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The future of technology is 'hacked'

PC Plus magazine — 1206100095

Pretty much everything in the world of tech these days is being hacked, either unofficially - in the case of iPhones - or with the manufacturers' blessing, as in the case of Intel and AMD.

Intel's 'Bad Axe' motherboards, for example, make it easy to overclock your CPU, and AMD-owned ATI provides an overclocking tool called OverDrive with its Radeon graphics cards.

Meanwhile Apple admits that 1.45 million of its iPhones are 'missing in action', which means they've almost certainly been hacked to run on other phone networks or to run unapproved applications.

The company has tried to fight the trend by 'bricking' iPhones - issuing software updates that disable hacked phones altogether - but it can't hold back the hacking tide. As soon as Apple has disabled a hack on the iPhone, the race is on to hack the firmware again.

It seems that if you can't beat 'em, you need to join 'em. Apple has already demoed its iPhone/iPod Software Development Kit (SDK), which will enable developers to supplement or replace the iPhone's standard applications. The hacking community has already unlocked it.

Meanwhile Google and Intel are offering eminently customisable, Linux-based platforms for phones and PCs in the form of Google's Android OS for phones and Intel's Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform for small portable PCs. Things are getting interesting.

Personal computing gets more personal

The open source Google Android platform brings the DIY/customisation ethic to mobile phones, a platform previously famed for the networks' strict rules on what applications handsets could run. Personal technology, it seems, is about to get even more personal.

Don't like your PC's performance? Hack the CPU. Wish your phone was a better games machine? Hack it and install an emulator. Don't like the way the web works? Install Firefox's Greasemonkey add-on and bend the entire Internet to your will. Reckon Half-Life 2 would be better if it featured a virtual Eamonn Holmes doing handstands? Build your own mod.

In many cases hacking can make an existing product even more attractive and boost sales. Some products have even been improved. TiVo devotees, for example, added Wi-Fi to the company's first-gen DVRs; while coders added applications such as My Movies and MCE Customiser to Microsoft's early Media Center software builds.

On a very basic level, how many of you hacked your DVD players to unlock its region coding? Sites like DVDexploder exist for precisely this reason.

Hardware firms now know that if they don't support the very lucrative modding market, their rivals will. Software developers know that community-created add-ons and extensions can make their programs more compelling.

And websites and services know that the more goodies they can offer, the more people will use their services - which is why Google and Yahoo! encourage developers to build 'mashups' from their various online services, Facebook offers an application development platform to annoy users more efficiently and publishing platforms such as Wordpress use 'widgets' to integrate popular services such as Flickr or Google AdSense.

There goes your data

When you install a widget built by Google or Microsoft you can be confident that it's not up to anything dodgy, but can you say the same for a third-party website add-on from a developer you've never heard of?

The risk from malicious online applications is fairly small - the very nature of the Internet means any dodgy deeds would be quickly exposed and widely publicised - but there are real concerns over data privacy and security.

For example, if you install a third-party Facebook application you'll be warned that Facebook doesn't screen or approve application developers and cannot control what they do with your data. As application developers are global, it's safe to assume that they neither know nor care about the Data Protection Act or other UK-specific legislation.

Website mashups - such as combining mapping services with other sources of data - are a particular concern, because by aggregating multiple data sources they can create worrying new applications.

As Tom Owad describes on AppleFritter, it's relatively easy to combine mapping data with Amazon wish lists. As he demonstrates, once you've done that you can see where, say, people who want to read 1984 live - and zoom right in to have a look at their house.

Add in someone's Flickr photos, the classified ads they've posted online, their Facebook news feed and the electoral roll data used by sites such as 192.com and you've got an extremely comprehensive picture of someone's life.

Middling security

Another concern about mashups and third-party applications is what's known as a man-in-the-middle attack. As IBM Research's Paul Karger told the 2007 IEEE Web 2.0 Security and Privacy Workshop, "With mashups, the presence of a man-in-the-middle is totally legitimised. The operator of the mashup might be trustworthy, or the operator might be an evil attacker, and the end user has no way of knowing the difference."

Even if the middleman is legitimate, that doesn't mean your data is secure. No matter how well various websites and services protect your data, if the site that combines them doesn't take security equally seriously then it's a very weak link in the chain - and a potential goldmine for the various villains that infest the Internet.

For most of us, though, the risks of open platforms and online data are massively outweighed by the benefits. After all, if it weren't for openness the Internet as we know it wouldn't exist. Would you trade today's Internet for the walled garden days of CompuServe and AOL? No, neither would we.

