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July 23, 2004
Sony plans to rival iPod
Sony is to revamp its famous Walkman by launching a digital music player to rival Apple's iPod, which has led the market since its 2001 launch.
Sony said its device would be about £55 cheaper and able to store 3,000 more songs than the top iPod model. It is also aiming to boost use of its online music store Sony Connect, as its Walkman will play songs only in the company's own format.
The Walkman hits Japan on 10 July, the US in August and Europe by September. Last year Sony announced it was cutting 20,000 jobs as part of restructuring to deal with sliding profits.
Sony said its Network Walkman NW-HD1 would carry 13,000 songs and sell for less than $400 (£219) in the US. This compares with $499 (£274) for the highest capacity iPod which can store 10,000 songs.
The device will be incompatible with other online stores and cannot play tunes in the popular MP3 format.
Small in size
It is slightly larger than a credit card and less than half an inch thick. Sony said the battery lasted 30 hours, at least three times longer than the iPod. It also promised shock-resistant technology that protected the hard drive if dropped.
Launched to mark the 25th anniversary of the original Walkman cassette player, Sony said it had used advanced compression technology to pack more songs in a smaller storage space. It uses a 20-gigabyte hard-drive, compared with Apple's highest capacity 40 gigabyte models. Sony said the NW-HD1would be the smallest player of its capacity on the market.
Sony has sold 340 million Walkmans during the past 25 years, including several million CD players. Last month Apple's pioneering online music service iTunes was launched in the UK, Germany and France, offering more than 700,000 songs for 79p or 0.99 euros each. ITunes has proved enormously popular in the US, with about 85 million songs downloaded since its launch in April 2003.
Posted by robeva at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)
July 22, 2004
Boom in digital jukeboxes
Mobile music players are set to become the must-have gadget for music fans. A report predicts that people will buy more than 10 million players this year to listen to music while on the move. The buying frenzy is being driven by the success of Apple's iPod and the reams of copycat gadgets aiming to cash in on its popularity.
The study by London-based Informa Media predicts that more than 21 million mobile music players will be in use around the world by the end of 2004.
Pod frenzy
The report predicts that people will plump for next-generation players that use a hard drive to store music tracks instead of flash memory.
Sales of Apple's iPod could make up a sizeable proportion of those sales.
Apple boss Steve Jobs recently revealed that the company sold more than 860,000 iPods in the three months up to 26 June.
The new iPods released early this week and the European debut of the iPod Mini could boost those sales further.
Informa expects there to be more than five million iPods in use around the world by the end of 2004.
It said that other firms likely to do well are Creative Technology, Sony and Dell.
Although the report predicts boom time for hardware makers, it is not yet clear whether the record companies will do well out of the rising interest in mobile music.
CD sales may not rise because many people have already converted their CD collections to a portable format.
However, the online music services that go alongside the music players could mean more money for music makers as people buy new tracks for their players.
One of the few factors that could dent the booming music gadget industry is incompatibilities between the formats used to make songs small enough to fit on different players.
These mean that tracks downloaded from one service or prepared for one player may not transfer to another.
Posted by robeva at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2004
iPod mini launch date
Apple has said the global launch of its popular iPod mini will take place on 24 July, selling for £179 in the UK.
The digital music player launched in the US in February and was a huge success, with reports of shops being out of stock and a thriving eBay trade.
The cut-down music player has a 4GB hard drive which can store up to 1,000 songs, depending on music quality.
The device will compete with music players produced by firms such as Sony, Rio and iRiver.
Apple's iPod is the most popular digital music player in the world and has more than 50% of the digital music player market.
Delayed
The global launch of the iPod mini was delayed earlier this year as the miniature hard disc drives at the heart of the iPod mini could not be made by Hitachi fast enough.
"The iPod mini has been a smash hit in the US, and we're thrilled to finally be able to offer it to music lovers the world over," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive.
Greg Joswiak, Apple's VP of Hardware Product Marketing, told BBC News Online that despite the delay there still could be stock shortfalls when the device goes on sale.
