to any user of the Web Site who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings.’
– How times have changed.
– Today, Facebook removed its users’ ability to control who can see their own interests and personal information. Certain parts of users’ profiles, ‘including your current city, hometown, education and work, and likes and interests’ will now be transformed into ‘connections,’ meaning that they will be shared publicly. If you don’t want these parts of your profile to be made public, your only option is to delete them.”
– Open Graph – new plugins to see what friends have liked and shared
– Like button everywhere – share without logging in
– Will be on all IMDB pages from today – hit button, added to your movies in Facebook
– 30 other partners
– Search. 400 million users sharing 25 billion things a month. Now devs will be able to search all public updates on Facebook.
– Finally, revamping the way authentication works. Together with industry leaders we’ll adopt oAuth 2.0. The first reason this is cool: it’s an industry standard. Code you write will work equally well expect standard to be widely adopted. It’s objectively more awesome. It’s just simple.
– One more cool thing (a glimpse of the future). When we wondered what would happen if we worked with a small group of trusted companies if users didn’t have to click Connect. What if they already knew public info of public users. Worked with Microsoft (Docs.com).
– Microsoft is announcing Docs.com. Online version of Office Suite. Makes it easy to share and collaborate with friends online. one of friends writes up a document. Share it, goes to Docs.com. Share it with you, you go to Docs.com without having to reauthenticate. Immediately can get started. All the power of Microsoft office suite online with simple FB integration. This is built with the ground up with assumption that every user has real idenitfy and friends. Will be avialable later today at Docs.com.
– Another example: Pandora. Now for the first time when you go to Pandora it will be able to start playing music from bands you’ve liked all across the web.
– Massive announcements really
– Facebook will be everywhere on the web
– Capture more of what we do, where we go online, information we consume and create
– Launched a commerce system on top of this – Facebook credits
– Facebook are betting on social connections – as big as the hyperlink
BUT
– Who controls Facebook – do we trust Facebook – Google has better image
– Is this a utility – utilities are usually governed
– What happens if facebook is used to authenticate everywhere and it goes down….web broken?
– How to alter your privacy settings in facebook – http://www.fastcompany.com/1624745/time-to-audit-your-facebook-privacy-settings
– What does Facebook share about you – http://zesty.ca/facebook/
– EFF has a timeline of FB privacy – http://w2.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline/
10:19 – Spotify Updates
– added a number of social features, centered on a fully editable Spotify music profile
– Connect to Facebook: you can connect to Facebook inside of Spotify, instantly adding all your Facebook friends who’ve selected the same feature. Your friends’ profiles will appear in a new ‘People’ sidebar at the right of the screen, with your personal profile at the top.
– Add usernames: you can also add people by typing their Spotify username, should you know it, into the Spotify search field. For example searching ‘spotify:user:username’ will bring up their profile (if their profile is published).
– Publish your Spotify profile to the web: easily publish the link to your Spotify profile on your blog, Facebook page, website or anywhere else on the web and allow others to follow your musical journey. For example here’s a link to the official Spotify profile.
– Inbox: a new ‘inbox’ folder on Spotify’s left sidebar lets you send tracks to friends directly within the platform, simply by dragging and dropping a track to their name in the People sidebar. Alternatively, just right click on the track and select the new ‘send to’ option.
– Facebook feed: music your friends have posted on Facebook will be visible on the Spotify ‘What’s new’ page and via a new ‘Feed’ tab.
– Popularity count for playlists: all playlists will show how many other Spotify users are currently subscribed to that playlist. By clicking on the number, you can even see the usernames of those who added the playlist.
– Track playlist changes: see who and when a track was added to a playlist with the new ‘Added’ and ‘User’ columns in playlists.
– Spotify is evolving into a total music management platform. We’ve added a ‘Library’ folder in the left side bar, enabling you to combine your own music library with ours.
– Local files: missing any music in Spotify? Now you can import a link to all the music files stored on your computer with a simple click of a button.
– Gracenote: As with any good music media player, if you have missing or incorrect track information you need software to check those files and automatically correct them so that you can better organise and link them to our catalogue. Gracenote does just this.
– Local file linking: we will check your local files and see if we have that track/artist/album in Spotify. If we do, we’ll make the file linkable so you can easily go from that file into an artist or album page. This allows for better sharing of playlists that contain a mix of your own music and Spotify’s.
– Starred: every track and album on Spotify can now be ‘starred’ – allowing you to tag all your favourites into a special sub-folder.
– Wireless sync: you can copy your music files to your mobile without connecting a USB cable with our new wireless sync feature.
– Filter bar: the library has a permanent filter-bar at the top so you can easily type in what you’re searching for. In all other lists the filter bar is visible when pressing cmd-f (mac) or ctrl-f (windows).
15:00 – No Hulu for the UK
– Couldn’t agree terms with UK broadcasters
– Hulu wants to sell the adverts around the content – couldn’t agree with ITV, C4, Five
– A source close to Hulu said that the company had not totally ruled out a UK launch somewhere down the line: “It has definitely had to postpone its UK expansion plans, which the team are disappointed by. But without being able to secure any exclusive content – because Channel 4 and Five have already signed third party deals with YouTube and SeeSaw and ITV isn’t playing ball, it had to ensure it could sell the advertising inventory around the content it could secure. When those talks fell through – Hulu has been forced to walk away. But it remains hopeful that it can have a UK presence in the future – when the broadcasters realise they need to be more flexible with their business models.”
17:36 – Blippy Exposes Users Credit Card Numbers
– 4 users full names and numbers exposed by running google search – site:blippy.com +”from card”
– Scary – so much for protecting users – always was a dumb idea in my opinion
– Blippy blog – http://blippy.posterous.com/blippy-and-credit-card-numbers
– While it looks super-scary and certainly sucks for the 4 people who were affected (to whom we apologize and are contacting), and is embarrassing to us, it’s a lot less bad than it looks. Don’t worry – Google cache is great and we won’t get caught again.
– But…2 days later – http://www.businessinsider.com/warning-blippy-users-debit-card-numbers-still-appearing-in-google-2010-4
– “site:blippy.com +outstanding.” in Google turns up another card
– Site and service can’t be trusted – simple as that
20:11 – Google Maps navigation in the UK
– Runs on Android 1.6 and later
– Voice commands and voice search, street view, traffic warnings, POIs and step-by-step directions
