TechRadar: All News Feeds

Weird Tech: Brilliant bandage electrocutes wounds

Julia Sagar — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:14:00 GMT

Electric bandages and grotesque mannequins - this week's Weird Tech round-up is a homage to modern medicine, kicking off with the latest in unusual bandage tech.

Contrary to what science and prior experience might suggest, it seems that mixing water and electricity isn't always such a bad idea.

A company in Arizona has created a new electricity-activated bandage which, when wet, generates a small charge to prevent microbes, fungus and yeast from setting up camp in the treatment area.

Apparently, and somewhat ironically, the 'CMB Antimicrobial Wound Dressing with PROSIT' has also been proven to reduce pain. Who'd have thought.

What's cookin?

Forget ink and needles. If you're in the market for a new tattoo, there's now another option available in the flesh-burning form of a laser-etch machine.

Don't get us wrong, using a laser to burn an image into your skin still hurts - a lot - and we hear the smell isn't too good either ("nauseating", in fact).

But if body branding is your thing, it's a pretty original way to go. Need persuading? Check out a video of a skin-etch in action.

Medical mannequin hell

The best bit? In the unlikely event that anything were to go wrong, you could find yourself in hospital in the safe hands of a young doctor trained via a medical mannequin.

Now, while the more sceptical out there might question how much can be learned from practising techniques on a plastic human-shaped dummy, take it from us: more than previously - if pictures of earlier generations of mannequins are anything to go by.

We'll let the image talk for itself, save to say this is an actual mannequin used for teaching medical students. Our suspicions concerning doctors have been confirmed.

News in brief

In other news, the case has been dropped against parents who tried to auction their baby on eBay, while a man accused of leading a terrorist group in Australia has been branded "unable to spell Google" by his lawyer.

"He seems to be under the impression that you can drive to Tasmania," the lawyer added.

And say hello to the million-dollar mobile home/ boat - we're not sure exactly what the point is, but with a 6-foot swimming deck, 8-jet whirlpool, marble floors and a fully equipped home theatre system, does it matter?

And finally…

Last weekend saw the third annual Seattle Power Tool race and Derby take place. Crowds cheered as participants unleashed their racing weapons (each powered by a potentially lethal modified power tool) and set them head-to-head down a 60-foot plywood track.

For many, it was a race to the death as customised circular saws took on modified drills and wall chasers. Head over to the Derby homepage for videos of the action.

Weird Tech: Brilliant bandage electrocutes wounds

Julia Sagar — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:14:00 GMT

Electric bandages and grotesque mannequins - this week's Weird Tech round-up is a homage to modern medicine, kicking off with the latest in unusual bandage tech.

Contrary to what science and prior experience might suggest, it seems that mixing water and electricity isn't always such a bad idea.

A company in Arizona has created a new electricity-activated bandage which, when wet, generates a small charge to prevent microbes, fungus and yeast from setting up camp in the treatment area.

Apparently, and somewhat ironically, the 'CMB Antimicrobial Wound Dressing with PROSIT' has also been proven to reduce pain. Who'd have thought.

What's cookin?

Forget ink and needles. If you're in the market for a new tattoo, there's now another option available in the flesh-burning form of a laser-etch machine.

Don't get us wrong, using a laser to burn an image into your skin still hurts - a lot - and we hear the smell isn't too good either ("nauseating", in fact).

But if body branding is your thing, it's a pretty original way to go. Need persuading? Check out a video of a skin-etch in action.

Medical mannequin hell

The best bit? In the unlikely event that anything were to go wrong, you could find yourself in hospital in the safe hands of a young doctor trained via a medical mannequin.

We'll let the image talk for itself, save to say this is an actual mannequin used for teaching medical students. Our suspicions concerning doctors have been confirmed.

News in brief

"He seems to be under the impression that you can drive to Tasmania," the lawyer added.

And finally…

For many, it was a race to the death as customised circular saws took on modified drills and wall chasers. Head over to the Derby homepage for videos of the action.

100,000s of laptops lost in airports

Adam Hartley — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:17:00 GMT

An incredible twelve thousand laptops a week are left or lost in US airports, with most companies not even bothering to report the losses, according to a new study.

The figures are revealed in a Dell-sponsored study of 106 major U.S. airports and 800 business travellers this week, undertaken by the Ponemon Institute.

Extrapolating beyond reason

The study claims that only 30 per cent of laptops lost in US airports are recovered and that half of business travellers laptops contain private and confidential customer data.

Larry Ponemon, Chairman of the Ponemon Institute, claims that an incredible 600,000 laptops are lost in U.S. airports annually, noting: "IT departments must re-evaluate the steps they're taking to protect mobile professionals, the laptops they carry, and company data stored on mobile devices."

Colour us cynical

Colour us cynical, but TechRadar suggests that one has to raise a single slightly cynical eyebrow at the way in which the results of a survey of 800 business travellers can be extrapolated into the claim that over half a million laptops are lost in US airports each year - clearly this figure is far higher than the real figure.

However, the survey seems to have achieved some of its purpose, in that it has got Dell's recently launched Prosupport Mobility Services (which Dell claims can help you protect your employee's laptops and keep that confidential company information secure).

