Tag: sony

DigitalOutbox Episode 32

DigitalOutbox Episode 32
In this episode the team discuss Nexus, Apple Tablet and some CES discussion.

Playback
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Shownotes
2:21 – London Datastore
– More than 200 data sets detailing life in London are to be put online by the capital’s governing body.
– Opens on Jan 29th
– Information about planning decisions, crime rates, abandoned vehicles, house prices, road accidents and many other metrics will form the London datastore.
– Those who come up with the most innovative ways to harness the data could get a substantial grant to help them bring their idea to life.
– 4iP, Channel 4’s Innovation for the Public Fund, said it would back the best ideas with a £200,000 cash pot.
– Data list – http://data.london.gov.uk/datastore/data-packages-launch
5:13 – Project Canvas Approved
– Internet access for the TV via set top box
– BBC Trust has given the go-ahead for the corporation to push on
– The consortium of six firms is now looking for “expressions of interest” for other partners to join the platform
– Project Canvas now includes the BBC, ITV, BT, Five, Channel 4 and Talk Talk. Sky is likely to vocally object to the Trust’s apparent approval – its press office was unavailable at press time.
– “By seamlessly converging broadband and broadcast content, Project Canvas can help secure the future of free-to-air broadcasting and create an open platform that gives online services a route to the TV set.
6:57 – Videogames Bigger Than Film
– More money was spent on video games than on films – including both trips to the cinema and films on DVD – figures compiled for The Daily Telegraph indicate.
– In the twelve months to the end of September 2009, £1.73 billion was spent on video games, according to the data company GFK Chart-Track.
– According to the UK Film Council exactly £1 billion was spent at the British box office during the same period, with a further £198 million spent on film titles released on DVD and Blu-ray
– Only television – including DVDs of television shows, along with the cost of the license and satellite subscriptions – and music are bigger forms of entertainment.
– Industry figures show there the number of games consoles being used in Britain has shot up from 13.5 million in 2008 ago to well over 25 million earlier this year, with enough consoles for nine out of every ten households in the country to have one.
9:32 – Orange to launch HD Calls
– Orange will begin trials of the new and improved, 3G-facilitated service early in the new year
– fully roll it out along with a “range of handsets” before the end of the year.
10:27 – Nexus One
– Jan 5th launch
– http://gizmodo.com/5436673/rumor-nexus-one-will-be-530-unlocked-180-with-t+mobile
– 3.7-inch OLED display, HVGA (480 x 800) — deep contrast. 1GHz Snapdragon
– Trackball with multi-color notification LED
– Ah, so those contact points enable inline remotes and mics. Inline noise cancellation: two mics, front and back, which enables nose suppression. Custom engraving on the lower bezel!
– Live wallpaper – looks pretty junky to be honest
– Voice – any text box – demo – spoken english, server based translation to text – it worked! Voice looked amazing, as do all voice demo’s
– Google Earth demo
– www.google.com/phone – buy Nexus 1 plus other devices ‘soon’ – was this really the big announcement?
– Nexus One unlocked and without service: $529. Buy it with service from T-Mobile for $179.
– Will be shipping to UK from today + Singapore & Hong Kong
– On Vodafone in the UK in a ‘few short weeks’
20:03 – Apple Tablet
– Apple has reportedly scheduled a media event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on Wednesday Jan. 27, 2010, for a major product announcement.
– Selected app developers asked to make sure their app’s work…full screen
– 10″ screen is seemingly the size but lots of sites reporting 7″ too
– APple have owned iSlate domain since 2006/7 – iSlate?
– Is it tablet or high res iPhone?
– 5MP camera’s also rumoured
24:08 – Microsoft at CES
– Power cut – classy start
– Lame introduction – Crazy Steve Balmer ain’t no Steve Jobs
– Xbox – first up and sales looking good
– Bing – good year, growing market share – can’t argue
– Car – growing market
– Zune doing well, Windows Mobile – more next month
– Windows 7 – fastest selling OS in history, 94% satisfcation rating, 300M pc’s shipped, 4 million windows applications – there’s an app for that
– Some of the laptops looked…interesting
– Software – Blio, e-book reader, Office demo – snore, Bing maps again, Recording 4 HD streams – demo, Media everywhere – nice demo of media on tv, comp, phone, xbox – Microsoft Mediaroom – demo’d and talked about IPTV so many times – still not taking off