– Free
– Also confirmed that service will come to iPhone…
– Or Not – Official Comment from Google – We did not say we would bring it to iPhone, we said to date we’ve had it on Android and that in the future it may come to other platforms but did not confirm this will be coming to iPhone at all.
24:07 – Bing losing money
– Just shows how seriously M$ is in taking on Google and just how much cash they have to throw around.
– Is it worth it?
25:56 – Scott Adams and the Stolen iPhone
– Police raid Jason Chens home – take his comps
– Was the raid legal?
– Are Apple after Gizmodo, the guy that took/sold the phone…..everyone?
– Do the police work for Apple?
– This is like a tech world soap opera
– Like Pete and Katie splitting…who?
30:22 – Apple vs Adobe
– Writing on his blog, Mike Chambers, project manager for Adobe Flash, revealed this week that his company is not planning additional investments in the software feature. Chambers noted that Adobe complied with Apple’s licensing terms during the development cycle of Flash CS5.
– “However, as developers for the iPhone have learned, if you want to develop for the iPhone you have to be prepared for Apple to reject or restrict your development at anytime, and for seemingly any reason,” he wrote.
– Chambers suggested that Apple’s changes to the developer agreement were meant to specifically target Adobe and developers who might port software from Flash to the iPhone.
– “It is our belief that Apple will enforce those terms as they apply to content created with Flash CS5,” he wrote. “Developers should be prepared for Apple to remove existing content and applications (100+ on the store today) created with Flash CS5 from the iTunes store.”
– Apple responds publicly on Flash
– “Someone has it backwards — it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe’s Flash is closed and proprietary,” said spokeswoman Trudy Miller in a statement.
– Why is this a big deal?
– Apples quarterly results were massive
– Best quarter ever
– Apple’s iPhone business, which didn’t exist three years ago, now represents a whopping 40% of the company’s revenue, and has been the company’s biggest revenue generator for three quarters in a row.
– But wait…..it’s not all bad – http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/23/apple_and_adobe_together_again/
– 10.6.3 includes a new Video Decode Acceleration Framework. This C programming interface provides low-level access to the H.264 decoding capabilities of certain GPUs
– http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/technotes/tn2010/tn2267.html
– This is what has prevented hardware acceleration of Flash on the Mac
– Adobe are looking at it closely and hope to include it later this year
– Plex have done it already…
– http://elan.plexapp.com/2010/04/27/hardware-accelerated-h-264-decoding-on-plex/
– For the first time, your GPU is used to decode H.264 video. The results are incredibly impressive, with 720p and 1080p video decoding smoothly with much reduced CPU utilization
– Adobe company spokesman says that Mac hardware acceleration will arrive with an incarnation of the Flash Player due “shortly after” version 10.1, which is now on its second release candidate.
– http://blog.kaourantin.net/?p=89
– Version available now with Hardware decoding
– MacBooks shipped after January 21st, 2009, Mac Minis shipped after March 3rd, 2009, MacBook Pros shipped after October 14th, 2008, iMacs which shipped after the first quarter of 2009
– Doesn’t support al resolutions but a great step forward
– Blog post also acknowledges quicktimes better performance but that theres a good plan on how to proceed
– Thoughts on Flash by Steve Jobs
– http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/
– Summary
– It’s proprietary.
– Most web video plays on the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad
– Who needs Flash games? We have apps for that.
– Flash has poor security.
– Flash doesn’t perform well on mobile devices.
– Flash negatively affects battery life.
– Flash was designed for PCs, not touchscreens.
– Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.
– Adobe has repeatedly said that Apple mobile devices cannot access “the full web” because 75% of video on the web is in Flash. What they don’t say is that almost all this video is also available in a more modern format, H.264, and viewable on iPhones, iPods and iPads. YouTube, with an estimated 40% of the web’s video, shines in an app bundled on all Apple mobile devices, with the iPad offering perhaps the best YouTube discovery and viewing experience ever. Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video.
– Third, there’s reliability, security and performance. Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009. We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash. We have been working with Adobe to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now. We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash. Flash also doesn’t perform well on a mobile platform
– Battery life is an issue
– Flash is a cross platform development tool. It is not Adobe’s goal to help developers write the best iPhone, iPod and iPad apps. It is their goal to help developers write cross platform apps. And Adobe has been painfully slow to adopt enhancements to Apple’s platforms. For example, although Mac OS X has been shipping for almost 10 years now, Adobe just adopted it fully (Cocoa) two weeks ago when they shipped CS5. Adobe was the last major third party developer to fully adopt Mac OS X
– Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.
– And so it goes on.
– Dagger in the heart for Flash on mobiles?
53:12 – Apple buys Siri
– $200 million
– Siri was a great iPhone app – virtual personal assistant
– Great demo’s, not yet released in UK
– Bought to make iPhone exclusive?
– Bought for the underlying technology?
– Bought for mobile search? iAds?
55:43 – HP Buys Palm
– $1.2 billion
– HP back in smartphone market
– Saying no to Windows Phone 7?
– looking to make Web OS tablets to compete with iPad http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/28/hp_on_palm_buy/
58:54 – Dell Launching New Phones
– Lightning
– Windows 7 portrait slider
– 1GHz QSD8250 Snapdragon processor, WVGA 4.1-inch OLED display, AT&T and T-Mobile 3G,
– five megapixel autofocus camera, 1GB of flash with 512MB RAM plus 8GB of storage on a MicroSD card (non-user-replaceable, we’re assuming),
– GPS, accelerometer, compass, FM radio, and full Flash support including video playback
– Thunder
– Similar specs to Lightning but with Android 2.1
– Flash, Smoke
– Android as well, slightly less highly spec’d, oddish design
1:01:16 – Nexus One UK Launch
– Available on Vodafone from Friday 30th
– Free on 2 year contracts, but only with 1GB of mobile internet and mail, starting from £35
– Free on 18 month contract starting from £40
– For customers who only want to sign up for 18 months, the phone will cost £99 on a £30 a month contract, or £59 for £35 a month. It is free on an 18 month contract at £40 a month. On a two-year contract, the phone will cost £99 for £25 a month, or £59 for £30 a month.
– No yearly contract
1:05:00 – Sky Launches Unlimited Broadband
– Sky is set to become the first broadband provider to offer free internet access for all customers at speeds of up to 20Mb/s
– called Sky Everyday Lite, users have to be Sky TV subscribers and signed up to the firm’s Sky Talk phone service. And downloads are capped at 2GB a month. service is free and available from 1 June.
– On the same day, Sky also introduces Sky Unlimited, a £7.50-a-month package that is, it claims truly unlimited – there will be “no usage caps, fair use policies or traffic management”.

