TechRadar: All News Feeds

France marches online to protest 'security' database

J Mark Lytle — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:32:00 GMT

Personal privacy is, of course, a major issue these days, particularly when it comes to authorities gathering data in schemes such as the UK's proposed identity card program or France's Edvidge electronic database.

Edvidge, the French government's new repository of information aimed at keeping an eye on citizens who it deems merit surveillance, is currently drawing mass protests two months after it was signed into law.

Kids too

Among other things, it can track people from age 13 who are involved in unions, politics or who represent a threat to public order. Although those first two categories aren't likely to attract many 13-year-olds, this hasn't gone down too well in France.

Alluding to the new powers to record information about an individual's appearance, finances and even friends, former education minister François Bayrou said, "With just a few clicks of the mouse, any government official or civil servant will have access to intimate data".

Sign up online

So far, the main protest has been online – over 100,000 signatures are listed on the anti-Edvidge website – but more will surely follow.

According to Reuters, appeals to France's highest courts are already underway with a view to nipping the government's giant electronic monitor in the bud.

New Yahoo ads promise more interest matching

J Mark Lytle — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:26:00 GMT

It's often hard to know what to make of new online advertising techniques that claim to produce ads that are better targeted at the reader, but we'll give Yahoo's new scheme the benefit of the doubt for now.

The Japan-only 'Interest Match' program is due to go live any day now, offering the next step beyond simple context-sensitive ads or the type of privacy invasion utilised by the likes of Phorm.

Cookies in place

Instead, Interest Match places a cookie on participating PCs and tracks what websites users view over time and how long they spend on individual pages.

That's not particularly new, but what Yahoo Japan hopes is that advertisers will be drawn to the subsequent ability to target people at specific times of day, as well as by the usual demographics of age, gender and location.

Small folk too

Ultimately, if Yahoo's proprietary technology can deliver relevant advertising, then it will generate more revenue for everyone from bloggers to big publishers.

Alternatively, we could all continue to ignore advertising on websites and maybe one day we'll see an end to those little boxes pushing stuff we already have.

Toshiba's SRT TVs make standard definition 'feel like HD'

Mark Harris — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:13:00 GMT

We were hoping that Toshiba's new Super Resolution Technology (SRT) would be some new-fangled gadget to help us keep our New Year promises ("I will not buy another Microsoft operating system." Yeah, right).

Unfortunately, it turns out to be nothing more than a revolutionary system in its new Regza TVs to 'upconvert' standard definition broadcasts and DVDs to 'feel like HD'. The SRT system, found in the Regza RV-5353 and 120Hz XV545 (both in 42-, 46- and 52-inch sizes), aims to bring clean, sharp and bright, vibrant colours to help your PAL images look 'better than ever before'.

Not a Cell, mate

Technical details are sketchy but Gizmodo was told by a spokesperson that this is not the Cell-powered upconversion demonstrated at IFA this year, although it does use the same processing algorithms.

The smart tellies also have Auto View, a system to dynamically adjust the brightness depending on both ambient conditions and the video source. Toshiba claims that this could save energy while improving the viewing experience, although by our reckoning any savings would be minute.

More news on Super Resolution Technology when we have had a chance to sample its upconverting skills.

JVC launches next gen HD 4K DLA-SH4K projector

Mark Harris — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:19:00 GMT

As the Democratic Party Convention in Denver makes way for a far more important event, CEDIA 2008, JVC has announced a star there that threatens to eclipse the junior Senator for Illinois.

It is now shipping its new ultra-High Definition DLA-SH4K projector - a home cinema leviathan that can show four Full HD screens simultaneously, thanks to its 10MP 4096x2400-pixel D-ILA chip.

Bigger is better

The projector is at the vanguard of the so-called 4K movement, the next generation of High Definition goodies that deliver the stunning levels of detail required by aircraft simulators, military command and control centres, theme parks, and, naturally, high-end home cinemas.

At the heart of the DLA-SH4K is JVC's proprietary 1.27-inch 10 megapixel liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) imaging chip, illuminated by a 825 Watt Xenon lamp that generates output of 3500 lumens.

You've also got four DVD-D inputs, RS-232, USB and Ethernet connections - network it up and you'll even receive email reminders when that lamp needs replacing. No word yet on pricing, but if you have to ask....

Hands on: Amazon Video On Demand review

Mark Harris — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:44:00 GMT

Not content with being the world's favourite bookstore and muscling in on iTunes' territory with DRM-free MP3 downloads, Amazon is now taking on video shops, DVD-by-post services and, yes, iTunes again, with a new streaming service - Amazon Video on Demand.

We put it through its paces in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. We've been using the service throughout its beta phase - it goes live to all US customers today.

Setting up and interface

The Video on Demand (VOD) service starts out as just another Amazon web page. Select a TV show or movie and a super-widescreen 21:9 format window opens up inside the page. Amazon VOD uses the latest Flash 9, so you may to have download a quick upgrade.

Connection is impressively quick - no more than around 5-10 seconds before the video starts playing. You generally get 2 minutes of the video free before having to buy (or rent, in the case of movies) the full stream. Purchasing is a one-click affair, with no check out process, and all purchases are stored in a Video Library online so you can pick up from where you left off earlier.

Video and sound quality

Videos appear to be encoded at 640x480-pixel resolution, although hit the Pop Out button and the video moves into a separate window that is easily (and quickly) scalable to your chosen side. Sound is in stereo.

After a few seconds of viewing the player controls slide away, making full screen viewing fairly clean. The VOD service does not appear to buffer much video at all - an interrupted internet connection will bring up a 'Connecting...' dialogue in less than a second. Naturally, you can't watch any video when offline, unlike download services.

IE vs Firefox vs Chrome

Firefox is our browser of choice (at least for the moment), but actually delivered the least impressive experience of Amazon VOD. Video was sharp and colours bright but a couple of episodes of Mad Men stuttered and froze just as the smooth dialogue was getting going.

Switching to Chrome took an edge off the crisp detail and made it through the rest of the series without freezing, although fast motion had a jittery feel to it that soon became tiring.

Perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised, but IE was the smoothest at streaming Amazon Video On Demand. Again, edge detail wasn't quite up to Firefox, but motion looked good and sound was first class.

Free snippets

As it moved out of beta, the selection of shows on Amazon VOD has improved, particularly on TV side. There are numerous free videos to watch (particularly pilots and end-of-season cliffhangars), bonus material previously found only on DVD releases and quirky one-offs like MTV music video and reality show snippets.