– Slate pc’s – ugggghhhhhhh – would Steve have said slate if the Apple rumours weren’t so rabid?
– Touch demo on slate fails 🙂
– Xbox – Mass Effect 2 – Jan, Splinter Cell Conviction – Feb, Spring – Mod War 2 expansion packs exclusively first on Xbox, Fable 3, Crackdown 2, Alan Wake – physiological action thriller – episodic with more episodes on Xbox Live, Halo Reach – demo not streamed due to intellectual property – Fall 2010, multiplayer demo in Spring
– Game Room – Personal Arcade, games in original cabinets, 30 original arcade classics from Spring, invite friends to custom arcade and let them try your collection, 1000 games coming!
– Natal – coming this year, holiday 2010, works with current 360, uses 10-15% of 360’s processing power
35:18 – Sony at CES
– 3D TV’s a go-go – top end come with two glasses and transmitter
– Using SD in camera’s!
– BDP-S770 – 3D blu-ray player, wi-fi, netflix and a free iphone app controller
– Sony Dash – 7inch, $199 running Chumby OS, not portable
– 24.5 inch OLED…getting bigger
– PS3 will play 3D movies through 3D Bravias
– PS3
– Heavy Rain – Feb 26th
– God of War III – March in Japan
– No mention of GT5!
40:54 – Skype goes HD
– 720p from Windows
– HD Camera’s coming
– Directly form TV’s – LG and Panasonic
42:21 – Boxee
– Plays everything the normal Boxee software does
– Under $200
– Powered by the Tegra 2 (T20) — a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU
– NVIDIA Graphicsthat can play 1080p video from locally stored content and stream HD content
– Utilizes Adobe Flash 10.1, meaning HD and web content should play back smoother and require fewer resources
– RF remote (so you can hide the box behind a cabinet)
– 802.11n
– No hard drive, no IR
– Remote looks great with chatpad on the back – I want for my Mac Mini
– Boxee Beta software now available to download – http://blog.boxee.tv/2010/01/07/boxee-beta-goes-public-download-now/
44:29 – Kindle DX On Sale Worldwide
– On sale on 100 countries
– $489, ships Jan 19th
– Includes wireless deal, get content wirelessly wherever you are
45:03 – Chrome OS Netbook Specs
– According to IBTimes, the Google netbook will house an Nvidia Tegra platform with an ARM CPU. If the rumors hold up, it will also have a 10.1″ multi-touch screen that supports HD, come with a 64GB SSD, 2GB of RAM, and other standards like Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, a webcam, and so on. Not surprisingly, the netbook will run Chrome OS and come pre-installed with a suite of Google Apps.
– The rumors also indicate that the netbook will be available by holiday season 2010 for a subsidized price of under $300, which is impressive for the type of hardware they’re talking about. It would sold directly from Google’s website, and they may partner with a network operator to sell it as a bundled 3G plan. – If previous experience is anything to go by, the data-bundle costs will no doubt be pretty crippling – especially for a device that is online only. Does the device need all the power to simply run web applications…
46:11 – iMac Woes Continue
– Resolves graphic card flicker
– The 27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update applies to the graphics firmware on ATI Radeon HD 4670 and 4850 graphics cards to address issues that may cause image corruption or the display to flicker.
– If your screen remains black after applying the updater or if you continue to experience image corruption or display flickering after successfully completing this update, contact AppleCare or an Apple Authorized Service Provider
– So not only does Cupertino seem to be blaming ATI for the issue, it’s not actually promising to necessarily fix anything with this update, either
– Couple of days after the firmware release, the flickering still continues for many – OUCH!
47:42 – Unreal 3 Engine on the iPhone
– It’s using a modified Unreal Tournament level previously shown off at GDC. A virtual thumbstick on the left side of the screen controls your movement, while tracking your thumb in the lower right corner of the screen controls the camera. Just tap the screen to shoot. Mark said this is a tech test bed and they’re experimenting with several different control schemes including ones with tilt.
– OpenGL2 only so 3GS or 3rd gen iPod touch
48:03 – AppStore – 3 Billion Downloads
– From 2-3 billion downloads in 3 months, 1 week
– Wowsers
48:22 – Apple Store Madness
– Apple stores don’t have “no smoking” signs. Legally they need them but they “ruin the design of the store”, so for every apple store in the UK they pay £50 a day to keep their windows sign free

