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Hands-on review: Kyocera Rise

Nic Vargus — Wed, 30 May 2012 23:28:00 GMT

Kyocera unveiled two new handsets at CTIA 2012, and both will appeal to niche audiences. We covered the water-resistant Kyocera Hydro, but if water resistance isn't exactly your thing, there's also the Kyocera Rise.

The Rise is a QWERTY keyboard phone with Ice Cream Sandwich. While those are obviously its main selling points, it has a long list of other features that will appeal to low to medium-level users.

The 3.5-inch LCD display felt refreshingly quaint in our hands and kept the overall size of the chunky device somewhere between "chunky" and "decent."

There's a rear-facing 3.2-megapixel camera which will suffice in need, but won't win you any "best of Instagram" awards.

The keys are nicely spread and plenty responsive, but you'll definitely sacrifice a svelte frame for the added keyboard.

Kyocera Rise release date

The Kyocera Rise is set for a summer release, but little more is known - including which carriers it might appear on, various internal specs, and price.

While we already know the Kyocera Rise isn't going to start any revolutions, we're always happy to welcome another QWERTY phone to the selective ranks.

Read our complete coverage of CTIA 2012 here

Google co-founder Sergey Brin hints at 2013 Project Glass release

Michael Rougeau — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:33:00 GMT

Concrete details regarding Google's Project Glass have been somewhat scarce, but this week Google co-founder Sergey Brin appeared on Current TV to show off the new device.

The augmented reality "facewear" was announced earlier this year by Google, although the tech giant has not been particularly forthcoming, especially regarding Project Glass's release date.

Brin broke that trend by hinting at a possible commercial release window for the gadget, saying, "These are still rough prototypes, you know. I have some hopes to maybe get it out some time next year. But that's still a little bit of a hope."

Appearing on the show with his wife, genetic testing company 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki, Brin gave California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom an up-close look at Project Glass.

It marked the first time a non-Google insider has been publicly allowed to try the headgear out.

Project Glass is "amazing"

Newsom used the words "fascinating" and "amazing" to describe Project Glass when Brin showed off the glasses' built-in camera.

Project Glass is controlled via a touch pad on the glasses' right arm, where the camera and battery is also believed to be housed.

Brin said the augmented reality gadget is now his main focus at Google, so hopefully Project Glass may actually be released to the public in 2013.

A Google spokesperson informed TechRadar via email that the company has nothing more to add to Brin's statements at this time, though the spokesperson promised that Google plans to share more details as Project Glass continues to evolve.

Hands-on review: Boot to Gecko

William O'Neal — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:29:00 GMT

At Mobile World Conference (MWC) Mozilla announced partnerships with cell phone carrier Telfonica and hardware manufacturer Qualcom that would eventually lead to a browser-based cell phone that, simply put, "runs" on Gecko (or HTML 5).

At CTIA 2012, Mozilla was present and TechRadar was able to get a hands on demonstration of a working device running the mobile OS Boot to Gecko. Or is it a mobile OS afterall?

A Mozilla representative walked us through the phone and one of the first things that they told us is that the product isn't really a mobile OS. Rather, the model that we tested is running Gecko (or HTML 5) on top of a thin Linux kernel.

Mozilla was demonstrating Boot to Gecko on a Samsung Galaxy S2 that had been "wiped clean." After rooting the device, they installed a thin Linux kernel before installing Gecko on top of that.

They next developed APIs that enable the "OS" to speak to the hardware: battery, Wi-Fi, etc. Additionally they completely rebuilt the camera API.

While Gecko is basically the rendering engine for Firefox, the entire experience is web-enabled and extremely fast. Also, the user interface is very slick and the OS too feels fast. The rather large tiles that represent the primary way of navigating around the phone reminds us of the Windows Mobile interface. And we liked that.

Because it's basically a web-browser, Mozilla hopes that app development for the OS will be easy, meaning that the device won't suffer from a dearth of third-party apps.

Another really cool feature about this OS is that it boasts WebGL. In our demo they showed off the 3D capabilities of the OS specifically with gaming in mind.

The OS that we tested is Pre-alpha but Mozilla is encouraging users to try it for themselves. Simply put, if you can root your cell phone, you can install it. Of course, in order to make it work will require a somewhat significant level of technological sophistication.

Read our complete coverage of CTIA 2012 here

Hands-on review: Droid Incredible 4G LTE

Nic Vargus — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:17:00 GMT

The long-awaited Droid Incredible 4G LTE was finally announced at CTIA 2012.

The incredible Droid Incredible has always been one of HTC's best offerings, whenever it's been offered before. But the landscape has changed dramatically since the Droid Incredible 2 was released, and the Droid Incredible, at least aesthetically, really hasn't.

While it's certainly not one of HTC's flagship phones (that award goes to the HTC One X and upcoming HTC Evo 4G LTE), it's still nothing to scoff at.

The tiny phone has a long list of enviable specs, including Ice Cream Sandwich, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, a 960 x 540 Super LCD, and Beats Audio integration.

There's a microSD slot that can boost the Incredible 4G LTE to 32GB memory, which is one of its few edges on the One series.

Regardless of whatever marketing Verizon and HTC start rolling out around this phone, there's definitely the sense that this isn't one of their favored handsets. It's tiny, and plastic, and looks and feels quite a bit like its predecessors (though there is absolutely no denying the gorgeous display). Instead, it's an option for those that value a smaller screen size (or have a weird nostalgia for DIncs).

The plasticky frame feels surprisingly chunky when compared to the One series (an unfortunate side-effect of having to cram impressive specs into a smaller handset)

Droid Incredible 4G LTE release date

The Droid Incredible 4G LTE will be available at the end of May, yet there's still no word on pricing.

Dell starting to ship 'Copper' ARM-based servers

Scott Nichols — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:11:00 GMT

Computer Manufacturer Dell is moving ahead with plans to boost ARM-based server adoption, announcing that the firm has begun shipping its first line of "Copper" servers.

The initial run of Copper servers are being shipped out to select customers and partners who plan to experiment with ARM-based servers for test purposes.

The deployment also includes key development partners such as Canonical and Cloudera, which can help to foster the software necessary to build the ARM server ecosystem.

By the end of the year, Dell plans to also provide developers and partners with remote access to ARM-based Copper servers installed at Dell Solution Centers and the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) for additional tests.

Testing the waters

Dell says that it received an increasing number of requests for ARM-based servers in the past year.

ARM-based servers aren't as powerful as their x86 counterparts and are currently limited to 32-bit technology, which represent a compatibility issue with 64-bit systems.

However, ARM-based servers require less power to output impressive performance, making them attractive to environments like web front-end development where efficiency is of the utmost importance.

Dell's Copper servers consist of 48 ARM nodes drawing 15 watts each, allowing a fully equipped server to run on less than 750 watts.

Dell hopes that as developers continue to test the capabilities of ARM-based servers that an open-source ecosystem of software support will grow.

In the meantime though, Dell is hand selecting the developers and partners who can receive its Copper servers, with no word on general availability.

Amazon Instant Video is now streaming to Xbox 360

Michael Rougeau — Wed, 30 May 2012 20:43:00 GMT

Microsoft announced a new partnership that will allow Xbox 360 owners to access Amazon's massive selection of streaming video content from their gaming consoles.

With an Xbox Live Gold account ($60 annually) and an Amazon Prime membership ($79 per year), Xbox 360 users can hop on the console's free Amazon Instant Video app and access more than 17,000 streaming movies and TV shows.

Buying and renting videos on demand is currently not supported from the Xbox 360 app itself, users without an Amazon Prime membership can purchase one of the 100,000-plus streaming movies and TV shows by visiting Amazon.com/instantvideo.

