Techradar - All the latest technology news

News In Brief: One More Thing: Rio Ferdinand for England, according to EA Sports

Marc Chacksfield — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:38:00 GMT

His name is Rio - The England team has been announced and while it may well be the most uninspiring line-up of humans since the reforming of Steps, the one bit of interest is a lack of Rio Ferdinand. If Hodgson had done his homework – and by homework, we mean contacting EA Sports and stealing its Player Performance Index (PPI) – then he would have kept Ferdinand in the squad and also called up the likes of Ryan Shawcross and Michael Carrick.

Unfortunately for us, he's a PES fan so all our players are from the likes of Man Blue, Man Red, Northluck City and Merseyside Red. [Mirror]

Max power - We have some good news if your name is Max or Maxine and like a bit of Payne. Videogame comparison sire Playr2.com is offering you a chance to win Max Payne 3 – all you have to do is go to its Facebook page this Friday and write 'I am Max Payne' on their wall. You could probably try this on the high-street too but there's a massive chance you will get carted away to the funny farm. [Facebook]

FutTv : IIR9lN32a4jYY

Troll with it - A Brighton woman has decided to get her own back on internet trolls by going to the High Court to force Facebook to unmask the blighters that are sullying her name online. We are guessing this isn't going to be done in a Blind Date style scenario – which is a shame as we would pay good money to see a troll unmasked in this way, maybe under a bridge or something. [BBC]

Wee Jobby - A book on Steve Jobs has arrived which is meant to teach kids all about the history of Apple and explain just who the computing CEO was. We're not sure many will get past the front cover, though, as one look at that forehead and you are forever transfixed. But if you do, it's ready to buy on Amazon. [9to5Mac]

Toon town - If cartoon Jobs hasn't scared your children off tech forever, then they may want to take a look at MagicTown.com - a new destination for interactive picture books for kids that also doubles up as a virtual world.

The car's not the star - In what has got to be the most short-sighted moves ever in the history of online, General Motors has decided to pull its advertising on Facebook due to low sales. Now, advertising a car on Facebook may not offer a click to buy opportunity but just because you don't see immediate sales doesn't mean the idea of buying a GM car hasn't been baked into a user's conscience. Facebook will be hoping this isn't a trend, given its imminent IPO. [Telegraph]

Dino-sore - Dinosaurs, according to Stephen Spielberg, are a pesky bunch of beggars that will eat you up even when you are relaxing on the toilet. But the truth about these majestic animals is a little more sad: some dinos suffered from a form of arthritis – yes, the same as the condition your gran has and they didn't even have zimmerframes or copious amounts of tea to help them cope. [Telegraph]

3G gets a speed boost - We may not have 4G in the UK yet – and for your information Apple, we don't use the word cellular either – but O2 is hoping to combat this problem by introducing 3G plus wings, or DC-HSPA (dual-cell high speed packet access) to give it its hip-hop name. This does boost speed apparently and O2 reckons you may well be able to get 42Mbps out of the new service. But this could be akin to putting go-faster stripes on a Mini, depending on what your O2 coverage is like. [CNET UK]

Code to nowhere - The first-ever QR World Expo is set to take place at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London and will bring togm;M;M; #GE;RK – er, sorry, we fell asleep on our keyboard writing that. But if QR codes are your thing, then you may want to head over to www.qrworldexpo.com for more info. Yawn.

Tiger, Tiger, burning bright - Intel has posted the strangest video ever on its site. We are guessing it is there to promote the Ultrabook brand but we have no idea what a dancing tiger has to do with superslim laptops. Bizarre but worth a watch. [YouTube]

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcxt2kdPdzY&sns=em

Entrepreneurs think UK investors are scared of investing

Marcus Austin — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Many UK entrepreneurs now believe that funding is more freely available in the US, from investors who are less risk-averse and more tuned-in to the industry.

Three out of five entrepreneurs believed that US investors are more ready and willing to embrace risk than their UK counterparts, and that negative attitudes to failure discourage entrepreneurship in the UK. In contrast, readiness to embrace failure was regarded as being especially strong in Silicon Valley.