Picks
Ian
Unison 2
– newsgroup app for mac
– looks amazing

Chris
Beautiful People
– The 5000 people who were kicked off of beautifulpeople.com for getting too fat over Christmas!
– To you I say… WAHHHHHHHHHH!

DigitalOutbox Episode 17

DigitalOutbox Episode 17
In this episode the team discuss Microsoft Courier, Pay for your broadband and music, Google innovates and PS3 news from the Tokyo Game Show.

Playback
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Shownotes
0:49 – Digital Britain – time to pay!
– 50p tax on landlines to go ahead
– Presented in bill before christmas
– Is this the right thing to do?
5:17 – Music At War
– Two camps emerging. Those that think that everything possible should be done to eliminate illegal file sharing. Although I can’t find details of what they are suggesting.
– Another camp saying that what’s the point in trying to stop file-sharing – nothing will work anyway.
– And now the two camps are at war.
– Come up with a sensible solution. Fight clever. Work with new technology and the new music listener – don’t fight a losing battle to protect old infrastructure.
– Lily Allen and artists come to some agreement on piracy stance
– http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/09/lily_unites_musicians_against.html
– http://www.featuredartistscoalition.com/showscreen.php?site_id=161&screentype=folder&screenid=2990&newsaction=showitem&newsid=2588&dc=6&sn=News
– We the undersigned wish to express our support for Lily Allen in her campaign to alert music lovers to the threat that illegal downloading presents to our industry and to condemn the vitriol that has been directed at her in recent days.
– Our meeting also voted overwhelmingly to support a three-strike sanction on those who persistently download illegal files, sanctions to consist of a warning letter, a stronger warning letter and a final sanction of the restriction of the infringer’s bandwidth to a level which would render file-sharing of media files impractical while leaving basic email and web access functional.
11:18 – Charge for iPlayer?
– Lorraine Heggessey, chief executive of TV production company Talkback Thames.
– Industry want to charge micro-payments for catch up services but BBC scuppering this.
– BBC have no plans to charge. Licence fee covers this content.
13:31 – Google Chrome Frame
– Plugin for IE 6(and 7 & 8) that replaces rendering engine in IE6 with Chrome
– Will this force Microsoft to be more aggressive on moving from IE6?
– http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10360850-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Webware
– “With Internet Explorer 8, we made significant advancements and updates to make the browser safer for our customers,” Microsoft said. “Given the security issues with plug-ins in general and Google Chrome in particular, Google Chrome Frame running as a plug-in has doubled the attach area for malware and malicious scripts. This is not a risk we would recommend our friends and families take.”
– So, time to remove Silverlight?
18:10 – Google SideWiki
– Commenting for the web?
– Needs google toolbar
– Not original, been tried before and failed but will it be successful due to Google’s brand and market share?
– Yet another comment source – fragmentation of the conversation although there is an api
22:42 – Push GMail
– Google sync now support gmail
– Setup exchange account on iPhone to get push calendar, contacts and gmail
– Google working around Apple’s limitations and choices
– Only 1 exchange account available on iPhone
25:26 – Picasa 3.5
– Face recognition, similar to picasa albums online
– Share albums based on name
– Better geotagging and uploading/sharing options
26:15 – Bing increases market share
– From 8.9 to 9.3% in US market.
– OK it’s only a small increase but considering everyone said it was impossible to even steal a small share away from Google was impossible.
– May mean that Bing is a default choice for some users now.
27:21 – Apple Acknowledges battery concerns
– Users can log battery issues with Apple
– Also can install Battery Life Logging and report issues back to Apple
– http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/09/20/apple-seeking-info-iphone-31-users-reporting-poor-battery-life/
30:01 – USB IF Sides with Apple
– Palm issues dismissed
– Your letter also states that:
“Palm will shortly issue an update of its WebOS operating system that uses Apple’s Vendor ID number for the sole purpose of restoring the Palm media sync functionality.”
I attach for your information the USB-IF’s adopted and published policy regarding Vendor Identification Numbers (VIDs). Under the Policy, Palm may only use the single Vendor ID issued to Palm for Palm’s usage. Usage of any other company’s Vendor ID is specifically precluded. Palm’s expressed intent to use Apple’s VID appears to violate the attached policy.
Please clarify Palm’s intent and respond to this potential violation within seven days.
– GET OUT!
34:48 – iTunes Update
– Resolves issues browsing the iTunes Store.
– Addresses a performance issue where iTunes may become unresponsive.
– Fixes a problem where iTunes may unexpectedly quit.
– Fixes a problem syncing Podcasts in playlists to iPod or iPhone.
– Fixes a problem sorting albums with multiple discs.
– Addresses an issue with the Zoom button not switching to Mini Player.
– Improves application syncing for iPod touch and iPhone.
– Genius is now automatically updated to show Genius Mixes.
41:37 – Tiny Blu Ray PC
– Like a Mac mini – but with BluRay (kind of what we were talking about last week) £650 or £450 without the BluRay.
– Comes with media centre remote.
– Don’t know what kind of storage it has but media centre seems pretty good at streaming.
42:22 – Microsoft Courier
– A booklet, not a tablet
– Late prototype
– Touch and stylus driven,camera,7inch screens
49:24 – Sony at Tokyo Game Show
– Sony Motion Controller
– Japan release March
– Spring 2010 for rest of the world
– 4-5 million units worldwide
– Old games will be adpated to support it
– 250GB PS3 Slim
– Oct 1st
– On Amazon for £285 – bundles on the way
– PS3 Firmware issues – ian
– Tam mentioned this…
– http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/09/25/ps3-3-0-3-01-firmware-update-making-blu-ray-drive-unusable/
– Issues with 3.0 and 3.0.1 for people
– Been perfect for me
– God of War 1 & 2 bundle to include E3 demo of God of War 3
– PS3 Rumour Leaks
– wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN – PS2 emulator ??
– special “Japanese Import” section for titles only released in Japan – ie Yakuza 3
– leaked document mentions possibility of Dreamcast titles appearing on PSN