"We expect demand to be huge. I'd recommend people get in line early."
"Supply will keep up with demand by September," he predicted.
The iPod and iPod mini work with Apple's iTunes software and can play songs that have been bought online from the firm's music store as well as MP3 files.
Earlier this month Sony announced that it was to revamp its famous Walkman by launching a digital music player to rival Apple's iPod.
Sony said its 20-gigabyte device would be about £55 cheaper than the top iPod model, which has 40 gigabytes, selling for £219.
Mr Joswiak said Apple had been "disappointed by a misleading marketing trick" by Sony comparing the number of songs the top of the range iPod and the new Walkman could hold.
Apple's 40-gigabyte iPod boasts a 10,000 song capacity while Sony said its new device would hold 3,000 more.
But Mr Joswiak said Sony was basing its figure on a recording quality for songs which was not CD quality.
He pointed out that Sony's own online store did not have songs available in the low recording rate used to promote its new music player.
Posted by robeva at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2004
Longer life iPod
Apple has launched a new version of its best-selling iPod digital music player. The new iPod is cheaper than previous models, while battery life has been substantially improved.
Apple's iPod is the most popular digital music player in the world, with more than 50% of the digital music player market. But it is facing growing competition from the likes of Sony, Creative and Rio, which seeking to tap into the popularity of digital music players.
The iPod has helped boost Apple profits, with 860,000 being sold in the past quarter.
Design changes
The new 20 gigabyte model, which can hold about 5,000 songs has a list price of $299 (£219 in the UK), while the 40GB model costs $399 (£299).
One of the big changes to the new iPod is the disappearance of the buttons that sat beneath its screen.
The buttons have been moved to lie around the wheel used to navigate through menus, an innovation copied from the iPod Mini.
A welcome change will be the boost to battery life. Apple said the new models could last up to 12 hours, compared to eight hours on the previous models.
Apple has achieved this through better power management rather than simply using a bigger, heavier battery.
The new iPod is also slightly thinner and its menus have been re-arranged to make navigation easier. The full-size iPods still only come in one colour: white.
The release of the new iPods will also see price changes. A top of the range model with a 40GB capacity will cost $399 and a 20GB model will be $299. Both are price cuts of $100.
In the UK, the 20GB model will cost £219 and the 40GB will be £299.
Rival players
"The best digital music player just got better," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive.
"The fourth-generation iPod features Apple's amazing Click Wheel for superb one handed control, 12 hour battery life and the new Shuffle Songs command in the main menu, all in an even smaller design that puts up to 10,000 songs in your pocket."
The iPod has had a dramatic effect on Apple's bottom line. In financial statements for its third quarter released on 14 July, Apple revealed that profits were three times higher than 12 months ago.
The new iPod will compete with music players produced by firms such as Sony, Rio, Creative and iRiver.
Posted by robeva at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)
Pocket PC virus discovered
The first virus to attack handheld computers running Microsoft's Windows Pocket PC software has been found. It is called "Duts", and its existence has been revealed by the Romanian security firm BitDefender.
The company said the virus posed no threat and was produced only as a "proof of concept" by its creators. The program comes from the same virus writing group that put together similar code that could spread between smartphones running Symbian software.
Polite virus
BitDefender said Duts had been created by someone calling themselves Ratter, who was part of the 29A VX virus writing group.
In a statement, the company said it had written the code to show that it was possible to create programs that could spread via handhelds and mobile devices running the cut-down version of Windows.
BitDefender estimated that there were about 17 million Windows Pocket PC devices in use around the world.
The company said: "The code was first sent to anti-virus experts instead of being released in the wild."
The virus has been written to be polite as it asks permission to spread to a new host when infected applications are being run.
"You're more likely to have a meteorite strike your house than be hit by this virus," said Carole Theriault, anti-virus consultant for Sophos.
"Owners of PDAs running the Pocket PC operating system should not lose any sleep over this virus, although it might be a taste of things to come in the future."
