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In Depth: 12 life-enhancing programs for your Mac

Hollin Jones — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 10:00:00 GMT

Since computer technology became an integral part of our lives it has gone from being purely a functional tool to something we use for social interaction, leisure and personal pursuits. Social networking is the most obvious example, with sites like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo enjoying huge popularity.

Tools for blogging, tracing your family line or sharing pictures, videos and diaries online are also commonplace. There are many other small applications for the Mac with specialist aims, too, including improving your sleep, tracking travel news or streaming webcam images to your Desktop. You'll find almost all the programs mentioned here on your DVD, plus links to the developers' web pages.

Wallet
$15, Mac OS X 10.3.9+
Managing passwords and numbers can be tiresome. Enter Wallet, an elegant manager for sensitive data such as passwords, serial numbers and credit card numbers. Using 448-bit Blowfish encryption, Wallet integrates with .Mac, Backup and iPods, as well as featuring a password generator and Dashboard widget for access.

Pzizz
$30, Mac OS X 10.4+
Here's an app for insomniacs! Pzizz is an intriguing little program that uses a mixture of randomly generated and chosen sound effects, textures, and soothing, recorded speech to aid restful sleep. Choose whether you want to be energised or relaxed and the software will create a suitable soundtrack accordingly. Soundtracks can be exported to iTunes. It's an interesting solution for those having sleep or energy problems.

Miro
Freeware, Mac OS X 10.3+
Miro is a free video player and online streaming program. As well as being able to open video files locally on your Mac, it's able to search and play videos from YouTube, Google, Yahoo and many more. It also supports video RSS feeds so that you can subscribe to online channels, auto download and deletion after a set period, watch folders, and full-screen display of practically all major video formats.

Gizmo
Freeware, Mac OS X 10.3.9+
Like Skype, Gizmo is a cross-platform internet telephone solution that uses your mic, speaker and broadband connection to make calls to other computers running Gizmo. Calls to computers are completely free, or you can make or receive calls to regular phones at competitive international rates. The software can also record conversations, transfer files, instant message, show users on a map and group chat! So, what are you waiting for?

MacFamilyTree
$49, Mac OS X 10.3.9+
Mapping your family history traditionally involved taping together huge amounts of paper on a large table. MacFamilyTree is based on the Gedcom Standard for the international exchange of genealogical data, and lets you add photos, video and sound, and upload family trees to the web. Specially designed to deal with family data like relatives, places and dates of births and deaths, it's an elegant solution.

EarthDesk
$24, Mac OS X 10.4+
EarthDesk replaces your Desktop picture with a real-time image of the Earth's surface, including sun, moon and cloud cover. It supports multiple monitors and 11 types of view, with political and satellite images. With a broadband connection, EarthDesk hooks into data sources across the world, ensuring what you see is accurate.

FlickrExport for iPhoto
£12, Mac OS X 10.3+
We all know only too well that saving photos out of iPhoto to a folder, and then uploading them one by one to Flickr is a tedious process. Luckily, there's FlickrExport, a plug-in which, once installed, appears as an option on export from iPhoto, and can send pictures straight to Flickr. What's more, it supports batch-setting of titles and tags, automatic resizing and automatic assigning to a collection. Overall, this app could prove to be a huge timesaver.

Sofa Control
$15, Mac OS X 10.4+
Most new Macs come with an Apple Remote Control. By default, its functionality is rather limited, so how can you extend it? By using Sofa Control, which lets you control a wider range of applications including Keynote, PowerPoint, Safari, Preview, VLC and more. It's fully customisable, and supports other system functions too, such as the volume, sleep time, zoom and display settings. Combine this tool with the Remote and you'll have more control than ever.

Last.fm Radio Player
Freeware, Mac OS X 10.4+
Last.fm is a website designed to help you discover new music online and interact with others who share your tastes. You can search for and stream music online, but the most interesting feature is the Radio Player, a free download that streams music, pictures and artist information over the net to you, either on demand or based on your listening habits. It's a great way to discover new music.

Our favourite everyday tools

Delicious Library
£40, Mac OS X 10.3+
Delicious Library is a cool cataloguing tool that lets you index books, CDs, DVDs and games. Connect a webcam and the program scans its barcode, then retrieves all the relevant info about that product from the internet. With support for voice and Spotlight searching, iPod sync and even library-style checkout functions for lending items to friends, it's a powerhouse.

Blogger widget for OS X
Freeware, Mac OS X 10.4+
Blogging is well-established, but the act of logging into Blogger and reaching the compose page is tedious. Use the Blogger widget instead: just type or paste your text into it and post directly to your blog without opening a browser! It supports HTML tags and saving as draft for later editing. It's not on the DVD, so head to www.google.com/macwidgets.

Facebook exporter for iPhoto
Freeware, Mac OS X 10.4+
Editing, tagging and exporting images before uploading to Facebook can be a drawn-out process. This plug-in appears in iPhoto's Export panel, and lets you select multiple images, pick or create a new Facebook album and add captions to the images prior to upload. You can also tag friends so the pictures arrive at your Facebook account already formatted.

Exclusive: ILM: Pushing the FX envelope

John Brandon — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:30:00 GMT

High-end computing projects don't happen in a fantasy realm where someone waves a wand and a fully formed project bursts forth with just the flick of a wrist.

Just ask Tim Alexander, the Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, based near downtown San Francisco. It was Alexander's team who figured out how to make the swirling mass of particles look massive and yet finely detailed at the end of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, employing new techniques for particle displacement.

In this exclusive interview with PC Plus magazine, Tim Alexander of Industrial Light & Magic goes beyond the magical features for specific theatrical releases. He delves into how ILM stays ahead of the curve in digital effects, the challenges they face in making effects look realistic and amazing, and even the software used to create them.

What do you consider some of the major achievements from the last couple of years?

Tim Alexander: The major development in the past couple of years has really been water. I would say that's where a lot of companies have focused. It's where we have focused, especially with movies like Pirates and Poseidon. Transformers was also pretty (much been a) breakthrough for us. That's more of a hard-surface model show, but I think that as an industry, water has been the thing over the past couple of years.

I think that the more organic type of visual effects or simulations is probably where the next big breakthroughs lie. Like fire – things that we still have difficulty making on the computer that are still better to go out and photograph. Although you can't always go out and photograph everything that you want, which is why people come to us.

What evolutions in computing have helped you to push forward with effects?

TA: Over the past few years, the workstations at our artists' desktops have changed from single-processor to dual-core and quad-core, and now the higher-end video cards allow us to harness that power. So we make sure that all of our in-house software is hardware-accelerated, start doing simulation art as well through hardware acceleration and then additionally use that hardware acceleration for technologies in games as well, for doing fast previewing, that type of thing.

That's what we want – to enable the artist to be able to use those types of technologies. We need large amounts of RAM too, so most of our machines now have four cores with 16 gigs of RAM.

What about 64-bit computing? I know Photoshop is still 32-bit – is that a problem?

TA: Not really. A lot of the software that we use is Linux-based, and pretty much every vendor we deal with as well as our internal software is 64-bit. The exceptions to that are compositing programs like Shake, which is now out of development and never hit a 64-bit build. The artists that need programs like Photoshop on their desktops have Windows machines. And typically they're not dealing with large data like the Linux users. So 64-bit computing is not an issue.

What kind of Linux software are you using?

TA: Our internal software is Zeno, which started out as our matching tool. We would use it to duplicate the on-set camera in the computer so we could put CG characters into a shot and make sure they're tracking to the ground plan. It's grown from that and now we use it for almost all aspects of our work. We typically don't model in Zeno. Modelling is done in Maya or Alias or programs like Brush.

Once you get past that point, all the creature development work – like putting muscles in creatures, water simulations, hard body simulation – is done in Zeno. Lighting is done in Zeno. Rendering is done through Zeno using Renderman – which is another example of a Linux application that we use.

It's obviously not to save money, so why do you use Linux tools?