However research by accountancy firm PwC into Venture Capitalist (VC) funding which examined the views of VC funds, entrepreneurs, banks and other industry players found this perception differs wildly from reality.

Jass Sarai, UK technology leader at PwC, said:

"The perception divide between entrepreneurs and VCs has only widened in recent years. Many VCs argue that little has changed, apart from greater competition for funding. The right combination of a compelling idea, sustainable and scalable business model and a strong management team will still win investment. The more savvy entrepreneurs who we spoke to, readily accept that what can look like risk aversion on the part of UK-based investors is actually just sensible risk assessment."

Examining the current funding environment for growing companies the report found that:

The UK has yet to match the emergence in the US of a significant community of 'super-angels', often former tech entrepreneurs willing to quickly 'buy into a vision' and invest in start-ups.
Only half of respondents agreed that being based in London improves the chances that a technology business will be successful. Many said what really mattered was being within a 'cluster' of companies, which can yield benefits around talent recruitment, growth and funding and such clusters are prevalent elsewhere in the UK.
Despite frequent debate, respondents said R&D incentives in the UK are sufficient to encourage earlier stage UK technology businesses to undertake innovative development work.
There was widespread acknowledgement that there are some attractive and beneficial tax breaks and incentives for early stage companies, albeit that some companies find the rules complex and difficult to apply in practice. The stakeholders we spoke to believe that the Government should focus on creating a supportive environment for innovation and entrepreneurship, but should not intervene further.

Brian Henderson, director in PwC's technology team, added:

"Despite the potentially negative attitudes towards failure, most entrepreneurs took the view that technological talent within the UK is as strong as anywhere in the world, but it is the UK's potential lack of ability to successfully commercialise its technological breakthroughs that results in the market lagging behind that in other territories such as the US."

Website traffic from tablets will surpass smartphones

Marcus Austin — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:32:00 GMT

Tablets are transforming how consumers and brands interact on the web, offering an experience that's more engaging than smartphones and competitive to desktop computers.

Adobe's latest Digital Index Report has predicted a rosy future for the tablet market, as it predicts visits to websites by tablet owners will surpass smartphone visits by January 2013, and will account for 10% of website visits by early 2014.

The Digital Index report analysed around 23 billion visits to the websites of more than 325 brands in North America, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific from 2010-2012 and concluded that, "tablets are reshaping how consumers engage with brands online, competing with—but not yet replacing—PCs, while becoming a distinct and superior channel to smartphones."

During the period 2010-1012 the share of website visits from tablets grew approximately 10 times faster than the rate of smartphones.

Within one year of the iPad launch, (Q2 2010 through Q1 2011), tablet visits represented 1% of total website visits, reaching 4.3% of total visits just one year later, an increase of 330%. In contrast, within the first two years of the iPhone market entry, smartphones accounted for 0.4% of total website visits, taking nearly three years to reach 1% of total visits.

One tablet generates as many website visits as four smartphones

The report also reveals that tablet users are heavier web users than smartphone users, by as much as four to one. Although smartphone users generate more page visits than tablet users - 6.1% and 4.3% of total website visits, respectively by the end of Q1 2012 - the number of tablets shipped across North America and Western Europe is much smaller than the number of smartphones shipped, and when the numbers were crushed, Adobe found that for every brand website visit made with a smartphone, four visits are made using a tablet.

Apple gleefully picks apart Siri class action suit

Kate Solomon — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:22:00 GMT

Apple is no stranger to the courthouse and it's seasoned lawyers are clearly taking quite a bit of joy in the latest class action suit against it, gleefully picking apart claims that Siri has caused such distress to iPhone 4S owners that the only course of action available to them is to call their lawyers.

A group of Californian consumers are hoping to wrest a few dollars from Apple because they reckon Siri is oversold in Apple's advertising, encouraging users to shell out more money on the iPhone 4S than it's worth.

But Apple argues that anyone with a genuine complaint against Siri would first have sought a refund and that would have been the end of it, something that none of the claimants tried before heading to court.