Overall, a good debut from Amazon that works well and delivers a decent streaming experience - especially in Internet Explorer. We'll test it again when we get our hands on connected Sony Bravia TV.

Amazon Video On Demand launches

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:41:00 GMT

Online-retail behemoth Amazon has launched its on-demand service in the US. Although Amazon VOD was released in its Beta stage two months ago, it has only become public-facing now.

Users of the service can now instantly watch films, straight from their computers, picking from a long list of films available.

In unison with the launch, Amazon has greenlit the service via new internet-linked Sony Bravia TVs.

Different to Unbox

Amazon's Unbox, which has been popular with TiVo users and offered a similar TV and video download service has been integrated into the service, but users of Unbox will still be able to access their downloaded content library via Amazon On Demand.

Speaking about his company's new venture, Roy Price, director of Amazon VOD said, "The ability to watch content instantly without downloading first was among the most requested features of our customers, and now it's live." This is something that Unbox did not deliver.

The good news for Apple users is that Amazon VOD is also available on Mac computers – another problem Unbox had is that it was Window-only.

All you do is watch the film or TV show through the browser. And as the application is web-based, you will be able to watch your rented of bought films from any computer.

Price-wise, movies cost around $10 to $15 to buy and $3 to $4 to rent. TV shows must be purchased.

Currently there are around 40,000 titles ready to stream straight to your computer.

Scent of a laptop

Gareth Mason — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:40:00 GMT

How would you like your laptop to smell? Might Floral, Cologne, Ocean or Grass draw you amorously towards your keyboard? Might turning your computer on have a whole new connotation? Is this the ultimate computer geek's substitute for flesh and blood?

Asus thinks so. Or it's possibly just having a laugh.

The Nature part

While the guts of this laptop are nothing to get overexcited about – it's the gimmicks that will earn it the (minor) headlines. Not only will it smell of Karate perfume, pollen, salt, or your dog's garden deposits, but it's got a patterned lid and a carbon fibre wrist rest.

The wacky designs made an appearance in Las Vegas (now it's starting to make sense) this week as part of Project 200 in Microsoft's Spotlight on PC Fashion. Aside from the four scents, it comes in either pink, blue, green or black too.

The Science bit

The ASUS F6V is the rather prosaic name for a hunk of metal trying to be anything but. It has a 13.3in screen, Core 2 Duo processor, 320GB of storage, ATI HD 3470 graphics card, fingerprint authentication, HDMI port, and 1.2MP webcam.

It's available on pre-order from Amazon for $1,300. You want more? We'd advise you to check out the website. I mean – look at the headline – did you really think this was a review?

E(co-friendly) Bay launches

Peter Gothard — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:25:00 GMT

Auction site eBay has launched a new branch of its sprawling empire, aimed at bigging up "People Positive" and "Eco Positive" goods.

Promising that the new community functions in "empowering you to shop in ways that align with your personal values," WorldofGood.com offers a marketplace stuffed with fixed-price goods categorised by social or environmental factors.

Detailed origins

Searching for a product will often result in displaying a photo of whoever grew the coffee or made the earrings, details of the product's origins and whether any of the proceeds will go to charity.

"We really want consumers to drill down into the detail of what's behind that product," said WorldofGood.com General Manager Robert Chatwani.

Already, he said, the market for products that demonstrate such ethical awareness is growing, quoting the Natural Marketing Institute's estimate that the US market for such shopping was $209 billion in 2005, but will rise to an estimated $420 billion in 2010.

The site works in a similar to eBay, charging its current several hundred sellers listing fees and taking commission on sales. All transactions, says CNN, will be made through PayPal.

Cambridge Audio premieres Blu-ray player

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:45:00 GMT

Although it is not out until the spring of 2009, one look at Cambridge Audio's new Blu-ray player will make you want one now.

Forgoing the usual black design to a sleek silver look, the UK-based company has shown off its first-ever Blu-ray player at this year's Cedia US in Denver.

Called the 640BD, Cambridge Audio has designed its player to fit in with its own range of Azur AV receivers – award winners at the Home Cinema Choice awards, no less.

Connections and outputs

The 640BD features HDMI 1.3 output, bitstream output of all the latest HD Dolby and DTS surround-sound systems and internal decoding of Dolby Digital EX, DTS ES, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD and DTS HR surround-sound.

As always, there's a full set of analog video outputs is supported, and an Ethernet connection, SPDIF, Toslink and dedicated 7.1 and stereo analogue outputs.

Picture-wise, the player upscales DVD to 1080p and supports 24 frames per second (fps) progressive scan True Cinema.

There's no word of what Profile Cambridge Audio has chosen, but we suspect as it is coming out next spring, that it will feature Profile 2.0. Price details are also to be announced.

GP2X: Interview with games developer Jeff Mitchell

Peter Gothard — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:27:00 GMT

The GP2X Wiz, successor to the Korean GP32 and GP2X consoles, is due for release in October, and is currently being promoted by developer Game Park Holdings as having a far more commercial approach than its predecessor.

TechRadar spoke to Canadian software developer Jeff Mitchell, developer of launch title BattleJewels, to learn more about the development scene, and GPH's part in it.

A recent press release stated that Game Park Holdings will be releasing new software for the Wiz every month. Can you elaborate on this promise, and explain how it might work?

I've a limited view into that world, but I can offer up that the titles seem to include a mix of pure commercial (such as GP2X titles and it looks like titles from the original GP32 modernized as well) and commercialized versions of GP2X homebrew - ie: as a small company, getting new content attracted to a platform is very difficult so they're trying to at least leverage what they do have access to - prior assets and the very strong homebrew community that has built up on their devices.

Let's be frank - the GPH machines pretty much make it on homebrew, so they know the value we developers add into the ecosystem, and this time they're trying to work more with all of us.

More to point, GPH have made the effort to appoint one or more people as liaison to developers of popular homebrew titles in hopes of getting their influential cooperation, and going so far as to offer assistance in commercializing applications.

GPH is offering some expertise in game assets (such as artwork), localization (to Korea, for instance) and offering suggestions (application ideas, interface design and so forth) to help differentiate for-sale games against their previous homebrew incarnations.

Anyway, I know there are some boxed titles in the works, and I suspect an online store (Certainly GPH has often published through various other online sources such as GBAX, Play Asia, etc.)

Can you explain how developers are approached by GPH to contribute to their in-house software library?