TA: Linux has traditionally been more scalable for the type of work that we do. We've always been Linux-based back to the SGI days, and we've kept with that.

How are you using dark fibre?

TA: Internally, we use dark fibre to communicate externally. We have dark fibre going up to the Skywalker Ranch and Big Rock, which is the other facility there. So it's used for communicating between the companies that aren't right next door to each other. We use a very similar pipeline to some of the work that they're doing up at the Ranch and so we're able to share files as if they are on our same server.

We also have a facility over in Singapore and we're able to access their disk as if it's local. It's really great. It's kind of slow and there's a lot of latency involved, but we're able to change over into their shop directories and see movies and that type of thing.

Looking back 30 years, what do you think ILM's contribution has been to movie making?

TA: Huge [laughter]. Obviously, I'm biased because I work here, but even when I was working down at Disney, we would take field trips to go see the work that ILM was doing. There have been so many moments in ILM's history where there's some sort of breakthrough. The big one for me was Jurassic Park. I wasn't working for ILM at that time.

We all went to see Jurassic Park and we were like, 'oh man, I don't know what we're doing, but they're doing something completely different'. And it still holds up today. You see those dinosaurs and you still buy them. It's that kind of thing that I think ILM has made huge contributions to. We aspire to try and recreate that Jurassic Park moment in movies that we're working on today, so that 30 years from now it still looks awe-inspiring.

That's an interesting point. I talked to the CTO at Disney and he was talking about the scene in National Treasure where Nicolas Cage jumps off the bridge. He said it was a combination of a model and digital effects. Do you do things like that too, or are you moving more towards all digital all the time?

TA: It's both. We still look at a shot and say 'it's way better to do the miniature'. There are a lot of situations that are better done that way – you get a more realistic effect. So we definitely keep our eye on those. As the technology's progressing, we find that we can do more and more of those types of effects on the computer.

Sometimes, it isn't just the technology factor. On Star Wars: Episode Three, we had to use miniatures because we didn't have enough time or people to build everything on the computer. It was better to spread out the work so that it would look good and hold up. So you have to look at what's going to look best, but you also look at what resources are available.

Give me a picture of what it's like to work at ILM. What's a typical day like for you?

TA: It's an exciting environment and every show runs a little bit differently, but typically I come in in the morning, get together with the artists and look at their shots – what ran the night before. This is where our processing power comes into play: we can run a large number of hi-res shots overnight and see the results in the morning.

We have a lot of people working behind the scenes overnight to make sure that the shots run so that when we come in the next morning we have something to look at. That's really the beginning of the day. We look at the shots, comment on it and give people some feedback and a direction to go in. And then most of the rest of the day is involved with getting into meetings with the artists over larger issues like if we're not really sure quite how we're doing this type of shot yet.

We'll get everybody together, talk about it and try to figure out how we're going to do the water for that shot or the fire for that shot or something like that. It's a pretty free-form environment. There's no hard-and-fast rule imposed by the company on how it's supposed to run.

I think we run well and efficiently because we've been doing it for years and there's nobody saying "at 9am you have to be here in this room to do this thing and then at 10am you're going to be over here". It's really dependent on the makeup of the show, the people involved and what the work is like.

Why do you have to do the shots overnight, and when will it be much more instantaneous?

TA: We're striving for hardware acceleration techniques so we can pre-visualise much faster. We're still at the place where a large water simulation could run over days. We multi-process our simulations with 16 processors, sometimes up to 32. You start getting diminishing returns at a certain point because you're pushing so much data around that it starts becoming more of a data flow problem than a processing power problem.

Everyone needs to go home because we need the hours to process the data and to make images. Obviously, we want to strive to get as much real time as we can, and that's why the company as a whole is trying to combine what we're doing at LucasArts and what we're doing at ILM. We're trying to bring those technologies together so that ILM can benefit from the faster techniques that Arts is using and maybe Arts can benefit from ILM's look and feel.

Where do you think you are on the continuum with movies and games both looking pretty realistic? Are you still way ahead?

TA: I would say that an audience member who is going to go pay 10 dollars in the movie theatre would think that video games are not realistic enough for the work that we're doing. Even just in terms of organic effects in video games – and I play a lot of games so I've seen a lot of them. Uncharted [on the PS3] was one that I've played recently that has a lot of fire effects and those types of things.

They wouldn't hold up in a long shot. You know, even if you had a shot that is going by pretty quickly a lot of that stuff wouldn't hold up. At times we try to find that balance internally – like if we're going to go do a huge fire scene that's only on-screen for like a second, can we just do something quick and easy there?

But I do see the technologies converging and I think for the appropriate type of movies right now, you could do a full CG movie that wouldn't bother anybody. However, I think that mixing live action with video game qualities would be obvious at this point. There's just a level of detail that we even struggle to achieve sometimes with huge numbers of processors and hours and hours of rendering time.

Is there a difference between the digital effects you'd do for what I would call a captive audience, meaning that they're sitting there kind of chained to it, and effects for the movie goer?

TA: Yeah, I think so. And hopefully I'm not interpreting incorrectly, but with World of Warcraft or something, you're creating a much larger environment that's more free form. You're allowing people to explore in it and make their own decisions, so you sort of have to build for all angles.

You also have to create an environment that people will be able to sit in for hours and hours on end. Often what we do here at ILM is sort of build to camera – so we're kind of like a movie set or a theatre where you go behind the set and all you see is boards. When you're sitting at the computer, you have to think about it from all angles. Now what that means is you can't get as much detail as you might get with film.

And again, that's changing. I mean, video games are getting way better looking and much higher end. But you have to pick a level of detail that you can achieve for the size of your environment and how much you want people to be able to explore. And we don't do it in real time. We don't have to let people choose. The director gets to choose where they want people to go and then we dress for that angle.

Do you think LucasArts and ILM will some day merge and become one company creating both assets?

TA: I think we definitely have a goal to be working together and making games that are better and making films that are better – and maybe some day those will converge and we'll have a new media type that nobody's seen yet. In terms of immersion, I think what games have going for them is the whole online experience, actually interacting with people and making friends online. It becomes much more of a social thing versus going to a movie, where you're not talking with people, you're getting more of a story.

I think some video games recently have been pretty amazing at conveying story while letting you play. Uncharted is a good example of that where you almost feel like you're watching a movie while you're playing the game because they're putting you into the major drama.

You mentioned the term 'hard-surface model'. Can you describe what that means?

TA: That's typically something that doesn't have a deforming surface, like a car or a spaceship. We could blow those up or dent them or whatever, but typically we refer to hard surfaces as anything that you wouldn't normally see deforming. We have modelers that specialise in hard-surface modeling and modelers that specialise in organic modeling. They're different skill sets – the ins and outs of organic creatures versus hard surfaces where you're dealing with how surfaces curve and catch the light.

What's the future for effects? You mentioned fire and water. Is one of the challenges mixing two different renders?

TA: I think so, definitely. I also think large-scale environment work is a challenge for the future. Being able to realise large environments in the computer would be extremely helpful for a lot of shooting or cinematography. If you have to go on location for three months to shoot in a jungle, it's going to be really expensive. Some day we could create that in the computer.

Then you can give the director more flexibility to change camera angles and that type of thing. I'm not suggesting that we just do everything on the computer because there's something about having a cinematographer looking through the lens, understanding the beauty of a shot and how to shoot it. If we could some day get everything on the computer, you'd have to figure out some way to get the cinematographers and directors to be able to apply their craft to it.

Where are we on conquering 'the uncanny valley'?

TA: As an industry, we tend to fall into the valley a lot. Over the past few years, there have been moments where I've looked at an effect and been like "oh my, I had no idea that that was fake". An example is the baby from Lemony Snicket.

We did a full CG baby and there are a few close-up shots that really are amazing. But then there's a couple of other shots of the baby where you can tell that it's not quite there. So as an industry we do hit it, we do get to that reality point, though we fall into the valley. It's a little hit or miss; there's no formula for it yet.

