DigitalOutbox Episode 23
In this episode the team discuss …not much really. However, new title music is fabby and our first listener review!
Playback
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Shownotes
1:59 – Intel In Trouble
– Further to a European ruling that fined Intel $1.5bn earlier this year, a further suit has been brought in US
– Centres around Intel paying manufacturers $m’s (some years $bn’s) to use Intel chips exclusively. Also, withdrawing funds from manufacturers seen to be collaborating “too closely” with chip competitors.
4:37 – Democracy Live
– New site from the BBC that lets you search, fnd and watch the debates that interest you
– It brings together for the first time in the BBC, live and on demand video coverage of proceedings in our national political institutions and the European Parliament
– Democracy Live gives you the ability to search for a specific word or words spoken in the proceedings and the results will give you links to the points in the video where they were spoken. The ability to home in on the passages which are of direct interest and relevance to you is at the heart of Democracy Live’s purpose. Our search is powered by a speech-to-text system built by two companies called Blinkx and Autonomy which create transcriptions of the words spoken in the video.
7:33 – iPlayer Omnipresence
– iPlayer is due to get a closed beta across Freesat. Starting late November.
– Uses the Ethernet cable standard for Freesat boxes.
– No word on when this beta opens up wider or a potential launch date but it’s great news.
– Freeview HD box specification also comes with an Ethernet port and will also feature the service in future.
– Now we just need Xbox360 to integrate.
11:11 – Skype Is Safe
– A long running story resolves itself. Skype owners, eBay, have confirmed that the issues surrounding the use of underlying technology have all been resolved.
– As widely expected, the original Skype founders, Joltid, now have a 14% share in Skype and this means Skype now own full rights to use the technology as they wish.
– The consortium buying a majority share of Skype from eBay can now go ahead and complete a deal.
15:23 – Orange iPhone Pricing
– Almost same as O2
– Unlimited internet…apart from the 750MB fair usage clause – nasty
19:53 – O2 Allows iPhone Unlocking
– O2 will allow customers to unlock their iPhones once Orange begins selling the iPhone on November 10th assuming your contract has finished
– When asked why O2’s 3G network was struggling, Key made these comments. “The O2 network has seen an 18-fold increase in data carried over the network in the last year and traffic continues to double every three months…”…”We are investing more than £30 million to address capacity issues in London alone between now and Christmas and I’m confident that we’ll see much improved levels of service as a result.”
23:35 – 100,000 Apps
– When it launched on July 10, 2008, Apple’s iTunes App Store held just 552 apps. Today, it boasts more than 100,000 in 21 categories (click on image below) that have been downloaded a total of “well over” two billion times.
– Is this a good thing?
26:31 – Apple TV Service?
– $30 a month
– All you can eat TV
– Pick the content you want, not just whats on
– Fully on demand
– New and old content available
– Not just Apple TV – through iTunes
– Worth it?
33:02 – Parallels 5
– win 7 compatible with AERO support and optimised for Snow Leopard
– £59.99 or £34.99 for upgrade (Free upgrade if you bought V4 after 1st October 2009)
– VMWare Fusion users can competitively upgrade for £34.99
– Some users reported problems with Version 4 when it was launched so might be worth waiting to see how V5 is received.
38:31 – Droid is Milestone?
– HSDPA 3G and……..
– Multi touch!
– Ships with 8GB SD, not 16GB as in US
– And no turn by turn navigation… (at launch)
41:34 – LG looks to OLED Future
– 20″ coming in 2010. 30″ 2011. 40″ 2012 – With huge prices attached – but by 2016 they’ll be in line with current LCD prices.
– Great news – shame it’s not sooner!
Picks
Shakeel
Comics
– comic reader for iPhone
– lots of free comics, but only seems to be first or so issues of a series, remaining issues paid for
– very nice transitions between cells
– Marvel comics available but currently only in USA
Ian
Secrets
– Find hidden Mac settings
Henry
Macheist
– 6 free Mac apps including Twitterific
– also – http://www.onefingerdiscount.com/
– 20% a range of software for 5 days
Chris
SwingVine
Machinarium