Once purchased, the videos appear instantly on the Xbox 360 app's Watch List.

Amazon offers one-month free trials of Amazon Prime for users who'd like to try the service out.

Kinect functionality and Kindle Fire cooperation

Amazon's Instant Video service streams new episodes of many popular shows the day after they air, and the entire selection is now available on the Xbox 360.

The Amazon Instant app is also compatible with the Xbox 360's optional Kinect peripheral, a sensor-equipped device that allows users to control video selection and playback with arm gestures and voice commands.

What's more, the Xbox 360's Amazon Instant Video app can work in tandem with Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet.

The devices will remember video playback positions, making it easy to switch between them for portable or living room viewing.

The Amazon Instant Video app is free to download, and it's now displayed prominently on the Xbox 360's "Apps" tab, just a button press (or gesture or voice command for Kinect users) away.

Will the videos stream in HD?

Amazon's UK streaming service Lovefilm just announced a multi-year streaming deal with Universal, a partnership that will further fuel the war between Netflix and Lovefilm that's already spawned several other exclusive deals in the UK.

Lovefilm videos will be streaming in 720p, and an Amazon spokesperson confirmed to TechRadar via email that Amazon Instant videos streaming to the Xbox 360 in the US are available in full HD.

The Amazon Instant Video App brought free Amazon Prime content and paid on-demand movies and TV shows to the Sony's PlayStation 3 in April, but this is the first time the app has been available on the Xbox 360.

Hands-on review: Kyocera Hydro C5170

William O'Neal — Wed, 30 May 2012 20:27:00 GMT

In a world full of obscure product names, the Kyocera Hydro C5170 is actually, aptly named.

We got a hands on look at the Kyocera Hydro on the show floor at CTIA 2012 and according to a Kyocera spokesperson, the handset is "Certified waterproof for IPX5, protection against water jets and IPX7, protection against water immersion for up to 30 minutes in up to 1 meter."

What this means to the average user is that gone are the days of dropping your cell phone in the toilet and having your trusted sidekick literally go belly-up.

Expected to come out in the second half of 2012, aside from being waterproof for up 30 minutes in 1 meter of water, the Kyocera Hydro is a rather standard model.

Boasting Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich, it also sports a 3.2 MP camera and video camcorder.

The handset feels nice in the hand, and navigation, thanks to Android 4.0 is simple and clean. That said, with flashier models like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Nokia Lumia 900 either currently on the market or expected to come, we don't expect the Kyocera Hydro C5170 to win any design awards.

Of course, if you're prone to dropping phones in toilets and hoping and praying that it'll work once you fish it out, you may want to give the Kyocera Hydro C5170 a good look.

Read our complete coverage of CTIA 2012 here

Omnivision brings 1080p to front-facing cameras with new chip

Scott Nichols — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:02:00 GMT

OmniVision announced a new image sensor chip that could make you look a lot better on your next smartphone or tablet video chat.

While the OV2722 chip doesn't have a catchy name, it does offer a significant upgrade for mobile devices: a 1080p camera small enough to fit for a device's front-facing camera.

Measuring at less than 3mm deep, the chip is a 1/6-inch native 1080p HD CMOS image sensor featuring OmniVision's OmniBSI+ pixel architecture to enable full HD image quality in a small form factor.

No need for a tradeoff

Rear-facing cameras typically hog all the glory on mobile devices, boasting superior picture quality, while front-facing cameras typically feature VGA quality with rare exceptions venturing into 720p territory.

The camera tradeoff works for taking simple snapshots, but hurts image quality when using video chat features such as Skype.

OmniVision says its OV2722 camera chip can eliminate the tradeoff entirely, allowing for full HD picture quality from both rear and front cameras on even the thinnest devices.

"We believe that current market trends are quickly moving beyond 720p, and we are seeing strong demand for premium quality 1080p HD video sensors that can meet the criteria and specifications of online video sharing platforms such as Skype, and unified communications platforms such as Microsoft Lync," said OmniVision director of product marketing Nick Nam.

"In addition, many high-end cameras are required to have extremely small form factors so that they can fit inside next-generation smartphones, tablets, notebooks and Ultrabooks. The OV2722 is specifically crafted to meet these stringent performance requirements and design specifications, making it the ideal choice for these high-end devices."

OmniVision hasn't announced any mobile devices or Ultrabooks that plan to use the OV2722 chip yet.

However, the company announced that the chip has already gone into volume production, so ideally we'll see 1080p front-facing cameras showing up in smartphones soon.

Everything Everywhere phone sellers to become 'highly trained specialist agents'

Chris Smith — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:55:00 GMT

Everything Everywhere, the owner of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, is retraining its staff to become mobile operating system experts.

The network has formed a new development academy where workers will brush up on their knowledge and become fluent in the Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phone operating systems.

The £50m investment will result in the education 12,000 high street and call centre staff, so they can help customers who don't know their Apples from their BlackBerrys.

The company said in a press release: "For the first time in the UK, customers will now be able to access highly trained specialist agents who are experts on specific devices and related operating systems, giving customers unrivalled service for their Apple iOS, BlackBerry, Android and Windows phones."

Everyone's a winner, says EE

Everything Everywhere says trials resulted in a dramatic increase in the performance of staff and their ability to resolve customer issues at the first point of contact.

The company's Chief Customer Officer Jackie O'Leary says the software makers, manufacturers and customers are all pleased with the introduction of the new regime.

"It is our goal to create the best customer experience in the UK so that customers can trust us with their digital lives," she said.

Post Office announces contactless payment plans

Chris Smith — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:04:00 GMT

The Post Office has revealed that it will introduce contactless payments at every branch across the UK.

All 11,500 locations will be fitted with the payment terminals, allowing patrons to settle up using contactless bank cards and NFC-equipped mobile phones, just by waving them at the in-store reader.

The roll-out will begin next week and will be completed by October, making the Post Office the largest user of the tech in Europe, the Guardian reports.

The terminals will be compatible with the Visa payWave and the rival MasterCard PayPass service, with an increasing number of banks now giving their customers contactless cards.

£20 limit, no pin required

The readers can be used to make payments of up to £20 and will not require the buyer to enter his or her pin number.

Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Natwest and Lloyds TSB are among the banks now pushing the tech within their bank cards.

In smartphones, progress is a little slower than expected.

BlackBerry leads the way, but the new Samsung Galaxy S3 has an NFC chip, while Apple is widely expected to introduce the technology within the forthcoming sixth-generation iPhone.

Last month Barclaycard introduced the PayTag sticker embedded with the same NFC tech as its contactless cards. It can be attached to the back of a mobile phone, but doesn't require the phone itself to work.

Rumor: New Apple HDTV UI may be unveiled at WWDC

JR Bookwalter — Wed, 30 May 2012 17:03:00 GMT

Apple may be one of the most secretive companies around. But everyone believes the Cupertino-based electronics maker is working on a better HDTV, which has encouraged a few loose lips to start talking.

However, it seems the best rumors currently come straight from the mouths of Apple executives themselves.

A recent interview with head designer Jonathan Ive touted Apple's current project as "the best work we've done," while falling short of detailing exactly what it may be.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who just this week promised to "double down" on secrecy within the company, described the current Apple TV as more than a hobby which is expected to become "something… larger" in the future.

Finally, despite the insistence of Foxconn, CEO Terry Gou was recently quoted as saying the company was "making preparations" for an Apple iTV, without elaborating as to what exactly he meant.

New TV-based OS

The latest TV-based Apple rumor quotes a "trusted source" who claims the company may demonstrate an entirely new operating system for the existing Apple TV at the company's developer conference in San Francisco, which kicks off June 11.