I think some applications have been 'bought up', but expect most are in cooperation with the developers instead. Certainly for my game, they've been wanting to cooperate on changes (they're a small organization, no way they could manage code on dozens of games at once).

Locating the popular homebrew is not difficult... a night of trolling some of the fan sites will yield all that is needed, and there are a few recurrent homebrew competitions whose posted results pages will provide handy bookmarks. BattleJewels ranked pretty high in last year's GBAX competition, as did some of the other titles I believe are being farmed for the Wiz.

Naturally I can only speak for myself though. GPH emailed me some time ago around the beginning of the year - informing me of a few in-progress details of an upcoming device, asking for source for the BattleJewels game (code, artwork, etc) so they could do some rework to ensure it would operate on the new device and possibly do some upgrades along the way.

BJ is not an open source work so the request was curious, but I figured they meant to just bring top homebrew onboard but in the more or less same state it was in on the GP2X. I wrote back with some options - that we could make a build for the new device, that we didn't mind being included in the device ROM as long as game assets were untouched (credits and so on).

I suspect over time they realized that some of the people they were approaching were professional software developers and started working towards more commercial games in the traditional sense - delivered on SD, rather than UMD on a PSP for instance.

Are you being paid by GPH for your continued development contribution, or are you expecting a one-time purchase of your title by the company?

It seems to be essentially a commissions-style system though I've not yet gone so far as to bang out details. Getting into the legals with a Korean corporation could get complex so I've got some research to do yet but they've offered up very favourable terms. I've got applications and games up on a few platforms and over the years the publishers have been getting greedier and greedier and making it very hard on those of us at the end of the pipe; GPH made a very fair set of terms, which is refreshing to see in this day.

It's clear from the active developer forums that the games development side of GP2X/GP2X:Wiz is very much a hobbyist's field. How would you describe the developer scene? Is it friendly? Close? Are there any rivalries or unpleasantries between developers?

The scene in general is one of the best around; the public at large is smaller than with your mainstream devices and so attracts people who are more interested in the devices and are a little willing to tinker - like your aftermarket car folks would be. The development scene itself has often been compared in spirit to the roaring days of the early 90s (Atari ST and and Amiga and whatnot); suffice to say I think it's one of the best communities of homebrewers and retro-developers around, though not limited to the GP-related devices.

There is a blur of developers who dabble in these machines and other consoles (Dreamcast has always been a dev's favourite), PDAs/phones or embedded devices, in emulation development, shareware and commercial gaming, and more conventional systems and you'll frequently find the same names popping up in many places.

People are forever bumping into me in this forum or that website and asking if I'm "that" skeezix from Codejedi, from gp32x.com, or from emuboards. The GPH crowd gets around, and if you need some help there's a hand usually around to assist.

There are numerous scenes as well - you can't miss the Spaniards or the Germans and the GPH fans are spread across the world.

There are the usual short term spats but few will notice such things. In general, it has always been great fun to loiter at gp32x.com. myself, I really enjoy having a tight knit community, people who are not only willing but dying to help out, to beta test, to help with artwork for your emulator frontend or whatever. The PSP scene, the DS scene and so on. They're lively as well, but larger and less pulled together I always
thought. (Though there are some very good sub-communities there, of
course).

Some might suggest that the GP2X:Wiz will once again be a console very popular with those who use emulators or pirate games, and won't actually be interested in a dedicated software base. How would you respond to such a statement?

The Wiz will be enormously popular for emulation and homebrew fans, and I expect people will buy a title or two of commercialware if it is priced well, and is priced to the quality. Prices have been climbing in gaming arenas, but as we can see with Apple's iTunes app store, keeping prices modest can really boost the numbers. Now, remember there are multiple sides to economics - on the one, you want to make people smile, and enjoy your title, and keeping prices low does that, and gets the title out to more hands for more smiles. But accountants will be quick to point out that if you half the price and sell 2.5 the quantity, you're still ahead - so karma, and profits. The trick is finding the balance.

So I do believe there is a market, but I don't expect it's a huge one.

I've never seen statistics for sales for the previous GPH machines, but from the forums we do see people buying the games; and if no-one bought any, Play Asia and so on wouldn't have kept stocking them, right?

Do you think the work you and other developers are doing on the games front will help to give the new GP2X any kind of foothold in the modern handheld market, next to the success of the DS and the PSP?

No; just like SanDisk selling mp3 players doesn't dent the iPod market - but it keeps SanDisk going. It helps legitimize the device to those who think emulation is bad and that its 'just for emulation', or 'just another Chinese mp4 device.' And it helps pay a few bills here or there for a few people, hopefully. But mostly it's a lot of fun.

This is how Quake mod teams suddenly end up being game developers themselves; ten years of bottom feeding and finally getting their break.

GPH was a nobody with the GP32, and they're getting more known with their increased Linux support on the GP2X series; they're still a nobody, but they're less a nobody. Slashdot posts about them now, but that's a long way from pretending Sony will take notice. Though, I don't know how big a name they are in Korea. Perhaps I am woefully unaware!

Spotlight thrown on Google chrome security flaw

Gareth Beavis — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:24:00 GMT

Google's new browser, Chrome, might only be in the beta stage, but that hasn't stopped the hacker community searching it for every possible flaw.

And security researcher Aviv Raff has managed to find a flaw in the system that could allow malicious users to automatically download a file.

A Java JAR file is highlighted when needed for download by fully-working browsers, such as Firefox. But with the version of the WebKit Google used to develop Chrome does not include such a prompt.

Clever hackers

This means clever hackers could use this to launch an attack through Java if users don't know what JAR file they're downloading.

Browsers such as Safari use a newer version of the WebKit and aren't vulnerable to such a flaw...but then Google would just say this is what a beta version is for!

But the main point: remember the new Google Chrome isn't finished, so be ready for the consequences if you download it.

Bizarre product naming: the Samsung X360

Adam Hartley — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:59:00 GMT

While we love the look of Samsung's X360, its latest entry into the superslim laptop market, we cannot help but wonder about the background to the name (fairly similar to a well-known games console) and also whether or not it is fair for tech media to continually refer to the machine as a 'MacBook Air killer'.

First up, however, we wanted to see what Graham Barlow, editor over on MacFormat magazine thought of the 'MacBook Air killer' meme.

"It looks like a fantastically well designed computer," Barlow told us.