Car tech that tells you speed limit

Patrick Goss — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:04:00 GMT

Vauxhall will include a special camera as an optional extra in its upcoming Insignia sedan which spots speed camera signs and displays the limitto the driver.

The technology, which uses what is termed a 'front camera system' or FCS, will get round those tricky moments when you haven't spotted the sign and are unsure of what speed you should be driving at.

Speed demons beware

FCS reportedly takes still photos at regular intervals and analyses them to check the signs and can give running updates on what speed you should be driving at.

However, MSN Cars' Ian Dixon is unsure as to whether the technology brings any real benefits, telling TechRadar: "I think this is yet another distraction for motorists."

"If you drive, you should already know the rules of the road and therefore the speed limit of the road you're travelling on and not rely on a camera to tell you the speed limit."

We can't wait to see if someone tries to use the FCS as an excuse in a court of law.

1 Euro eBay baby returned to parents

Patrick Goss — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:38:00 GMT

The baby that was removed from its parents' custody after being placed up for auction on eBay for €1 has been returned.

German police had launched a probe into possibly child trafficking, but investigators have concurred with the parents' assertion that this was simply a joke gone awry - according to the Press Association.

Returned

"The child has been returned to his parents," prosecutor Johannes Kreuzpointer said.

The couple, from the south western Allageu region of Germany were arrested over the incident with the police, perhaps justifiably, not seeing the joke.

The auction remained up for two and half hours before being removed from the site.

LG stumps up £28 million to sponsor Arena

Adam Hartley — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:34:00 GMT

LG has announced a cool £28 million sponsorship deal with Birmingham's former 'NEC Arena' this week, which is to be renamed 'The LG Arena'.

The 8-year deal will see the venue fully redeveloped with a raft of new hospitality suites, bars, restaurants and improved backstage areas.

LG Arena opens in autumn

What Mobilereports that the arena's re-brand is expected to be active from autumn.

LG claims that the deal will enable it to get their brand name in front of an extra one million consumers per year.

LG's UK marketing director, Andrew Warner, told What Mobile that the deal marks a shift in the manufacturer's focus from being a product-driven organisation to a marketing-driven one, noting that:

"Consumer alignment to a brand is no longer simply about preference for that brand's products. It's about how the brand makes a consumer feel."

Money pit

The deal follows O2's recent £6m-per-year re-branding of south London's former money-pit known as the Millennium Dome.

Of course, as is the case with well-established venue names, the general unwashed will continue to refer to the venue as 'The NEC' for years to come.

Adobe hands over copyright to PDF format

Gareth Beavis — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:17:00 GMT

PDFs will soon become the international standard for electronic documents after Adobe relinquished control of the copyright to ISO.

The move is part of Adobe's plans to make such movement of files more open, and as the most popular standard, PDFs will now be even easier to create and move.

"By releasing the full PDF specification for ISO standardization, we are reinforcing our commitment to openness", says Kevin Lynch, CTO at Adobe.

"As governments and organizations increasingly request open formats, maintenance of the PDF specification by an external and participatory organization will help continue to drive innovation and expand the rich PDF ecosystem that has evolved over the past 15 years."

Greater literacy

Most businesses use PDFs as the main way of transitioning from paper to electronic documentation, and now a slew of new readers, writers and development tools for the format will likely be unveiled in the near future thanks to the move.

For more information on the thrilling ins and outs of the deal, take a gander at the ISO website for the full press release.

Is Apple patenting touching?

Gareth Beavis — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:16:00 GMT

Apple love to protect what they create - even to the extent of things they don't even own, as in the case of the iPhone name trademark dispute with Cisco back in the day.

But the fruit-monikered company has now applied for 34 more patents, which cover nearly every touch based aspect of device you can think of.

This includes touching with a fingernail, finger pad or rubber tipped finger caps…Apple iPuppet coming soon?

Power proximity

Also present are proximity sensors to help save power; if a user is using a keyboard and multi-touch pad, the computer can sense if one is inactive and switch it off to conserve power.

And probably the most interesting patent is Apple's plans to bring the multi-touch system to more devices, which could include a wider variety of desktops, notebooks, or even other product branches not yet present in the range.

MacNN has got the full run down of patents in all their technological and complex glory, so if you're into that sort of thing be sure to check them out.

Is Apple patenting touching?

Gareth Beavis — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:16:00 GMT

Apple love to protect what they create - even to the extent of things they don't even own, as in the case of the iPhone name trademark dispute with Cisco back in the day.

But the fruit-monikered company has now applied for 34 more patents, which cover nearly every touch based aspect of device you can think of.

This includes touching with a fingernail, finger pad or rubber tipped finger caps…Apple iPuppet coming soon?

Power proximity

Also present are proximity sensors to help save power; if a user is using a keyboard and multi-touch pad, the computer can sense if one is inactive and switch it off to conserve power.

MacNN has got the full run down of patents in all their technological and complex glory, so if you're into that sort of thing be sure to check them out.

New Motorola Blackberry-a-like revealed

Gareth Beavis — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:43:00 GMT

Motorola, Motorola, Motorola…where did it all go wrong? The Razr was great, granted, but only because it was thin. You needed to make something equally as amazing…and you haven't yet.

Which is why it is sad the leak of the new Q9 isn't as exciting as it might have been; instead, it's a look to see if the device will be good enough to re-raise the Motorola handset brand.