Mobile bugs
The virus is named after a technology called Dust dreamed up by science-fiction writer Greg Egan in his novel Permutation City.
However, the privilege of naming viruses rests with the anti-virus firms, which have decided to call it Duts.
Last month, the 29A group released another proof-of-concept virus called Cabir that was aimed at devices using the Symbian operating system.
Phones vulnerable to this virus include Nokia's 3650, 7650 and the N-Gage gaming/mobile hybrid.
The Cabir virus uses the Bluetooth short-range radio system to spread between devices and disguises itself as a security program. It also asks permission to install itself.
Any device running the Symbian's Series 60 software could be vulnerable but anti-virus firms say there is little evidence that the virus is spreading in the wild.
Posted by robeva at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2004
eBay music downloads
The net auction website eBay is dipping its toe into the digital music download market in a six-month trial. It said it wanted to gauge the demand for buying and selling music through its already successful service. Pre-approved sellers with licenses to music could decide to auction tunes or sell them at a fixed price, as with other items for sale on eBay.
This year has seen a growth in the legal music download market with iTunes, Napster and OD2 dominating.
The pilot will only be available on eBay.com, not the UK site.
Strong community
The move signals a shift in policy for the auction giant.
Music downloads have long been on the list of forbidden articles for sale, along with weapons, human bodies and drugs.
"After 180 days we will evaluate the pilot and determine whether to enable other copyright owners or resellers of downloadable media to list in eBay's Digital Downloads category if they meet certain criteria that will ensure copyright protection, service level agreements and safety," a statement on eBay's international site said.
It continued: "Approved sellers in this pilot have represented to eBay that they are the rights owner or have contractual permission from the rights owner to resell the listed media."
The "pre-approved sellers" include a record label and a music distributor.
The digital download market is one which eBay is keen to look at more closely, particularly as the site already has a strong community of users.
"Our community has told us they come to eBay first when they look for anything," an eBay spokesman said.
"Digital music now is a growing market, and it's something we wanted to explore."
Last year, eBay was named as one of the key websites which has had the biggest impact on UK web users, according to net analysts Nielsen NetRatings.
Legal music downloads is proving to be big business.
Apple's iTunes music store, announced this week it had sold more than 100m songs sold in its first 14 months, making it the most successful legal music site in the world.
Posted by robeva at 06:30 PM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2004
Life without the Daleks?
Ok, not strictly technology related, but we can't imagine Dr Who without the Daleks, can you? Just for a bit of fun, we'd like to hear your views. Use the 'comments' link below to add your weight to the 'save the daleks' campaign, and lets get those behind-the-sofa days of our youth back!
Posted by robeva at 12:14 PM | Comments (1)
Sony Replaces DCR-TRV95
Sony has replaced their lowest priced 3 CCD camcorder, the DCR-TRV950, with the DCR-HC1000, aimed at the prosumer market. The announcement follows a similar introduction by Sony Japan in May. The new camcorder features some upgrades but also includes some major downgrades. Although the DCR-HC1000 is following in the steps of many popular camcorders, it is entering a new camcorder market with many more 3 CCD camcorders at much lower prices to compete with.
"We've added some video features to this camcorder which would allow the prosumer market to continue the video quality experience that it has expected from Sony camcorders," said Kevin Brinkman, Product Information Manger for Sony Camcorders, summarizing the feature set of the new DCR-HC1000.
The new DCR-HC1000 features a 12x optical zoom and 2.5 in. LCD screen, an inch smaller than the DCR-TRV950's. Sony has added a hybrid focus / zoom ring which allows the user to manually control either the focus or the zoom using a ring placed around the camera's lens. The DCR-HC1000 includes a button near the lens which switches the ring's function from manual focus to manual zoom control. The zoom ring was originally found in Sony's DSC-F717 digital still camera, and introduced into the MicroMV DCR-IP220. This publication has called on Sony for many years to bring the hybrid zoom / focus ring to its entire line, especially their prosumer 3 CCD low end camcorder. The DCR-HC1000 includes a zebra pattern function which highlights areas of the screen which are overexposed. Sony has reduced the size of the camcorder by about 20%, added a record button to the LCD screen, moved control options into a 3D menu system, and changed the battery type.