"But at the end of the day there's no point comparing it to a MacBook Air beyond the superficial thinness, since it's not capable of running OS X, the Mac's operating system, which is the main point of owning a Mac and not a PC."

A fair point, well made.

Happy with Apple comparisons

Meanwhile Dinesh Chand, Product Marketing Manager for Samsung's Mobile Computing division, had the following to say about the 'MacBook Air killer' tag:

"Different products will always have different capabilities across different platforms. We feel that the X360's comprehensive feature set and styling gives the product a direct appeal to our target audiences in the Business and Consumer space, many of whom will be very familiar with running the Windows Vista platform, and may be running it on their current machines."

And, in what is a clear reference to Apple, Chand added: "Whilst we are not in direct competition with certain vendors in the premium mobile computing space, we are happy with the form factor comparisons that have been attributed to the X360 as an alternative choice for PC Users"

Bizarre naming rituals

As for the X360 moniker, TechRadar's eager Beavis, Gareth informs us that in the IFA questions and answers session earlier this month, Samsung execs gave the following explanation for the name, after stressing that it had no relationship to Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming console whatsoever:

"X360 relates to the X factor, 3 means 13.1 inch screen, 6 is high end, and 0 because we times by ten," was the frankly bizarre reasoning Samsung gave for the name.

GP2X Wiz handheld developer speaks

Peter Gothard — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:58:00 GMT

The Korean open-source handheld GP2X Wiz is nearing release, but the world at large remains largely in the dark about Game Park Holdings' business plans for the machine.

TechRadar spoke to Canadian BattleJewels developer Jeff Mitchell about GP2X Wiz, his role creating games on the format, and his thoughts on the console's place in the handheld market.

Game Park Holdings working closely with homebrew developers?

"The GPH machines pretty much make it on homebrew, so they know the value we developers add into the ecosystem," said Mitchell. "And this time, they're trying to work more with all of us."

Mitchell went on to say that GPH have appointed people to liase with developers directly, in the hopes of gaining their influential co-operation, as well as offering physical assistance in games assets such as artwork, localization and interface designs. This, he says, should help differentiate for-sale games against their previous homebrew incarnation.

"I know there are some boxed titles in the works, and I suspect an online store," he added.

GPH's "buying up" of homebrew titles?

Mitchell explains how GPH emailed him around the start of this year, informing him of a few in-progress details of an "upcoming device" and asking for BattleJewels' source code "so they could do some rework to ensure it would operate on the new device and possibly do some upgrades along the way," he said.

Eventually, he says, GPH must have realised that "some of the people they were approaching were professional software developers, and started working towards more commercial games in the traditional sense - delivered on SD rather than UMD on a PSP for instance."

"GPH emailed me some time ago - around the beginning of the year - informing me of a few in-progress details of an upcoming device, asking for source for the BattleJewels game so they could do some rework to ensure it would operate on the new device and possibly do some upgrades
along the way," said Mitchell.

Will it gain a foothold against DS or PSP?

Mitchell doesn't think so. "Just like SanDisk selling mp3 players doesn't dent the iPod market - but it keeps SanDisk going," he said.

He likes to think that the more commercial approach this time around will help to legitimize the console with those who think "emulation is bad and that the Wiz is "just another Chinese MP4 device."

"And it helps pay a few bills here or there to a few people, hopefully. But mostly it's a lot of fun," Mitchell added.

Read the full interview on TechRadar to find out more about Mitchell's role in the game-making scene, his dealings with Game Park Holdings and the wider development scene.

'Hot' Sony laptops recalled in US

Gareth Mason — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:58:00 GMT

Sony is to recall around 73,000 - with some reports saying it could be as many as 440,000 - Vaio laptops in the US with the co-operation of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC).

A problem has been found that may lead to a short-circuit and overheating with the risk of its operator being burned.

Thus far, the injury toll covers one minor burn and 15 complaints of overheating.

The four Vaio models involved are the VGN-TZ100, TZ-200, TZ-300 and TZ-2000 sold between July 2007 and August this year.

Owners are advised to check their serial numbers and product codes from the relevant Sony support page. If your number comes up, you are advised to switch off the machine, unplug it and remove the battery. The Japanese company is offering free inspection, and to repair the unit if the problem is confirmed.

Screw loose

The fault involves either a loose wire and/or a misplaced screw, close to the hinge.

Luckily, no British models have so far been affected but the laptops have been sent to over 48 countries in the world, with 67,000 reportedly sold in Japan.

The recall of over five million batteries cost Sony some $430m last year when dodgy power sources in Dell and Apple laptops caused a number of machines to go up in flames.

Google Chrome to fuse with Android?

Gareth Beavis — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:40:00 GMT

Google's co-founder Sergey Brin has hinted that Android could use some elements of Google Chrome in the future.

The two were developed in very different projects, but given both were built using the same WebKit, fusion is unlikely to be very difficult.

"We have not wanted to bind one's hands to the other's," Brin said, according to CNET.

"Probably a subsequent version of Android is going to pick up a lot of the Chrome stack," he added.

Open-source

WebKit is an open-source program that helps the device, be it PC or mobile, interpret HTML code for rendering on the given screen.

Given the clear convergence of internet PCs and mobile phones, an Android and Google Chrome alliance would make a lot of sense, as it would allow Google to get further tie-ins for its services and products.

And the name of the service? "Probably a subsequent version of Android is going to pick up a lot of the Chrome stack," Brin commented.

New Sony Vaio boasts HDMI connectivity

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:36:00 GMT

Sony has chosen this year's US Cedia expo to show off its new PC laptop wares. Not so much a completely new model, more an update to Sony's Vaio LT desktop PC, this new Vaio – which is now called LV – has some interesting added features that will entice not just computer heads into buying.

Sony has decided to give the all-in-one system HDMI connectivity, so you can connect up an HD set-top box, next-gen games console, Blu-ray player and away you go.

Couple this with an integrated ATSC tuner and you have the recipe for HD viewing success.

If you don't fancy using the system as a home cinema, then you will pleased to know that it also acts as a decent PC.

Processing power

A 3.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo Processor means you have plenty of processing power to play around with, 4 GB RAM will keep things speedy, and an almost bottomlesss 1TB hard drive that will store up to 100 hours of HD television.

Then there's a Blu-ray burner, five USB ports, S-Video, composite video, Ethernet and a whole host of card readers.

It also comes with a wireless keyboard, and the 24in monitor can be wall mounted for your viewing pleasure.