In addition to a "much more feature-complete" OS, Apple is said to be courting manufacturers with a new "control out" API, which will help tie Cupertino's television software to third party equipment.

Despite all the anecdotal evidence, no one actually expects CEO Tim Cook to wheel out an Apple-branded HDTV at next month's WWDC - that's likely to come later in the year, if not 2013.

Exclusive: Samsung Music Hub coming to Windows Phone

Gareth Beavis — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:37:00 GMT

Samsung had told TechRadar it's looking to push its Music Hub across multiple platforms in its quest to become a big player in the mobile music arena.

Tae Geun Kim, group leader in Samsung's contents planning team, also outlined some of the reasons why the service is only launching on the Samsung Galaxy S3 to begin with:

"Our service will be open to all developers and other operating systems – once we've launched we can then join into other operating that Samsung works with."

Populating the Galaxy

"This means Android, Tizen, Windows Phone and Bada – although we're working with Android first.

"Our strategy is open to all Android devices – it will be the Samsung Galaxy family first, but phase two will be much more open.

"With the likes of the Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy Note, we have to solve issues around the resolution and density of the screens, but they're not huge problems."

Share, care, work, play

Daren Tsui, CEO of mSpot also floated the idea of the service launching on iOS as a possibility, but stopped short of stating we would see Music Hub on the App Store:

"In my house we've got both Galaxy and iPhone devices – we'll see on perhaps having an iOS version [of Music Hub], but users can always access the service through a web browser.

"It's designed to be an open service, and we want to support it."

News In Brief: One More Thing: Rappers delight at tooth-controlled MP3 player

Marc Chacksfield — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:24:00 GMT

Proper Grillin' – Rappers the world over love showing off their bling in the form of a teeth grill, but now there's one that can play tunes too. The Play-A-Grill has been created by artist Aisen Chacin and is a piece of jewellery that doubles as a tongue-controlled MP3 player. Wonder who will wear it first? Queen La-teether, Tooth-pac Shakur, Root canal Manuva? [New Scientist]

Pulling the plug – According to energy company E.On, there's now such a thing called plug apathy and it is costing Brits a whopping £260 million a year. And you are to blame – well, you are if you constantly keep your TV and router plugged in. We only leave hair straighteners and irons on throughout the day, so we have no plug apathy whatsoever. So...yeah. [PR]

Best Bud – Ever wanted to know how Budweiser is made? Well, there's a microsite for that. Called www.trackyourbud.co.uk, you can enter the Born On code and see some behind-the-scenes footage of a bottle of Budweiser being made. While we think this would work better in an app / QR code situation it's a nice idea by the drinks company and the site is said to be completely platform compatible.

Doctor's app-ointment – Windows Phone users can now download the Healthy Choices app – offering up health information and helpful advice from the NHS Service. Perfect then for all those hypochondriacs out there. [Windows Phone]

Pay the man, pal – Pay Pal has announced a new in-store mobile payment scheme which can now be used in Oasis, Karen Millen and Coast. Interestingly, this is an app that doesn't use NFC – so it looks like the backlash is already happening.

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thWMow-IeLw

YouTube will keep serving up crap – There's a tonne of absolute rubbish and copyrighted material on YouTube and it looks likely this will continue for a long time. The reason: it would cost Google $37 billion to pre-screen YouTube videos. Which, in new money terms, is 37 Instagrams. Google, if you are reading, we would do it for half that. And a packet of biscuits. [Gizmodo]

iLuv Leeds – Leeds has managed to get another shirt sponsor for next season and it's the folks from iLuv, which make speaker docks and the like. Get ready for a load of iLuv Leeds puns as of August then. [PR]

Spam is your friend – a new survey has found that 40 per cent of all social media accounts are spam, something we completely don't agree with. We have asked our 300 followers on Twitter who followed us specifically to have a 'good time', but they have yet to come back to us with their thoughts. [BGR]

MegaOffload – The US has requested that New Zealand gives up the evidence it has on the folks behind MegaUpload, including the king pin of the operation Mr Kim DotCom. Essentially the US wants access to DotCom's computer and this must be handed over by June 19. [BBC]

MC Solar – Logitech has announced a new keyboard for Mac, iPad and iPhone that's powered by the power of the sun. Given that everyone at TechRadar Towers has seen Superman IV: The Quest For Peace and understand that solar power can be used for evil as well as good, we are not entirely sure if we can trust this new range of accessories.

But for those who aren't apathetic about their plugs the Logitech Keyboard K760 could well be for you. [CNET]

Review: Panasonic Eluga

Paul Lamkin — Wed, 30 May 2012 15:45:00 GMT

Introduction

The Panasonic Eluga is the first smartphone to arrive since the Japanese electronics manufacturer announced its plans to shift over 1.5 million handsets by the end of March 2013, following its re-entry to the European market.

Originally unveiled at the company's European conference in Hamburg in February, and then formally introduced at Mobile World Congress the following month, the Panasonic Eluga dl1 is available from online retailers for around £380 SIM-free in the UK (and $700 SIM-free on Amazon.com in the US, although it isn't listed on the Panasonic US site).

This pitches the company's comeback handset against the likes of the Sony Xperia S and the Motorola Razr - two mobile phones that also boast the same sized display as the Panasonic Eluga at 4.3 inches.

And, for a 4.3-inch smartphone, the Panasonic Eluga is tiny. It's not quite as slim as the 7.1mm Motorola Razr but, with a girth of 7.8mm, it has the same waistline as the HTC One S.

But, because it is around 7mm shorter and narrower, and its extra sharp curved edges bring its lowest thickness measurement down to around 3mm, it appears even slimmer than those competitors at first glance. And it's easily the lightest 4.3-inch-screen mobile phone that we've come across too, at a slender 103g.

One of the key features that Panasonic is keen to push is the Panasonic Eluga's water and dust-proof skills.

It has nabbed itself an IP57 certificate, which means that it can handle a dip into water (up to 1m and for up to 30 minutes) and that dust can't enter in a large enough quantity, thanks to the gaskets and O-rings, to cause it any bother.

We didn't go the whole hog of taking it snorkelling for half an hour, but we did leave it in the sink, under a running tap, and it didn't seem to cause it any problems.

On the top of the Panasonic Eluga are its only moving parts - two flaps that make way for a micro USB port and micro SIM insertion - and these seemed to keep the water out without issue.

You may have already gathered from the lack of a third flap that there's no microSD option on board - a real shame when you consider that built-in storage is a rather underwhelming 8GB.

The display, as mentioned, is a 4.3-inch one with a 960 x 540 qHD resolution, which puts it on a par with the likes of the HTC One S and the Motorola Razr, but it's not quite up to the 1280 x 720 standards that Sony set with the Xperia S.

It's an AMOLED display, which offers vibrant colours and great viewing angles, if somewhat muffled in crispness, thanks to a touch of over-saturation.

The Panasonic Eluga's matt black or silver finish to its back means that it's comfortable to hold and won't suffer too much from smears and fingerprints.

The power and volume rocker button placement isn't ideal, though. They are easy enough to access if you're operating your smartphone southpaw-stylee, but try pushing them with your right hand and you're in for an uncomfortable experience.

The power button, especially, is a tricky little blighter. And we mean little. Sure, Panasonic's gunning for a slimline, minimalist beauty here - but would it really have hurt to make what is a very frequently used button (it also doubles as the sleep/wake one) a bit more accessible?

Also on the back is the Panasonic Eluga's 8-megapixel camera lens, sans-flash, sadly, along with a notification of its NFC capabilities, which we'll come back to later.