Sony's DCR-HC1000 also features a rotational hand grip similar to what is used on Sharp's discontinued line of camcorders. The camcorder is separated into two lobes, one containing the lens and imager, and the other containing the tape mechanism. Independently mobile, the tape mechanism can rotate 90 degrees.
"It [the DCR-HC1000] allows for more versatility because of the rotation of the grip," said Kevin Brinkman, Product Information Manger for Sony Camcorders "You can actually keep your thumb and your forefinger located next to the record button and the zoom control whether your shooting at different angles because of that rotation piece. You don't have to take your hand off the hand grip and then reposition your hand."
With the DCR-HC1000, Sony offers many manual control options, adding manual control of color balance and sharpness to the usual arsenal of manual white balance control, exposure / aperture control, shutter speed control, gain control and focus control. The DCR-HC1000 includes more manual control than any of the lower priced Sony consumer camcorders.
Sony has not changed the imaging system on the DCR-HC1000 from the DCR-TRV950. The camcorder features 3 CCDs, each 1/4.7 in. large, with 1,070K gross pixels and 690K effective pixels for video. Sony has upgraded the lens system on the DCR-HC1000 to their T* Carl Zeiss lens, something the company promotes as a big upgrade. Although in a joint company statement both companies contend that they work together on the new lenses, Sony refuses to confirm that Zeiss actually manufacturers the Zeiss labeled lenses which are placed in Sony products. Many in the industry discount the Zeiss name on Sony camcorders as a marketing maneuver, also accusing Panasonic of the same move by branding their imaging products with the Leica name.
Sony's DCR-HC1000 press release leads with the line "Advancing the category it created, Sony today unveiled a three-CCD camcorder with an innovative, multi-angle handle and state-of-the-art optics." Sony is touting the superior color reproduction found with 3 CCDs. However, Sony's viability in this very important category, in which they've been industry leaders in the past, may be called into question because of the pricing and feature set of the new DCR-HC1000 compared to newer 3 CCD camcorders.
The DCR-HC1000 is effectively very similar to Panasonic's highest end consumer 3 CCD camcorder, the PV-GS400, however it is priced $200 higher. Brinkman responded to this criticism saying "We don't comment on other competitors technology. However, talking about the HC1000 using these true 1 Megapixel 1/4.7 in. CCDs, Carl Zeiss Sonar technology, as well as the advantages that we've added to this for example the zoom control as well as the focus control, in addition to the AE Shift, sharpness and color level controls we think that this camcorder is priced at the correct price point and available for the prosumer market," responded Brinkman.
The DCR-TRV950, which the DCR-HC1000 replaces, originally replaced the DCR-TRV900 in April 2001. The DCR-TRV900 was the most affordable 3 CCD camcorder on the market for a while, and established a cult following. The DCR-TRV900 enjoyed an incredibly strong following on the Internet and in the hobbyist and prosumer video community, being the least expensive camcorder at the time to feature 3 CCDs. Few camcorders have garnered the following which the DCR-TRV900 did. The camcorder was often used by wedding and event professionals because of it's ability to deliver 3 CCD quality at such a low price. In offering smaller CCDs, the DCR-TRV950 lost some of the allure of the DCR-TRV900; however, it was a very strong camcorder. Considering the popularity of its lineage, the DCR-HC1000 has some tough shoes to fill.
In the three plus years since the DCR-TRV950 was introduced, the market for 3 CCD camcorders has drastically changed. In January 2003, Panasonic began its entry into the consumer 3 CCD camcorder market, destroying Sony's price advantage. Their first introduction broke the $1,500 price barrier, their next the $1,000 price barrier, and in 2004 they broke the $700 price barrier. Sony can no longer market their DCR-HC1000 as an affordable 3 CCD solution.