What's more, the lawyers say the claimants' complaints fall apart under close examination:

"They offer only general descriptions of Apple's advertisements, incomplete summaries of Apple's website materials, and vague descriptions of their alleged – and highly individualised – disappointment with Siri," reads Apple's motion to dismiss the claim.

Avail yourselves of this, suckers

"Tellingly, although Plaintiffs claim they became dissatisfied with Siri's performance "soon after" purchasing their iPhones, they made no attempt to avail themselves of Apple's 30-day return policy or one-year warranty - which remains in effect," it continues.

Everyone knows you don't use the term "avail themselves" without intending it to be read a biting, sarcastic tone.

"Instead, they seek to take an alleged personal grievance about the purported performance of a popular product and turn it into a nationwide class action under California's consumer protection statutes.

"The Complaint does not come close to meeting the heavy burden necessary to sustain such claims."

And all that's not to mention the fact that Siri is still in beta, something that Apple has never made a secret of.

Zing! Your move, Siri-haters.

iPhone 5 display 'will be at least 4 inches' in size

John McCann — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:04:00 GMT

Reports from Asia are suggesting Apple has placed orders for larger screens for the upcoming iPhone 5.

Since the iPhone first graced the world in 2007, Apple has stuck with the same 3.5-inch display for all five iterations of the popular smartphone.

Apple must be given kudos for sticking to its guns, but it's hard not to yearn for a bigger screen as the likes of the HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S3 and huge Samsung Galaxy Note parade around with their imposing visual aids.

Production starting next month

The Wall Street Journal reports that sources familiar with the situation revealed the production of the displays, measuring at least 4-inches, would begin next month.

If production of the larger display is only set to start in June, it pretty much puts a nail in the coffin for a WWDC launch for the iPhone 5 in the same month, with the touted Septmeber/October release date looking ever more likely.

Details on Apple's sixth generation iPhone are still thin on the ground, but it could very well join the quad-core brigade and the 4G version may even make its way to the UK – a boy can dream.

Britain's businesses are losing talent

Marcus Austin — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:41:00 GMT

A survey by Vodafone finds that UK businesses are gradually accepting that they need to plan for IT loss and failure, but are hopeless when it comes to losing staff.

The Vodafone sponsored report, 'What if …? Exploring attitudes towards risk', has highlighted that businesses are attracting the right talent, but aren't retaining the talent, and the business' experience those employees have.

Although one in five employees are reported to be actively considering a job move in the next twelve months, only 29 percent of UK managers say employee defection to another firm is a significant concern. This compares to 59 percent who cite IT systems failure and 36 per cent who list damage to facilities through fire or flood as key concerns.

While respondents accept that talent risks such as employee defection or illness are more probable than environmental risks, for example, only 10 percent of those surveyed say they have robust plans in place to respond to talent loss. In comparison, 37 percent say they that they have such plans in place for the loss of key facilities through fire, flood or similar events.

Peter Kelly, Enterprise Director at Vodafone UK, explains that businesses could improve their retention levels if only they were more flexible: "Businesses must implement new processes and technology to find better ways of working by enabling employees to mobile work securely. Not only does this help companies cut costs but it is also a proven way of attracting and retaining the best talent."

Adding "This research shows that businesses should place a greater emphasis on identifying and managing talent risk as part of a business continuity management strategy."

Vodafone in conjunction with the Chartered Management Institute has created a free Business Continuity Guide to download designed that will help get businesses started with a business continuity plan and help staunch the loss of talent.

Updated: Best tripod head: 12 tested

Matthew Richards — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:32:00 GMT

Tripod heads explained

Even the sturdiest set of tripod legs can be turned into a rickety affair by a wobbly head, so it pays to invest in a good-quality one.

Many photographers will buy a tripod as a complete kit, but the smart money is on buying the legs and head separately, so that you can get the best combination to suit your needs. And if you've bought an all-in-one kit, it can make sense to upgrade the head to a more versatile and stable model - a new head is generally easy to fit.

Unlike heads for video tripods, which only offer pan and tilt adjustments, photographic heads need to facilitate triple-axis movement, so that you can shoot in portrait orientation as well as in landscape. This setup is often referred to as pan, tilt and swivel, and is the reason why conventional photographic heads are called three-way heads.