The front of the Panasonic Eluga keeps the sharp theme going - not just with the piano black 4.3-inch AMOLED display, but by almost seamlessly blending the screen with the thin bezel.

There's not really much room for anything else up front, save for the Android control buttons, a tiny Panasonic logo, a minuscule speaker grill and a titchy LED for notifications - and if that's one too many superlatives for small, we apologise, but the Panasonic Eluga's raison d'être is its minute attributes.

The Panasonic Eluga is running Android 2.3 Gingerbread for now, although a summer update to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is promised. It runs via a TI OMAP 1GHz dual-core processor, which may have wowed us a bit more last year, before the quad-core revolution hit full wing.

Interface

The initial disappointment with the Panasonic Eluga comes when you fire it up for the first time - and that's not because the Panasonic-designed lock screen is naff. It's because you'll see it's running Android 2.3.5.

A lack of Ice Cream Sandwich action, even with a promise of a summer update, is unacceptable for a phone costing nearly £400/$700 in mid-2012.

There is a Panasonic UI over the top, but it's minimal and shouldn't bother Android devotees too much. Panasonic's UI features are more like tweaks than actual platform changes and, in some circumstances, we're not sure why they bothered.

Take, for example, the launcher that appears along the bottom of all of the Panasonic Eluga's five home screens.

Unlike the native ICS bottom panel, you don't get free reign to chuck in any apps or folders that you please. You're limited to changing just three of the four shortcuts with the Rubik's cube-like App List staying put no matter what.

The App Tray has also been slightly tweaked, with apps automatically (without any other options) being sorted alphabetically and the options in the ever-present bottom line reading Preinstall, Download, Update and Home.

A touch and hold on a home screen brings up the option to add a shortcut, app, folder or widget - although the quality and quantity of the latter leaves a lot to be desired.

There isn't the wealth of widget wonders that HTC's Sense UI offers, that's for sure. You can also easily change your wallpaper using this press and hold method.

Back to the lock screen and Panasonic has seen fit to introduce its own unlock mechanism in the form of an arch-shaped swipe that you have to perform to get inside your phone's goodies.

This swipe seems rather rudimentary, though, and it makes a strange clicking noise when performed successfully.

Panasonic does enable you to change this for the more traditional Android pattern unlock, or indeed a whole host of other pin and pattern-based lock ups.

Whatever lock you choose, don't be expecting to be able to access your Panasonic Eluga's stored music files - the lock screen has no media control options, sadly.

The 1GHz dual core chips seem to do the job in terms of app management. Swiping between home screens is pretty seamless, there isn't any notable lag to report, and even an Android novice should have no issues getting to grips with the menu options, settings and app locations.

It's not native Android but it's hardly a fully skinned experience, meaning that Google's intuitive operating system is all there - even if it looks a little bit different.

Contacts and calling

Contacts

The contacts aspect of the Panasonic Eluga is a pretty standard Android affair, which is certainly a good thing. It means that it's easy enough to get all of your colleagues, clients, friends, followers and so on into your address book simply by adding your Google, Facebook, Twitter and Exchange details in the settings menu.

It's a straightforward affair - you simply enter your usernames and passwords for any platform you wish to be included and, once the Panasonic Eluga has made contact with the appropriate virtual cloud, all of your contacts will be synced in one place.

As per all Android handsets, the phone will also ask if you want to merge contacts from different sources that it suspects are the same people.

Twitter sync can be a bit of a pain at times, although this is in no way an issue specific to the Panasonic Eluga. We've had similar troubles on even the biggest Android punchers, such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the HTC One X.

Contacts are accessed either by tapping the Phone icon (which also gives you a call log and access to contact groups), creating folders on one of the home screens or via a variety of contact-based widgets.

There's nothing too fancy about the way contacts are presented - you're simply presented with a picture (if there is one available from Google or Facebook) along with whatever contact details you have stored for that individual, be it phone numbers, email addresses and so on.

Calling

There's no smart dialling feature, the keypad screen is about as simple as it comes. But it's easy enough to locate somebody in your contacts list, even if it is long, using the letter dial down the right-hand side of the screen.

Call quality isn't great. We frequently had recipients state that they couldn't hear us properly, despite us being in locations with strong signals.

Hearing your contact's voice is also a strain. Volume on the Panasonic Eluga is very low across the board (for ringtones, alerts, media playback and so on) and the call volume is no different.

Even with the volume turned right up our contacts' voices were very faint, and there is an issue with the speaker in that if it's not held in exactly in the right place, you'll be greeted with silence. The Panasonic Eluga, therefore, struggles with its most basic of tasks.

Call connection is fine, however - we had no issues with dropped calls or struggles to find signal in areas we know to be signal hot-spots.

Messaging

Messaging on the Panasonic Eluga is pretty standard fare. There's no clever interlinking between Facebook messages, emails and texting - it's all kept pretty separate.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, though - it keeps things simple, and if you're concerned about data or SMS monthly usage, it makes it easier to keep track of what your fingertips have been up to.

The native Android email app should enable you to access most of the popular email services such as Yahoo or Hotmail, and the Panasonic Eluga also comes with the Gmail app already pre-installed - as is the Android way.

You can then choose how often you want your phone's inbox to sync, how many day's worth of correspondence to keep, what notifications you want and so on.

The handset's 4.3-inch screen means that writing messages is a pleasant experience, with the virtual QWERTY keyboard being a cinch to use, both in portrait or landscape mode - especially with the Swype-like tracing option that enables you to drag over the keys without any need for tapping.

There's also an autocorrect function, as well as a predictive auto-complete text option, which is a keyboard feature that we know some people hate and some people can't do without. All of these options can be switched on or off in the keyboard settings menu.

Of course, as per any Android device, you can always download and install a third-party keyboard offering if you don't like the default selection.

SMS history is presented in the familiar conversation view, albeit a basic one. There are no speech marks here, and no left and right indents - it's a standard pale blue and white banner affair, although it's still plenty clear enough what's going on and what's been said.

Internet

The Panasonic Eluga operates on Baseband 850, 900, 1800 and 1900; Band 1 and Band 8; GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA 14.4Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps and HSPA+ 21.1Mbps. Plus there's also Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity.

Web pages load quickly (depending on signal quality, of course) and browsing on the 4.3-inch screen is great. We especially like the dimming feature, which automatically drops the brightness of the Panasonic Eluga's display when a page is loading. This saves you battery and also makes it clear when a page is fully rendered and good to go.

Both double-tap and pinch-to-zoom are available for getting a closer look at text. And catching up with all the latest news, even on non-mobile sites, is easy, thanks to the text reflow feature that sorts long articles to automatically fit the width of the screen.

This works well on the standard browser, which comes pre-installed, as well as on third-party browsers, of which there are many (we like Dolphin HD), which you can download from the Artist Formerly Known As Android Market - or Google Play.

Being an Android 2.3+ device, the Panasonic Eluga has no worries when it comes to playing web-based Flash content.

It can handle streaming video from the likes of BBC iPlayer and YouTube with ease, although we much prefer the dedicated apps for popular video sites now.

Bookmarks can be added easily by simply tapping the little icon next to the URL bar, and they are simple enough to get to by using the menu button.

History and most visited sites are also stored, and you can have up to eight tabs (or Windows, as they are called here) open at once, although this will slightly slow down your Panasonic Eluga's performance.

Camera

Although the 8-megapixel camera on the Panasonic Eluga does the job nicely, there are a couple of notable omissions that we think we should address up front.

Firstly, there's no front-facing camera, so video calling using Skype and the like is a no-no. And, when it comes to taking shots at night-time, the lack of a flash is certainly going to prove troublesome.