Is it that you think it looks real on the computer screen, but then when you see it in the movie theatre it looks different?

TA: Our team aren't afraid to ask questions. We have a whole art department who help the artist and effects supervisors try to figure out why something's not looking right. There are many checks and balances in place for us to try to put out the best most realistic looking product that we can.

If you have somebody running across the screen and you're watching it this big versus this big [motions small and big with hands], it makes a difference to how you perceive how fast that object is moving. So being able to view it at different scales is really important.

In Depth: Make a laptop cooling stand

Neil Mohr — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Laptops might have been designed with portability and long battery life in mind, but they weren't designed for comfort. Use a laptop on your coffee table for more than five minutes and you're transformed into a warped and twisted, hunchbacked visage of a human being, proclaiming thanks that she did, indeed, give us water and the internets.

What we need is something that raises and angles your fine laptop into a more human-friendly angle. And while we do thank the clever clogs for pointing out a book shoved under the back of the laptop would do just that, it's hardly what we'd call an elegant solution as we try and raise ourselves above the level of tramp.

As it happens it's easy enough to grab an acrylic sheet and bend the two ends to produce an effective custom laptop stand. You just need to vary the height of the back-end to adjust the angle. If you're running a performance laptop then it's easy to add cooling, via an extra case fan powered off a USB port.

An A3-sized acrylic sheet should be fine for most laptops enough. We've opted for a 3mm thick sheet that costs less than £3, but for laptops over 3kg, use a sheet 4mm thick.

What you will need

A3 acrylic sheet

Case fan

USB cable

Protective gloves

Hot-air paint stripper

Soldering kit

Clamps

Workbench

Wire wool

1. At its heart this make is superbly easy, but due to the hot- air gun, we'd recommend a workbench.

2. Make sure you get a decent-sized acrylic sheet, we'll need about 7 to 10cm for the rear fold and 3 to 5cm for the front fold then 20 to 30cm for the main section. As it turns out an A3 sheet is about right and widely available on eBay.

3. Measure and clamp the sheet in place and peel any protective plastic well out of the way. Pop on protective gloves and use the heat gun on a 'cool' 300°C setting. Evenly heat the sheet where you want the fold. This will take a good few minutes.

4. Once you've made the back fold. Do the same for the front. We bent this completely back on itself to make a comfortable fold if we rest it on our legs.

5. That could be it right there, but we're going to add extra cooling. Flip the laptop over and mark out where the cooling vents are, drill/cut slowly otherwise you'll crack the plastic.

6. Take an existing USB cable and strip a suitable length of cable.

7. Choose a low-power fan as it'll only be supplied with 5v rather than the required 12v. Solder the black and red connections together.

8. To make a neat finish, counter sink screw holes in the plastic, so the fan screws will be flush.

9. Our final touch is to add a strip of silicon rubber or you could use rubber pads to stop the laptop from slipping.

10. Done!

In Depth: Happy 10th Birthday Google!

Dan Grabham — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Today sees Google, Inc., hit its tenth birthday. To mark the occasion we've run a whole series of articles providing new insights into what it's like to work at Google as well as exclusive tips and tricks to help you search smarter.

To kick off, we trawled our collective memories (those are the things we used to have before Google) and drawn up a list of the search engines we used to rely on in those dark pre-Google days. Take our Life before Google quiz and see how many you remember.

Tuesday saw us bring you 101 Google Tips, Tricks and Hacks. It's the ultimate find-things-fast list, and whether you're a Google pro or you just type random words into the search box and hope for the best, you'll be searching smarter once you've read this. Add your own tips in the comment box and help us compile the list of all lists!

Google also chose this week to launch its own web browser, called Google Chrome. For the full lowdown, check out our article 20 things you need to know about Google Chrome. For Mozilla's take on the launch, read our interview with Mozilla's European head, Tristan Nitot. And for a web developer's take, see what Marcus Dyson, CEO of leading UK web developers, eleventeenth has to say.

Is Chrome more than just a web browser, though? Dan Grabham thinks its all part of a bigger plan. And over on the Editor's Blog, Nick Merritt lines up the companies that are going to be less than happy to see Chrome arrive on the web.

Wednesday featured a fascinating insight into how Googlers use their 20 per cent time - the scheme that allows Google's engineers to spend one day a week working on projects that aren't part of their day-to-day jobs.

We also posted more on Google Chrome, including our hands-on Google Chrome review and 30 essential Google Chrome tips. We also pitted Google Chrome against IE8 beta 2 and Firefox 3.1, and then test Google Chrome against Opera and Safari.

On a lighter note, we took a look at how different the web and the world around us would be in a world without Google and examine five jobs you never thought would exist at Google. Really. We've talked to the chef. We've quizzed the guy who Googlifies the office, too and more besides.

To round off Google week, we've profiled some of the work that is going in in Google Labs. Read about how search is evolving in Secrets from Google's Labs.

We hope you've enjoyed reading our Google week coverage as much as we've enjoyed writing it!

In Depth: Secrets from Google's labs

John Brandon — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:30:00 GMT

Google has become a behemoth of innovation and a harbinger of intellectual capital.

Yet, despite its obviously self-written Google Finance summary that says it "maintains an index of websites and other online content," the company is actually a dual-purpose entity. It's a very successful experiment in social engineering (where people flock to its Internet properties) and a vast advertising network (where those same people see countless ads).

Google has tapped – like no other company – the power of several million or perhaps billion sites that serve its ad links, usually for free. It's an amazing concept: if you build powerful and useful tools and establish your company as an Internet oracle, you can attract millions of people to your advertising network and fuel even more innovation. If it fails at innovation, people will stop using its ad system and its revenue could start to fizzle out. We're here to tell you: that is not going to happen, because we have seen the future of Google in the form of its ongoing research projects.

Universal 'one-box' search

Universal search – or 'one box' search – has to do with how the company presents search results. In 2007, in a subtle yet important change, Google shifted from presenting just text links to more universal results that include photos, news, blog entries, video and even book excerpts.

David Bailey, a Google engineer, says they are experimenting with the algorithms for universal search. For example, if you use the term 'Martin Luther King' you may see more archival information, such as book excerpts and far fewer news reports. If you search for a movie star, you may see more news, YouTube videos or photos. The implication here is that Google is categorising through artificial intelligence: during the split second that the company analyses its database of web indexes, it's also analysing the term, figuring out how to present the UI so it's more focused on images, text or video. Yet, it's going deeper than that. For video, as an example, it's analysing the file size, codec, star ratings and other data to determine the best video results.

Google has also moved away from 'operators' such as 'movie:iron man' that dictate results. Power users can still use this search syntax, but Google automatically looks at your search term (for instance, 'Iron Man'), knows it's a recent movie and so presents showtimes and reviews. Universal search is also becoming more 'web 2.0' aware and crawls through details such as Yelp.com restaurant reviews or Zillow.com home prices to present more detailed results. "A big part of my job is to shine a spotlight into all these remote corners of the web," explains Bailey.

What is actually happening with universal search is that Google has an index of each category for photos, web, blog entries and so on. These indexes are database files almost continually updated by crawling the web and searching through millions of URLs. In a very real sense, the heart of the company – these indexes – depend on the processing power of the Google server farms that crawl the web. Bailey says that this confluence of categorisation requires more and more data centres, more electricity and more processing power as the web continues to expand. At the moment it's hard to see what the end result of universal search could be, because it will continue to evolve and become more intelligent.

Language translation

Most of Google's efforts in translation have revolved around 'language pairs' – the translation from one language to another. It has focused on two areas: developing new language pairs and improving the algorithms used for translating pairs.

As for improving existing language pairs, the main challenge has been in understanding idioms and emerging language use (an ongoing battle), but also breaking down sentence structures using artificial intelligence. For example, in English, a verb might come at the end of a sentence, whereas in Japanese it might come at the beginning. When languages have similar historic roots, such as French and Spanish, the language pairing is easier.