There's no word on UK pricing and availability but the LV is available for $1600 all the way up to $3000 across the pond – depending on how many add-ons you want to, er, add on.

Tesco launches mobile VoIP service

Gareth Beavis — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:12:00 GMT

Tesco has launched a new VoIP service for mobile phones that allows it to use Wi-Fi networks to cut customer's call costs.

Tesco Talk Wi-Fi is the product of a trial with Freshtel launched two months ago, when TechRadar got a hands-on with the new service.

Easy sync

Downloaded as an application to the mobile (currently only on Symbian), the service automatically syncs with the SMS inbox and contact list.

The application, which can be set to run on start-up, will automatically detect whether the other person is on the same service, allowing free calls, or whether it can route the call over Wi-Fi to offer a cheaper service.

The handsets currently able to offer the service are the same as used for the trial: the Nokia N95, N81, E65 and E51, but more are likely to be added in the near future.

In Depth: Windows 7 made for fast booting

Gareth Mason — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:05:00 GMT

Leading Microsoft engineer Michael Fortin says that speeding up booting times is one of the priorities of Windows 7. Under 15 seconds is his target for a 'very good system'.

Boot times are influenced by systems and configurations. In tests with machines running Vista, over a third started up in 30 seconds or less, while around three quarters of them took 50 seconds of less.

Fortin says: "From our perspective, too few systems consistently boot fast enough and we have to do much better. Obviously, the systems that are greater than 60 seconds have something we need to dramatically improve – whether these are devices, networking or software issues... there are also some system maintenance tasks that can contribute to long boot times."

The cleaner the install, the better

He continues: "In scanning dozens of systems, we've found plenty of opportunity for improvement and have made changes. Illustrating that, please consider the following data taken from a real system. As the system arrived to us, the off-the-shelf configuration had a 45 second boot time. Performing a clean install of Vista SP1 on the same system produced a consistent 23 second boot time. Of course, being a clean install, there are many fewer processes, services and a slightly different set of drivers (mostly the versions were different).

"However, we were able to take the off-the-shelf configuration and optimise it to produce a consistent boot time of 21 seconds, two seconds faster than the clean install because some driver/BIOS changes could be made in the optimised configuration... if a service is not absolutely required, it shouldn't be starting and a trigger should exist to handle rare conditions so that the service operates only then.

Fortin says that device and driver initialisation can significantly affect lagging boot times, which Windows 7 seeks to avoid by increasing the number of drivers that are initialised in parallel. Making diagnostic fixes and communicating them with users is also an important consideration with Windows 7. An obvious problem is a user having too many startup applications, but less well known are the results of having problematic boot or logon scripts.

IT teams slow us down

In corporate environments too, IT teams can change the defaults and set up client systems to contact local servers. The result can be that booting up and logging on can take minutes taking into account networks timing out and server authentication. Such scripts can run expensive programs consuming CPU, disk and memory resources.

Fortin adds:"In addition to working on Windows 7 specific features and services, we are sharing tools, tests and data with our partners. The tools are available to enthusiasts as well. The tools we use internally to detect and correct boot issues are freely available today here as part of the Windows Performance Toolkit."

He also refers to additional software and how Microsoft must provide developers and users with the tools to maximise the quality for Windows users and for the users to know whether its performance is up to scratch.

Myth busting

Signing off, Fortin says that it's important to destroy the myths that have developed about certain configuration changes improving performance when they don't.

"Many recommended changes aren't helpful at all," he concludes. " For instance, we've found the vast majority of 'registry tweak' recommendations to be bogus. Here's one of my favourites. If you perform a Live search for 'Enable Superfetch on XP', you'll get a large set of results. I can assure you, on Windows XP there is no Superfetch functionality and no value in setting the registry key noted on these sites. As with that myth, there are many recommendations pertaining to CPU scheduling, memory management and other configuration changes that aren't helpful to system performance."

In Depth: Tested: Google Chrome vs Opera vs Safari

Gary Marshall — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:49:00 GMT

We've already tested Google Chrome against the betas of IE8 and Firefox 3.1 but that hasn't satisfied our curiosity. How does Google Chrome compare with the other two big browsers, Opera and Safari? There was only one way to find out. Time for another browser battle!

Usability

WINNER: OPERA

Safari isn't a bad browser, but on the PC it's not a great one, either. Whether it's arrogance, laziness or a combination of the two, the interface that works so well on the Mac looks completely out of place (the word we'd use is "minging") on XP or Vista, and while the browser itself does the essentials - integrated RSS, good bookmark management, lovely text rendering and an integrated search bar - there's nothing particularly inspiring about it.

Opera, on the other hand, looks brilliant and is a joy to use. It has a proper page zoom rather than the text-only zoom of Safari and Chrome, its address bar gives you the option to Google without using the separate search box, Speed Dial gives you thumbnails of your chosen web pages when you open a new tab, it has decent bookmark management and it's easy to make the interface work the way you want it to.

There's an integrated RSS reader along with email, IRC and BitTorrent, and like Google Chrome, Opera can search the content of your browser history to find forgotten pages. Best of all, there's Mouse Gestures, which enable you to navigate by waving the mouse around, and you can save tab groups to re-open them later. As with Chrome, dragging a tab over the desktop opens it in a new window.

In this department Opera is the clear winner, with Chrome claiming the minimalist crown and Safari sulking in the corner.

Expandability
WINNER: OPERA

As we've already discovered, Chrome isn't expandable beyond a few plug-ins, and it's a similar story with Safari: the few decent add-ons that exist for the Mac version, such as Saft or SafariStand, haven't made it across to Windows.

Things are a bit better with Opera, although there's nothing like Firefox's army of extensions. Instead there are a few available plug-ins such as media players or download accelerators, and you can get extra eye candy in the form of Widgets - which are essentially the same thing as Vista's Sidebar Gadgets. While many of them are fairly pointless, you can still get useful things such as Google PageRank checkers and, er, an aquarium simulator.

Performance
WINNER: CHROME

Chrome is based on Webkit. Safari is based on Webkit. Webkit should deliver the same performance as Webkit - and it does, to a point. That point is JavaScript, and we were surprised by the difference. While Opera and Safari's Sunspider benchmarks were almost indistinguishable, Chrome was significantly faster. We benchmarked on our trusty Core 2 Duo machine, so we'd expect even more dramatic differences on less powerful PCs.