Sacre bleu

Codenamed Napoleon (as in the French leader, not the multi-flavour ice cream), it's a Windows 6.1 device with a fingerprint scanner on the back for security (a nice touch).

Quad-band EDGE makes it a properly worldwide phone, and can even work on multiple carriers in the US, according to BGR.

It has a standard 2MP camera, 320x240 resolution screen and WiFi for those days when GSM just doesn't cut it. Woo.

Apparently everything seemed to be all present and shipshape through initial usage, which for a business phone is what you want it to do really.

So it may not be the phone to re-launch Motorola, not by a long way, but it should help more than keep it afloat for now.

MSI Wind hits the shops - in disguise

Gareth Beavis — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:44:00 GMT

Reports are trickling through that PC World is offering the new MSI Wind - but rebadged under the Advent brand.

The device is almost identical to the one we reviewed earlier this month, even down to the location of the screws, so it's not too far fetched to believe they are the same.

Intel Atom and 1GB of RAM are all present and correct, giving those salivating at the chance to spend a few hundred quid on a second laptop a nice surprise.

Prettier price

The price is rather pleasant too - we're looking at £280 compared to the £350 widely expected for the Windows XP-toting device.

It looks to be available only in black - probably to add to its dangerous-looking disguise - though the Wind 'proper' will come in a variety of colours.

Some users are even reporting a 'made by MSI' sticker on the box or the computer, though this is, as yet, unconfirmed.

The actual Wind is set to hit the shops later this month, but you'd be foolish not to at least check this one out.

What sort of PSU do you need?

Dave James — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:43:00 GMT

The PC playground is full of components, all vying for the title of the most important part of your rig.

Everybody has a different opinion; for some it's the processor, all that maths squeezed into a tiny bit of silicon; for others it's the graphics card, boards designed specifically to throw pixels about your panel like plates at a Greek wedding.

But where would either of those supermodels of the component world be without a compatible motherboard backing them up? Nowhere.

And that's where your PC will end up without a decent power supply keeping the whole lot juiced to the gunnels.

If you make a really bad choice of PSU, your entire rig may end up a smouldering heap at the e-waste recycling point of your local tip.

Cascade effects from faulty, or even from just under-powering supplies, can have unpleasant repercussions on the rest of the components making their home in your PC.

Repercussions such as turning your precious £350 pixel-pusher into so much molten slag…

Choosing the PSU is then an important part of the PC-building experience, so over the next few pages we'll make that choice a bit easier for you. Will you need a monolithic supply to keep that multi-GPU, desktop giant in check?

Or can you make do with something a little more conservative?

Performance power

At the top end of the power-hungry PC spectrum are the gaming behemoths that AMD and NVIDIA have created through their quest for multi-GPU goodness.

While CPU manufacturers have recently changed tack from simply upping clockspeeds to taking into account the power consumption of their respective processors, the graphics arena has doggedly stuck to the quest for speed.

As such, power draw for the latest CPUs has stayed constant over the last few generations compared to their thirstier GPU brethren.

In the graphics market, the sky's the limit power-wise - the latest 9800GX2 from NVIDIA alone runs at nearly 200W. According to some sources the GTX280 just around the corner could well be around 40W higher.

Stick two of those babies in SLI and not only will you be light in the wallet, but you're going to be taxing the hell out of any PSU you plug these graphics monsters into.

And who could forget about the prancing triple- SLI show-pony? With three 8800 Ultra graphic cards sitting in a row that's 525W sucked into the GPUs alone.

AMD's offerings are a little more forgiving, simply by virtue of being less high-end components. CrossFire X with a host of 3850s in unison can be run quite happily on a 625W PSU.

If you're after the fastest 3D-gaming around though, you should spare a thought for the power draw of the incredibly thirsty top end cards.

Extra draw

When choosing your PSU it's also vital to take into account the possible power draw from the rest of your performance components. Your CPU is going to take anything between 35W and 130W, while the motherboard can drain up to 50W itself.

A couple of sticks of DDR2 will run you around 15W, and your drives (optical and hard drive) hit about 30W each. It soon adds up, especially when you add 5-10W for each PCI card and 5W per USB device.

Just hitting the mark though isn't good enough. If you think your 450W PSU can cope with the 400-odd watts that you've calculated, then think again.

Your setup will thirst for more at some stage and running out of power to the inner workings of your gaming rig doesn't just mean it won't boot, it might mean it won't ever boot again.

Your PC may struggle on with just enough juice for a while, but any fluctuations in the output of the PSU could seriously affect the delicate sensibilities of your machine.

If your rig's only receiving the bare minimum power then eventually something's going to give.

All the units in this test did manage to outperform their stated max wattage easily, though, so you've got a bit of leeway.

Compare that to the power supply test we carried out 18 months ago, where one of the power supplies failed to reach its stated wattage, and you'll see the change in the market.

The PSU world has become a more competitive place since those days, which is reflected in the fact that each of the current crop did exactly what it said on the box and more, exceeding both load and efficiency scores.

PSU puzzle

Aside from load, there are other differentiating factors between PSUs; the most obvious being the choice between conventional and modular cabling.