The main alternative is a ball-and-socket head, usually just referred to as a ball head, but there's also the pistol or joystick variety, which is a variation on the ball head theme. We put 12 models from leading manufacturers through their paces.

The traditional photography tripod head is three-way. In almost every case, you get independent adjustments for pan, tilt and swivel. The latter two are usually clamped in place by locking arms that extend from the head, whereas the pan lock is often a space-saving thumbscrew.

Even so, you'll still generally need to remove at least one of the locking arms when you fold the tripod for compact carrying and stowage.

The main strength of the three-way design is that it enables precise adjustment in any of the three axes of movement, while keeping the other two firmly locked off.

This makes these heads ideal for situations where you need to make very small adjustments while keeping the camera level, for example in architectural and landscape scenarios. They're also useful for close-up and macro shooting, where very small and precise movements of the camera are often required.

Ball heads

 Ball heads are growing in popularity, their design being based on a large ball that sits inside a socket locked by a single clamping screw. Ball heads are great when you need to set up a shot quickly, and for portraiture and general shooting when the ability to make precise adjustments isn't critical.

One issue, however, is that with heavier camera and lens combinations, releasing the single locking screw can make handling a bit unwieldy. For this reason, many ball heads feature a secondary adjustable friction damper, which you can adjust to suit the weight of your camera and lens.

Some ball heads go further, with a separate pan-only lock. Release this, and you can pan the camera while tilt and swivel movements remain locked off. It's particularly useful, as with three-way heads, when you want to take a series of shots at regular angular increments for stitching into a panoramic image. Indeed, a rotation scale is sometimes included on the head to help with precise adjustments between shots.

Pistol heads and joystick heads

 A pistol or joystick head is based on the same ball-and-socket principle as standard ball heads but, instead of using a locking screw, you squeeze a trigger to release tension on the ball so that you can make adjustments.

This system is quick and easy to use in theory, but can be problematic in practice, as you'll see in our reviews of the Manfrotto 324RC2 and Vanguard GH-100 heads.

Whichever type of head you choose, extra features to look for include one or more bubble levels. These are typically positioned in the camera platform to help you level the camera itself, rather than just the tripod.

All the heads on test feature quick-release plates for fast fitting and removal of the camera. Finally, it's crucial to ensure that the head you choose has a maximum load rating that matches (and preferably exceeds) the weight of your camera plus your heaviest lens.

Compatibility and best fit

When you're checking for compatibility between head and tripod, one of the first things to do is measure the diameter of the platform on the top of your tripod's centre column. You can then choose a head on which the tripod mounting plate is approximately the same size; a big mismatch here can result in a lack of stability.

The primary connection between head and tripod is via an attachment screw on the tripod. There are two standard sizes, which have either a 1/4-inch thread or a larger 3/8-inch thread. Most heads have a 3/8-inch thread but often come with a 3/8 to 1/4-inch adaptor, so they can be mounted on tripods that use the smaller-sized screw.

If an adaptor isn't supplied, they're available for less than £5, so this isn't a deal-breaker. While there's no problem mounting a head with a 3/8-inch thread on a 1/4-inch tripod, you can't do things the other way around; if your tripod has a 3/8-inch mounting screw, you won't be able to fit a head with 1/4-inch thread. The Slik SH-705E is the only head in our test group with a 1/4-inch thread.

Fitting the head to your tripod

This can be done in three simple steps:

1. Fit a thread adaptor: If necessary, start by fitting a 3/8-inch to 1/4-inch thread adaptor required for fitting the head on tripods that use the smaller screw size.

2. Attach the head: Loosen the centre-column locking screw on your tripod so that you don't scratch the column, then screw on the head until it's hand-tight.

3. Tighten the screws: Most good-quality tripods will have hex screws accessible from the underside of the mounting platform. Tighten these to lock the head in place.