But away from the negatives, the camera setup on the Panasonic Eluga really is quite good. Obviously the Japanese company has a lot of history and experience with camera UIs, and the Panasonic Eluga has been treated to a skinned setup rather than the standard Android affair.

It looks much more like what you'd expect on a dedicated compact camera rather than a smartphone, with plenty of options and shooting modes.

In terms of stills, the maximum resolution is 8 megapixels, although there are a number of resolution options available in the settings menu, including widescreen aspect ratios.

There is also a self-timer, effects such as Mono, Chic and Sepia, a wide range of focus options including Auto, Infinity, Manual, Macro and Touch, as well as 11 scene scenarios.

You can also fiddle around with the white balance and exposure, or use fun modes (which drop the resolution quality on some to VGA) such as Beauty, Collage, Frame, Panorama or - our favourite - Pinhole, which gives a nice soft focus around a centred object of desire. The smartphone camera also packs image stabilisation tech, and a digital zoom of up to 6.74x.

Although not likely to worry the HTC camp following the critical acclaim for the camera setup on its new One range, we were quite impressed with the results from the Panasonic Eluga's camera.

In daylight pictures were bright, clear and the contrast was pretty good, with only a touch of the usual blurriness that you get from smartphones when viewed at full size. It was only as the sun began to fall that its shortcomings were exposed.

Click here to see the full resolution image

Video

Like the stills mode, the video recording options on the Panasonic Eluga are abundant. Top shooting is done in 720p HD (1,280 x 720) and there is autofocus technology on board so you don't have to worry about your subjects being shot in blurryvision.

The digital zoom is available for videos, but only before shooting begins, and there are 11 preset recording modes so you should be able to find one for your scenario.

The shooting modes from the stills side of the camera are all onboard for video capture.

As well as the 720p HD option, you can also shoot in qHD, VGA or QVGA. If you want to record a quick video to email to somebody, there is a preset function that caps the length of the video to keep the file size down.

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJCXEWdGimk

We found the video quality to be pretty good, even when viewed back on a 1080p Full HD big screen TV with minimal blurring. Sound recording isn't too bad either.

Media

There's nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to the playback of your media files, with Panasonic playing it safe with both the stock Android video and music players built in to the Eluga.

For a company that specialises in AV equipment, we would have liked to have seen a more intuitive music and video setup, with freshly designed apps. Maybe too much time was spent redesigning the camera interface.

The stock players don't spoil the experience, however. Android's standard players are perfectly fine, and we found that the Panasonic Eluga was more than capable of handling a wide range of media file types straight out of the box, although you will need to visit Google Play in order to make the Eluga all singing and all dancing.

On the music front, it played MP3 and lossless WAV files without any bother, although it didn't want to know when we tried to play a lossless FLAC file.

For video, MOV and MP4 files (even 1080p ones) are fine from the off. It played WMV films too but the action was choppy, and you'll need to download and install an app such as MX Player if your digital movie collection includes MKV, AVI or OGG files.

As previously mentioned, though, the onboard storage is a paltry 8GB and there are no expansion options, so you probably won't be able to store your entire digital collection - especially if you're an HD or lossless aficionado.

And you'll need to plug your headphones into the 3.5mm jack - as with calling and ringtones, the media playback volume is way too low. In fact, it's not really loud enough for our tastes even using our earbuds.

YouTube playback, even in HQ, is good - whether through the website or the pre-installed app. DLNA streaming is also supported, but there's no HDMI action, unfortunately.

Gaming on the Panasonic Eluga is a hit and miss affair. At times it breezes through demanding titles such as Temple Run with ease, but at other times it's a laggy, frustrating experience.

The power from the dual-core 1GHz CPU should mean that choppy gameplay isn't an issue, but sadly, we have to report that it is.

Battery life and connectivity

Battery Life

The battery built in to the Panasonic Eluga is an integrated 1,150mAh Li-Ion one, which is pretty tiny. It's clear that Panasonic had to make some compromises to make its comeback handset so slim.

In comparison, the Sony Xperia S has a 1,750mAh power pack, and the Motorola Razr has a 1,780mAh one.

Don't expect the Panasonic Eluga to be lasting for a full day's play then - you're probably going to need to take a charger with you to work if you still want to be flinging Angry Birds into space on your commute home.

Under our stress test, which involves streaming HD video from the web on a loop, the Panasonic Eluga only lasted for 213 minutes. The HTC One S, Sony Xperia S and Motorola Razr all lasted at least 100 minutes more than this.

Connectivity

On the internet front, you're looking at 2G and 3G (Baseband 850, 900, 1800 and 1900; Band 1 and Band 8; GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps and HSPA+ 21.1 Mbps) and Wi-Fi b/g/n.

You can also turn the Panasonic Eluga into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot by enabling tethering, although this will depend on your network's permissions.

DLNA streaming is also an option, as is Bluetooth (2.1 + EDR) pairing. The much-hyped NFC also makes an appearance on the Panasonic Eluga, and in the box you'll find a starter card.

This enables you to perform three basic tasks - changing the home screen, firing up an app or opening a specific web page - when you flash your phone over it. It's hardly game-changing, but it is a nice little feature.

When connected to a PC via USB you get the option to mount the Panasonic Eluga as a drive, making drag-and-drop transfers easy. You can also just use the USB connection for charging.

Maps and apps

The Panasonic Eluga features the regular suite of Google apps - Gmail, Google Maps, Google Play, Browser, Google+ and so on - and the usual suspects such as Twitter and Facebook.

On top of these, Panasonic has also included Polaris Office (which also doubles up as your file manager), a nifty Picture Album app that enables you to drag and drop your images to social networks, an installer for a trail of McAfee's security suite, a shortcut to a Panasonic mobile site and an Eco Mode app, which takes the form of a little widget.

With the poor battery life that the Panasonic Eluga offers, the Eco Mode can come in handy - it enables you to tweak the brightness, connectivity and animation settings, depending on the battery level - although it can sometime surprise you by altering settings seemingly at will.

Of course, a massive range of other Android apps for work, play or the space in between are available to download from Google Play.

As we mentioned before, once on the smartphone, your apps are automatically sorted alphabetically in the App Tray.

Hands on gallery

Official gallery

Verdict

The Panasonic Eluga is a lower to mid-range Android smartphone dressed in upper to mid-range clothing. It tries hard to go toe-to-toe with the likes of the HTC One S and the Sony Xperia S, but essentially comes up short on most, if not all, fronts.

Whether this is due to the slightly dated and slightly unnecessarily tweaked software, the slightly underwhelming processor powering the proceedings, or the slightly odd hardware exclusions (front facing camera, flash, microSD slot) we're not sure.

We liked

The Panasonic Eluga has a great design, and the build quality is solid. It looks like a great handset, and its svelteness defies the fantastic 4.3-inch screen that is packed in so tightly that it's an almost edge-to-edge display.

The camera takes great shots, video recording quality is good, and the Panasonic-refreshed camera interface is a pleasure to use.

We disliked

Battery life is poor, the hardware is often unresponsive and the operating system is in desperate need of an Ice Cream Sandwich infusion.

Also, the lack of a flash or front-facing camera makes the Panasonic Eluga feel almost incomplete.

Final verdict

The Panasonic Eluga marks the Japanese giant's return to the European smartphone market. And while the Panasonic Eluga impresses with its high quality build and graceful good looks, it disappoints on a number of fronts and is not the return to form that we'd hoped for.

Ultimately, the Panasonic Eluga's slick design and impressive display are not enough to distract from its obvious shortcomings.