With Japanese and Korean, for example, the project goal is to accumulate more and more data about the language which is more difficult to translate. The more data it has about a language's morphology, the easier it can translate it into other languages.

Developing new language pairs – such as English to Finnish – is even more difficult. The most difficult languages to pair are those that have a vast morphology (the units of language and how they fit together to form into meanings). The Finnish language in particular has a rich morphology where one word used with another can form into an expression that has inherent meaning, such as race or gender, which the individual words do not have.

These word pairs are complex and the more processing power you throw at the problem, the more accurate the results. Google operates two translation engines, one for public use that is faster but less accurate, and one internal (and experimental) engine that runs slower and is more accurate. The internal project runs on faster server farms, has richer data sets and uses better algorithms. "Putting more data into the system makes language translation better," says Franz Och, a Google research scientist.

It's interesting to note that machine translation is less about human knowledge of a language and more about data collection. Few members of the Google translation team can actually speak the languages they are translating, but they are very good at collecting the morphological data. In the end, translation is a major test of data collection and software programming prowess, and will continue to evolve – making it easier for users to both learn and use a language in their daily lives.

Computer vision search

Computer vision is one of the most difficult problems in computer science. The idea is to have a computer analyse an image and recognise it through artificial intelligence.

The implications are profound: if a computer recognises images, it can process them more accurately. Think of a bank account. If a computer could analyse a live video of you and verify your identity, your account would be much more secure. At Google, computer vision is less about security and more about indexing the image data. Today, when you search for 'Lindsay Lohan', the results presented are based on metatag data attributed to photos of the starlet. Some of those attributions are wrong, which is why sometimes results are returned that are inaccurate.

Computer vision, conversely, analyses the space between the eyes, nose shape, forehead width and other data, and compares them to a reference image. This analysis applies equally to video and photos and it's much more accurate. In a demo at Google, Shumeet Baluja – a Google research scientist – showed how a computer vision search for George Bush returned a series of videos of the US president's recent speeches.

One implication of computer vision search – once it evolves beyond a simple recognition phase – is that you could then categorise the results. Google is focused only on detection today, but its mission is all about categorisation. Computer vision will aid the company in building a library of searchable images and video beyond just text descriptions and metatags.

The first step in computer vision search is to analyse a database of millions of videos and images to see if there is a face. Baluja says most of its resources in computer vision are currently dedicated to just detection: is there a face? The next step is to perform the pattern matching against the reference image or video.

The company uses multiple approaches to detection: comparison to the reference, analysis of the image itself and comparison against other search results. A 'classifier' gathers all statistics describing an image, such as skin tones, shadows, facial hair and other attributes. These classifiers are fed into what Baluja calls 'visual rank', which determines the accuracy of the search. They decide which images form the basis for what the person normally looks like. That's why, in the Lindsay Lohan search, a cartoon of her might appear much lower in the search results.

Eventually, Google will apply its computer vision research to more than just faces. For example, Baluja explained that they plan to use a visual search system for products. When you type the search term 'Apple iPhone', you might want to see a computer vision search that shows the device in use in the field, the iconic image from Apple or the cartoon images where people make fun of the 'Jesus phone'. Baluja says they are agnostic about the kind of images they are searching, but the main goal is to provide results that they think its customers want, which could in turn raise advertising revenues.

Google Android update

Android is the most important project at Google. Part software platform for mobile phones and part third-party development initiative, Android could dictate the future of Google.

More and more users are searching the Internet from their phones, and the phone itself is evolving into a computer platform. In the future, there may be no desktop or laptop computers; instead, the only computer you use could be your phone, especially once computer scientists figure out complex issues as speech-to-text recognition, cell phone video projection and virtual keyboards.

Google knows that this platform shift will happen and it has chosen to be much more involved in the core architecture. It's interesting to note that Google fans were disappointed when they realised Google will not be releasing an Apple iPhone competitor. Yet, it turns out Google has much loftier ambitions: to deliver the OS for future computers.

In another interesting twist to the story, Android itself is not a fully functional OS with all the applets and features you would ever need. Instead, Google has tapped a much more extensive resource of third-party developers. The model is similar to the one Nokia uses with the Symbian OS (which it just squired) where the most innovative applications are all user created. Its recent developer challenge led to some amazingly innovative apps that can determine your location and help you find a taxi, feed weather information to your location-aware device or let you search for movie showtimes.

The Android platform is a departure from the hub and spoke model of the iPhone. There is no home screen. Instead, all apps can run concurrently and are 'application aware'. You can click on a contact and click an option to see a map of where that person lives, dial their mobile phone, copy the data to a clipboard or browse for it on the web. Applications can share information between them as well: a contact program can pull information from a spreadsheet.

Oddly, while every other Google project involves hard factual data and some interesting implications for real world use, most of the Android project seems to depend on the users to tap the power of the OS. For example, when we spoke with Erick Tseng, the Android product manager, he could not quantify for us whether Android would support multitouch (where you can zoom in or pan across an image using your fingers) or haptics (where the device provides a tactile response).

Instead, he says the developer community would have to develop those features. Tseng wouldn't let us see an Android phone, although he did say that he has been using one 'for months' as his primary phone. It's possible that Google has deferred all of the power and capability of Android to the user base, which would be disastrous.

The platform seems to be less a competitor to the Blackberry or iPhone and more like a marginal gadget such as the Chumby Wi-Fi radio, which also relies almost entirely on user-created open source apps for innovation. Many of these apps are clunky and poorly designed. Still, the results of the development challenge reveal that there is hope for the platform, even if the specifics are still sketchy. Google has been saying for some time that the first Android-powered devices will ship by the end of 2008.

There's another major challenge in store for Android, however. If the OS does support innovative APIs for multitouch, haptics and other features, and if the developer community creates some truly innovative apps, Google must also contend with the complexities of dealing with mobile phone carriers.

In most cases (other than the Apple iPhone), carriers dictate not only what services are offered on a phone, but which software. For example, on the Motorola Q in the US, Sprint dictates exactly how you can download and use a ringtone. You can't just download any ringtone and use it on the phone. Google seems to think that mobile carriers support open-source software just as much as it does, which is not true.

Energy initiatives

Google's energy initiatives are clearly designed to be an example. Some, in fact, seem a bit superfluous or over-the-top in terms of practical implications. For example, any employee can 'check out' a hybrid car – located in an openair shade port that is itself powered by a solar array on the roof – for a few hours. Considering there are just a handful of cars but the company has over 19,000 employees, it's hard to see how the hybrid car strategy is anything but an example to help encourage environmental awareness.

Similarly, six buildings and two parking garages at Google have solar arrays on the roof. In total, 9,612 panels provide about 1.6 megaWatts of power. They provide about 30 per cent of peak power usage, so it could be said that two out of every 10 computers is powered by solar energy.

The reason the arrays only provide 30 per cent of the total power has to do with the energy density of the office buildings. It's much higher than that of a typical home due to how many lights are on all day and the number of computers and other electrical components running.

Google App Engine

Looking back in time decades hence, it might be possible to say that Google officially built 'the computing cloud' on April 7, 2008. That's when the company released Google App Engine (formerly known as Big Table), an infrastructure for companies to host their applications on the web instead of internally.

There are several advantages to the cloud: easier maintenance, reliable archives, anywhere access and a common UI. Of course, App Engine also has a few intangibles and disadvantages, including privacy concerns when a company hands over its data to a web host, offline access (which Google counteracts with Google Gears), speed of access over the Internet and such hard to predict factors as programming environment.

Pete Koomen, the product manager for App Engine, says the project has been underway since the summer of 2007. When we talked to Koomen, it was unclear whether the company even had any customers using the project. "The motivation behind App Engine is to combat the challenges of developing applications," says Koomen.

"When you decide to build an application, you have to define and provision machines, configure SQL and Apache, configuring files – none of this is rocket science, but it takes time and money. The second challenge is when an app starts to get traffic it's difficult to scale – with SQL for example, you might have to shard up machines, de-normalising data – and a lot of this is not taken into account when they first start out."