Picks
Shakeel
Snippet
– sits on menu bar
– nice and clean interface
– pop-up menus and mini-windows, very little clutter
– easily search for your snippets of code, copy then paste into new projects.
– search by tags
– no need to hunt through previous/old projects
– easily create new snippets from any text
– select type of code, add tags
– primarily designed for programming but just as useful for storing other regularly used information
– for blocks of text, can copy a small selection instead of the whole lot, all from a mini pop-up window
– when code or text is copied, focus automatically returned to the last used app

Ian
Halo 3 ODST
– Co-op
– Firefight
– Multiplayer maps
– Good Value

Chris
MS Windows 7 Parties
– Ooooooo Mmmmmm Ggggggg

DigitalOutbox Episode 16

DigitalOutbox Episode 16
In this episode the team discuss Eid Mubarak and some tech news too.

Playback
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Shownotes
1:57 – EBay Sued
– Follow up to the previous story – Joltid, the licence holders for technology underlying Skype – are filing suite to eBay. They say the 100,000 or so downloads of Skype made every day are seeing the suite grow by $75m per day for continued breaches of licence.
– Story details updated that eBay sourced unauthorised copies of the Joltid source code, made unauthorised amends and made the code available to third persons.
– eBay respond via spokesman John Pluhowski: “Their allegations and claims are without merit and are founded on fundamental legal and factual errors,”
5:41 – PAF Leaks Online
– Postcode Address File (PAF) leaks online. 241mb, 1,841,177 postcodes – no names and addresses in each file
– Useful – should this data not be free?
– Data will quickly go out of date – 4000 new entries, 2000 removals per month
8:07 – BBC Watchdog reports on faulty PS3’s
– Watchdog report suggests a manufacturing defect in the 1st gen 60gb PS3’s after being contacted by 155 viewers with faulty consoles, and from the opinion of 3 commercial repair technicians.
– faulty units displayed a high number of “voids” – faults in the solder
– sets up repair team ‘PRAT’ outside Sony London offices, offering free repairs for PS3’s that Sony charges for (but it seems PRAT’s repairs are not free!!)
– Gamesindustry.biz claims the repair stunt falls flat http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/watchdogs-ps3-repairs-stunt-falls-flat-interview
– “11 users getting their consoles repaired for free. During the show tonight, it admitted four of those consoles repaired by “experts” were no longer working”
– “report claimed the PlayStation 3 costs “£400” and with repair will total “£528” according to show presenter Anne Robinson, who also said “thousands upon thousands” had broken”
– ” x-ray of the PlayStation 3 showing “trapped gas”, although no explanation of this was offered.”
– Sony claims the ‘YLOD’ is non-specific indicator of a fault and doesn’t necessarily mean the console has died.
– nothing but a publicity stunt
– Watchdog criticised for wasting tax-payers money on producing an inaccurate and biased report http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/sony/6206575/BBC-Watchdog-criticised-over-PS3-story.html
– the number of faulty consoles with yellow light, reported to Sony complaints, represent less than 1/2% of 2.5m PS3’s sold. Hardly conclusive of an inherent fault
– compare that to 360’s confirmed failure rate 54.2%
– claims of bias as Iain Lee, one of the ‘reporters’, is an XBox fan.
– TheSixthAxis games site sends an open complaints letter to BBC http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2009/09/18/an-open-letter-to-bbc-complaints/comment-page-3/
– “You then skimmed over a six-page letter from SCEUK, summarising their lengthy (and apparently warranted) misgivings about the way you were handling the issue, in a few smirking sentences.”
– “you failed to mention that your “free” fix wasn’t actually free”
– “here was no indication of why the problem occurred, no discussion of which models it was being reported for and no information regarding possible preventative measures. ”
17:18 – BBC Protecting HD Content
– BBC have approached Ofcom to request the ability for them to encrypt TV listings for their HD content.
– Request made in response to content providers fears for illegal pirating of content.
– BBC aren’t allowed to encrypt their actual broadcast but by encrypting the channel listings and only permitting licences for trusted hardware manufacturers they are effectively render the station useless to users with non-trusted hardware.
– Usual arguments about the fact that this will not be effectual at all in stopping someone looking to pirate but will massively effect the everyday user and low end/cheap hardware manufacturers using open source operating systems for their products.
20:48 – Pay for News
– Wall Street Journal to charge weekly fee for web and mobile access
– $1 – applies to iPhone and Blackberry app’s