The DCR-HC1000 will have an even harder time with prosumers and hobbyists because of Panasonic's most recent 3 CCD introduction, the PV-GS400. The PV-GS400 replaces Panasonic's first low-priced 3 CCD camcorder, the PV-DV953, both selling for just under $,1500. With the PV-GS400 Panasonic upgrades the camcorder's CCDs from 1/6 in. to 1/4.7 in., a huge jump. With this move, Panasonic GS400 neutralized Sony's previous advantage in the 3 CCD market, and largely places the two camcorders on the same technological playing field. However, this move does give the PV-GS400 the price advantage by $200.
In many regards, the DCR-TRV950 and, logically, the DCR-HC1000 would be considered prosumer camcorders, priced for consumers but capable enough for professional videographers. The DCR-TRV950 and the DCR-TRV900 were adopted widely by professionals. Sony broadcast even introduced a professional version of the DCR-TRV950, the DSR-PDX10, which added DVCAM tape recording, XLR Inputs as well as other professional features. However, the move by Sony to abandon the jog dial and completely depend on a touch screen for manual control seriously puts into question the viability of the DCR-HC1000 for a professional audience. While consumers who are serious about manual control have tolerated Sony's move to put all manual control in a touch screen on their purely consumer models, it is unlikely that professional users will respond the same way. The touch screen has proven to be awkward to control, and a professional user demands a high level of accessibility in their manual control - something touch screen LCDs have failed to deliver. By removing the jog dial, Sony is investing fully in the touch screen, and taking the risk of potentialy alienating the prosumer audience.
Another major downgrade on the DCR-HC1000, when compared to the DCR-TRV950, is the reduction of the LCD screen from 3.5 in. to 2.5 in. The new touch screen on the DCR-HC1000 contains 11K pixels; however, the size may become an issue. The DCR-HC1000 will not be spared comparisons to other 3 CCD camcorders in this price range. Although the Canon GL2, long a competitor to the DCR-TRV950, includes a 2.5 in. LCD screen, Panasonic's PV-GS400 includes a 3.5 in LCD screen.
Sony has removed the Bluetooth functionality from the DCR-HC1000. Bluetooth is a wireless communications protocol and was a tested technology in some of the 2001, 2002 and 2003 models. However, Sony discontinued the use of Bluetooth in this year's camcorders. "Sony is constantly looking into different technologies that consumers can use a camcorder. Certainly Bluetooth was one of the technologies we looked into and we found that with this model it was not a feature that was highly used by this audience," said Rosemary Flynn, Spokeswoman for Sony Camcorders.
On the DCR-HC1000, Sony also offers a limited functionality 5.1 surround sound recording feature. The DCR-HC1000 includes two microphone in jacks. However, the second microphone in jack can only be used with the 5.1 surround sound microphone. The microphone includes four smaller microphones which record front left, front right, back left and back right channels. The special microphone uses MiniDV's 12 bit audio recording mode to record four channels of audio. The 5.1 mode, however, can only be used with the special microphone. Currently, support by third party editing applications is limited and unknown for the Sony surround sound recording. If users have VAIO computers with Click-to-DVD-Recording Software 2.0 they can make DVDs with the surround sound recorded in the DCR-HC1000. Representatives from Sony however, stressed that this is a new technology which the company is still exploring, and they are looking into other ways to utilize the 5.1 surround sound system.
The Sony DCR-HC1000 has the same enhanced 16:9 mode as several other Sony camcorders, namely the DCR-HC85, the DCR-PC330 and DCR-PC350, as well as the DSR-PDX10. This 16:9 mode functions in the same way, with a switch option set within the touch screen LCD. The "true" 16:9 debate continues to burn, and is largely untamed by manufacturers, leaving many users with questions unanswered. There is a small group of self proclaimed video experts, who provide excellent insight, but suffice it to say, the DCR-HC1000 does 16:9 the same way as the previous camcorders mentioned.