Koomen says App Engine is the result of Google itself bundling and scaling applications – a trial by fire, so to speak – which benefits from its distributed server architecture. Essentially, this means any app will run with the resources it needs at the time of operation and scales automatically. Failover, load balancing and distributed data stores (data split over multiple machines) all contribute to the scalability. Developers can use Google authentication and email APIs.

Today, it runs only on Python, but Google is working on expanding the language offerings quickly. So far, most of the activity in the App Engine project has been related to research docs and requests submitted by users – it's still unclear exactly who is or will be using it, especially in light of the success of Amazon web services like EC2.

How many of these projects will be a raging success for Google is hard to tell. Android seems like it's an early platform that is untested and carriers may decide to abandon ship. Machine translation and computer vision are ongoing projects, but early demos for visual search show promise.

Universal search is a fully functioning part of its search platform today that is already evolving. These projects are key to understanding Google's future and legacy in technology – which is sure to be great indeed.

In Depth: Gaming goes high tech

John Brandon — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Gaming technology often drives innovation across all computing fields. When Nintendo spent 22 billion yen (about €163million) on research and development way back in 2005, the fruits of that research produced the Wii, which has sold 27 million units worldwide. But what technology can we expect in the consoles and PCs of tomorrow? Read on to find out more about 3D goggles that place you inside your game, headphones that replicate a surround-sound environment and even gaming networks that try to predict what you're going to do next...

Controllers of the future

If you want an idea of how PC technology will change over the next 10 years, look closely at innovations concerning game controllers. Why? The first point of contact with a PC is always the controller (keyboard, joystick), and if that experience is exceptional, the memory processing power, multi-threaded computing and high-end software will also work better for the end user.

Think of the mouse: it changed every computing paradigm when Douglas Engelbart invented it in 1970. Even data centres have had to go through a radical transformation in the past 20 years as the mouse has become the dominant method of computer control, so much so that – in the next 20 years – a data centre will become like a remote power plant that mouse-wielding network administrators control from afar.

Look to games first

So what will be the new paradigm-altering controllers? They're mostly found in gaming. The Nintendo Wii remote is one contender, although it has some limitations. Most of the games on the Wii have radically simplified graphics because the Pixart motion-tracking technology is not capable of precise movement – it's not necessarily because Nintendo decided to eschew graphics realism. The PS3 has some new innovations, such as the controller's motion-sensing ability, but it can be difficult to use in certain games, such as Lair and Warhawk.

Novint Technologies has designed the Novint Falcon to showcase how a 3D controller can move in any direction and change PC gaming for the better. Before we mention the benefits, we should be clear: this technology is in its infancy. It's often difficult to move in 3D space and keep your bearings. Graphically, the games that come with the controller are subpar (think a technology showcase similar to Nvidia demos), especially in terms of gameplay and graphics.

Only when we tested several third-party commercial games – such as Half- Life 2: Episode 2 – using a free Novint driver did we see the potential of this technology. The device moves in a four by four by four inch space and has two pounds of resistance. You can feel the weight of the shotgun that you're using to mow down an alien Strider on a rampage.

From games to everyday computing

However, how could the device work for general computing? In science, the free-form movement encourages experimentation. Imagine taking a tour of the 3D world in Google Earth. A mouse only moves in straight and diagonal lines, so a 3D controller means you don't need to constantly adjust your position to move in a free-form fashion. "I think all of gaming, PC or console, is going to move towards 3D interaction like the Wii or the Novint Falcon," says Tom Anderson, CEO of Novint. "When you combine advanced 3D touch like that of the Novint Falcon with 3D stereo displays and 3D sound, you'll have a very compelling gaming experience."

Logitech-owned 3Dconnexion offers the SpaceExplorer 3D controller, which has similar potential to the Novint Falcon. The device feels rugged and metallic: you can immerse yourself into a gaming environment without wondering whether it will fall off the table. There are six movement types – left or right pan, up and down zoom and left or right rotate. We reprogrammed the buttons for greater freedom of movement before trying it out in Halo 2. The mouse worked well for driving vehicles in the game as it gave a better sense of momentum.

3Dconnexion offers an SDK for developers who want to experiment with gaming control. You can find it at: www.3dconnexion.com/news/ press/032007_SDK.php.

The Saitek Cyborg Command Unit, which is a more targeted gaming peripheral, reveals how an ancillary controller can also create more immersion. When using the controller you can concentrate one hand entirely on movement and the other on shooting with the mouse. The device has 144 programmable buttons, making it easy for you to find a 'natural' way to launch grenades or pick up objects in the game. In Crysis multiplayer matches, you'll notice considerably improved movement and higher kill counts thanks to more precise control.

The Command Unit highlights a key point about computing control. Our brains are wired to split functions into halves, which is why any future input devices should focus on one aspect of control – such as movement or clicking – and not attempt to use one general device for all control and movement. It also explains why the most complex keyboards and controllers, such as those that allow you to map keys to a particular game, often fail in the marketplace.

In the future, controllers should become more focused on the task at hand. Imagine a photo-editing controller that lets you quickly apply Gaussian blur to an image with just one click. Music and video producers have already figured out this categorisation and controllers now exist simply for fast-forwarding through video scenes or audio clips.

3D displays

Controlling a PC is one thing; becoming fully immersed in an environment is more challenging. Once again, Nintendo is the clear leader in offering peripherals that enhance gaming. The Wii Fit makes you think more about weight loss, posture and balance than the fact that you are standing on a small white platform only a few centimetres high.

Successful immersion requires two factors: the hardware interface must become a natural extension of your interaction, and the software must interact fluidly with the hardware peripheral. 3D displays, 3D surround sound audio and head-mounted displays all point to how computing will change in the next few years.

No hardware add-on has so much potential – and yet is so disappointing – as the 3D display. These monitors could pull gamers, video producers and even software developers into a more realistic realm. In this environment, a video producer could interact with video – creating special effects, pulling files out of easy-to-organise bins and assembling footage – as though the film rolls were sprawled out on a table before him.

Limitations of 3D displays

Interestingly, the main limitation to 3D technology has more to do with human-computer interaction than actual display technology. In fact, 3D displays have matured gradually and solved several complex problems. For example, glass manufacturing is now much cheaper and 3D goggles look less like the instruments an eye doctor uses to test your eyesight and more like sunglasses. As a result recent first-person shooters use 3D polygons that can be easily mapped to three dimensions in space.

The hurdle is to do with physics. Your eyes have an amazing ability to focus. When you see an object in the distance, your eyes turn in their sockets to focus accurately. We are all literally 'drawn to the light', focusing on the brightest object. The most common method used to create 3D screen is called 3D Stereo, and it involves two planes of glass.

The Samsung HL56A650 DLP 59in display and the iZ3D 3D Monitor 22in both use this method. The back screen controls colour intensity and the front screen controls polarisation – the effect of offsetting the image so it looks 3D. The doublepane glass approach requires that you wear goggles and sit directly in front of the monitor.

At the moment, 3D Stereo causes fatigue after repeated use. There are a few reasons: your eyes are focusing on objects at depth as though they are emanating from the screen (a phenomena called parallax), yet at the same time you are focusing on the brightest – and, incidentally, only – light at the surface of the screen, causing eye strain.

Some viewers have strabismus, which is the inability to perceive the 3D effect from 3D Stereo technology. However, it's not all bad news: 3D Stereo is amazingly realistic, not as costly as other 3D monitor technologies and requires no software re-tooling. Samsung uses DDD technology for the software drivers that create a 3D Stereo effect.

Nvidia is planning to release 3D Stereo technology. When testing it at CES in Las Vegas, it was clear that it has tweaked the polarisation and software drivers for more realistic 3D modelling. Real-time strategy games such as Age of Empires took on an ultra-realistic 3D perspective.