Sunspider benchmarks (lower numbers are better)
Chrome - 1923.0ms
Opera - 4494.8ms
Safari - 4526.6ms

Impressive, eh? It's worth noting that all three browsers outperformed IE8, whose benchmarks hovered around the 7,000ms mark. We had similar results on the second run.

Second Sunspider benchmarks (lower numbers are better)
Chrome - 1980.0ms
Opera - 4762.2ms
Safari - 4440.0ms

Despite its various integrated features, Opera's memory footprint isn't massive. With our selection of ten tabs open simultaneously, it was the least hungry of our browser trio.

Memory Footprint (ten tabs)
Chrome - 141MB
Opera - 113MB
Safari - 163MB

That's not as good as Firefox 3.1 (91MB), but it's much better than IE8 (230MB).

With a single tab open, Chrome was the least greedy - but Opera wasn't far off.

Memory Footprint (single tab)
Chrome - 22MB
Opera - 35MB
Safari - 81MB

For everyday browsing, all three programs are exceptionally fast - but when you factor JavaScript into the equation, Chrome is ahead by a country mile. If browser-based apps are your thing, neither Opera nor Safari comes close to Chrome's speed.

As for stability, we found all three browsers perfectly reliable, although only Chrome isolates each tab so a rogue page shouldn't bring the entire browser down.

Fighting evil
WINNER: CHROME

All three browsers block pop-ups, but ad blocking isn't available in any of them - although you can create an ad-blocker of sorts by mucking about inside Opera's preferences to block animated GIFs, sound and other annoyances. Opera and Chrome also have integrated anti-phishing, a feature absent from Safari, but Opera is the only one of our trio without a private browsing mode. That gives Chrome a victory by default: of three browsers with fairly limited evil-fighting powers, Chrome is the least bad.

TechRadar's final verdict
WINNER: OPERA

We're big fans of Apple hardware and software, but Safari for Windows is half-arsed. It's great on the Mac, but we can't think of a reason why Windows users would want it - especially now Chrome offers essentially the same rendering engine with a better interface, lower memory usage and better performance.

So Chrome wins? Not quite. It definitely has the edge when it comes to JavaScript performance, but speed isn't everything - if it was, our cars wouldn't have doors, roofs, stereos or air-conditioning. Creature comforts are important to most of us, and on that front Opera is the only browser here that really delivers.

Hands on: Sony PlayTV review

Home Cinema Choice team — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:20:00 GMT

Sony's long-awaited PlayTV PVR bolt-on for the PS3 promises to finally turn the console into a genuine multimedia hub. But is the Freeview recording peripheral really going to change the way people use the PS3?

When the Play TV gizmo arrived in HCC Towers we jumped on it to find out for ourselves. It transpires that the PlayTV is a sizeable, rather ugly twin tuner-equipped adapter. It's designed to let you watch and record Freeview channels using your console.

Sporting an aerial input and a single red LED, it connects to the console via a mini USB lead. It can be reasonably well controlled using the PS3 Sixaxis controller but if you have the PS3 Blu Ray remote you can use that with the button overlay provided.

An installation disc is included and the rotating main menu is a slick sight to behold as is the 7 day EPG (both are presented in HD) which displays a grid of channels alongside programme information. This can be used to schedule recordings of both TV and radio channels as as can the manual timer.

Recordings are accessed in the library menu and viewable as a list or as preview thumbnails. You can watch one channel while recording another or playback a recording while recording another. You can also pause live TV, in both cases fast forwarding and rewinding at up to 20x normal speed.

The recorded image is automatically upscaled (up to 1080i) depending on the resolution you've set your PS3 to and we had no complaints viewing all but the most poorly compressed channels. Sadly the unit lacks Series Linking, but at least its possible to play a PS3 game or Blu Ray disc while still recording TV with no discernable performance dips.

You can stream live TV and recordings via wi-fi to your PSP using Remote Play with OK results. Permanent transfer, however, requires taking them off the hard disk then converting them to the right format with third party software.

Ultimately. the Play TV can be considered an interesting gadget, but in truth the PS3 makes only a mediocre Freeview PVR.

Verdict: 3/5

Major unofficial Vista and XP upgrade released

Peter Gothard — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:25:00 GMT

Extensoft today released its Extensions for Windows – a cheeky collection of unofficial enhancements for both XP and Windows that seek to improve functionality in response to the needs and wants of the community. And all for absolutely no cost.

Extensions for Windows, the developer hopes, will solve a lot of the shortcomings and generally useless bits of Microsoft's operating systems, as well as add new and useful features to keep them ticking over.

'More features, usability and value'

"Extensions for Windows is meant to enhance the typical Windows user's experience," said Eugene Zvyagintsev, Product Manager for Extensions.

"One of our primary goals is to work with the Windows user community and act on their behalf, bringing more features, usability and value to the operating system that so many of us use every day."

Features include converting documents, enhanced screen capture facilities, disk space analysis, FTP/SFTP locations, secure virtual disk creation and PDF creation, and Extensoft plans to continue work on the package, encouraging users to adopt Extensions in order to "discuss, shape and influence the future of Windows features without waiting and hoping to see them in an official Windows upgrade."

iTunes 8 new features leaked

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:53:00 GMT

By now you should all have 9 September jotted down in you diary, as it's the date for Apple's 'Let's Rock' event.

Now the cynical of you may well thinks that Let's Rock is merely a group of computer geeks hiding behind the Rock mantle to make what is essentially a PMP product launch seem cool, but it really will be all about music as it is also the launch of iTunes 8.

Kevin Rose: Genius

Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, the site that can sniff out a decent story from anywhere, has let slip on his blog some details about what Apple is planning. Apparently, the site will contain music recommendations and new visualisations.

"iTunes 8 includes Genius, which makes playlists from songs in your library that go great together. Genius also includes Genius sidebar, which recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don't already have," writes Rose.

"With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (2nd generation), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualiser."

This all sounds great, but what about the iPod touch 1st generation? Has Apple forgotten about this device already?

In Depth: Tested: Google Chrome vs IE8 vs Firefox 3.1

Gary Marshall — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:50:00 GMT

Now the initial surprise has worn off, it's time to ask the big questions about Google's new browser: is it any good? And how does it compare to its rivals? To find out, we've been running it alongside the two big browsers, IE8 beta 2 and a pre-release version of Firefox 3.1 (the Minefield build) with the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine enabled.