22:30 – Microsoft Application Store
– There was concern over a “kill switch” that had been implemented to allow MS to pull apps off of users devices. This has since been clarified by MS to only relate in cases where software causes harm or “unforeseen effects” and refunds will be issued in such cases. Most cases where the app is removed from the store for whatever reason will not remove the app from the users device.
– Revenue shared 70% / 30% in favour of the developer. Any carrier costs will be taken off MS share.
– $99 for first 5 submissions – then $99 for each subsequent submission
– Apps replacing core functionality – including mapping and navigation – will be rejected
– However, any apps rejected are still supported by the platform – just not via the app store.
– Video of free app on Zune – 30 sec video add everytime you start chess – http://vimeo.com/6612641
– 12 hours to convert an iPhone app to the Zune HD – impressive – http://mashable.com/2009/09/19/iphone-zune-hd-port/
26:27 – Office Online
– MS response to Google Docs.
– CNET UK got a taste. Brief summary being:
– Excel and Powerpoint both functioning. Both good online representations of the full PC apps. But slower thatn Google Docs because of that.
– Word Online not yet available for anything other than viewing word docs. View looks fine. Apparently, when editing is released it won’t add collaborative simultaneous editing on release, although it is on the roadmap.
– Sharing is currently achieved in a arse about tit way and needs addressing ASAP – based on folder shares rather than doc shares.
– Won’t work on Google Chrome – although will work on IE, Firefox and Safari. MS say that’s about “prioritising” ready for 2010 release.
– Summary – should be good for individual users looking for feature rich apps but slower than Google Docs and doesn’t have the simultaneous collaboration in Word. Sharing is terrible and needs to be addressed.
28:51 – Google
– Google Data Liberation
– http://www.dataliberation.org/home
– How to get your data into and out of Google tools
– Important consideration for cloud computing
– Google FastFlip
– Labs app – read the news by flipping quickly between sites
– Quick, works on iPhone and Android too
– Shares advertising revenue between Google and partner sites
– Can’t click on the links on each page. Nice for tablet???
– Google Chrome 3
– Faster, omnibox improvement, HTML support, themes
– Still no mac version (by year end)
– Currently 3% market share, in the next year 5%, within 2 years 10%
– Google Voice
– Google claim that it was rejected by Apple (Phil Schiller)
– http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/fcc-releases-confidential-details-of-google-voice-app-rejection.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
– This is going to get messy
– Someone is lying – who?
– Rumour – Google has screenshot of app rejection.
33:48 – Apple TV Price Drops
– Apple TV Price Drops – shakeel
– $229 in US for 160GB, no more 40gb
– £219 in the UK for 160gb – was £263 in UK for 160GB, £195 for 40gb
– iMac and MacBook refreshes due within weeks http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/09/16/apple_predicted_to_release_new_imacs_macbooks_in_weeks.html
40:17 – OS 3.1 Issues
– The latest iPhone OS (3.1) now blocks the teathering option on any unlocked handset.
– This affects officially unlocked handsets legitimately being used on alternate carriers, as well as unofficially unlocked and jail-broken.
– Apple Customer Support = “Nothing we can do to help”.
– other issues post 3.1 update
– random shut downs (yes, I’ve been a victim of this)
– occasional screen freezes
– poor(er) battery life
48:51 – Copyright in games gets sneeky
– Code inserted into Batman: Arkham Asylum removes essential controls from the game if you are running a pirate copy.
– Caught out a person on Eidos forum who posted about a bug in the game only to be told he had a bug in his moral code!

Picks
Shakeel
Create your own iPhone/Touch dock
– French designer Julien Madérou, has designed a template which can be downloaded and printed to a card.
– Then cut and fold into shape of a sturdy dock – cool!

Ian
Runkeeper
– Great for tracking your runs, cycles, walks etc on the iphone
– Great website
– 100% reliable for me
– Can edit routes, export to Google Earth
– Leave auto tweets and facebook updates on comleted runs/walks
– RunKeeper Free is ad-supported and RunKeeper Pro is ad-free. RunKeeper Pro also has audio cues (hear your stats via your headphones), and we recently added training workouts as well (hear intervals via your headphones).
– @runkeeper

Chris
Jing
– create screencasts on Mac / PC for free
– http://www.jingproject.com/
– Capture windows, screen areas or whole desktops.
– Capture microphone as well for commentary.
– Save as SWF – either host on screencast.com or save locally (Mp4, youtube possible in Pro version)
– Limited to 5 mins.
– Take a look at the Google Chrome overview to see the outcome!