The modular PSU came about as a response to the new plugs that performance PCs needed, such as SATA and PCI-E power.

While conventionally cabled designs now end up resembling Cthulhu with the amount of wires protruding from their maws, modular supplies provide the option of having the bare minimum of wires necessary to power your rig.

The upshot of this is that the insides of your case can be far clearer, improving the airflow over key components such as the graphics card, motherboard, CPU and RAM.

The downside is that modular cables can suffer from increased electrical resistance, causing voltage losses.

This can have something to do with the quality of the cable itself and how many times it has been plugged into the socket, but the voltage you lose with the modular design is still fairly insignificant.

Another thing to look for in choosing which PSU is right for you is the rail count.

Originally, all PC power supplies had only a single 12V rail delivering the necessary voltage but, due to the increased 12V demand brought on by more powerful processors and graphics cards, supplies with more than one 12V rail have been introduced.

Spreading the power draw evenly over multiple rails for the more thirsty components provides stability to the platform as a whole, limiting the chances of overloading a particular part of the PSU.

For safety's sake a multiple rail PSU is preferable if you're going to be drawing significant amounts of electricity through it; a multiple-GPU set-up being the perfect example.

Efficiency or ecology?

Despite these differentiating factors, many people will still look at a new PSU in terms of wattage capabilities alone.

In these more ecologically aware times of ours, however, the wattage rating is not the final word on power-brick selection.

Efficiency has become a buzzword and is a key battle-ground both in terms of competitiveness and keeping new PCs as 'green' as possible.

It isn't possible to achieve a 100 per cent efficiency rating. Due to the nature of the beast, some loses are inevitable.

Most current units, especially those from larger manufacturers, will adhere to the 80+ standard, whether they're fully logo'd up or not.

Again, just looking at the results from the PSUs we put through our test in PCF193, only the Enermax Galaxy managed to hit that 80 per cent efficiency mark and one even struggled to hit a lowly 70 per cent.

This time around though not one managed to drop below 82 per cent at either quarter, half or full load.

Looking at the results of this recent test you can see that in the half-load sector, where the majority of PC use realistically occurs, the efficiency of a modern power supply is close to the 90 per cent mark.

It's also worth noting how economical a PSU is when there's little draw on the unit. If you're leaving a machine on overnight, for whatever reason (cough... torrent... cough), then even a powerful high wattage PSU needs to be efficient while it's slowly ticking over.

Efficiency isn't just important from an energy/money/planet saving perspective either, as most of the wasted energy from a PSU manifests itself as heat.

If the supply is no good at dissipating this wasted heat then this will lead to a temperature rise within your PC; and we all know that hotter components ain't happier components.

So, the more efficient your PSU, the less cooling you'll need in your PC, the less money you'll have to spend on your energy bills and the fewer polar bears will find themselves confusingly washed up in the Outer Hebrides. Nice.

Asus announces Eee PC 904 pricing and spec

Adam Hartley — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:37:00 GMT

The Eee PC 904, featuring Asus's new fuller-sized, more comfortable keyboard is going to cost a mere £269 (inclusive of VAT), when it ships in the UK in mid-July.

The Eee news is revealed exclusively today by What Laptop who note that - whatever you call them sub-notebooks, mini-laptops or Net-Books - Asus continues to dominate this burgeoning market.

Asus leads, others follow

"Asus is leading the way in terms of variety and choice. In less than a year it has brought no less than four different versions to market, starting with the 701 up to the imminent arrival of the Eee PC 1000," notes What Laptop.

The Eee PC 1000 is the 10-inch model of the range. The key difference on the Eee PC 904 is the fact that it will have the same smaller 8.9 inch (1024 x 600 pixels) screen used on the the 901 (keeping costs down), but with the bigger, more comfortable keyboard found on the 1000.

No Atom inside

"Whereas the pricing of the 1000 will start at well over £300, the 904 will retail for just £269 (inc. VAT), when it ships in mid-July," reports What Laptop.

"To hit this price point there are other differences. For instance, you won't find an Intel Atom inside. Instead, the 900MHz Celeron M used in the 900 will power the 904 and be backed by 1024MB of memory. As with the 1000, you'll find an 80GB laptop hard drive in there and it will ship with Windows XP as standard. Asus is claiming a weight of 1.4kg.

The report also notes that Asus has "re-aligned the pricing of its Eee PC 901… [which] will now sell for £299 (inc. VAT), instead of £329 (inc. VAT) as initially announced, making it even better value."

Tempted? Check out Asus site for more.

Calls for 'best before' dates for browsers

Patrick Goss — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:34:00 GMT

A group of researchers has recommended that internet software, such as browsers should come with a 'best before' date to keep users safe from malware and hackers.

A staggering 41% of internet users do not use the latest version of their browser, leaving themselves at risk from hackers who use exploits in the software to gain entry to their computers.

Thestudy suggested that, of the 1,408 million internet users, 576 million 'surfed the internet without using the latest major browser version of their preferred browser.'

Ignore updates

The study found that people were prepared to ignore updates to their browser - even when recommended, leaving them on older browser versions like IE6 .

Just shy of 80 per cent of users were on a version of Internet Explorer, with 16 per cent on Firefox, three per cent on Safari and less than one per cent on Opera.