Apple TV DVR worth 'billions', says analyst

Don Reisinger — 1205833523

Apple could walk away with 'billions' if the company releases an Apple TV DRV, says American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu. His comments were made in response to the recently uncovered patent filing of an Apple TV DVR boasting recording and playback controls of live programming.

Wu believes the DVR features outlined in the patent filing could be found in the third or fourth iteration of the Apple TV. They would finally turn the device into a profitable business venture instead of the 'hobby' Steve Jobs was quick to call it when it was first introduced last year, he said.

Apple TV is a 'minor contributor'

"We estimate Apple TV to be a very minor contributor today at 0.3-0.4 per cent of revenue or $100-125 million (£50-60 million) annually," Wu wrote in a note to clients. "We believe adding the ability to watch and record live TV could turn this into a billion dollar, if not multi-billion dollar business."

Wu contends that adding DVR features to the Apple TV would increase the cost of the product by a "negligible amount". He believes it fits into Apple's plan of upgrading the device on a more consistent basis with features that consumers have been asking for all along.

Apple declined to comment on the possibility of an Apple TV DVR, but judging by the sudden increase in rumours surrounding the upgrade, look for more on this in the coming weeks.

CD burner that's a 1TB hard drive

Audley Jarvis — 1204822742

Industrial CD-ripping specialist Ripfactory has turned its attention towards the home audio server market with the launch of a new automated burner that doubles up as a 1TB Network Storage Device. No, that wasn't a typo: this little ripper really can store one terabyte of music. That's around 250,000 individual MP3s at 4MB a track.

Called the Ripserver, it looks much like any other square black box, but plugs into a network connection and can be used to automatically rip CDs to a user-selected bitrate in either FLAC or MP3 format. Simply insert the disc and it’ll do the rest, adding all freshly ripped content to the media library before gently spitting the disc out when it’s done.

Rip Van Winkle

The device runs on a Linux operating platform and is configured via a simple web browser interface. In addition to the actual music, it’ll also store useful metadata including album covers. A USB port also allows secondary or backup storage devices to be attached.

Taking care of media server duties, the Ripserver’s integrated UPnP server includes both Twonkymedia and SqueezeCenter for media serving to any network-connected audio device.

Compatible with a host of media server devices from the likes of Buffalo, Escient, Sonos, Logitech, Netgear, Sony and Philips, the Ripfactory Ripserver is available now. It'll set you back £599 for the 500GB model and £699 for its 1TB big brother.

The six-million dollar home theatre man

Audley Jarvis — 1202748687

You’ve got to hand it to Jeremy Kipinis – in terms of taking the biscuit for the most outrageous home cinema set-up, his $6m (£3m) system must surely be an entire truckload of chocolate covered Hob-Nobs ahead of anything else out there.

The six-million dollar system is called the Kipinis Studio Standard, and its owner proudly claims that it’s the “Greatest show on Earth.” With no fewer than 16 18” Snell sub-bass units, 30 McIntosh MC-2102 Amplifiers, eight Snell THX Music and Cinema Reference towers, a Sony SRX-S110 4K projector capable of producing 4096 x 2160, and a giant 18 x 10-foot Stewart screen it’s certainly an impressive beast.

In addition to screening movies from Blu-ray, HD DVD or standard DVD (up-scaled, naturally), the KSS can also be used to watch TV, browse the internet, view photography slideshows, or just listen to music with. It really can do everything bar wash the dishes. Better still, its many functions can all be accessed from a single, touch-screen tablet.

Naturally a home cinema this big is going to require some sophisticated housing and so it is with the KSS. According to its owner the KSS sits inside a custom-built 2250 square foot, two-story hall with a vaulted ceiling. The floor is one-inch-thick solid maple flooring on four-inch tall pine studs, which sits on a solid 16-inch reinforced concrete foundation isolated on solid steel girders all the way down to bedrock. Clearly, Mr Kipinis doesn’t like to do things by halves.

While most journalists who’ve been lucky enough to receive an invite have been wowed by the KSS, the system is not entirely without its critics. No online article about the KSS is complete without more than a few negative comments from home cinema enthusiasts. Many centre on the fact that $6m is simply too much for the benefits, while others have questioned the logic of placing vibration-sensitive tube amps directly in front of 18” sub-woofers.

Whatever your own view, it’s certainly the most over-the-top home cinema set-up we’ve seen and for that alone, Mr Kipinis should be saluted.