It's a case of "must try harder" for Panasonic on this occasion. Let's hope that the Panasonic Eluga Power, the next handset set to land from the company, rights some wrongs.

Businesses unhappy with EU cookie law

Marcus Austin — Wed, 30 May 2012 15:18:00 GMT

Businesses are furious over the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) back-track on the new cookie law, and they've been venting their spleen to us at Techradar Business Centre.

The businesses we've contacted are furious over two issues; the law itself which they see as a "farce" and "pointless", and the last minute rethink, which made much of what they did over the last year redundant.

Michael Ross, Director of eCommera and previously CEO of Figleaves.com was critical over the last minute changes over the definition of implied consent, and described the whole approach to the new laws as "embarrassing," and described the last year as a "year of stress and anxiety for commercial players."

The basics of quantum mechanics

Businesses are also adamant that the law is overkill with Ross saying that educating the public about cookies is a bit like, "expecting people to understand the basics of quantum mechanics before they can buy a microwave."

Others were upset over the loss of analytical data that the loss of tracking cookies for services such as Google Analytics will bring. John Sollars of printer ink retailer Stinkyink said "I would argue that one of the essentials for any good webmaster who wants to improve his customer experience and website is to know where his customer has come from, which search terms have been used and how they interact with the website, and to do that I need cookies."

It's still too early to tell what the effect of this change will be on analytics, but indications from the few web sites that went ahead with the legislation last year – including the ICO's own site - showed a substantial reduction in analytical data received.

Helping the lawyers not the public

The cookie law legislation was designed to help the public, but it has also created a challenge for businesses "to put the solutions in place technically without incurring significant costs or complexity," as Graham Cooke from Qubit points out, and as many point out they need to do this when the world is in recession and money is tight.

What we have so far is a system that confuses the public, infuriates businesses and in the end the only winners are as Ross says "the lawyers."

Here's a selection of the comments we have had so far

The EU legislation is pointless

Finally, last Thursday, the ICO issued their updated guidance on the cookie policy - to say there was a last minute change of heart would be an understatement.

The whole premise of the cookie regulation has moved from requiring "informed prior consent" to now accepting that "implied consent" will suffice for most situations.

It is a banal end to a year of stress and anxiety for commercial players online where the only people to benefit have been the lawyers.

The banality of the ICO's approach is embarrassing. They appear to have decided that it is important for consumers to understand the intricacies of cookies before they are safe to use the internet. Really? It is like expecting people to understand the basics of quantum mechanics before they can buy a microwave.

I have worked in the online world for 18 years and, whilst I understand what cookies enable, I have little understanding of how they work in practice. And why cookies? What about HTML5? What about browsers?

The reality is that consumers want things to work and they want to make sure that their information is not abused. How that happens in practice is the job for intelligent legislators and regulators.

It is shameful that the UK is kowtowing to pointless EU legislation at a time when they should be positioning the UK as a global internet hub."

Michael Ross, Director, ecommerce platform eCommera

The EU cookie law - What a farce!

How many websites are there in the UK? 10, 20, 30 Million? Who can possibly police that lot? If Amazon.co.uk is treating the law with disdain then why on earth would the rest of us be interested in doing anything to comply with it?

Every commercial site on the planet uses cookies just to transact a shopping cart. I would argue that one of the essentials for any good webmaster who wants to improve his customer experience and website is to know where his customer has come from, which search terms have been used and how they interact with the website, and to do that I need cookies.

How much money will be wasted on enforcing the unenforceable, and to what purpose? Are we in a recession where money is tight? I think if it was my money (oh, I'm sorry - I'm a taxpayer so it is my money) I'd be able to find better ways to spend it.

What a farce - Brian Rix would be proud of it."

John Sollars, MD, at printer ink retailer, Stinkyink

Implementing a complex and loosely defined EU directive

The ICO were stuck between a rock and a hard place with this - they were charged with implementing a complex and loosely defined EU directive and have done their best to make this achievable for businesses. It would have been great for them to have given this sort of guidance earlier but at the same time one can understand the challenges that they faced in giving definitive advice without legal precedent.

At the end of the day we've always seen the implementation of this law as reflecting common sense and best practice. If you have a solid policy in place and an opt-in channel that you believe gives consumer a real choice then it was always going to be likely that you'd meet the spirit of the law. The challenge for companies has been, and in many cases remains, putting these solutions in place technically without incurring significant costs or complexity.

We think that there's a lot of smaller businesses out there that could struggle with the requirements of this law so that why we've built out free Cookie Consent tool that lets site owners quickly add a tested compliance solution to their site without the need for time-consuming and costly bespoke development."

Graham Cooke, CEO, of tag management business Qubit

Hands-on review: Sonos Sub

Kate Solomon — Wed, 30 May 2012 15:16:00 GMT

You'd be forgiven for wondering why Sonos has bothered bringing out a wireless sub woofer in the shape of the Sonos Sub.

If you've ever heard the dinky Play:3 speakers or their larger siblings, the Play:5, then you'll know what we mean – if you can get that kind of sound from a bookshelf-friendly set up, what's the point of adding a hulking great 'woofer to it?

That's what we thought too. But then we heard it. And suddenly we wanted to have a massive party just to put the thing through its paces.

We can sum it up thusly: Play:3 alone: good. Play:3 with sub: brilliant.

Let's take a look at the thing: it's about the size of a desktop PC tower with a hole in the middle – this is important, we'll come back to that hole. The sample we played with had the gloss-black finish, which meant it was intimidatingly shiny – Sonos tells us that it's been lacquered eight times and buffed for sixteen months (or something) so, you know, that's good gloss. For the fingerprint-phobic, there'll also be a matt-finish edition coming in September.

The unusual design allows for the sub to be placed in all sorts of places – against walls, under sofas… wherever works with your décor.

Because the force-cancelling speakers are housed in the middle gap, it pushes the sound out all around. Sonos has designed them specifically for this cut-away, so rather than being round, the speakers are racing-track shaped.

When you see the Sub in action those speakers are going like the clappers, bouncing in and out like an over-excited rapper in his first pimped-out hydraulic lowrider. It does look cool, but what if you wanted to rest a cup of tea on top as you so often do while listening to bassy European trance at the maximum possible volume?

Never fear, tea-loving party people: the vibration is almost entirely contained by the unit so you can barely feel a thing outside the casing – really, just the minimal vibration. That means you can pop the sub anywhere and not worry about annoying vibration sounds interfering with playback or disturbing your décor.

The sound is impressive. Beware, Play:3 and Play:5 owners: by toggling the sub on and off from the Sonos controller app, you risk ruining the standalone speakers forever.

Immediately you'll hear added warmth in the playback, and the sound becomes much fuller, better rounded by the addition of the extra bass heft. Toggling back to the stereo-speaker set up alone, music began to sound almost tinny. The addition of the sub makes you want to get up, turn it up and dance.

Set up, incidentally, is embarrassingly easy. Pair the sub with your Sonos Bridge then tweak the settings using the controller app and some test tones, and you're away.

The biggest downside is that all that bass comes at a fairly hefty price. The glossy edition comes in at £599 ($699) while the cheaper matt Sub isn't available until September when it will cost £499 ($599).

And we're not completely convinced by the gloss finish – it's going to need some serious grooming, we imagine – but that could be because it doesn't exactly match our décor darlings.

We can't vouch for its longevity after our brief time with the Sonos Sub, so you'll want to check out our full review in a week or two.

But first impressions? For a big sound from an easy set-up with unobtrusive speakers, we have no hesitation in giving the Sonos Sub the thumbs up.

Lovefilm Instant gets an HD makeover, PS3 misses out

Marc Chacksfield — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:32:00 GMT

Lovefilm has revealed that a number of its titles on its Instant service are now available in HD.