Picks
Ian
iStat Menus
– Mac app that shows you lots of stats about your machine
– Temps, fan speeds, network speeds etc
– Looks great

Jamie Oliver for iphone
– Great recipe app
– Lots of video and audio content
– Recipes easy to follow and the ones I’ve tried are lovely

Transmit
– The best FTP app for Mac
– Robust and feature rich

Chris
Unhappy Hipsters
– alternative captions to photos from lifestyle magazines.

DigitalOutbox Episode 40

DigitalOutbox Episode 40
In this episode the team discuss Steam on Mac, Facebook vs Daily Mail, MIX10 and more Google news.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
1:58 – Facebook to Sue Daily Mail
– I posed as a girl of 14 on Facebook. What followed will sicken you
– however the author didn’t use Facebook, and advised Daily Mail not to say facebook
– The following day Daily Mail apologised in print and online and changed the title
– However they didn’t change the URL which is used by search engines….changed later in the day
– Facebook still considering action
– Doubt it
– Scare mongering Daily Mail – they love this type of stuff – Feb 2009 – Using Facebook rasie risk cancer – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1149207/How-using-Facebook-raise-risk-cancer.html
– Nazi’s!!!!!!!!!
5:23 – Google Apps Marketplace
– App Store for enterprise app’s
– Built your app, not necessary to use app engine
– Sell app in Marketplace
– One time fee of $100, not per app, just a one time fee
– 20% revenue share – one of the lowest in the industry
– Currently, 25 million users, 2 million businesses using google
– Step closer to cloud O/S, especially for corporations
– 50 launch partners including Zoho – very interesting
10:10 – Google Maps Improvements
– US only – 150 cities, 12000 miles of bike routes
– Also, 95% of Britain now available on streetview
13:41 – A Place for Porn
– ICANN are reconsidering the dot.xxx domain for pronography.
– In a move that was previously dropped due to outraged American conservatives, ICANN will once again consider offering up .xxx domains for sites delivering sexual content.
– No news on whether it is going ahead yet and past experience has shown that there will be stumbling blocks.
– Only a voluntary scheme – but sounds like a sensible scheme to me.
15:53 – MIX10
– Some big launch partners – Associated Press, Citrix, EA Mobile, Foursquare, Namco, Pangeonce, Pandora, Seesmic, Shazam, and Sling
– Very iPhone in running
– Seesmic, which is the same Silverlight code that runs on Windows and the Mac. Again, it’s very similar to what you’d expect, just wrapped up in the WP7S UI.
– http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/15/microsoft-tells-its-windows-phone-7-series-developer-story/
– Silverlight and XNA at it’s core
– Microsoft is kicking things off on the right foot by offering a free package of developer tools to would-be WP7S coders that includes both Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone and the Silverlight-focused Expression Blend for Windows Phone, pretty much everything you need to start building apps in preparation for the platform’s anticipated launch toward the latter part of the year.
– Developers are going to be treated to a host of must-have services out of the gate, including accelerometer support, location-based APIs using Microsoft’s own Location Service, a newly-announced Microsoft Notification Service for pushing notifications regardless of whether an app is running (sound familiar?), hardware-accelerated video with integrated DRM and support for Microsoft’s Smooth Streaming tech, multitouch, and camera / microphone access.
– The Marketplace has evolved from an app store to a content “destination,” housing apps, casual and premium Xbox Live games, music, and customized carrier stuff in one spot
22:43 – ITV1 HD
– ITV1 on April 2nd on Virgin, Sky and Freeset on a normal channel instead of red button
– In time for world cup
– Also means Scottish viewers get to see a greater choice of TV – nice one
24:59 – iPhone Gaming
– GDC this week, iphone has it’s own summit separate to mobile gaming
– 16 panel discussions specifically on the iPhone – most important mobile gaming platform?
– Doodle Jump now surpassed 3 million sales
– 1 million in mid-december, now another 2 million in just over 2 months!
– Streetfighter and Tekken soon available on iPhone
28:48 – Steam coming to the Mac
– It’s officially official: Valve will bring its Steam online distribution service and titles from its massive library of hit games to the Mac this April
– Steam is the pre-eminent digital distribution platform for PCs. With more than 1,000 games and 25 million user accounts, Steam is by one estimate responsible for more than 70 percent of digital game purchases. Bringing the service to Macs means wider selection, quicker updates and more episodic content for Apple’s traditionally game-deprived computers.
– If players already own the PC versions of Valve games, they’ll get Mac versions at no extra charge through a feature called Steam Play.
– By using the Steam Cloud feature that the company introduced in 2008, players can save in-progress games online, then call up those saved games no matter which version they’re playing. If you’re playing Half-Life 2 on your home PC but then head out on the road with your MacBook, you can continue your game-in-progress.
– “We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation,” said John Cook, director of Steam development, in Monday’s press release.
– “We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac and the Xbox 360,” Cook said. “Updates for the Mac will be available simultaneously with the Windows updates. Furthermore, Mac and Windows players will be part of the same multiplayer universe, sharing servers, lobbies and so forth. We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients. The first Mac Steam client will be the new generation currently in beta testing on Windows.”
– Portal 2 will be Valve’s first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows, the company said.
– Fantastic news
33:01 – On Live Launching
– Launches June 17th
– $14.99 a month, then users will purchase games and rentals on an a la carte model on top of that. You’ll be able to purchase multiple months at a time to get a discount on the service
– Mac, PC only
– TV adaptor later this year
– International announcements….later this year
39:17 – Playstation Move
– Sony announces name of motion controller – Playstation Move
– 20 titles supported by year end
– PS3 console + move bundle will launch plus a starter pack will launch with Playstation Move, Playstation Eye + game for under $100
– There’s also the subcontroller – an additional peripheral for use with more hardcore titles like SOCOM, which benefit from analogue stick input i.e. the nunchuck!