DigitalOutbox Episode 14

DigitalOutbox Episode 14
In this episode the team discuss…stuff. It’s also The Tired Edition. Chris is hungover, Shakeel is tired and emotional and Ian – who knows! Enjoy.

Playback
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Shownotes
0:47 – Sony Chooses Google Chrome
– Google has struck a deal with Sony to include their browser on Sony hardware.
– Google say similar deals will be announced in future with other manufacturers.
– Good move. MS still have 2/3 share of browser market largely as a result of lack of pre-installed options.
– Should see Google’s 3% share increase.
– Good for developers – Chrome is fastest, most compliant browser currently available.
– Chrome now one year old. Market share still growing – Mac version looking much better – proper release soon?
2:56 – O2 Broadband Security Issue
– Remote attackers can view/change settings and access home networks without permission.
– User discovered a security problem with the O2 Wireless Box II & III ADSL routers.
– Initially hard to get through to O2 and raise issue
– Press got hold of it, Be also got in touch to raise on users behalf
– O2 now acknowledge issue and are working on fix with Thomson. Allegedly.
– O2 Broadband customers can mitigate the risk of attack by enabling authentication on their router’s HTTP configuration interface (by default, the device lets you browse directly to http://192.168.1.254 without requiring a password)
5:08 – eBay Sells Skype
– eBay will sell 65% of Skype to a group of private investors.
– Selling the share for $2bn – valuing skype at $2.75bn total – more than the $2.6bn that ebay bought it for.
– Seems a good deal all round. Skype makes good profits. eBay was never the correct owner really.
– Hopefully its new owners can now push forward the technology and see the future of Skype confirmed.
6:27 – Windows Mobile 6.5
– After a strong caveat that what we’re looking at is preproduction software, a Sony Ericsson rep admitted that Windows Mobile 6.5 isn’t all it could be
8:22 – Apple News
– Apple Event Confirmed
– Sept 9th
– It’s only rock and roll but we like it
– Rock Band Beatles released on same day – coincidence?
– Apple TV update?
– Loopt Background Location Service on iPhone
– http://mashable.com/2009/09/04/loopt-iphone-background/
– No app running in background – connects to AT&T location server. All mobiles updating provider with location
– Loopt taps into that stream to find out where you are and report that to others
– 5000 users in an invitation only trial
– Will cost $3.99 a month via AT&T
– GTA Chinatown Wars…for iPhone?
– http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/01/gta-chinatown-coming-to-the-iphone/
21:19 – Sony News
– Betting on 2010 for 3D
– Sony actively engaged in 3D programming for Bravia and Blu-ray disc players with content next year.
– http://www.sonyinsider.com/2009/09/02/sonys-upcoming-icf-cl75ip-is-an-alarm-clock-digital-frame-and-dock-for-your-ipodiphone/
– $150?
– Looks lovely!
– PS3 3D Mode – 2010
– http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/04/ps3s-new-3d-mode-captured-on-video-coming-in-2010-to-all-exist/
– Will be available ‘in 2010’
– Enables 3D for all games
– Need a 3D TV, but not just a Sony Bravia 3D tv
– Migraines and motion sickness here we come
– Sony rep now says it’s conducting a technological investigation and there is no plan for the market launch of this at this time
– God Of War Collection
– God of War 1 & 2 on Blu-Ray
– 720p
– $40 + trophy support
– PS3 Firmware 3.0
– Thoughts?
30:11 – Left 4 Dead – Paid Content on Xbox
– Valve have said that MS insisted on making the DLC available in October, “paid for” content.
– Free for PC users but MS “wanted to make sure there’s an economy of value there”
– Download will cost 560 Microsoft Points (£4.76 / €6.72)
32:44 – OnLive Enters Beta
– Now open. US only
– http://www.onlive.com/beta_program.html
– The future of gaming? Will it scale? Good for casual games but not good enough for dedicated gamer?

Picks
Ian
Remember the Milk
– Web based todo manager
– On the surface it’s simple but easy to extend and configure to match GTD concepts

DigitalOutbox Episode 11

DigitalOutbox Episode 11
In this episode the team discuss Sony PS3 Slim and Apple.