Tripod heads compared: £30-60/$40-70

Velbon PH-157Q

£30/$40

The crafty barrel-based design at the centre of this three-way head enables tilt and panning adjustments using just a single locking arm, leaving a thumbscrew to operate for swivel adjustments. Overall, it's quicker to set up than a conventional three-way head, but not quite as fast as a ball head. One downside is that you can't make panning adjustments while keeping the tilt axis locked, and vice-versa.

Like the quick-release plates fitted to the Slik and Vanguard GH-100 heads, the Velbon has a square mounting plate which can be used in any of four positions, without you having to swivel the camera around on the plate. There's practically no sag after you make adjustments, but the quick-release plate is a bit spongy.

Slik SH-705E

£35/$35

For a small three-way head, the Slik has a respectable 4.5kg load rating, but it still feels rather flimsy compared with the Benro, Giottos and Manfrotto three-way heads. It's fairly basic feature-wise, lacking any calibrated scales for pan, tilt or swivel adjustments, and there are no bubble levels. You can, however, remove one of the locking arms and screw it into the other arm for compact carrying and stowage.

The quick-release plate has a square base, enabling it to be fitted in any of four orientations. However, there's no safety lock on the quick-release mechanism, and the plate's locking clamp doesn't give a really firm hold, reducing overall stability.

Giottos MH5001

£45/$68

Despite having a modest 6kg maximum load rating, the Giottos three-way head feels every bit as sturdy as the Benro HD2, which has an 8kg rating. The locking arms are rather longer than on the Benro head, but you can remove one and screw it into the other for compact carrying.

Dual bubble levels are incorporated in the base of the head and the camera platform, making it easy to level the tripod legs as well as the camera itself. The scissor-action quick-release mechanism works well, and the surface coating of the plate enables a very firm connection to the camera.

Manfrotto 494RC2

£50/$57

Most of the heads in this group have a tripod mounting plate that's about 60mm in diameter, which suits the majority of full-sized tripods. However, along with the Slik and Velbon heads on test, this Manfrotto has a smaller 38mm diameter plate, making it ideal for smaller tripods. Like its big brother, the Manfrotto 496RC2, it features a sturdy and excellent quick-release mechanism and plate, plus an adjustable friction damper, although both heads lack a bubble level.

Compared with other ball heads on test, the ball and socket are rather small. And while adjustments are quick and easy, there's noticeable sag after you've let go of the camera, especially with front-heavy camera/lens combinations.

Manfrotto 804RC2

£55/$68

The official maximum load rating of 4kg is meagre compared with similarly priced heads in the group, but the 804RC2 feels as sturdy as the competing Benro and Giottos three-way heads. Like the Benro, there's no facility for screwing one locking arm into the other for streamlined carrying, and the Manfrotto actually features a third locking arm for panning, instead of a more basic thumbscrew.

Handy pan, tilt and swivel scales have five-degree increment markings, and there's a bubble level on the camera plate. Annoyingly, however, adjustments feel very jerky unless you slacken off the locking arms considerably.

Manfrotto 496RC2

£55/$72

The predecessor to this head was the Manfrotto 486RC2, which was a firm favourite with many photographers. The newer 496RC2 adds an adjustable friction damper and a refined safety lock for the quick-release plate, which is spring-loaded so it can't remain in the unlocked position.

Frills like a pan-only locking knob and bubble level are lacking, but the overall stability of the head is simply superb. Unlike the 494RC2, there's practically no sagging post-adjustment, and a dual cut-out in the ball's socket enables quick and easy tilting of the camera in either direction. What it lacks in extras, this head more than makes up for in ease and speed of use, and rock-solid performance.

Read the full Manfrotto 496RC2 review

Tripod heads compared: £60-$95/$70-100

Benro BH2 (BRBH2)

£60/$72

Benro's ball head is quite a basic affair, having just a single locking screw and no additional, adjustable friction damper nor a pan-only release. However, releasing the locking screw by about half a turn enables adjustment while maintaining fairly high friction, and undoing it a full turn facilitates free movement, which works well.

The scissor-action quick-release lock is easy to use while offering good security against accidental loosening, and a bubble level on the camera platform makes for easy levelling. Our only complaint is that the mounting surface that connects to the camera relies on two fairly narrow rubber strips, which make the connection feel quite spongy, especially with heavier camera/lens combinations.