Picks
Ian
Air Video
– Stream videos to your iPhone
– Works for almost any videos
– Saves having to convert to suitable format

DigitalOutbox Episode 39

DigitalOutbox Episode 39
In this episode the team discuss BBC cuts, broadband…plus our best pick ever!

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
1:31 – BBC Cuts
– Websites to half – online budget cut by a quarter
– Six Music and Asian network – six music is great!
– Cut on import spending
– Max spend on sport events of £300m
– Link out to newspapers, pull out of teen market, appease commercial rivals
8:00 – Google Bosses Convicted
– Italian court has convicted three Google executives in a trial over a video showing an autistic teenager being bullied
– The Google employees were accused of breaking Italian law by allowing the video to be posted online.
– Google removed the video within hours of being notified of its existence
– Convicted on privacy violations
– The UK’s former Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said the case gave privacy laws a “bad name”.
– David Drummond, chief legal officer at Google and one of those convicted, said he was “outraged” by the decision.
– “I intend to vigorously appeal this dangerous ruling. It sets a chilling precedent,” he said.
“If individuals like myself and my Google colleagues who had nothing to do with the harassing incident, its filming or its uploading onto Google Video can be held criminally liable solely by virtue of our position at Google, every employee of any internet hosting service faces similar liability,” he added.
– Ramifications inevitable
– Scan content before allowing viewing? Impossible. (20hrs every minute uploaded? 1200 employees would be needed just to keep up and that wouldn’t cover the privacy issues raised in this case.)
11:57 – Google Streetview Fight
– Europe wants Google to refresh google streetview images every 6 months instead of every 12
– They also want Google to tell people they will be taking pictures ahead of them doing it
– Switzerland is suing Google, asking for images of walled gardens and private streets to be deleted
– http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/04/street_view_eu/
– Google says if EU gets it’s way “it would consider whether we want to drive through Europe again, because it would make the expense so draining”.
16:21 – Facebook News Feed Patent
– The world’s largest social network now own the patent for the news feed.
– Abstract: A method for displaying a news feed in a social network environment is described. The method includes generating news items regarding activities associated with a user of a social network environment and attaching an informational link associated with at least one of the activities, to at least one of the news items, as well as limiting access to the news items to a predetermined set of viewers and assigning an order to the news items. The method further may further include displaying the news items in the assigned order to at least one viewing user of the predetermined set of viewers and dynamically limiting the number of news items displayed.
– How can this be patented for something that was launched in 2006
– Flickr – news stream 2004, activity stream Jan 2006
– Twitter – July 2006
22:34 – Google Granted Location Based Advertising Patent
– Google was awarded last Tuesday a patent for location-based advertising, the potential bread and butter of a number of emerging mobile applications.
– covers using location for targeting, setting a minimum price bid for an ad, offering performance analytics, and modifying the content of an ad
– Now, companies like Yelp, Foursquare, Gowalla and BrightKite have to be wondering what this means for them, as do some of the established big-time players, like Facebook and Apple.
24:11 – Apple Goes After HTC
– Apple has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the cell phone manufacturer.
– The suit involves “20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware
– We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.
– Why HTC and not Android?
– But that was from press release – actual lawsuit is…
– certain mobile communication devices including cellular phones and smart phones, including at least phones incorporating the Android Operating System (collectively, “the Accused Products”).
– It’s Google and Android and patents mention multi-touch
– Not for money…
– But the fact that the lawsuit was filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) as well as in a U.S. District Court in Delaware suggests that Apple is really going for the jugular. “The ITC does not award damages,” says Peter Toren, a patent lawyer with New York City law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman. The only remedy the ITC can award is an order to stop the importation of the infringing product. HTC is based in Taiwan.
– Looks like Google may get involved. This may call Apple’s bluff. HTC getting the money of Google behind this lawsuit could lead to interesting results.
– Minority Report was out before the iPhone right? Seen as nearly all the gestures we use come from this concept (and no doubt other places before) they can go take a jump.
– This modern trend for patenting every single sneeze that happens during development is getting ridiculous – however the fact that US appear willing to grant the patents on those sneezes is even more farcical. It’s a waste of money and time and we end up paying for it by more expensive products and also for a delay in tech innovation.
30:13 – App Store Crackdown
– 5000 app’s and counting removed from AppStore
– Apple has changed policy on app’s, removing an app if its overtly sexual
– Seeing as there is an age rating feature on the iPhone, why do this now?
– 7 new rules
– http://www.tuaw.com/2010/02/21/apples-7-commandments-of-app-sex/
– I have spoken with Apple, and the following are the new rules:
No images of women in bikinis (Ice skating tights are not OK either)
No images of men in bikinis! (I didn’t ask about Ice Skating tights for men)
No skin (he seriously said this) (I asked if a Burqa was OK, and the Apple guy got angry)
No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs
No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex – all banned
Nothing that can be sexually arousing!!
No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content (not sure how Playboy is still in the store, but …)
– From developer of Wobble
– Probably a good move as more adult content could be found in lots of categories
– Phil speaks!
– “It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see”
– “When asked about the Sports Illustrated app, Mr. Schiller said Apple took the source and intent of an app into consideration. “The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,” he said.”
– Now wi-fi detectors are being removed
– http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/04/wifi_stumbling_iphone/
– Wi-Fi detection is something of a niche: there were never more than a handful of such applications in iTunes.
– But now even those have vanished as Apple decided they were using a “private framework”, and has pulled them off the shelves without explanation or apology.
– This is complete bullshit
– Why do Playboy and Sports illustrated get a pass but 500 other app’s don’t?
– Why do things like comics and other app’s get a 17 warning and Mobile Safari doesn’t?
– Fix it so that these app’s don’t appear if your parental settings prohibit it
– I don’t care about buying these app’s, it’s the hypocrisy and the app store built on moving sand
– Apple are getting themselves into tricker and tricker waters. Other main platforms all have better solutions.
– Android – free for all
– Win Mo 6.5 = controlled app store but anything goes if you want to install from other locations.
– Soon, they will control the sites you can visit on the internet. Then control the views you’re allowed to have. Exclude people from using the products who aren’t worthy. Where does this stop? They’re as bad as China.
38:50 – iPad News
– April 3rd in US
– Pre-order wi-fi and 3G from March 12th but pick up wi-fi only from 3rd
– Late April in UK
– With sterling crashing, £400+ is expected price now
– WSJ a lock in for iPad
– http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/04/penguins-ipad-formatted-books-shown-off-making-waves/
– Penguin books show options for iPad – future of books?
43:03 – We7
– Another music streaming option for UK
– £4.99 a month for advert free, higher quality streaming of music
– Millions of tracks
– £9.99 – iPhone app support (which is free), Android coming soon
– Similar to Spotify – offline playlists, 192kbps, no adverts
44:08 – Browser Choice
– From 1st March millions of Windows users in Europe will get to choose their default browser
– Choices are: Avant
Chrome
Firefox
Flock
Green Browser
Internet Explorer
K-meleon
Maxthon
Opera
Safari
Sleipnir
Slim
– Only guaranteed to see it if IE is default browser
– Opera, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer browsers are randomly ordered on the first section of this screen.
– Lots of bitching still. Some complaining about sideways scroll to see lesser known browsers. Others complaining that 5 of the browsers use Trident (IE based renderer) 3 use Gecko 1 webkit and one opera based so not as much choice as it appears…
47:43 – Virgin to offer 100Mb in 2010
– Virgin Media to offer 100Mb/s by end of 2010
– No word on pricing
– Virgin currently offers three broadband packages: 10Mb/s, 20Mb/s and 50Mb/s, priced at £20, £30 and £38 per month on a broadband-only subscription.
– Also extending 200mb/s trial to Coventry
– Virgin Media’s chief executive, Neil Berkett, said: “There is nothing we can’t do with our fibre-optic cable network, and the upcoming launch of our flagship 100Mbps service will give our customers the ultimate broadband experience.”
– Ian – got my first BT Infinity Mail Shot – up to 40Mb, 2Mb up, 20GB limit, throttling in place, £50 activation, 18 month contract
50:17 – PS3 – The Fat Death
– We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.
– One day later…fixed
54:00 – iPhone Competitor from Sony
– Sony set to launch Sony Online Service to take on iTunes and provide games, music, films to PSP, Sony Ericsson phones and they’re also planning a PSP phone and a tablet.
– Hopefully better than the PSP Go, and is it too little too late anyway?