Swiftly coming after the news that Lovefilm has signed an exclusive deal for NBC Universal content, the service has also revealed that a number of its movies and documentaries are now available in high definition, an option that has been sorely missing from the on-demand service.

"Beautiful documentary series like Planet Earth and Human Planet really deserve High Definition," explained Lovefilm.

No PS3 love

"So do long-running TV sagas like Lost and Robin Hood. Recent releases like Gnomeo & Juliet and Red a (Lovefilm Instant favourite) look fabulous," the company added.

"And HD was simply made for classic, epic movies like Che Part One, The Way Back and Apocalypse Now. The HD titles come in a new section, unsurprisingly title HD Collections.

According to Lovefilm, the titles will put in 1080p but only on PC and Mac. If you are streaming through an Xbox, Blu-ray or Samsung and LG TV then it is 720p.

Unfortunately, the PS3 misses out for now. The reason for this: "We're working on bringing full HD to Sony and the PlayStation 3 very soon, sorry for the delay (remember, the PS3 already plays titles in higher quality than standard definition)."

As for iPad, Lovefilm currently don't have studio rights to stream HD on iPad.

Exclusive: Foursquare: 'We've not lost impetus in the UK'

Patrick Goss — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The general manager of Foursquare has told TechRadar that the UK is a vital market for the social network, with a renewed focus and a local team ready to ramp up the benefits for British members.

A major partnership with American Express in the UK will see cardholders reap voucherless deals and benefits from the likes of Tesco, Pizza Express and Eat.

GM Evan Cohen believes that this is the start of a journey towards more benefits for UK Foursquare members and denies that there has been any loss of impetus due to the previous focus on the US.

Big growth

"We've seen big growth and the broader stats and trends direction is very positive," Cohen told TechRadar.

"We've recently formally opened an office in London with four employees. It's our third office after New York and San Francisco so our first outside of the US.

"We wouldn't be making this kind of investment in the partnership with Amercian Express in the UK if we didn't feel confident.

"We feel that people use Foursquare in getting 'specials' - deals and discouts – and what's exciting about the American Express relationship is it brings retailers like Tesco and Pizza Express with many more to come.

"So there is much more value embedded in the Foursquare experience with the Amex rewards and partnerships."

Broadening appeal

Omid Ashtari, director of business development and the first member of the UK team indicated that work was ongoing to broaden the appeal of the Foursquare platform

"It's one of our biggest markets and it has seen 70 per cent year on year growth," he added.

"Because of the UK's importance, we are reaching out to big brands to establis presence and [increase] the user base."

American Express teams up with Foursquare in UK

Patrick Goss — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

American Express and Foursquare have teamed up to provide what it is describing as an 'effortless' voucher system for location based offers.

Interestingly, people who take advantage of the offers will not have to actually show anything – a voucher, code or even their mobile – to the cashier, with saving credited back to the Amex within 5 working days.

The people involved in the offers include Bella Italia, Café Rouge, Eat, House of Fraser, Nando's, PizzaExpress, Primark, Strada and Tesco.

Social strategy

According to American Express, this announcement is just part of a strategy to 'digitise its core assets' and integrate social technology into its core.

"The partnership with Foursquare underscores our focus on digital innovation aimed at delivering added value to our Cardmembers and merchant partners," said Colin Walsh, Managing Director, American Express UK.

"Our customers want the best deals at their convenience. They are increasingly connected online and when it comes to shopping they are actively seeking real-time offers that generate savings, while merchants are keen to embrace the benefits that smartphones can bring them.

"We're excited to be taking this one step further by marrying our digital capabilities with Foursquare's leading edge application to deliver voucher-less offers from so many popular high street brands. This is a first for our UK Cardmembers."

Exclusive: Sky Broadband to block The Pirate Bay as of today

Marc Chacksfield — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:52:00 GMT

UPDATE

Sky has added an update to its copyright page, which states that it has started blocking The Pirate Bay as of today, 30 May.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Sky is to begin blocking access to The Pirate Bay on its broadband service as of today, TechRadar has learned.

Sky was requested, alongside O2 Virgin Media, TalkTalk, BT and Everything Everywhere, to stop access to the site due to the site being 'in massive breach of copyright'.

Virgin Media was quickest to deny its users access to the Pirate Bay and its blocking of the site came with repercussions; hacking collective Anonymous ordered a DDoS on the main Virgin Media site as payback.

DDoS-ing around

Interestingly, this action was discouraged by The Pirate Bay, which noted at the time: "DDoS and blocks are both forms of censorship.

"We'd like to be clear about our view on this: We do NOT encourage these actions."

Sky will be hoping that the same doesn't happen to its main websites when the switch is turned to off today.

Obviously the Pirate Bay isn't taking the fact that it is being blocked in the UK lying down.

This week it announced that it has IP addresses coming out of their ears, so the blocking of the site shouldn't affect it that much.

"We have hundreds, so let's see many times they will respond," explained a Pirate Bay spokesperson.

TechRadar has contacted Sky to get confirmation of the cut-off, but our source explained to us that it will be blocked as of 3PM UK time.

Windows XP devices cost £559 a year to support

Marcus Austin — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:41:00 GMT

Windows XP devices could be costing businesses over five times more than Windows 7 and are losing businesses nearly eight hours a year in downtime.

We're coming up to the launch of Windows 8 yet there are still many businesses - 42% at the end of 2011 - using Windows XP, an operating system that dates back to 2001 and is no longer fully supported by Microsoft.

A new white paper by analysts IDC called, Mitigating Risk:Why Sticking with Windows XP is a Bad Idea. Has found that Windows XP can cost more than five times as much as current Windows 7 devices to support and XP devices will suffer nearly eight hours of downtime a year.

Five year old computers running Windows XP cost companies around $324 (£208) in lost productivity

The report – admittedly sponsored by Microsoft - looked at large enterprises who use a mix of Windows XP and Windows 7 devices and measured the costs to support the various different operating systems and the downtime due to those systems.

According to the white paper, the annual support cost per PC of using Windows XP was a staggering $870 (£559), but for Windows 7 users the figure is just $168 (£108), additionally five year old computers running Windows XP cost companies around $324 (£208) in lost productivity and $766 (£492) in IT labour costs each year.

The report blames the increased costs on, "a variety of problems, not all directly attributable to the operating system, but common in older solutions that required IT labour and help desk support activities."

When it looked at the reasons for reduced productivity it found that, "User productivity costs were driven up by higher levels of downtime caused by security woes, waiting for helpdesk support and time spent rebooting systems."

The IDC reported the other benefits of a more up to date operating system including, Bluetooth connectivity, faster USB ports and high-resolution monitors, that Windows XP users miss out on.

Support for Windows XP will end in April 2014 and, as of the end of 2011, the product was still the operating system of choice for 42 percent of commercial Windows users.

IDC's 12-page white paper, Mitigating Risk: Why Sticking with Windows XP is a Bad Idea, can be downloaded free from Microsoft.

Exclusive: Google+ Local announced - opens up the world around you

Marc Chacksfield — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Google has exclusively revealed to TechRadar that it is launching Google+ Local – a new way to discover what's happening in your surrounding area through the search giant's social network.

Teaming up with review and recommendation site Zagat, Google+ Local offers up reviews of restaurants, museums and the like within your vicinity, complete with a scoring guide and user-generated reviews.

Given that Zagat has been baked into Google+, Local will also make use of recommendations from people in your Circles – adding their views to the Local section of Google+.