Another innovator is SeeReal (www.seereal.com), which is using holography for 3D display rendering. Instead of using two panes of glass, holography modulates the timing, intensity and brightness of the light emitting from a standard LCD for each RGB sub-pixel, and then re-constructs the 3D image in space. It's still an untested technology, but the advantage is that the re-created images don't cause eye strain.

Surround yourself

Visual displays are only one aspect of immersion and innovation on a PC. What you hear must match the more realistic environment, or the experience will be lessened. Second Life is a good example of how the use of video and audio when creating a virtual environment are not always in sync.

Too often, the graphics look relatively realistic but the two-channel audio – not to mention the obnoxious chatter between pre-teens – almost ruins the experience. When a tank lumbering along in Crysis moves out of a distant ravine to surprise you from behind, it should fill the audio spectrum in those locations and make gradual auditory movements.

Surround sound headphone sets simulate these movements accurately for gaming: the Saitek Cyborg 5.1, the Sennheiser RS-130 and the Sony MDRDS8000. Experiencing high-quality 3D audio while gaming would create an other worldly auditory experience matching the action on screen.

So how can a two-headphone set mimic 3D surround sound audio? Once again, like 3D display technology, it's all about the physics. Surround sound headphones split two-channel audio and isolate frequencies for location mapping inside the audio spectrum. The source material does not have to be encoded for surround sound audio.

The Sennheiser 130 headphones use a complex algorithm to detect the timing differences in a two-channel audio source, adding depth to the audio so that certain sounds – explosions, distant music, lightning bolts in the horizon – appear to be coming from behind or to the side.

The Ultrasone HFI-780 headphones go a step further: they use an audio driver that sends audio around your ear instead of into the ear canal. This creates a more natural surround-sound experience that's immediately obvious compared to headphones that change the frequency of audio electronically to create the sensation of 3D sound.

Jump into the game

Video goggles attempt to do away with the separate entities of LCD screen and headphones when creating a virtual environment. It's an admirable goal, because it means more portability for computing and a lighter impact on the environment because less power is required.

Video goggles also have incredible benefits for gamers. The display can be massive and portable. You could watch 1080p HD video anywhere you go simply using goggles and a mobile phone. In gaming, the effect is highly engaging to the senses because you're transported by the personal nature of the display and aren't as easily distracted by your surroundings.

The eMagin Z800 3DVisors simulate the experience of watching 105in display from 12ft away. OLED technology uses a thin panel that emits a bright light source. The panels use a CMOS silicon substrate that buffers data being fed to the goggles for each pixel and then reconstructs the image so that there is absolutely no flicker during viewing.

The 3DVisors also provide head tracking using a USB connection – so you can move the mouse with your head. This means that when you look around, the display moves at the same time.

The goggles are designed for PC use and include a standard VGA connection cable. The benefits are profound: more portability and more immersion. Yet when testing the product, it became clear that there's something not quite right about the goggles. They tend to cause nausea in a first-person shooter because it's so easy to lose your bearings.

An LCD monitor actually draws you in to a game more effectively because you can keep your bearings from stationary objects around you as you slug through an open-air sewer looking for alien bugs to blast into oblivion.

The Vuviz iWear AV920 – which do not provide head tracking – are similar to the 3DVisors in that they project a huge image (in this case, about 62in). The AV920 will work with an Apple iPod Video or a portable DVD player (or any RCA video source) and run for about five hours on one battery charge. Instead of using OLED, the AV920 uses two 640x480 LCD displays that you look through for a projected image.

The LCD projection technology is still in an early state: the goggles don't support widescreen viewing and aren't wireless, so you have to use at least one AV cable to connect to your mobile device. However, the iWear AV920 gives a brighter and crisper experience than the 3DVisors, thanks to a wider colour gamut of one million colours. During a multiplayer match of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars on an Xbox 360, the AV920 goggle display looked crisp and colourful, although like the 3DVisors, they did cause slight nausea.

It's possible that video goggles will never become a viable viewing technology for gaming – or any other computing technology – because the display seems to float in space, meaning that you can't get your bearings.

One solution to this problem may be to re-create stationary objects at high resolution. If the goggles emitted a table and desk in the room, with the moving image running on a virtual wall or even a virtual television, your eyes would adjust to the movement.

Say goodbye to lag

The most burgeoning technology for PC and consoles has to do with networking and multiplayer gaming. Several companies are focusing on latency issues. They're trying to solve problems that occur when your bandwidth can't keep up with the intensity and frame rate of the on-screen action.

The D-Link DGL 4500 X-Treme N Gaming Router uses GameFuel technology to give priority to packets used for multiplayer games and reduce throughput for other activities – such as downloading a file. The reason: when a download takes a few minutes longer, you don't notice, but when you're coming around a corner ready to fire a rocket launcher in Halo 3 and the screen pauses for a second due to latency, it's a little bit more obvious. Streaming media adaptors such as the Roku Netflix Player and the Apple TV also have the same latency problem: you can easily spot stuttering video frames.

One way of solving the problem is to do with software in the game itself. In the new Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game Age of Conan: Hyperion Adventures, there is very little drag during online multiplayer sessions because the code used for online gaming is constantly predicting the players' movements and filling in polygons as you move. Even if you experience a slight slowdown over your broadband connection, it's less likely that you will see any pausing on the screen than in previous generation MMOs.

This technology will eventually make its way into other computing paradigms: pervasive networks that are aware of your location, voiceover- IP applications, video chats over the Internet and scientific simulations between geographically dispersed laboratories can all immediately benefit from latency reducing programming techniques. For the most part, it's a predictive technology: the software is smart enough to know what should happen next both graphically and programmatically, even if the network is not running as fast as it should to present the next image.

Overall, gaming technologies are increasingly looking outside the box and redefining what computing means. Over the next 20 years, we can expect more 3D manipulation that uses any surface for a display, a drag-and-drop programming mindset for more free-form interaction with objects on the screen, and predictive networking technologies that use artificial intelligence to predict your needs and future actions.

BBC iPlayer comes to Nokia phones

Gareth Beavis — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:01:00 GMT

Nokia and BBC have announced a partnership deal that will allow users to watch the iPlayer on the Finns' mobile phones.

From 1 October this year Nokia N96 owners will be able to watch all the programming over 3G or Wi-Fi.

Considering this is the release date of the handset as well, it's a pretty big selling point for the official vendors.

The iPlayer will be available via an application downloaded to the phone, though will come pre-loaded on most N96s.

Raise the bar

Simon Ainslie, Managing Director at Nokia, said: "The Nokia N96 is going to provide a gateway to quality viewing on the move and will raise the bar for mobile screen and audio entertainment.

"The enormous success of iPlayer has demonstrated the desire audiences have for accessing programmes at a time and a place that suits them."

Erik Huggers, BBC Director of Future Media and Technology, said: "Over the past eight months we have worked tirelessly to ensure BBC iPlayer is available on as many platforms as possible, from the PC and TV to games consoles and mobiles.

"This partnership is critical to ensuring we continue to reach out to audiences wherever they are and allow them to catch-up on their favourite BBC programmes."

The iPlayer is unlikely to use any data from a data plan, as the BBC has pledged to make all its mobile services exempt from such charges.

CEDIA 08: Belkin Flywire vs JVC wireless HDMI

Mark Harris — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:57:00 GMT

It's typical. You wait the entire span of human recorded history for a wireless transmission technology that can handle High Definition video, then two come along at once.

CEDIA 2008 saw the unveiling of rival wireless HD systems from Belkin and JVC. Belkin's FlyWire box is closest to launch, using the Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) developed by Amimon, Motorola and Sony.

Engadget saw the FlyWire AV69003 beaming jaggie-free Blu-ray video across the show floor. The AV69003 can connect to up to six sources (three HDMI, two component and one S-video) and should sell for around $1500 (£860) when it launches in the US this October.

High wireless act

JVC's 'High Definition Wireless Transmission' system won't be decluttering living rooms until next year at the earliest. It claims to be able to handle a 3Gbps data connection, allowing for uncompressed 1080p transmission via a single HDMI socket. There was no suggestion of pricing yet.