Picks
Henry
Attachment Scanner for Mail.app
– Don’t you just hate it when you send an email referring to an attachment, but forget the attachment?
– That never need happen again with this mail plugin for OS X. It scans your email for words like attach, attachment, attached etc and if there’s no attachment in those emails, it simply pops up a message box asking if you still want to send the message anyway.
– Simple, invisible, free.

Shakeel
Words with Friends
– £1.79 or Free
– turn based Scrabble type word game
– over 500,000 players
– 20 simultaneous games
– Push notifications tell you when it’s your turn
– invite friends through Facebook and Twitter
– very addictive
– some dirty sneaky cheaters cheesing me off though

Ian
Plants vs Zombies
– Superb game for iPhone
– Perfect pick up, play, stop 20 mins later…or 2 hours
– 300,000 copies sold in……………..9 days!
– More than $1 million in sales
– Current fav games

DigitalOutbox Episode 29

DigitalOutbox Episode 29
In this episode the team discuss Snow and Swine Flu.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
1:33 – 4G Network
– First speeds on 4G dongle – 42.78Mbps over a wireless data card, 5.3Mbps upload and 37ms ping
– TeliaSonera bundles the 4G service with 30GB of data for just 599kr (85$) per month
– Why mobile?
– http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/morgan_stanley_mobile_internet_market.php
– Mobile Internet market will be “at least 2x size of Desktop Internet,”
– Apparently, O2 4G trial also happening in Slough!
7:25 – Facebook Privacy Concerns
– Unfortunately, the truth is that almost everything is accessible to quiz authors.: Even if you have your profile information and content set to “private,” quizzes can see almost everything that you share with your friends on Facebook: your politics and religion, embarassing photos, comments you leave on your friends’ Wall. It doesn’t seem like a quiz developer has any reason to poke around in your profile, but it’s temptingly easy to do so.
– What info about you can a quiz see when your friends take a quiz? Nope – once again, the correct answer is: Almost everything on your profile. Yes, that’s right: when your friend takes a quiz, the quiz maker gets access to your information! So even if you’re being careful, if you haven’t changed the right privacy settings, your information could be collected by anyone who writes a quiz that your friends take!
– Developer’s aren’t vetted
– http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/15/facebook-lie-terms-of-service/
– Facebook suggest lying about your hometown and profile picture to protect yourself
– That in itself is against Facebooks T&C’s
Court Action Looming?
– 10 US based privacy groups have filed complaint to the federal trade commission over facebooks new privacy settings.
– http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8420431.stm
16:50 – Windows Mobile 7 Delayed
– Microsoft UK head of mobility Phil Moore addressed the thorny subject of Windows Mobile saying: “We’re still playing catch-up. When Apple came on to the scene a couple of years ago, it threw away the rulebook and reinvented it. We unfortunately don’t have that luxury. It’s true, Apple caught us all napping. It launched something that was very iconic, new and unseen with a very good user interface.”
– “It has been put back until late next year but it is definitely coming.”
19:46 – Palm Ares Beta
– Ares is the first complete set of integrated mobile development tools hosted entirely in the browser
– features a drag-and-drop interface builder, a robust code editor, a visual debugger, and built-in source control integration. Ares dramatically lowers the barriers for web developers to jump into mobile development and makes building webOS apps even easier and faster than before.
– drag-and-drop UI creation and the ability to deploy to your device from the browser (albeit so long as you’ve got the Mojo SDK installed).
21:59 – iMac Delays
– Flickering and other graphic card issues forcing 27″ iMac delays
– According to resellers, graphic cards are being replaced
– Lots of feedback in discussions on the website – http://imac.squeaked.com/
24:50 – Apple wins court battle against Psystar
– Judge bans Psystar from:
– Copying, selling, offering to sell, distributing or creating derivative works of Mac OS X without authorization from Apple
– Intentionally inducing, aiding, assisting, abetting or encouraging any other person or entity to infringe Apple’s copyrighted Mac OS X software
– Circumventing any technological measure that effectively controls access Mac OS X, including, but not limited to, the technological measure used by Apple to prevent unauthorized copying of Mac OS X on non-Apple computers
– Playing any part in a product intended to circumvent Apple’s methods for controlling Mac OS X, such as the methods used to prevent unauthorized copying of Mac OS X on non-Apple computers
– Doing anything to circumvent the rights held by Apple under the Copyright Act with respect to Mac OS X
– Rebel EFI software not specifically included in the ruling, because Psystar avoided describing specifically what the software does. However it is unlikely Psystar would be able to sell the software without finding itself in contempt if investigated again.
– It was reported earlier that Psystar was totally shutting down, but it has now emerged that is not the case
28:10 – Kindle App on Appstore
– Buy and read digital books
37:02 – BluRay 3D Spec
– Will work with PS3
– First, that the Blu-ray Disc Association has chosen the Multiview Video Coding (MVC) codec to store 3D, so that even though it is now providing a full 1080p frame for each eye, it will only require about 50% more storage space compared to the 2D version, and all discs will be fully backwards compatible, in 2D, on existing players
– Better than backwards compatibility, the PlayStation 3 will be forwards compatible with the new discs — a new HDTV setup (the spec promises to work with plasmas, LCDs or projectors equally well) with IR emitters and glasses will still be necessary
40:21 – PSP Digital Comics
– Launched on Wed 16th
– Marvel, IDW, Titan, iVerse and 2000AD
– http://playstationcomics.com
– Interesting – may need to charge up the PSP
41:27 – Gran Turismo Time Trial
– Dissapointing
– 1 track, tuned and ord version of car
– Handling….iffy – car difficult to control with joypad
– Aiming for wheel market? All fastest times by those with a wheel – forums reckon wheel trims 1-2 seconds from lap time
– Graphically underwhelming too – even saw a few stutters
42:55 – PSN Subscriptions
– Seems inevitable

Picks
Shakeel
Guardian App
– Guardian app hits the app store
– £2.39 so a bit of a stink from people saying that the website is free so why pay for the app?
– Writing in his blog about the application, The Guardian’s mobile product manager Jonathon Moore answered criticism of the decision to charge for it. “At an early stage we decided to set the bar high, which hopefully means the app has been planned, designed, tested and developed to offer a truly engaging experience,” he said. “The investment involved in this requires us to ask a small fee in return,” he said.
– The app offers an offline mode which allows you to stay in touch even if you don’t have a signal;
– easy access to audio and podcasts (including ‘download for listening later’);
– elegant personalisation;
– a topic-based search engine;
– the ability to follow all your favourite Guardian authors and contributors, and superb picture galleries

Ian
360 Live
– Great app for checking Xbox Live friends list
– Was paid for, now free
– So much better than other app’s – delve into frineds details, games played etc
– Can message from app as well

Perian
– Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats.
– Do away with need for VLC

Chris
Doodlejump
– bouncy dude.
– Keep him bouncing on platforms and everything will be fine!
– Use the tools – like jet packs, springs, helicopter hats to help you on the way.
– Avoid black holes and shoot the baddies on the way.
– Fantastically simple. Annoyingly addictive. 59p.

DigitalOutbox Episode 28

DigitalOutbox Episode 28
In this episode the team discuss Google, JooJoo, Boxee and Tweeting during sex.