Interestingly, at 1 Megapixel, the still resolution of the DCR-HC1000 is quite low, when compared to other camcorders in the above $1,000 price range. While the PV-GS400 features 4.0 Megapixel stills and Canon's Optura 400 features 2.2 Megapixel stills, the DCR-HC1000 features only 1.0 Megapixel stills. Sony explains the shortcomings in still resolution by explaining that it's added functionality, not a centerpiece of the camcorder.
The camcorder also features optical image stabilization. The DCR-HC1000 will be available in August for $1,700 (USA).
Posted by robeva at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
July 04, 2004
HP Movie Writer dc3000
A straightforward way to record your old VHS cassettes and camcorder footage on DVD.
With the advent of affordable recordable DVD drives and straightforward video-editing software, creating your own movies and putting them on disc is now a real possibility. In theory, anyone with a camcorder can record a family holiday, edit it to make things look interesting and then record their masterpiece on disc. In reality, things are always a little more complicated but HP has just changed all that with the Movie Writer dc3000.
Combining video capture and DVD burning in an external USB 2 drive, the Movie Writer eliminates unnecessary complications. Whether you want to transfer and edit your camcorder footage or just get those old VHS tapes onto a shiny disc before they finally expire, everything has been made as simple as possible.
The recordable DVD drive is housed in a plastic case, with phono inputs for composite video, S-Video and audio on the side. These can be used to connect an analogue camcorder or VCR. If you've got a digital camcorder, you can use FireWire connection if your PC has one. It's a real shame FireWire wasn't included on the drive, though no doubt this would have complicated the design.
The Movie Writer offers DVD+R recording at four-speed and DVD+RW media at 2.4-speed. To get you going, HP includes one disc of each type in the box and the accompanying software advises the most appropriate media to use based on the project at hand, which we think is an excellent idea. The drive reads standard DVDs at eight-speed and can also write to CD-Rs.
HP provides several ways to transfer your material to disc, mainly depending on what it is you want to do with it. The simplest method is to attach your camcorder leads and then hit the Record button on the drive. Doing this launches a software wizard that takes you, step by step, through the whole recording processes, right down to designing a title menu and box cover. After getting several people to burn their own discs, we have to say we were extremely impressed at just how easy this process is. However, this method doesn't actually allow you to edit your footage and we couldn't use it with the FireWire port on our PC.
Other software is supplied for more complicated work but again, HP has focused on keeping things as simple as possible. ArcSoft's excellent ShowBiz allows you to capture, rearrange and generally polish your video, while an application called AutoProducer can automatically apply various editing styles to your video, such as an 'over-the-top music video', then synchronise the images in time to an MP3 soundtrack. Given that the whole thing takes just minutes, the results are truly impressive.
HP also supplies software to back up important data on DVD, along with Cyberlink's PowerDVD to watch your own and other pre-recorded movies.
Aside from the lack of a FireWire input, the only problem we have with the Movie Writer is the price. At £279, the drive is a little on the expensive side, especially compared with the latest internal units that can read and write to all formats of recordable disc. However, the capturing and software facilities really do make everything straightforward and this simply cannot be ignored. If you're looking for a way to put old recordings on a shiny new DVD disc, we really can't think of an easier way.
Contact: HP 0870 547 4747
www.hp.com/uk
Posted by robeva at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)
Asus DRW-0402P/D
The latest product in Asus' lineup of optical drives is the dual format DRW-0402P/D internal DVD burner. As with the vast majority of optical drives it comes with a 2MB buffer and a quoted access time of 140ms for DVD-ROM. The drive writes DVD+R and -R discs at 4X speed and re-writes DVD+RW at 2.4X, while DVD-RW discs are burned at 2X. DVD-ROM performance is 12X while the CD-R/RW performance is a little on the slow side at 16X/10X/32X.
Bundled with the drive are just two pieces of media: a 4X DVD-R and a 52X CD-R. The burning software is a surprise, not the usual Nero suite, but Sonic's Record Now and Sonic DLA. You also get copies of Ulead Movie Factory and the Asus DVD player.
Contact: Dabs
www.dabs.com
Posted by robeva at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)