Both seem to work fine but we're finding it difficult to get too excited about them. For wireless HD to really take off, three things need to happen. Firstly, the price needs to come down. Way down, if this 51p HDMI cable (plus shipping) on Amazon is any guide.

Secondly, the technology has to standardise - connectivity is no place for a format war. Finally, the technology needs to come built in to a critical mass of players, consoles and TVs. And all of those are long way off right now....

LG and Prada team up for second touch-sensitive phone

Mark Harris — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:12:00 GMT

Fed up with skeletal Size Zero mobile phones prancing about on catwalks? The new Prada fashion phone from LG should be more reflective of real-life figures, with a waistline that has swollen from its svelte original 12mm to a lardy 17mm, according to Boy Genius Report.

The cause of all this bulk? A slide-out Qwerty keyboard that all but admits the 3-inch 240x400-resolution touchscreen isn't really up to proper typing.

Full fat features

The Prada phone has grown up more than just a couple of dress sizes, though. It's now home to a Infineon MP-EH + M180 chipset, dual-band HSDPA, wi-fi and a motion sensor (though not an actual GPS receiver).

As befits as a phone that's largely about image, the on board camera also receives an upgrade, from a paltry 2MP in the first handset to a rather smart 5MP snapper.

Expect an imminent official announcement at a price that compares favourably with Apple's strokable touch phone.

YouTube videos to get spring clean?

Mark Harris — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:36:00 GMT

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications have come up with a way to make YouTube videos cleaner.

Don't start flaming them about censorship just yet, though, as their efforts have nothing to do with reducing the number of nipples on everyone's favourite home-made naughtiness showcase.

The Berlin scientists have come up with a way to reduce the numbers of digital stutters, glitches and hiccups in YouTube videos and other clips based on the H.264/AVC MPEG-4 format - such as Apple's iTunes movie downloads and BBC HD satellite broadcasts.

Important packets

Digital video clips get jerky when packets of data are lost, when an internet node is overloaded or terrestrial transmissions are interrupted by a thunder storm, for example. T

he Fraunhofer Institute has developed a new encoding technique for H.264/AVC called Scalable Video Coding (SVC) that adds additional data packets to just the important parts of the data stream, allowing video players to recover critical packets of lost data and give fault-free viewing of even High Definition signals.

Interruptions and internet bottle-necks will still degrade the quality of the signal but the video should never freeze up completely. Even better, the new SVC encoded clips will run automatically on all current players and devices.

Fraunhofer boffins will present the new technology at the IBC conference in Amsterdam next week.

Samsung set to buy SanDisk?

Gareth Beavis — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:17:00 GMT

Samsung and SanDisk are apparently in talks over a possible takeover, with the Koreans looking to buy the market-leading memory card manufacturer.

According to an online Korean newspaper, Samsung is aiming to take over the company, though neither party will confirm or deny the story.

"We are considering various opportunities regarding SanDisk but nothing has been decided," Samsung spokesman James Chung said.

Unconfirmed

"SanDisk periodically has conversations with multiple parties, including Samsung, regarding a variety of potential business opportunities," SanDisk said in released statement.

"We evaluate all of these opportunities, but maintain a policy of not commenting on market rumours or speculation."

Samsung has long been a supplier of NAND flash memory to SanDisk, the material used to store the info on the memory card.

Samsung is heavily investing in flash memory at the moment, as it sees it as the obvious successor to HDDs used in computers and hand held devices.

Sony's DSC-G3 cyber-shot on horizon

Gareth Mason — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:00:00 GMT

The successor to Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-G1 is heading our way. The Sony DSC-G3 will be 802.11b/g Wi-Fi capable like its 6MP predecessor. This allows it to share photographs with other DNLA applicances, both computers and similarly specified cameras.

The 3.5-inch LCD is expected to carry over from the DSC-G1 including the use of a touchscreen. Other expected changes are an increase in the storage capacity above 2GB and a more powerful sensor – probably moving up from 6MP to something in the range of 10MP.

The sneak view we have had of it suggests that elegant and svelte will still be words left undisturbed in the thesaurus, while meaty and substantial will still be very appropriate.

Updated: Dell Inspiron Mini 9 comes with 3G

Marc Chacksfield — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:47:00 GMT

Finally the rumour mill can stop churning, as Dell has officially announced the launch of its entry into the increasingly popular netbook market, the Inspiron Mini 9.

As we notified you in August that the Inspiron Mini 9 houses a 8.9in – quoted as glossy – LED display (1024x600), Intel Graphic Media Accelerator 950 and a webcam. Wi-Fi is also included as is built-in Bluetooth.

Other specs include: 1GB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory, an Intel 965PM / GM Express Chipset,
16GB Solid State drive.

Connections coming in the form of 3 USB 2.0 ports, VGA video connector and mic-in, line-out audio jacks. There's also 3-in-1 Media Card Reader.

All in all, this package weighs in at a rather light 1.035 kg.

Is the price right?

What has been getting people excited is the fact the notebook comes with Ubuntu 8.04. And while this is the case, the Linux version of the Dell won't be shipping for a few weeks. Good news, however, is that it is the cheaper option at £269.

It will cost you £299 for an Inspiron Mini 9 with Windows XP Home, but this netbook is available immediately, available in black only.

Price might be a sticking point for some people when it comes to buying, especially as Dell is looking to take on the likes of the cheaper Asus Eee PC.

When we spoke to Michael Browne, editor of What Laptop, a few weeks ago, he said to us that how much it will cost will determine the Inspiron Mini 9's impact on the market.

"If the Dell Netbook is to be a real Eee PC killer it'll need to do more than just deliver on time – it'll need a great price, which means being under £200," said Browne.

Looking at it, though, the Dell certainly beats Asus in the style stakes.

UPDATE: Dell has revealed, strangely after it released its press release, that its Inspiron Mini 9 will come with built-in 3G, trumping other netbooks on the market. This has just made the laptop a whole lot more appealing.

Dell has also teamed up with Vodafone as well, so you will be able to grab yourself a Mini Inspiron 9 when you sign up to certain Vodafone packages.

Police question BT about secret Phorm trials

Peter Gothard — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:39:00 GMT

Following the fallout earlier this year over BT's deployment of the Phorm online targeted advertising technology, a full investigation has finally been launched by police.

The probe follows a July protest at BT's Annual General Meeting at the Barbican, when an anti-Phorm group gathered to show their disapproval at the two trials the telecommunications giant carried out in 2006, supplying Phorm with access to thousands of London BT customers' browsing history without telling them. At the time, reports The Register, BT insisted that the secret trial was entirely legal, even though it appeared to breach wiretapping laws.

Internal documents

In the time since, the protesters have put together a dossier of evidence to try and prove BT's skullduggery, apparently including the internal documents detailing the 2006 trial itself, which apparently state that the two week operation's specific aim was to track BT's 18,000 LOndon customers without them knowing.

While there's no indication at the moment that formal proceedings will take place, BT has said it took legal advice when running the trials, and was told that it was not breaking the law. Data law experts still apparently maintain that it broke several criminal statutes.

The European Commission continues to pursue its own investigation into Phorm and specifically BT's trials of its technology, so it's not looking good for the communications firm right now.

Games ratings: Byron review consultation

Adam Hartley — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:08:00 GMT

The games ratings row between the UK games industry and the BBFC rumbles on this week, with latest salvos fired from both sides of the fence.

On the one side we have the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) that issued a press release today clearly headed, "Computer Games Industry Tells Margaret Hodge There Is Consensus On Age Ratings."

"The computer games industry has today responded to calls from Culture Minister, Margaret Hodge, for the need to work together to find the best solution to computer games age ratings," reads the release.

Government wants consensus

The ELSPA release adds: "While discussing the findings of the Byron report during an interview in the latest issue of In Stock Magazine, the Minister, said: "What I would love to get to is a consensus from the industry as to how best we protect the interests of children.""