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
Listen via MP3

Shownotes
1:56 – Google Search Event
– innovations combining these trends and mobile phones. Search by sight. Search by location, and search by voice.
– Near Instant Voice Translation
– showed a demo of “talk in English, run voice recognition, translate into Spanish, then do voice synthesis in Spanish.” So basically a Babel fish
– bake location into the Google.com homepage. New feature: “Near me now” on Google.com mobile. Hit Near Me now and it shows you nearby restaurants, coffee shops, Bars, ATMS. Hit the down arrow, and it will show all the locations nearby.
– Today we have a new version of Google Mobile Maps for Android. Among new features are What’s Nearby feature. Longpress on a location hit What’s Nearby, and it has a list of nearby POIs.
– Google Goggles
– Take a picture of an item, and use that picture as the query. Say you have a bottle of wine to see if it’s any good. Take a picture. Looks it up, shows it has hints of apricots, etc. It’s in labs for two reasons. It’s nascent. Works in certain types of objects in certain categories. We want to be able to do any image. Today you have to frame a photo. In the future, just have to point at an object. We’re a long way from that. But today marks the beginning of that journey.
– Crap name
– How long before face recognition search?
– Great demo – http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/07/google-goggles-video
– Currently android only but will come to iPhone
– Google Real-Time Search
– http://google.com/trends / http://google.co.uk/trends
– http://www.google.com/search?q=google%20goggles&hl=en&gl=us&esrch=RTSearch&rtfu=1260216053&usg=9073
– Does a query for “Obama” into Google, results page comes up. Latest results for Obama streaming in. There is a widget on the standard results page, with results sliding by. They’re nested in the standard results page. This is the first time any search engine has integrated real time web into the results page. Google’s Matt Cutts just tweeted something, and it immediately showed up in the search results. This is huge.
– This is the first time we are presenting real-time web on the results page. What you see in this realtime section. Is a scroll bar to the right. You can scroll back and go forward. Shows the source (twitter.com). This is a comprehensive real-time web. With Tweets. News Articles, blog articles.
– New link under search options. “Latest results”. In addition to old ones, “Past hour, past 24 hours, past week, past year”. Available today. iPhone and Android
– Google trends is also leaving labs today.Rolling out real time search product over the next couple of days. You can always go to Google.com/trends page and clicking on a hot topic will show Google’s real time results.
– Two huge new partner announcements. Facebook will be providing us with a feed from Facebook Pages (shared publicly, obviously). Appearing in Google’s real time results. The second is MySpace.
– Q: How much real-time data are you crawling?
A: We’re crawling a lot of content ~1 billion pages a day. Many sources. Both new sources, and if a company announces a new product and does a release, we get that. And new blog posts. So we’re casting a very wide net. The key here is comprehensiveness of realtime integration.
– Q: How do you prevent spammers from taking advantage of real-time search results.
A: We have the best systems in place to prevent gaming of the system. Our spam lead out here (Matt Cutts) runs the best spam prevention team that there is out there. We have had experience with this for so long. We’ve developer algorithms so we can counter things almost before they happen. Real-Time is moving from minutes to seconds.
7:26 – Broadband Tax Details Revealed
– Alistair Darling in pre-budget report. £6 a year for all fixed line phone users so that people in Wales can have Broadband.
– Superfast broadband to 90% of the country by 2017… 2 0 1 7!!! In technology time-scales that’s just plain ridiculous.
– “It is estimated that the broadband tax would raise around £170m a year, which is some way short of BT’s estimate of £5bn needed to provide super-fast fibre services to every UK home.”
– Apparently, the Conservatives have pledged to scrap the tax if they win the election next year… So we should probably just ignore this until it goes away? But is there a need for this tax?
10:12 – Web Firms Oppose Digital Britain Clause
– Facebook, Google, Yahoo and eBay
– Want removal of clause 17 that gives any future Secretary of State powers to change copyright law as they see fit.
11:06 – Postcode Data to be free in 2010
– Currently organisations that want access to datasets that tie postcodes to physical locations cannot do so without incurring a charge.
– Following a brief consultation, the postcode information is set to be freed in April 2010.
– As part of this push, the government said it would start “consulting on making Ordnance Survey mapping and postcode datasets available for free reuse from April 2010.”
– The dataset that is likely to be freed is that which ties postcodes to geographic locations. Many more commercial organisations use the Postcode Address File (PAF) that ties post codes to addresses. Currently access to either data set incurs a charge.
– Harry Metcalfe, who helped sites get at postcode data, said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the decision to open up the OS data sets.
“If the right data is released in the right way, this will be a positive development,” he said.
– Unlikely to be the PAF – http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/10/ordnance_survey_data_postcode_paf/
– Woo hoo – just hope it’s released without strings.
12:50 – US Games Company sues British Blogger
– In an internet defamation case that lawyers say could set an “extraordinary precedent”, an American games company is suing a British blogger in the Australian courts.
– Evony, an online games company registered in the US state of Delaware, is suing Coventry-based blogger Bruce Everiss for libel over a series of allegations made on his website. In a bizarre twist, however, Evony has decided not to pursue its case in Britain or America, but 10,000 miles away.
– A hearing in Sydney on Monday will determine whether or not the supreme court of New South Wales has jurisdiction – with the potential to set a precedent for the way defamation laws are applied to the online world.
– Evony’s owners, who boast that the game has more than 11 million players worldwide, have accused Everiss – a 30-year veteran of the computer games industry – of damaging their reputation with a series of claims made on his blog. Among the allegations that Evony is objecting to are claims that the game is exploitative and has links to another company that is already being sued for fraud by Microsoft.
– Evony’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment, but have previously said that the company intends to seek worldwide damages – a move believed to be a first in a case of this kind.
– The blogger himself, who does not intend to make an appearance in Sydney, has responded angrily to the action and accused Evony of libel tourism.