On the face of it, all three browsers are excellent - but there are big differences in the way they do things, and even bigger differences in the strain they can put on your system. We benchmarked all three programs on a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo machine packing 2GB of RAM and Windows Vista Ultimate - but as that's a fairly speedy machine we also blew the dust off our trusty and desperately underpowered Acer Aspire to see how they coped on that.

Wherever possible we've compared like with like, and for the sake of clarity we'll avoid terms such as "OmniBox" (Chrome) or "Awesome Bar" (Firefox) when we're comparing different browsers' address bars. We believe in calling a spade a spade, not an OmniShovel or MegaSpade.

Usability
WINNER: CHROME

There's been a lot of talk about Chrome's minimalist appearance, but it doesn't make that much difference to the amount of space the browser actually takes up. Disable Firefox's and IE's status bars - Chrome doesn't have one - and Chrome's header is a half-tab shorter than IE and the same size as Firefox. Had Google gone for something other than THE WORLD'S BIGGEST FONT in the address bar, the difference would have been more pronounced.

In fact, Chrome's slight space advantage disappears completely when you maximise it. Its address bar and tabs remain at the top of the screen, whereas in full screen mode IE8 and Firefox get rid of absolutely everything.

One thing Chrome has done is simplified the traditional combination of address bar and search bar. Instead, you use the same box to type URLs and search criteria; if it's the latter, Chrome comes up with some helpful suggestions. IE8 does the same but keeps a separate search box just in case, while Firefox sticks with URLs and previously visited pages in the address bar and search suggestions in the search bar.

That doesn't mean Chrome doesn't have some nifty tricks. Click on the spanner icon and choose History to see a Google-style list of the pages you've visited along with a prominent search box for finding exactly what you want, and when you create a new tab there's an Opera-style collection of nine thumbnails to show you your most commonly visited sites along with your most recently added bookmarks. We particularly liked the ability to delete a particular day's browsing history without getting rid of everything else, and the ability to resize on-screen text input boxes is brilliant.

As with Firefox and IE you can re-arrange open tabs by dragging them around, but Chrome also enables you to drag a tab over the desktop. Firefox does this too, but where Firefox then saves the page as a link Chrome opens it as a new browser window. We prefer Chrome's approach.

It's not all good, though. Bookmark management is non-existent, Chrome doesn't appear to know what an RSS feed is let alone offer any features to deal with one, and where IE and Firefox can zoom in and out of entire web pages Chrome merely makes the text bigger or smaller while leaving images intact.

Expandability
WINNER: FIREFOX

There's no doubt that Firefox is the Swiss Army Knife of the internet, boasting an unrivalled collection of extensions and themes - although to be fair, IE is catching up with a decent collection of Toolbars and Extensions in the Internet Explorer Gallery. With Chrome, expandability is limited to the usual content plugins - Flash, Acrobat, Silverlight and so on. Extensions are on the to-do list.

Although Firefox is king of the extensions, IE8 has a few interesting ideas built into the browser. Its Accelerators are plugins that essentially bring the power of web services to the context menu so, for example, if you right-click on a link you can choose to blog it, email it, translate it and so on. It's context-sensitive, so some content will give you the ability to define text with Encarta or map an address with Live Maps. Firefox gets something similar via the impressive Ubiquity add-on, but with IE the basic features are already in the browser.

IE also gets Web Slices, which enable you to subscribe to part of a web page - designer permitting - and make it pop out of the Favorites bar without actually visiting the page. We're not entirely sure how useful this is, but it does look nice.

Chrome comes with Google Gears built-in, and that's much more interesting than Web Slices. Gears enables web services such as Google Docs to run offline as well as online, and while Gears is available for everything from Windows to mobile phones (as well as Firefox and IE) it's nice to have it in the browser from the get-go. It's not just useful for Google's own services, although of course that's why it's there; platforms such as WordPress can also use Gears to speed things up. With Chrome, you can save web applications as desktop shortcuts and open them without all the browser buttons, making them look much the same as standard desktop applications - although you'll need to enable their offline modes if you want to use them when you're not connected.

Performance
WINNER: CHROME

For everyday browsing, Chrome feels quicker and snappier - but when we compared each browser's launch times and load times for the same set of web pages there wasn't a substantial difference on our Core 2 Duo machine. On our ancient laptop, however, Chrome was noticeably faster - and we can't wait to try the Mac version, because Firefox on OS X eventually gets so depressed it kills itself.

We decided to benchmark each browser by running the Sunspider JavaScript tests, which attempt to measure real-world JavaScript performance, and we also recorded the memory footprint of each browser with one tab open and with ten. The results were interesting, to say the least.

Sunspider benchmarks (lower numbers are better)
Firefox 3.1 - 1771.4ms
IE8 - 6837.6ms
Chrome - 1923.0ms

There's no doubt that Chrome gave IE8 a spanking, but it actually lagged behind Firefox. We ran the benchmarks again just to make sure.

Second Sunspider benchmarks (lower numbers are better)
Firefox 3.1 - 1942.5ms
IE8 - 6947.0ms
Chrome - 1980.0ms

Then we loaded up a collection of ten different websites - blogs, news sites, YouTube, Google Mail and so on - and measured each browser's memory footprint. The results were:

Memory Footprint (ten tabs)
Firefox 3.1 - 91MB
IE8 - 230MB
Chrome - 141MB

With a single open tab IE was once again the hungriest, but this time we found Chrome's footprint to be positively titchy, with little difference between Firefox and IE.

Memory Footprint (single tab)
Firefox 3.1 - 50MB
IE8 - 59MB
Chrome - 22MB

Although we didn't find any significant difference in load times or page rendering times on our test machine, that's probably because it has a Windows Experience Index of 5.5 and can run Crysis without bursting into tears. Things are very different on a less powerful machine, as we discovered when we blew the dust off our laptop - a machine with an Experience Index of 2.2 and less horsepower than a badger. This time, the differences were dramatic.

Launch time
Firefox - 37s
Chrome - 15s
IE8 - n/a

Page load time
Firefox - 8s
Chrome - 11s
IE8 - n/a

From a cold boot Chrome was the fastest to launch, although Firefox was slightly faster to render its first, uncached, page - although quitting the browsers and restarting them erased these differences, with both Chrome and Firefox launching in two to three seconds. We'll come back to IE in a moment.

The really big difference was in JavaScript performance. Once again we ran Sunspider twice, and the gap between Chrome and Firefox was huge both times.