Escient's 4TB AV servers in time for Easter

Dan George — 1202380122

This Easter, US music server specialist Escient will launch a groundbreaking range of high-end AV servers with enormous storage capacity. Called Vision, the new range – which starts at £3,000 – features full digital vision management and allows both audio and videophiles to store, spin, import and stream not only music, but movies, too.

Sound and Vision

Although expensive, the Vision series is notable for its range of impressive features. The players are almost unique in being able to (legally) import an entire DVD – menus and all.

The ripped DVD’s encryption is retained (bit-for-bit) and the server then adds a further layer of protection to ‘lock’ the content to the machine. Users can also choose to strip out trailers and other pre-movie features and titles can then be searched by cover art – like in iTunes. Escient describes its fifth-generation interface as “the most sophisticated on the market”.

Further key features include 1080p upscaling – allowing users to watch movie content in HD, plus compatibility with the forthcoming Rhapsody music subscription service, with its 500-million-song database.

At the top of the four-strong Vision range is the mighty VX600 – a £5,499 AV monster packing in an incredible four terabytes worth of storage. At the opposite end, the range is the £2,999 VC-1, a dual 500GB entry-level Vision model.

Archos TV+ lands in the UK

Anna Lagerkvist — 1202318812

Archos today announced the UK launch of the Archos TV+, the Wi-Fi-enabled entertainment centre poised to take on the Apple TV we told you about last month.

The Archos TV+ combines a wireless media player that can record and play back TV content with internet access, movie downloads via the Archos Content Portal, music and video streaming, drag-and-drop file transfers, and the ability to store and view photos and videos.

You can transfer content straight to your computer, digital video recorder, or portable media player. The Archos TV+ also lets you start watching a movie while it’s still downloading in the background, for minimal delay. Archos said a two-hour film takes about 10 minutes to download.

Bridges the gap

“The Archos TV+ bridges the gap between the internet and TV,” said Tony Limrick, managing director of Archos. “We are going where everyone else, including Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon, has failed – we’re providing a device that lets you record and play back TV, as well as all your other entertainment content.”

Supported formats include MPEG4, WMV, H.264 up to DVD resolution and AAC sound (with an optional plug-in), but not DivX. There’s also Wi-Fi, stereo analogue, composite, S-video, RGB, Ethernet, USB, and HDMI connectivity.

The Archos TV+ is available from today in two versions; the 80GB will set you back £180 while the 250GB version (giving you around 450 hours of video) is priced at £250.

Limrick also told us about the Archos Media Club, an online media store due to launch in the UK in April. Archos is in talks with ‘major movie studios’ about partnerships so watch this space for more news as we get it…

Sony Vaio range gets Intel Core 2 Duo upgrade

Audley Jarvis — 1201861565

Sony has announced a shake-up of its Vaio product range with a number of new models set to benefit from Intel’s shiny Core 2 Duo chipset and Blu-ray optical drives.

First up is the all-singing all-dancing Vaio AR60 series, which gets an Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 processor along with 4GB of RAM. Capable of displaying a 1080p Full HD picture in its 17-inch screen, the new model also benefits from a 50GB dual layer Blu-ray drive, an integrated DVB-T tuner for Freeview on the go, and an HDMI output.

Weighing just 1.79kg, the new Vaio SZ70 series sports a carbon fibre outer and is designed to be an ultra-portable professional laptop. Packing an Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor and 4GB of RAM as standard, the Vaio SZ70 also boasts HSDPA technology allowing it to connect to the internet at speeds of up to 3.6Mbps through 3G mobile telephone networks.

Blu-ray as standard

The lightweight, magnesium-housed FZ30 series comes with a T8300 processor and 4GB of RAM. Featuring a dual layer Blu-ray drive, 1080p Full HD compatibility and an HDMI output, could this be Sony’s reply to the MacBook Pro? Given that there aren’t any product images circulating just yet, we’ll have to wait and see.

Slotting in a bit lower down the league, the CR30 is Sony’s latest ‘personality based’ Vaio model. Available with either a T8100 or more powerful T8300 Intel Core 2 Duo, the Vaio FZ30 gets a 1.3megapixel in-built camera for video chat. Using AV Mode, users can also play DVDs or CDs without having to launch Windows first.

Also of interest is the new Sony Vaio TP2 Home Entertainment Centre. Designed to sit in the living room, the T8100-equipped media centre features a Blu-ray combo drive that’ll play HD movies on either a TV or a PC display via the T2’s HDMI output. The unit also functions as a DVB-T digital/analogue tuner and a PVR with a 500GB hard disc.