– He has suggested that if the case is allowed to proceed “it will create a precedent and open the floodgates for anyone to litigate anywhere against anyone they don’t like”.
15:44 – Facebook Changes Privacy Controls
– Facebook has rolled out its long touted updates to the privacy controls. Great.
– They are fine grained and allow you to control many aspects. They are clear and well implemented.
– But why the heck does it default to fully open!
– As a user, you are presented with a box informing you to update your settings.
23:15 – Tweet During Sex
– Best man rigs bed to tweet while couple are having sex – start time, end time, frenzy rating
– http://twitter.com/newlywedsontjob
26:03 – Google Chrome Beta for Mac
– Finally comes to the mac
– No extension support (there is in dev build) – in fact bookmakrs manager, app mode, task manager and gears support missing
– No flash blocker!
– Very fast though, faster than safari, for me anyway
– Needs xmarks support before I can use it seriously
– Also announced Extensions (previously dev only)
– http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/08/chrome-extensions-live/
– https://chrome.google.com/extensions
– Rem The Milk, Xmarks, Adblock etc etc – happy days
30:16 – UStream Live Recorder
– Live video streaming finally comes to iPhone
– 10-20 secodn delay but quality is fine
– App is free
– record videos right to the web, and allow others to watch them as they’re being recorded. These videos can also be archived so that people can watch them later, if they choose.
– easy to automatically tweet out when you go live, as well as to do things like share the videos on Facebook and YouTube. The live broadcast can also send out your location, if you’re into that sort of thing. The app also allows for chatting with viewers, and yes/no polling.
33:46 – Tesco iPhone Pricing
– For the 3Gs, £20 x 12 months + £407 = £647 or £60 x 24 months + £50 = £1,490
– Highest cost per month on 3GS or 3G but appealing 12 month contract instead of 18 or 2 years
– £60 – unlimited but limited by Fair Usage Policy…which is 1 TB of data!
– £20 – low minutes and texts
– Different but a bad different from current UK deals
– http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39029453,49304500,00.htm?s_cid=82
– cnet uk analysis implies that when you compare like for life cost of ownership over the same period, Tesco deals are best out there.
38:07 – Apple Sues Nokia
– Nokia sued Apple in Nov for 10 patent infringements
– apple now sues Nokia for 13 patent infringements
– “Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours.” That was the only official Apple statement we’ve yet seen on the matter, by Bruce Sewell, Apple’s General Counsel and senior vice president.
44:47 – Boxee Beta and Boxee Box
– private beta with a new and improved look
– users are greeted by a dashboard with three columns in the form of a newsfeed, featured content and a program queue
– newsfeed offers starred content and comments from Boxee, Twitter and Facebook friends
– center column is reserved for featured community content
– the program queue lets you to keep track of your Netflix queue and latest Boxee-related TV subscriptions
– In the past users were asked to differentiate between their local and web files. Boxee Beta mixes local and web content in recognition that users simply want to watch their favorite programs regardless of the formats or location of files
– plan to open up the Beta to the public on Jan 7th (at CES) – Over the next 4 weeks we will gradually release invitations to our early access users
– Also announced Boxee Box
– http://mashable.com/2009/12/07/boxee-box-dlink/
– Hardware partner is D-Link
– Wi-fi enabled, SD slot, HDMI, SPDIF and RCA Audio connections, plus two USB ports – full specs in Jan
– $200
– Design is pretty unique – height of a coke can
– But would your money be better spent on a laptop/mini-desktop that you can install the software on and use for other purposes?
50:50 – Google Phone
– A Google branded android phone which, if rumours are true, will be sold unlocked
– Game changer
– Android dogfood – http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/12/android-dogfood-diet-for-holidays.html
– The phone itself is being built by HTC, with a lot of input from Google. It seems to be a tailored version of the HTC Passion or the related HD2 (Unlocker scored some leaked pictures back in October which are of the same phone).
– From tweets: Yeah, it’s a hot, sexy mess. And I mean that in a good way. Similar form-factor to the iPhone, but with a smooth-brushed-metal-looking shell instead of a glossy one. And perhaps a smidgen lighter. Super fast, speech-to-text in EVERY app, awesome “live wallpapers” in the background that respond to touch in really beautiful ways. Like water ripples that emanate out from a touch.
– Rumours of January launch, but is it not just a rebrand of another phone?
– Called the Nexus One, It’s built by HTC, Google put a lot of effort into tweaking the stock Android interface, they’ll sell the phone direct online, and you’ll BYO service plan
55:43 – Milestone Sells Out In UK
– Retailer eXpansys is reporting that the just-launched Droid clone for GSM became “the fastest selling gadget in the website’s 11 year history, even more successful than the iPhone” when it sold out inside of three hours on its site on top of the roughly 1,000 preorders they had taken prior to the 10th.
– Expansys is a reasonably big seller in the UK, but only the geeks know it exists.
– The general public in the UK haven’t a clue what a milestone/droid is.
– It is only with Expansys exclusively for 2 weeks. From 21 December Play.com will also have it and from next year, it should be sold at phone shops from different networks
58:48 – Crunchpad is now the JooJoo
– Is available as pre-order (shipping within 8-10weeks) on thejoojoo.com – $499. Desktop stand $30.
– Boot to the internet in 9 seconds – fastest out there
– Could deliver HD on the go (Although it only mentions HD YouTube, Hulu and other Internet sites… screams – NOT 720p to me.)
– It’s a web browser with a touch interface – too dear, people will wait for Apple, damaged goods. (But what if Apple device does cost rumored $1000)
– After a long background story about how and why he partnered with Arrington on the Crunchpad (”I guess I had him at hello”), Rathakrishnan got down and dirty: “Unfortunately, Michael was unable to deliver. Michael was completely unable to deliver.” Rathakrishnan also criticized Arrington’s Internet-celebrity approach to talking up the Crunchpad before its launch. “Publishing pictures of an unfinished product on a blog … is not a recipe for success,” he said. In Rathakrishnan’s version of the story, Arrington spent his time blowing hot air about what he was going to do, while Fusion Garage did all the work to finish the design and build the product.
– Chris – But this clearly worked as there has been more buzz around this than plenty of other MID’s.
– http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10410960-250.html
– First hands on – good, fast to boot, no app’s, no storage, web browser and touch screen – too focussed, too expensive