Playback
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Shownotes
– Android
– Developers finding switch from iPhone development to Android .. lacking .. severly – http://daringfireball.net/2009/08/the_android_opportunity
– the Android state-of-the-art is today further behind the iPhone state-of-the-art than it was when the G1 debuted last October
– must do better
– iPhone needs decent competition to benefit everybody
– Layar – Augmented Reality Browser
– http://mashable.com/2009/08/18/layar/
– On android, iPhone coming soon
– Data layed on top of real world
– Shopping, finding places, games, house prices, restaurant reviews, find friends, geo-tagged images, tours
– Imagine translation layer – foreign country and the phone translates

– Twitter
– Geolocation API
– http://blog.twitter.com/2009/08/location-location-location.html
– Tweets near you
– tweets about a location – trending places?
– Users can connect locally – on the web site etc
– Retweet rework
– http://blog.twitter.com/2009/08/project-retweet-phase-one.html
– did this need to be re-worked?
– Business accounts
– With analytics and other metrics to help businesses

– Windows Mobile OS – 2 “current” versions next year?
– It’s looking likely that MS will run with 2 mobile operating systems concurrently
– WM 6.5 as an incremental upgrade over the current 6.0 edition
– WM 7 as a radical overhaul to for high end, touch based devices which MS will work in collaboration with manufacturers.
– MS have said they know they have been slow to respond (Version 7 has been in development or a long time) but they are solving this.
– With hardware development ramping up across the board and with Android / Windows Mobile development being focussed on – can Apple keep up? Do they want/need to?
– Could the same thing happen to phones as happened with MP3 players? I.e. iPod wasn’t the best player available but best infrastructure locked people in… This isn’t an issue whilst the iPhone remains the best phone on many levels but that’s not going to last forever(?!).

– Video adverts in print media!
– http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8211209.stm
– Slim-line screens, roughly size of mobile screens, sat in traditional paper magazines.
– Chip can hold up to 40 mins of video!
– Pepsi and CBS first to advertise in US based Entertainment Weekly magazine.
– Wowsers! Feels like something out of Minority Report.

– Apple
– FCC Inquiry
– AT&T – not involved in Google Voice rejection
– http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/21/atandt-tells-the-fcc-it-had-no-role-in-removing-google-voice-fro/
– Apple – http://www.apple.com/hotnews/apple-answers-fcc-questions/
– Not rejected, still looking at Google Voice app’s
– Says it has not rejected the Google Voice application and “continues to study it.”
– Apple’s concerned Google Voice alters “the iPhone’s distinctive user experience” and “disables Apple’s Visual Voicemail.”
– “The iPhone user’s entire Contacts database is transferred to Google’s servers, and we have yet to obtain any assurances from Google that this data will only be used in appropriate ways.” [Doesn’t Mac OS X do this when it syncs Address Book to Google? What’s the issue? — ed.] GV Mobile, GVDialer, and VoiceCentral all have the same issues.
– Says its “covering new ground and doing things that had never been done before,” and that “many of the issues we face are difficult and new.”
– Apple did not consult with AT&T about whether to approve Google Voice, and Apple alone makes the final decision on whether or not to approve iPhone apps, although part of the AT&T / Apple contract forbids Apple from approving VoIP apps that run on the cell network.
– “Most of the review process is consumed with quality issues and software bugs.”
– SlingPlayer Mobile was “initially rejected because redirecting a TV signal to an iPhone using AT&T’s cellular network is prohibited by AT&T’s customer Terms of Service.” [That’s pretty much the opposite of what AT&T promised us. — ed.]
– There are more than 40 full-time trained iPhone app reviewers, and at least two different reviewers go over each app. There’s also an App Store Executive Review Board that meets weekly to determine procedures and sets policy for the review process, and also reviews apps that are escalated to the board because they “raise new or complex issues.” [Hello, Phil Schiller!]
– Apple gets 8,500 new apps and updates a week, and it claims only 20 percent are not approved as originally submitted.
– Googles Response
– http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/21/googles-response-to-the-fcc/
– Redacted content
– What will happen? I think Google Voice will soon become an accepted app
– Apple are lying – they told the other Google Voice developers that their was rejected – not what they’ve said here
– App Store is changing – Qik now can upload over 3G, Obama art app which was rejected is now accepted with an expedited route through approval, developer of C64 emulator contacted by senior Apple rep and told him big news is coming soon

– iPhone 3GS best selling phone in Japan!!!! Reason? it’s free!!!

– iPhone to become most popular camera on Flickr
– http://mashable.com/2009/08/17/iphone-flickr/
– Despite poor image quality
– Watch it boom if iPod touch and nano come with camera
– iPhone, the number 1 camera on Flickr – surprise? I think so …

– TomTom GPS car kit will work with iPod Touch and other 3rd party S/W apps (CoPilot?) http://gizmodo.com/5339070/confirmed-tomtoms-gps-car-kit-will-work-with-ipod-touch-third-party-apps

– Event scheduled for Sep 9th?
– http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20090817/apple-event-scheduled-for-wednesday-sept-9-music-only-no-tablet/?mod=ATD_rss
– iPod’s, iTunes, no tablet
– Beatles – how many times have we heard this now?
– What is the massive data centre Apple is building going to be used for?