Just over half of IE users were using Internet Explorer 7, 92 percent of Firefox users were on the latest update (the dats was pre-Firefox 3) and 70 per cent had a newly updated version of Safari.

Best before

The researchers, listed as Stefan Frei, Thomas Duebendorfer, Gunter Ollmann, Martin May, Communication Systems Group, ETH Zurich, Google Switzerland GmbH and IBM Internet Security Systems, suggest that food warnings may be an appropriate way to get users to think about the security of their browsers.

"Given the state of the software industry and the growing threat of exploitable vulnerabilities within all applications (not just Web browsers), we believe that the establishment of a 'best before' date for all new software releases could prove an invaluable means to educating the user to patch or "refresh" their software applications," says the report.

Familiar concept

"Almost all users are familiar with the concept of 'sell by', 'expires on', or 'best before' date stamps on perishable goods.

"Consumers tend to rely on this date information in order to decide whether to purchase the goods, when to use the goods and when to dispose of the goods.

"Once a particular perishable good has exceeded its 'best before' date, the consumer is forced to evaluate their personal risk to using it or disposing of it.

"The greater the lapse between the 'best before' date and the current date, the more risk the consumer assumes by not disposing of it."

Apple slashes cost of MacBook Air SSD

Adam Hartley — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:07:00 GMT

Apple has reduced the price of the flash-memory model of the MacBook Air by over £300 this week, from a costly £2,028 down to a slightly more reasonable to £1,719.

Appleinsider noticed the price cut on the ultra-slim 13-inch 1.8GHz MacBook Air that packs a solid-state hard drive, with Apple remaining strangely quiet on the price-cut.

Component costs reduced

The markdown is a result of price cuts to the Air's 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor upgrade and the cost of the Flash memory-based 64GB SSD drive upgrade.

"That means customers can now configure a 1.6GHz MacBook Air with an SSD drive for as little as $2398 [around £1200]," claims AppleInsider.

Virgin Media stops warning stickers

Patrick Goss — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:53:00 GMT

Virgin Media has told TechRadar that it will has immediately halted the sending out of letters with warning stickers on, following the mistake which undermined their entire 'educational' campaign with the BPI.

The stance of the company has been that any file sharers reported to them by the BPI would be sent a letter of advice that their details had been logged and their actions deemed to breaching copyrights.

However, an 'administrative error' led to the envelopes that were branded with the strictly non-educational warning 'Important. If you don't read this, your broadband could be disconnected.'

Now, not August

The error has left the company embarrassed, and a spokesman for Virgin Media said that no further BPI warning letters will be sent out with this sticker adding: "The mistake has already been rectified."

"We are writing to some of our customers to make them aware of the issues surrounding unauthorised file sharing and the reasons why copyrighted music needs to be protected.

"This is an education campaign only and we will not be suspending or disconnecting these customers. As a responsible ISP, who has a strong heritage in music, we want our customers to enjoy music online safely, and to do so without the risks associated with using unauthorised services."

The review period for the campaign is in August, which has led to reports suggesting that the letters will continue to go out with the warning on the envelopes until then, but TechRadar has been assured that this is not the case.

The iPhone timeline: how it all began

Gareth Beavis — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:05:00 GMT

It seems some people might just have a little too much time on their hands. The chaps at iPhonegold.org have put together a timeline detailing all the ins and outs of how the Apple mobile evolved, from conception right through to the new iteration.

There's not a lot left secret about how the device was grown internationally, as every shred of rumour was picked up and mulled over incessantly. But it is nice to watch it all unfold before your very eyes.

Quick change

It's easy to forget how fast things move in the mobile world. It seems like aeons ago that the rumours began, but it was back in 2002 when the question was posed to Jobs: 'Will there be an iPhone?'

His response: 'One never knows. We don't usually discuss products we haven't announced.'

He knew.

Anyway, if you're interested in all the development, the trademark registering, the price drops and everything else, it's on iPhonegold.org's site.

But be warned: it makes reference to the Motorola ROKR, the 'iTunes-enabled phone',which still leaves some tech-heads waking in the night screaming.

Facebook shuts down application over privacy

Patrick Goss — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:52:00 GMT

Facebook has closed down another of its most popular third-party applications following privacy violations.

The social networking site has rapidly become one of the most popular internet destinations in the UK, although questions have been asked about privacy issues surrounding both the sheer level of personal data and third party add-ons.

Facebook has already been forced to pull another application, Top Friends, after user details were intercepted by a hacker, and now the Social Hi app has run into the same problem.

The Information Commisioner's Office has already confirmed to New Media Age that it will be meeting Facebook UK to discuss the implications of the Top Friends leak.

Although Facebook warns users about using third party applications, the viral way in which they spread through the network and the amount of information, including photos, that people are prepared to place on their personal pages, creates a dangerous temptation for hackers.

Aside from the nefarious manner in which people's personal photos can be repurposed by adult sites, the spectre of identity theft looms large with dates of birth and email addresses available in unprotected personal pages.

Even in more private accounts breaches such as the Top Friends incident happen, and most experts would agree that the best way to keep your personal data from getting into the wrong hands is to not post it on social networking sites.

LG to bring 8 megapixel camera phone?