Picks
Shakeel
Beat It
– Part beat machine, part rhythm (re)creation, totally addictive
– http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/beat-it/id335583964?mt=8
– listen to a track, lay down the beats, match the beat
– super retro 8-bit pixel-art graphics
– http://games.glu.com/game/beat-it

Ian
TuneChecker
– Find the cheapest price of music on the web
– Doesn’t compare quality of the music though so mileage may vary
– Also highlights free tracks
– Developed by moneysavingexpert.com

I Love Stars
– Sits in menu bar and shows you rating, lets you rate iTunes tracks
– Flash or play sound 3/4 way through playback of unrated song
– Supports keyboard shortcuts
– Free

Chris
Acrobat
– Adobe’s online suite. Includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation apps.
– Online PDF creation.
– Online meetings – whiteboards, webcams, mics, screen sharing and even screen control.
– Online repository for files.
– All run from Flash player.
– Free account limited to 5 PDF creations per day and 3 people limit in meetings. (Premium subscriptions available to raise limits.)

Tam
Free-OCR.com
– Free-OCR.com is a free online OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tool. You can use this to perform OCR on any image you supply.
– This service is free, no registration necessary. We also do not need your email address.
– Just upload your image files. Free-OCR takes either a JPG, GIF, TIFF BMP or PDF (only first page).
– The only restriction is that the images must not be larger than 2MB, no wider or higher than 5000 pixels and there is a limit of 10 image uploads per hour.
– Supported by ad’s but a nice way of getting some OCR done quickly, for free without installing software