With this new section of Google+ (which will get its own Local tab), Google is essentially cutting out the middle man and placing its service in direct competition with the likes of Yelp, Urban Spoon, TopTable and even taking on a significant chunk of TripAdvisor.

Zagat also has an app on Google Play, so it will be interesting to see how it will fare now it has been integrated into Google+.

Simple way to discover

Speaking about the new service, Bernardo Hernandez, director of product management at Google, said: "Today, we're announcing Google+ Local, a simple way to discover and share great local places like restaurants with Zagat scores and the recommendations of people you trust in Google+.

"This is part our ongoing effort to provide a beautiful, consistent experience across Google that helps people turn their intentions quickly into actions."

The Zagat recommendation system – which will replace the current 5-star scale with a 30-point scale – won't just be used in Google+ but will also be rolled out to a number of Google offerings, including Google Maps and will be also added to the mobile version of Google+.

From a business point of view, Google will be opening up Google+ that little bit more, so that they can verify local Google+ pages for their business, make edits directly to the page and take advantage of things like Circle and Hangouts on the social network.

All of this is coming soon, as is the ability to combine existing Google+ pages with new local Google+ pages.

Google+ Local is being rolled out globally and in 60+ languages.

Exclusive: How the 3D Hello! magazine cover was created

Amy Davies — Wed, 30 May 2012 12:30:00 GMT

This week, Hello! Magazine announced that it has produced the world's first truly 3D magazine cover. We spoke to the Managing Director of the company behind it to reveal the techniques of how it was created.

Although augmented reality magazine covers aren't anything new, this cover marks the world's first truly 3D cover. Those who wish to see the cover star, Gary Barlow, in all his resplendent 3D glory need to download the free app and point it at the magazine cover.

Callum Macmillan from TimeSlice Films told TechRadar, "We use a camera array, which is essentially imaging the scene. What you end up with is a CGI photograph, that's the asset. The clever bit of delivering it is putting the CGI object into augmented reality."

Cameras

Created in collaboration with TimeSlice and DigiCave, Macmillan was the one to actually take the photograph(s). It was shot with 42 Nikon D300S DSLRs, each equipped with 50mm prime lenses. Macmillan says those particular cameras were chosen for their image quality, and the ability to synchronise with each other.

The D300S is three years old now, Callum says that the company will be upgrading to new cameras soon - but for now he is keeping information on which model a secret.

As you might imagine, setting up 42 cameras has its own problems. "The difficulty with this is trying to take a camera array and fitting it in with a traditional celebrity photoshoot. We had to take the array up six flights of stairs and then rig it up in someone's kitchen," Macmillan says.

Macmillan is hoping that the technology will be more widely adopted throughout the industry, as magazines attempt to engage readers in new and interesting ways. This he says will enable the technology to develop and become smaller, lighter and quicker to use.

3D Modeling

Explaining the reasoning behind using 42 cameras, Macmillan says, "The number sort of varies, we have a lot of cameras and when you're doing 3D you need to have more than you think you will need. You've got to be able to capture every perspective that's necessary to make a 3D model from every angle."

This kind of photography differs from other forms of 3D capture, which traditionally involves laser scanning. Macmillan explained that using lasers involves capturing only the form, meaning that a photographer still needs to capture the texture. When using DSLRs to produce a 3D image, both texture and form are captured at the same time, and it also allows for movement.

"The difference between using a camera array and laser scanning is that for a laser scan, the subject has to stand really still. With this, you are freer creatively. If they want to jump in the air, as long as you have a fast enough shutter speed and enough light, you can do that."

Capturing the scene is also quick with this method. "Although we rigged for about four and a half hours, we got the shot on the first take. All the cameras are fired at the same time, so takes as long as a click to capture the image. We did a couple more images just to be sure, but we had it from the first one."

Once the images are rendered, they are then processed by Digicave, which has its own proprietary software for creating the 3D imagery. "They turned that shoot around in about 12 hours," explained Macmillan. "It's actually pretty quick, but there's retouching and so on that needs to be done."

Macmillan believes that this technology has the capability to change both what magazine publishers can offer to consumers, but also how we think about photography. "The feedback we've had about it has been really encouraging, the tech enables us to look at photography in a totally different way. The big distinction to make is that no one has done a sculptural photo before, the real innovation is putting the photo into augmented reality.

The Hello 3D issue is out now, while the app is available as a free download.

Analysis: Tim Cook: pleased to meet you

Gary Marshall — Wed, 30 May 2012 12:15:00 GMT

I'm not sure what my favourite Tim Cook quote from last night's AllThingsD interview is. "That's a great question. I'm not going to answer it"? "You're right. I'm not going to tell you?" "Who had the next question?"

If anybody believed they'd be able to trick Apple's CEO into revealing anything he didn't want to, they were sorely disappointed.

What's striking about the interview, I think, is that you really get a sense of the man: not just the core of steel that's taken him to the top of the world's most interesting company, but also the easy charm that makes him so famously likeable. It may well be an act, but if it is it's a really good one.

Tim Cook didn't just charm his interviewers and bat away their questions, though. He spoke about some of the big issues affecting Apple, and about his own place in the organisation. The whole thing felt like a man stepping out from underneath the shadow of Steve Jobs.

Substance to the style

In among the assertions of Apple's general awesomeness, there was some real substance to the interview. Cook wants to do "more semiconductor things in the US" as well as more assembly work, although he believes that the infrastructure simply isn't there for the latter.

He wants Apple to be much more open — apart from about its future products — and to embarrass other tech firms into behaving better industrially and environmentally.

Cook also described Apple's attitude to various product categories. He admitted to "intense interest" in the TV market provided Apple can control the core technology, argued that tablets and PCs are and should remain as separate product categories, dismissed tablet/laptop hybrids and emphasised again and again that Apple's aim is to make the best products, not to build to a particular price point or match competitors' specs.

He strongly suggested that Ping, Apple's social network for music, is likely to be boiled down for glue, and he implied that Facebook integration is coming to iOS.

I think the atmosphere was different this year: Jobs' interviews were more tense, more adversarial — adversarial in a good-humoured way, but adversarial nevertheless. Cook's interview was a more cerebral affair, I think, and while Cook's a less magnetic speaker than Jobs I think he's just as convincing.

I think that when Tim Cook says receiving mail from Apple customers is a "privilege" he means it, and when he says about preserving Jobs' legacy that while he likes museums he doesn't want to live in one he means that too. Most of all, when he says that "the juices are flowing. We have some incredible things coming out" or talks about how we'll be "excited" and "really happy" about what Siri will do in the coming months, I'm not detecting a reality distortion feed. Roll on WWDC.

Nokia Lumia 610 officially released in the UK

John McCann — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:56:00 GMT

The Nokia Lumia 610 has been officially launched in the UK and brings a budget friendly, smartphone experience to the masses.

Available from the first week in June, the Lumia 610 is Nokia's most affordable Lumia smartphone to date.

O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone will all offer the Lumia 610, along with Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U, with contracts starting at £15 per month.

Entry level specs with entry level price

The Lumia 610 packs a 3.7-inch (800 x 400) screen, 800MHz processor, 256MB of RAM and 5MP camera with LED flash.

It also sports the latest version of Microsoft's mobile software, Windows Phone Tango, which has been specially developed to run on smartphones with less power – allowing manufactures to keep the cost of the handset down.

Also included is Wi-Fi tethering and the Lumia 610 comes "pre-loaded with Nokia Mix Radio, our free music streaming service and Nokia Drive, our global turn-by-turn navigation app" – not bad for a budget device.

We've asked Nokia how much the Lumia 610 would be SIM-free and we're waiting for a response.

Find out our thoughts on this super cheap handset in our hands on: Nokia Lumia 610 review.