Vanguard SBH-100

£70/$80

Like the Giottos ball head, this Vanguard model features a pan-only lock that also comes with an adjustment scale, calibrated in five-degree increments; this enables precision panning while the tilt and swivel adjustments are locked off. A downside of this, however, is that you need to release the pan lock as well as the main locking knob when switching to portrait-orientation shooting.

Other features include two spirit levels on the camera plate and a quick-release plate with its own locking screw. There's no D-ring for fastening the camera to the quick-release plate, however - you have to use a screwdriver or a coin. There's no adjustable friction damper either, and post-adjustment sag can be noticeable.

Benro HD2 (BRHD2)

£75/$100

With the same 8kg load rating as Benro's ball head, this three-way model is more than twice as heavy, at 840g. The extra weight is mostly due to the additional tilt and swivel locking arms, and the chunky thumbscrew for the panning lock. There's no facility for screwing one locking arm into the other for carriage.

Precise adjustments are aided by three calibrated scales with five-degree increments for each of the pan, tilt and swivel movements, and there's also a bubble level on the camera platform. The quick-release system and plate are the same as those used in the Benro ball head, which creates the same sponginess issue caused by the narrow camera-cushioning strips.

Giottos MH1311-652

£75 (about $120)

A full-featured ball head, the Giottos has three operating knobs. In addition to the main locking screw, there's a separate, adjustable friction damper plus a pan-only lock. Panning also comes with an angular scale, marked in five-degree increments. Instead of a bubble level, the camera plate has two spirit levels, so you can check for precise front-to-back and side-to-side levelling independently.

The quick-release system features a scissor-action safety catch, and the surface coating offers a solid connection to the camera. Considering its hefty 10kg maximum load rating and wide-ranging features, the Giottos is still pleasantly light in weight, partly due to the ball being hollow.

Read the full Giottos MH1311-652 review

Manfrotto 324RC2

£85/$110

With its quick-action joystick design, all that's needed to facilitate the 324RC2's full range of adjustments is a squeeze of the trigger. At least that's the theory; in practice, if you want to swivel the camera clockwise for portrait-orientation shots, to avoid the danger of it loosening on its connecting screw you have to remove the quick-release plate from the camera and reverse its orientation.

The adjustable friction damper works well but, despite a relatively low maximum load rating of 3.5kg, the head lacks stability. It's much more prone to slipping than three-way heads and regular ball heads, and there's noticeable sagging after you release the trigger grip to activate clamping.

Vanguard GH-100

£95/$100

The maximum load rating of this pistol-grip head is nearly double that of the similar Manfrotto 324RC2, at 6kg. However, it's more prone to slipping than the Manfrotto, even when the locking tension is adjusted to its tightest setting. Unlike the Manfrotto, the Vanguard has a pan-only mechanism, with calibrated scale.

The quick-release plate can be used in four different positions, at 90-degree increments. The bad news is that you need to swap between these quite often, for example if you want to shoot at an upward angle or swivel the camera clockwise for portrait-orientation shooting. There's a bubble level, but it's positioned beneath the quick-release plate, so it can't be used when the camera's mounted.

Verdict: best tripod head

For general shooting, ball heads lead the way with the promise of supremely quick setup, and the fact that there are no locking arms sticking out all over the place is a bonus.

A pan-only mechanism can be useful but, in practice, this adds another knob that has to be loosened and re-tightened when you want to switch from landscape-orientation to portrait-orientation shooting, so that you can get the socket's cut-out section in the right place.

We actually prefer the brilliantly simple Manfrotto 496RC2, which is unbeatably fast in use, and solid as a rock when locked off; besides, you can generally enable panning by loosening the centre column's locking clamp on the tripod itself.

By contrast, both joystick/pistol grip heads in the group are disappointing; they lack sturdiness and stability.

There's still a lot to be said for a traditional three-way head when you want ultimate control over adjustments.

The Giottos MH5001 is the top-performing three-way in the group, and a steal at the price.