Gareth Beavis — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:10:00 GMT

The rumour on the blogwires is that LG is preparing to have another crack at the touchscreen phone market, and this time it plans to whack an 8 megapixel snapper on the back.

The KC910 would be out sometime in Q4, probably in October this year, as LG aims to consolidate its new found position as the fourth biggest global handset manufacturer, having recently beaten Sony Ericsson in the rankings.

And now the KC910 would be a rival to the recently announced C905 from the Swedish-Japanese company, rubbing salt into the eroding profits wound.

An exciting possibility is a 'completely new' user interface, which might be what's needed after the clunkiness of the Viewty's (LG's most popular touchscreen phone so far) UI.

Speed up

The camera will pack a Xenon flash, image stabilisation and the fancy camera treat du jour, face recognition.

The video camera will capture at 30 fps, which is a darn sight slower than the traditional 120 fps that LG has plugged into most of its camera phones; whether its absence is an admission that the fun feature just isn't worth the effort, we'll soon find out.

Other than that, all we can do is pray to the mobile gods that these manufacturers stop messing about with megapixels and start working on more important stuff, such as better lenses and less power-hungry features to extend battery life.

8 megapixels is surely the limit of what anyone could want, or even need, in a camera phone. But that just means the 64 megapixel Sony Ericsson handset is likely to be just around the corner.

Internet censorship body swings into action

J Mark Lytle — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:29:00 GMT

Tighter regulation of online expression has moved a step closer with the announcement in Japan that a website watchdog will start filtering out 'harmful' sites there later this month.

The Content Evaluation and Monitoring Association (CEMA) is a private body that is working within the framework of a new law governing websites the government deems likely to provoke crimes or promote suicide, among other issues.

Protecting kids

As we've previously seen, most people accessing the web in Japan do so from phones, which is why CEMA's eye will initially be on mobile sites, not sites designed for PC browsers.

The CEMA's first role will be patrolling websites aimed at children and certifying those that meet its list of 22 guidelines. Successful sites will be allowed to pass through child filters already installed on some handsets, particularly phones designed for kids.

Keeping tabs

The guidelines recommend that sites check users' ages and react immediately to threats posted online, such as those made before the Akihabara killings last month. Only the sites that keep records of phones connecting to them will be recommended for approval by the guidelines.

Websites that are not approved end up on a blacklist that - in theory - will be inaccessible to anyone under 18 years of age with a mobile phone.

As well as requiring phone companies to offer child filters, the new law also outlines plans to force PC makers to do the same, although this isn't addressed in the current CEMA plans.

Best-laid plans...

Nevertheless, the scheme isn't without its flaws. We conducted a quick poll among a group of a dozen 13- and 14-year-olds in Tokyo today and discovered that not one had a phone with filtering software.

One explained, "I'm not going to use a child's phone - they don't look cool, so I have this normal phone on my dad's account."

Although such a reaction is to be expected, one striking observation was that there wasn't a single kid who didn't have a phone. That too would not be cool. Clearly, CEMA has plenty of work ahead of it.

English language not top dog in blogosphere

J Mark Lytle — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:24:00 GMT

Anyone reading this site who isn't aware of the increasing popularity of personal blog websites has either been living under a rock or is, more likely, a little bit lost.

However, what few of us English-speakers are likely to know is that our mother tongue is not the most commonly used by bloggers - it is, in fact, Japanese.

English in second

Even though Japan's population is around 130 million - compared to almost three times that number who speak English as their first language - the country accounts for 37 per cent of all blogs.

English comes next, at 36 per cent, with Chinese a distant third on just eight per cent.

According to a recent Japanese government survey, around 20 per cent of the nation's 88 million internet users maintain their own blogs, combining for a total of 1.35 billion entries on 16.9 million sites.

Only one-fifth of these sites receive updates at least once a month, with 31 per cent being simple online diaries, 26 per cent community sites and 25 per cent interest-themed blogs.

Pocket blogging

One area that the report does not highlight, however, is the fact that the vast majority of Japanese users post new blog items from their mobile phones.

One blogger we spoke to in Tokyo, Nao Okabe, explained why: "I always have my phone with me, so it's easy to send a photo and write something about what I've been doing."

The 20-year-old law student also likes the immediacy of phone blogging: "I get instant updates on my phone when anyone writes a comment on my stuff and also when any of my friends publish something on their own sites.

"I'm not going to wait to get home to my PC for that - I probably wouldn't bother in that case."

That's a scenario we've been told many times by Japanese bloggers, which suggests that if Western phone networks are interested in increasing data traffic (and profits) they'd do well to make mobile blogging just as easy as it is in Japan.

Wakey wakey: All the news in 30 seconds

J Mark Lytle — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:14:00 GMT

Remember a few days ago when we brought you news of tests showing that solid-state drives aren't as power-efficient as we were led to believe?

As might be expected, SSD makers have hit back at the methodology used by the Tom's Hardware website, claiming they tested the wrong kind of kit.

Wrong kind of snow

One spokesman for an SSD vendor said, "They are using legacy drives, none of which will be used by any major PC OEM."

In other words, the very newest SSDs should perform as advertised, he claims. With new drives expected soon from Intel, among others, the SSD field is clearly heating up.

Tiny chips

While we're on the subject of Chipzilla, Intel has revealed that it is looking to make chips using 10-nanometre processes within a few years.