Test 1
Firefox - 8460.2ms
Chrome - 4283.6ms
IE8 - n/a

Test 2
Firefox - 6926.6ms
Chrome - 3761.0ms
IE8 - n/a

As you can see, Chrome was nearly twice as fast as Firefox. And IE? Where Chrome and Firefox installed simply and quickly, IE decided to waste an entire morning mucking us about. After a lengthy installation procedure we were told that the install had failed, and the Microsoft support site told us to run Windows Update. Which we did - again and again and again. Eventually we gave up in disgust.

So what does this all mean in practice? On a machine that isn't struggling to reach Windows' system requirements we found very little difference between the three browsers, although the variations in memory footprint clearly make a big difference on more modest machines. Remember, though, that these are bare browser installations: start stuffing, say, Firefox with add-ons and its footprint will start expanding accordingly.

Another key consideration is stability. With Firefox, all your open tabs are handled in one go, which means a poorly coded web page or a problem in one tab can bring down the entire browser. With Chrome and IE8, each tab is handled independently. That means a crash in one tab shouldn't affect any other tab - particularly important if you're running web applications for serious work and something silly packs up.

Chrome includes a nifty tab manager (press Shift and Esc to get it) that gives you a view of what each tab's up to, and it enables you to shut down anything that's misbehaving. If you're feeling really geeky, typing "about:memory" in the address bar gives you details not just of the memory being used by each tab, but what kind of memory is being used and what each tab had for breakfast.

Fighting evil
WINNER: IE8. NO, REALLY

Both IE and Chrome have Safari-style private browsing modes, dubbed InPrivate and Incognito respectively. These stop recording your browsing activities so that, ahem, nobody will know about that special present you've been shopping for. Parents will be delighted to discover that Windows' Parental Controls override InPrivate, which will no doubt really annoy teenage boys. With Firefox, private browsing is only via third-party extensions - which is why it loses to IE8 in this category.

It's worth remembering that while InPrivate and Incognito stop sites adding cookies to your system and prevent members of your family from seeing what you've been up to, they don't stop your browser giving away a certain amount of information about you to the sites and search engines you visit. However, while it's tempting to imagine Google using Chrome to secretly spy on you and give the data to its secret army of Terminators, the reality is duller: Chrome doesn't tell Google any more than any other browser does [http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-communication].

All three browsers promise to protect you from net nasties, with anti-phishing warnings popping up automatically. Chrome and IE also use shading in the address bar to show you exactly what domain you're visiting, greying out the bits of the URL that might otherwise obscure the site's origin. It'll be a while before we know how Chrome stacks up on the security front, though, as it's too new for security researchers (and hackers) to have given it a proper poke to look for holes. It's clearly not bulletproof, though: within hours of release, security researcher Aviv Raff found a vulnerability that Chrome has inherited from the Webkit engine it uses [http://raffon.net/research/google/chrome/carpet.html].

For many net users, there's another kind of evil to consider: adverts. All three browsers block pop-ups, but that's as far as Chrome goes. Firefox users can install Adblock Plus to get rid of in-page annoyances, while IE8 users can install Adblock Pro. The lack of ad-blocking is enough to rob Chrome of victory here.

TechRadar's final verdict
WINNER: FIREFOX, JUST

None of these browsers is finished, but we've found them stable and useful enough to use as everyday browsers. So which one should be on your machine?

IE8 is the first to fall. It's a vast improvement over IE7 and has some nice touches, but it's too hungry and too slow compared to its rivals (if you can get it to install in the first place. We're still trying to get it onto our laptop). If your machine isn't blessed with lots of RAM and a speedy processor, it's going to annoy you.

The choice between Firefox and Chrome is tougher. For web applications, Chrome is clearly faster - although Firefox's new JavaScript engine isn't far behind it - and its tab management means it should be more stable. Then again there's no ad-blocking, extensions or RSS, and you'll either love or hate its Fisher-Price interface.

For now, we're sticking with Firefox. For all its flaws, it's still the most expandable and customisable of the three, it doesn't look like Baby's First Browser and the ability to block in-page annoyances without having to muck around with proxies more than makes up for the odd crash. Give Chrome extensions, ad-blocking and skins, though, and we may well change our minds.

Don't forget to check out our Google Chrome vs Opera vs Safari review.

EU to cap roaming text charges

Gareth Mason — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:00:00 GMT

Roaming fees on text messages will soon be capped, if the EU minister for telecommunications gets her way, along with the cost of internet surfing on cellphones.

The minister, Viviane Reding, wants to cap roaming texts at 11 Euro cents a minute – a 62 per cent reduction on average – with a cap of €1 per megabyte for using the internet – roughly half of what it is now. Currently SMS roaming prices vary from 6 cents in Estonia to 80 cents in Belgium.

Of the €300 billion spent on telecommunications in the EU last year, €800 million was spent on SMS roaming and €560 million on data roaming, according to the EU commission.

Handy cap

Despite opposition from the mobile operators, Reding's proposals are likely to be accepted by the European parliament with new charges likely to be put in place by next summer. Last year, her proposals for capping voice roaming were easily voted in – a move that she reckons has saved customers up to 60 per cent on charges.

David Pringle, a spokesman for the London-based GSM Association, which represents wireless operators, was less enthusiastic. "In our view, these markets are healthy, competitive and functioning well," he said. "There is no need for Brussels to set prices."

There's a surprise.

Epson launches Stylus Photo PX800FW

Peter Gothard — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:55:00 GMT

Epson brings us another printer. Wouldn't it be interesting if it tried something else for a change? Imagine an Epson deckchair. Or an Epson back scratcher.

Anyway, this printer, a bit like Alexa Chung, features "stylish good looks" that "conceal advanced functionality".

Accessed and controlled by "an impressive touch panel interface" (the printer, not Ms Chung, sadly), Epson says the PX800FW can print photos that exceed lab quality.

'Fastest inkjet printing'

It's a proud boast indeed, but Epson cites its Claria Photographic Ink, a "Hi-Definition, dye-based ink" as the source of this quality, as well as a new high-speed Micro Piezo print head for "the fastest inkjet printing technology available from Epson."

The PX800FW's also got full wireless connectivity with Wi-Fi and Ethernet, a 19.8cm LCD touch panel viewer that tilts for easy viewing, integrated twin paper trays, a hi-res 4800 dpi scanner and an optional duplexer for double-sided printing.

The individual ink cartridges for each colour also mean you only replace what you've used – save money, and minimise landfill sites.

The Epson Stylus PX800FW is available from September 4 and costs £300.