Review: Kodak ESP 1.2

Marcus Hawkins — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:32:00 GMT

Introduction

Being released in the UK only for a price of £69 (about $110), there's little to separate the Kodak ESP 1.2 all-in-one printer from its stablemate, the ESP 3.2, which costs £79 in the UK and $99.99 in the US.

Both offer wireless printing, plus scanning and copying. Setting them up with Wi-Fi is fast with the new ESPs, and both come Google Cloud Print-ready.

Neither printer is Apple AirPrint enabled, but downloading Kodak's free Pic Flick App enables wireless printing from an iPhone, iPad, Android or BlackBerry device.

USB 2.0 connectivity is offered as standard, and each printer can read and write to SD, SDHC, MMC and Memory Stick.

Both the Kodak ESP 1.2 and Kodak ESP 3.2 feature a rear paper tray that can feed the printer with up to 100 sheets of A4 (similar to US letter size) or 20 sheets of photo paper.

Print resolution is pitched at 9600 optimised dpi for photos and 1200 x 1200 dpi for monochrome text.

Both include a 1200 dpi optical scanner, with the option to scan images and documents to computer or memory card, and both can make up to 99 copies of a document in one go.

In fact, the only distinguishing feature of the Kodak ESP 1.2 is actually quite a small one - the screen. It's approximately the size of an SD card, and inputting a wireless router's security code to access a wireless network using such a diminutive display and offset cursor keys requires painstaking precision.

The Kodak ESP 3.2's screen is around twice the size, and offers a touchscreen interface that's much more user-friendly. The Kodak ESP 1.2's is clear enough to navigate, it's it's just not as comfortable to use.

Build and handling

The Kodak ESP 1.2 is a comparatively compact all-in-one, measuring just 16.5 x 12.4 x 7 inches and weighing 5.1kg when full of ink and paper.

A single-panel, angled rear paper feed folds out from the top, while the pull-out output tray is a small, three-stage design. Other than that, the Kodak ESP 1.2 is a typically black-boxy affair.

The Kodak ESP 1.2 follows others in the range by using Kodak 30 series inks: a single-ink pigment-based black for text printing and a colour cartridge which contains three pigmented colours (cyan, magenta and yellow).

As we've stressed in our Kodak ESP 3.2 and Kodak Hero 9.1 reviews, this single colour cartridge approach isn't ideal. Once one colour runs out, you have to replace the whole cartridge, even if the other two tanks have plenty of ink to spare.

Supply levels can be monitored in the printer driver or on the printer screen itself. During our testing period, we managed to print approximately 30 A4 (roughly US letter size) photo prints, plus numerous black and white documents and photocopies before the colour ink supply was depleted to 1/3 of its capacity.

Kodak's ISO Page Yield Test indicates that it's possible to print around 132 A6 (roughly 4 x 6-inch) photos before the colour ink cartridge needs replacing. Based on the recommended price of the standard 30 series ink tanks - £14.99 in the UK and $19.99 in the US - this puts the price per print at 11.5p, or 15 cents.

Yields for black text pages are measured at 335 pages. With a standard black Kodak series 30 cartridge costing £7.99 in the UK and $12.99 in the US, this prices it at 2.4p or 3.8 cents per page.

Naturally by buying online you can make considerable savings on the quoted ink prices, and opting for the larger XL 30 series tanks and Combo or Value Packs will shave even more off the total. This makes the running costs seem very reasonable.

Performance and print times

Like the Kodak ESP 3.2, photo prints from the all-in-one Kodak ESP 1.2 are good quality. Our test shots using the best 4 x 6 glossy photo paper had good levels of saturation, and contrast levels were better than our A4 prints made with Kodak Gloss Photo Paper.

There's plenty of shadow detail visible in photos, but this can come at the expense of highlight texture. As with the Kodak ESP 3.2 test chart, the brightest values on a greyscale wedge we output on the Kodak ESP 1.2 were indistinguishable.

The rest of the test charts exhibited similar strengths and weaknesses as the Kodak ESP 3.2. They showed good, neutral colouration, slight banding and mottling in transitions and decent levels of detail.