The current smallest chips have connections measuring 45nm - these will be followed by 32nm next year and, possibly, 10nm or below around 2012.

Smaller parts means more energy-efficient systems and greater processing power per chip; clearly desirable attributes that are driving Intel and others to innovate as quickly as possible.

SPAM-alot

Finally for this morning, anyone still unsure about just how bad the spam problem is should take a close look at an experiment run by McAfee in which participants responded to all junk mail to see what would actually happen.

Instead of deleting obvious spam, trialists who clicked the fake 'remove me' links or otherwise responded ended up with not just more spam but real, paper junk mail too.

In just one month UK testers managed to attract around 10,000 unwanted messages, but those in the US averaged a horrifying 23,000 in the same period.

That's it for now, but stay tuned to TechRadar for the rest of the day's news as it breaks.

Everyone's YouTube viewing habits to be revealed

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:29:00 GMT

The high profile court battle between YouTube and Viacom - the owners of MTV and Paramount Pictures - has reared its ugly head once again. A US court has ruled that YouTube must hand over details of every video watched on its site since its inception AND the IP addresses of those who have watched what video.

This ruling comes after the long and drawn-out copyright battle between the two companies, which started in March 2007.

Viacom has accused YouTube of massive copyright infringement, where 1,600 unauthorised clips are said to have been viewed on the site a total of 1.6 billion times.

Set-back to privacy rights

Speaking about the ruling, a spokesperson for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said: "The Court's erroneous ruling is a set-back to privacy rights, and will allow Viacom to see what you are watching on YouTube.

"We urge Viacom to back off this overbroad request and Google to take all steps necessary to challenge this order and protect the rights of its users."

Editor's Choice: Top 10 graphics cards

James Rivington — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:25:00 GMT

July 2008 was the month that the graphics card industry took another big leap forward. Nvidia launched a new range of 200-series cards, with the record-breaking GeForce GTX280 leading from the front.

But ATI has been busy also, and has likewise launched a new batch of supercards. The interesting thing is that ATI and Nvidia have both taken very different routes with their new generation of graphics chips.

Nvidia has gone for brute force - the GTX280 is the most powerful graphics card ever created, with the cheaper GTX260 not too far behind.

ATI on the other hand, has decided to go down the 'value for money' path. Its new 4000-series cards are clocking in at speeds just below the Nvidia ones, but crucially they cost a hell of a lot less.

To celebrate the release of these awesome new graphics cards, here's our round-up of the top 10 graphics cards available today.

NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT

The GeForce 8800GT is a stonkingly good graphics card. When it came out last year, it offered performance just a fraction underneath the 8800GTX for a fraction of the cost.

It has 112 stream processors - each of which is individually clocked at 1. 5GHz - plus a 256-bit memory interface running at 900MHz.

And while the 8800GT is designed for PCI Express 2.0 (offering 5Gbps throughput), it's backwards compatible with original 2.5Gbps PCI Express slots too. The 8800GT was also the first 65nm GPU that Nvidia produced.

This more efficient process technology not only shrinks the size of the circuitry but reduces the overall power consumption. You can get this card for under £100 now which is phenomenal value for money. Beware the horrendous 256MB versions though - it's 512MB or nothing for this card.

Try these:
Asus EN8800GT 512MB
Club 3D GeForce 8800GT
MSI NX8800GT

NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT

The 9600GT is a relatively low-budget graphics card that makes the others in the sub-£200 market all but redundant.

The gaming performance is on a par with the G92-based 8800GT, dropping a few frames per second here and there, but never enough to really make a difference to the naked eye at standard resolutions.

Of course, if you're driving a very hi-res panel at 2,560 x 1,600 then you're going to have trouble getting smooth framerates at the native resolution, but if you're willing to pay out for such a mammoth screen then you'll be able to afford at least two of these, or a more expensive card.

Compared to NVIDIA's 8800GS and the awful 8800GT 256MB version - both of which are still retailing at well above the cost of the 9600GT - this card walks all over them.

Try these:
Palit GeForce 9600GT Sonic
Gigabyte GeForce 9600GT

NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS

You'll spot this latest version of the GeForce 8800GTS card because it nominally carries 512MB of memory on board - not unlike the 8800GT.

Inside its silicon heart there are yet more similarities with the GT: it's based, for example, on the G92 core.

In brief, G92 is a refined version of G80, designed on a 65nm process with a more polished instruction issue engine and capable of much higher clockspeeds. It also features the Pure Video 2 engine for improved HD decoding.

To earn its extra consonant, the 8800GTS has the full complement of 128 stream processors previously seen in the 8800GTX and Ultra cards, and thanks to the difference in G92 architecture, it has double the number of texture address units that those cards boasted.

On paper then, it's a superior card in every manner - from clock speeds to shader counts - to every previous NVIDIA chip.

However, if you go for this card you need to make sure you don't buy one of the older versions (which had 640 or 320MB of memory) - unless you're getting a significant discount.

Try these:
Asus 8800GTS TOP 512MB
Asus GeForce EN8800GTS
Palit GeForce 8800GTS

ATI Radeon 4850

The Radeon HD 4800 GPU, previously codenamed RV770, is absolutely brilliant.