3ga launches JB7 digital jukebox

Audley Jarvis — 1201711272

Cambridge-based 3ga has launched an innovative ‘digital jukebox’ hi-fi component that’s designed to make shifting through piles of untidy CDs a thing of the past.

Available in 40GB or 80GB versions, the JB7 is part CD-ripper, part MP3 player and part amplifier. Speaker out terminals at the back of the unit enable it to be used as a standalone hi-fi component capable of generating 60W – enough to fill most rooms.

CDs are ripped at a speed of 8x, and can be encoded as 128, 192, or 320kbps MP3 files. It’s a fairly simple ‘one-touch’ process, although the lack of an Ethernet connection means users have to rely on a supplied FreeDB database disc to get track names.

That’s fine if your music collection consists of fairly popular and not all that up-to-date material. But it's far from cutting-edge if you have a taste for obscure independent music. If that’s the case, album and track names can be manually inputted. To make up for the lack of internet connectivity, 3ga says it will provide updated FreeDB discs four times a year to its customers.

USB connectivity

Adding to the JB7s versatility is a USB connection on the front. This can be used to play or transfer MP3 files stored on an iPod, other MP3 player, or even a USB memory stick. Anything formatted in FAT16 or FAT32, basically. The USB connection can also be used to back-up your JB7 library to an external hard-drive

Sadly, tracks stored on the JB7 cannot be loaded directly onto an iPod, and the JB7 doesn’t support Apple AAC or Windows-flavoured WMA files either.

In addition to direct speaker connections, the back of the JB7 also sports line-in and line-out options, as well as a headphone socket and a socket for the 24V power supply. The unit comes with a credit-card remote as well.

Prices are £299 for the 40GB version and £319 for the 80GB model.

Apple TV like 'lipstick on a pig'

Rob Mead — 1201174220

Steve Jobs' keynote at Macworld 2008 was more of a whimper than bang, and most of its product announcements were misses - or at least that's what one Microsoft PR man thinks.

Under the headline 'Reality Distortion Failure', Frank Shaw of Waggener Edstrom writes on his blog:

"Apple stepped to the plate today, IMHO, and hit... a single. The company won't be up to bat again for a while... if you are only up a few times a year, you better hit some home runs."

Shaw singles out the new version of Apple TV and the MacBook Air for particular attention. Of the first he says:

"The fact that the 'hobby' Apple TV got a whole refresh was not noted in the first round of coverage, but sure was in the second -- the product was a conspicuous failure first time out, and lots of lipstick on the pig second time around will be needed."

MacBook Air = G4 Cube

He also predicts that the MacBook Air will be a failure:

"The Air, the hero of the show, reminds me just a bit too much of the Cube. Great design, gorgeous, beautiful - market failure. Think I'm stretching? Lots of comparisons - closed, underpowered, etc. One of the best laptops I ever had was the Powerbook Duo210 - so if you slap a docking station into the mix with the Air, let me carry a second battery, then maybe..."

Shaw then goes on to point out why big Apple events like the Macworld keynote are flawed as PR exercises... and, of course, why Microsoft does it so much better.

People in glass houses

He conveniently ignores Microsoft's repeated failure to gain a foothold in the TV space with initiatives like Web TV.

One commenter on the Glass House blog also points out that the 'lipstick on a pig' could equally be applied to Windows Vista, while another says "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones".

Macworld preview: Major Apple TV upgrade due?

Don Reisinger — 1200305026

Apple has failed to meet analyst predictions that it would sell 1 million Apple TVs by the end of 2007. The company has reported that it sold only 400,000 or so of the devices through the third quarter of last year and will be unable to hit the analyst mark.

Despite Steve Jobs calling the product a 'hobby' and saying that he would give it an 18-month trial period, it looks like a major upgrade could be in the works. In fact, the Apple TV could see the most drastic upgrade of any Apple product at Macworld, according to numerous reports, with some speculating that it could be an important part of Apple's plan to offer movie rentals through iTunes.

New Apple TV relies on movie rentals

Whether or not Apple will indeed announce iTunes movie rentals at Macworld may prove to be the determining factor behind the company's decision to unveil a new Apple TV. If the company is not yet ready to announce rentals, there is little reason to unveil an upgrade. On the other hand, if Steve Jobs does announce the new service, the company will need a reliable set-top box to accompany it.

Regardless, all of these questions will be answered on Tuesday when Steve Jobs takes the stage at Macworld.