– Twitterific 2.1 update
– video recording and uploading
– updated contact sheet for better viewing
– numerous bug fixes and tweaks

– Gadgets n’ Games
– Sony Gamescom news
– PS3 slim unveiled – http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=221475
– launched first week of September worldwide
– €299 worldwide, $299 in US, £249 in UK
– Talk of shortages from retailers but denied by Sony
– 30% lighter, 32% smaller, 34% less power consumption
– current PS3 to get price cut
– looks like a matte finish (less of a dust magnet)
– hi-res pics here http://www.joystiq.com/photos/playstation-3-slim/2216305/full/
– $24 for a stand! Slim can’t stand vertically without another peripheral
– Faster gaming (improved chip speed?), supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio bitstream output to your receiver
– HDD is removable – http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/21/video-another-look-at-ps3-slim-and-its-removable-hdd/

– PS3 video store to launch in in Eur in Nov
– rent or buy SD/HD videos
– PS3 firmware 3.0 out on 1st Sept
– animated themes – hurrah
– “What’s New?” section
– BBC iPlayer
– ‘other’ interface tweaks
– PS3 Home 1.3 this september
– http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/08/19/playstation-home-v1-3-coming-this-september/
– Universal Game launching form within Home
– From Home to Start menu of game without signing out of home
– In store item previews
– Additional portable Objects
– Everyone will get a free camera – snap from 1st or 3rd person view, photo’s saved to photos in XMB
– More to come like…a bubble machine
– More gestures and poses for your avatar
– PS3 drops price immediately – £249
– LBP to get water levels – maybe time for me to dig it out again
– New Heavy Rain trailer reveals new character and ‘love’ theme
– New Uncharted 2 video looking as amazing as before – cannot wait for this
– Stunning GOW III in-game images from Gamescom http://www.joystiq.com/photos/god-of-war-3-gamescom/2217198/full
– more motion control goodies to be revealed at TGS in September
– PSP GO buyers in first 10 days of release to receive GT for free (register your PSP GO before Oct 10)
– PSP mini games available on PSN from Oct
– limited to 100MB each
– low dev costs
– iPhone inspired ??
– Fieldrunners, Hero of Sparta, Tetris and MiniGore and others successful on the iPhone will appear as mini games
– 50 titles by year end

– Dante’s Inferno trailer looking promising ..
– Pre-order Guitar Hero 5 from Amazon, get GHWT (game only) for FREE!!!! (game is £70 with guitar)
– PixelJunk Shooter looking awesome

– XBox360 Arcade to get £30 price hike? http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=221412
– Fable 3 in 2010
– Fable 2 goes episodic this year
– Logitech G27 steering wheel – looks awesome but £329.99. http://www.trustedreviews.com/peripherals/news/2009/08/18/Logitech-G27-Steering-Wheel-Debuts/p1

– Batman Arkham Asylum – played demo, rather bloody enjoyable, great atmosphere, detective mode is very cool, can be a button basher though

– Do UK Retailers Limit Game Market?
– http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8210622.stm
– US market also depressed – http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24837
– Exchange rate and pricing structure makes it difficult to break into UK
– Second hand market hurting game companies, restricting innovation
– Madden 10 – Online franchise needs code from within the pack when bought – second hand have to pay $10/800 MS Points to join
– Madden also has VIP lobbies, game type and server access – $4.99 or 400 points – I can understand the server access but not an increased difficulty.
– Digital Distribution the answer? Kill of Game etc?

– Your average hard-core gamer is no longer a teenager, but a 35 year old, over-weight, sad bastard http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/gamers-are-sad

– Sony stalling mass production of OLED displays due to recent losses they’ve sustained

– James Cameron’s Avatar – looks fantastic
– District 9 – a most welcome, low budget, low hyped spectacle. compared to the usual Hollywood, high-budget bores dished out by the ton

Picks
– Shakeel – PS3 Media Server
– no nonsense, free, easy to use media server for PS3
– best feature – streams MKV’s, allowing use of subs and DTS, all on the fly
– no encoding required
–
http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/
– Ian – BrowserLabs
– http://browserlab.adobe.com/
– Compare a web site in a variety of browsers without launching them OR booting into a different OS
– Firefox 2.0 – XP, Firefox 2.0 – OS X, Firefox 3.0 – XP, Firefox 3.0 – OS X, IE6 – XP, IE7 – XP, Safari OS X
– Not extensive but easier to hit this than use parallels or multiple machines
– Compare side by side or onion skin – overlap two browsers
– Chris – Sumo Paint & Pixlr
– http://www.sumopaint.com/
– http://pixlr.com/
– Wowsers! Online alternatives to Photoshop?
– Serious pieces of Flex coding. These kind of applications make you realise that we could one day spend life in the cloud.