In fact, it might just be the most efficient, effective and elegant graphics chip that the world has ever seen. It certainly delivers a bigger bang for your buck than any graphics chip before.

And yet it is not quite the fastest. It's actually quite tricky to choose a direct competitor, since the arrival of the 4800 will inevitably push prices of existing graphics chipsets from NVIDIA down.

The new Radeon HD 4800 comfortably has the measure of its closest competition - the GeForce 8800GTS. OK, it's not the most powerful GPU on the planet.

That honour remains with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 280. But at around £450, the GTX 280 costs over three times as much as the 4850. A brilliant card at an absolute bargain price.

Try these:
ATI Radeon HD 4850
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 (external)

NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX

Nearly two years ago, the much-heralded age of the DirectX10-capable graphics card dawned, as the supreme G80-powered GeForce 8800GTX dropped into the TechRadar office. We had to wait 12 long months for a refresh, during which time we were treated to a mass of mid-range cards, including the excellent 8800GT.

And while the 9800GTX and its GX2 uber-sister were extremely powerful cards, they were by no means the giant leap forward we were hoping for.

The long and short of it is that if you've got yourself an 8800GTX or Ultra, and felt that twinge of envy at the announcement of this new generation of top-end cards, then you can stop worrying.

In fact, you can probably be down-right smug as your slightly geriatric cards are still more than capable of holding their own against these youngbloods. The 9800 cards are good, but in terms of their place in the market, stillborn is the only way to describe them.

If you still want one though, try this:
PNY XLR8 9800GTX Overclocked

NVIDIA GeForce 9800GX2

The GX2 follows the example of the old 7950GX2, strapping two G92-stuffed PCBs together. But this time both PCBs face into the same heatsink and are housed in a vaguely coffin-like surround.

The clock speeds are slightly slower than the GTX, but a fair bit of optimising has gone into making this single-card SLI offering an impressive piece of engineering.

The GX2 is more powerful than the GTX, mainly due to its brute force SLI set-up. Still though, there's no real reason to pay the money.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX260

The brand-new GeForce GTX260 is about £50 cheaper than the 9800GX2 and yet throws out pretty much identical figures. That's pretty impressive for a single-GPU card.

The GTX260 is most impressive at the ultra high-end resolution of the 30" monitor brigade. We were disappointed with the performance of the GX2 at 2560x1600; after all we were expecting all that bandwidth and GPU grunt to shunt around pixels on a 30" display with gay abandon.

The GTX260 proved to be no hi-res slouch, doubling the GX2's Crysis performance. The real problem with this card though, is that Nvidia kinda stole its own thunder. If it hadn't bothered with the 9800 cards, the 260 would have seemed much better. However, it is a step up, and at a fairly decent price.

Try this one:
Zotac GeForce GTX260

ATI Radeon HD 4870

As good as the 4850 is, the new 4870 variant is even more impressive. Yes, it costs 50 per cent more than the 4850 but doesn't quite deliver 50 per cent more performance.

But the 4870 has an even better party trick. It makes the latest uber-GPU from arch rival NVIDIA, the GeForce GTX 280 (below), look massively overpriced and just a little bit silly.

The really clever bit is how ATI has managed to up the shader and texture count by 150 per cent courtesy of a boost in transistors of just 40 per cent.

In many respects, the 4870 is no different from the cheaper 4850. It has the same 800 shaders, 40 texture samplers and 16 render output units.

And the good news is that there is little reason to pay the £400 NVIDIA is demanding for the GTX 280. Incredibly, ATI has come up with a GPU that delivers a remarkably similar gaming experience for half the price.

Try this one:
ATI Radeon HD 4870

NVIDIA GeForce GTX280

And finally, here is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 - the fastest, most powerful graphics card on the planet. In terms of performance, nothing beats the GTX280 - so if you want the best, this is the one to get.

However, value for money is one thing this card cannot offer. The ATI Radeon 4850 is less than a third of the price of the GTX280 and doesn't lag terrible far behind in terms of gaming benches.

Still, the GTX280 finally delivers on the promise of high resolution DX10 gaming, even if it still refuses to support DX10.1. It is an excellent card, but we can't help but feel it's a little over priced.

Try this one:
Gigabyte GeForce GTX280

Google Talk available for the iPhone

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:53:00 GMT

Through its blog, Google has announced that a new version of Google Talk is available for the iPhone and the iPod touch.

To receive the service, users simply need to point their mobile browsers to google.com/talk, sign in and then away they go.

Currently, the application is only available through the Safari browser, which is good because that's the default browser for Apple products, and the best part of it is that you don't actually have to download anything as it's all done in the browser.

Differences

The blog does go on to say that there are a few differences between the mobile version of Google Talk and the full computer program. These include the fact that if you use another browser window or application, your status will change to "unavailable".

Design-wise, though, those familiar already with Google Talk will instantly recognise the mobile version as they are near-identical.

Voice-activation

In other Google news, the company has announced a version of its Google Maps application for the BlackBerry Pearl.

The new app handles voice-recognition, which means that you can now shout orders into your Pearl like an idiot and get some sort of response.

Unfortunately (or should we say fortunately?) the voice-activation app is only available in the US. The Google Talk service, however, is available both in Europe and the US.