Mike Rawlinson, managing director, ELSPA, adds: "The computer games industry takes its responsibility to protect children and educate parents very seriously and we hope that the Minister will recognise this and agree to support PEGI as the primary ratings system in the UK."

Nintendo, Codemasters and Mastertronic bosses are quoted in the ELSPA release all backing the PEGI system.

Give PEGI 'legal teeth'

Andy Payne, chairman of Mastertonic, notes: "But such a system must be legally enforceable. To that end, PEGI fits the bill in terms of its approach and delivery, it just needs some legal teeth in the UK to make it the obvious choice over and above all other options."

ELSPA's so-called consensus, it seems, doesn't extend to independent ratings board, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) currently the only organisation with the 'legal teeth' Payne refers to (ie the ability to fine renegade retailers that flout the law and sell 18 rated games to minors).

BBFC hits back

In response to ELSPA's press announcement, a BBFC rep told TechRadar

"Like the Government, the BBFC accepts Dr Byron's recommendations in full. Dr Byron spent several months listening to evidence from many people, including consumers as well as games publishers. The BBFC believes that her recommendations are based on a very sound analysis. If implemented, they will be effective in protecting children without putting a disproportionate regulatory burden on the industry."

The rep added: "The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee also looked at who should classify video games, and took evidence from the games industry and ELSPA and came out in favour of the BBFC having a greater involvement with the classification of video games because the PEGI system was not up to it.

"If, following the present consultation, the Government chooses to accept Dr Byron's recommendations, then the BBFC, with 24 years experience of classifying games, looks forward to working with all those involved - games publishers, developers, retailers, PEGI, Government, and most importantly gamers and parents, to ensure an effective classification system which protects children from harmful or otherwise inappropriate content both online and offline; and which meets the requirements of the video game industry."

The Byron review consultation continues, so stay tuned for further news updates as we get them.

In Depth: Five wacky jobs you never thought would exist at Google

Dan Grabham — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:03:00 GMT

OK, so we haven't quite got Google's baker. Or the butcher. And it doesn't quite scan right. But we do have an exclusive interview with a Google chef among other Googlers in jobs you wouldn't necessarily associate with Google's usual mission to bag up the world's information.

We've interviewed people working for Google in London and Bangalore as well as spoken to the chap responsible for Googlifing the search giant's European offices; you'll even find out what part of the office is made from faux leather leiderhosen! And then there's the chap who founded meditation classes at the company. It's all in a day's work for these people…

Adrian Evans – top chef

"It's a really diverse role and that's what attracted me to join the party at Google really. We have a lot to do with sustainability and the environment. Day to day we've got to keep the Googlers happy, producing a diverse and varied menu for them – breakfast, lunch and dinner. We also have a [special lunch] on a Friday, which is a little bit of a celebration and get together, and introduction for new Googlers.

"We're looking at providing a really nutritious, healthy diet to encourage the Googlers to live that sort of lifestyle. We run the café, we've got the deli and we've six micro-kitchens with grab-and-go food. We're looking at where we're sourcing the produce from, making sure we're only providing free range eggs and poultry, local farmers, supporting the local community. We don't add salt or sugar at all. Everything is cooked with fresh produce.

"We have a wide variety of dishes to cater for the people that work at Google from around the globe. Before I worked for Google I worked in fine dining restaurants and hotels. In all honesty, there aren't many kitchens around London – even in five star hotels – that get to work with the type of produce that I do every day. It's so diverse. Different from where I've worked before? Massively."

Ben Kott – the green guy

"I've been at Google almost three years now and I moved into this role at the beginning of the year. The role is called Green Business Operations. I'm looking at everything in our European operation apart from data centres; they're working over in Mountain View to make our data centres more efficient.

"So I look after office buildings, recycling and waste management and also how employees can get involved. It's quite a varied role and I'm full time on this (100 per cent green!). We have green officers in each office. I'm looking after London and coordinating things across Europe. I'm in a lucky position as I'm very passionate about these things."

Omid Ashtari – the meditator

"I started four years ago in Dublin in our sales team there and worked for two years. And then about one and a half years ago I came to London. My day job role is strategic partnership development manager – quite a mouthful. I license content for Google, so that product managers can use that content to make our products better. So, for example, some of the satellite imagery in Google Maps.

"Although we're a large company now, we strive to keep the startup spirit, so if people see something they like, we can bring it up. I saw this article about meditation in The Financial Times from [London meditation and self development centre] Inner Space about meditation at work.

"If thought it was a good idea, spoke to them and talked to HR. They really liked the idea. We got them to come over and started these sessions. People really got involved and it's a popular thing to go to in the lunch break. It starts with a meditation facilitator giving you a guide to meditation. When you get used to it and embrace it, it has a lot of benefits."

Lalit Katragadda – map maker

"I'm a software engineer at Google in Bangalore, the technical lead for the team that I'm on right now. I've been [here] for the last six years in various roles as at Google you're not really restricted. Google MapMaker was launched about a month ago and since in 58 countries. We're creating high-quality map data for parts of the world where local maps and information is missing.

"[Google's] mission is to organize the world's information and if people don't have rich local information we don't have much to organise! That's the problem we're solving. Three years ago we talked to the founders, they liked the idea and we built the technology for it. It's like a startup environment where you build a prototype and if everybody likes it we use it internally.

"The object is to capture deep and broad information that's also fresh. The only way you can do this is by involving people, but you also need technology for high quality geodata. Is it just for countries with poor map data? That's not true. We want to focus on places like Africa. We've just launched maps of Kenya.

But for the UK, US and so on, there's a need for fresh local content. What's there currently is mostly like a phone directory. If I search for a pub in London, I'm also interested in what the events on are, as well as the menu. That's the other dimension of MapMaker."

Jason Harper – office Googlifier

"I'm based in Hamburg, though I've been responsible for several different locations. What makes [my role] very different is that we've had so much growth over the years that we have to be very creative in the use of space.

"There's always something going on, always something that needs to be changed or modified. We have a lot to do with design. I call myself the 'design police' in the German offices! We have to make sure that when you walk through the door that you recognize two things. Firstly that you recognize you're in a Google office, and secondly, that you recognise you're in a Google office in Zurich or wherever it may be.

"One thing we've learned is that teamwork works well, and people need to sit together. We always have open offices so there's a lot of communication. We also try and counterbalance with comfortable and cosy breakout spaces. The pictures are true! There might be somewhere you can have a massage or play [table football].

"By providing comfortable spaces, people can go back [refreshed] to the open office spaces. As far as the local aspects go, in Munich the reception desk is made out of faux-leather leiderhosen and in Hamburg we've got photos of container ships and we use faux containers as projection screens. It starts off as a wacky idea!

"One of the things I'm most proud of is having proved that things really do work. I'm actually American, but I didn't come from Google US – I'm married to a German. I came from the design and construction side of things. I stumbled across the ad and it's one of those things where you think, "that can't possibly be true" but the next thing you know, there you are. I'll have been here five years in October."

Heathrow becomes UK's largest Wi-Fi hotspot

Marc Chacksfield — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:01:00 GMT

Heathrow's controversial Terminal 5 building has been given a web-based boost, thanks to T-Mobile. The newest of the airport's terminals has been turned into a massive Wi-Fi hotspot.

The Wi-Fi coverage is so big that it is said to be the size of 50 football pitches – making it the UK's largest Wi-Fi hotspot.

Speed-wise, users can expect to get up to 8Mbps, when they log their laptops on.

When is a hotspot not?

There is a price to pay, however, unless you are lucky enough to be a T-Mobile customer.

If you haven't signed up to T-Mobile, then expect to pay £5 for an hour's surfing or £10 for the whole day – just in case that essential bit of luggage never quite makes it.

If you are a T-Mobile user and log on via the company's High-Speed Uplink Packet Access, then you will also be given faster broadband at the airport – 5x faster.