Photo scans exhibit some noise in shadow areas and can lose highlight information, while colour document photocopies benefit from selecting the Best Quality option for finer detail reproduction and more accurate colours. Unsurprisingly, plain paper text prints also look cleaner using this option.

Printing and scanning times

When it comes to scanning, the Kodak ESP 1.2 is efficient. We noted a time of 17 seconds for a colour document scanned to a computer via USB 2.0. A colour photocopy of the same document, using the printer's best quality setting, was output in approximately one minute.

A standard six-page text document took 1min 18secs to print, and we clocked a single text page at 16 seconds from the paper being ingested to the finished page appearing in the output tray.

Kodak's quoted print speed of 38 seconds for a 4 x 6 borderless photo print proved accurate during our Kodak ESP 1.2 test, as with the Kodak ESP 3.2. We averaged between 38 and 40 seconds for fairly dense images on Kodak Ultra Premium Photo Paper.

Verdict

The Kodak ESP 1.2 is a tidy all-rounder that represents good value for money. Considering the price, and the all-in-one nature of the machine, photo prints are of impressive quality.

We liked

Good photos, easy Wi-Fi set-up and printing, and an emphasis on keeping things simple for the new user.

We disliked

The control interface isn't as slick as the one on its stablemate. It's also a little noisy when it gets going.

Final verdict

While the Kodak ESP 1.2 is a good printer, the performance levels are so similar between the ESP 1.2 and ESP 3.2 that it's hard to see why Kodak felt the need to release both all-in-ones.

At £10 (around $15), the price difference is so negligible to not be a concern, and because the 'premium' gets you a better screen and interface on the Kodak ESP 3.2, that's where the sensible money should go.

Review: Kodak ESP 3.2

Marcus Hawkins — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:31:00 GMT

Introduction

With a suggested retail price of £79 in the UK and $99.99 in the US, the Kodak ESP 3.2 finds itself joining the entry-level multi-function printer fight.

Taking on the likes of the ridiculously cheap HP Photosmart 5510 and the Canon Pixma MG3120, the Kodak ESP 3.2 offers a competitive set of features at an affordable initial cost.

The new all-in-one Kodak printer offers wireless printing, copying and scanning - via Wi-Fi, from a computer, smartphone or tablet. The Kodak ESP 3.2 is compatible with Google Cloud Print-enabled apps and Kodak's Pic Flick and Document Print apps.

There's no Ethernet connection to enable it to be hooked up to a wired network - just a USB 2.0 port. Unlike the Pixma MG3120, the Kodak ESP 3.2 features a 2.4-inch colour LCD touchscreen. And this, combined with its SD/SDHC/MMC and USB flashdrive-compatible memory card slot, means that printing can be set up without using a computer.

When it comes to printing, the emphasis is firmly on the photo side of things rather than documents - and photos from mobile devices in particular. Kodak tell us that this is an area it's focused on with the development of the ESP 3.2, and the printer can output prints up to A4 size, at a resolution of 9,600dpi, from iOS, Android and BlackBerry devices.

In terms of inks, the Kodak ESP 3.2 is compatible with the Kodak 30 series of pigment-based ink cartridges. It's the familiar setup - one cartridge for black ink, plus another larger cartridge that contains cyan, yellow and magenta.

This being an all-in-one, the Kodak ESP 3.2 offers scanning and copying in addition to printing. Scans from the Kodak ESP 3.2 are made at 1200dpi, with multiple photos able to be scanned at once and separate files generated automatically. These files can be transferred to computer, memory card, email, Google Docs or network folders.

Build quality and handling

Build quality is in line with what you'd expect at this price point. Superficially, the Kodak ESP 3.2 is similar to the Kodak ESP C110/C310 - a blend of gloss and matt black plastic finished with a yellow trim - and its light weight makes it easily transportable.

It's certainly a good option if you don't have the necessary space in your home for a printer to become a permanent fixture.

The Kodak ESP 3.2 is simplicity itself to set up, too. Positioning the printer head, adding the two ink cartridges to the chassis and letting the printer run through its initial calibration and test print routine takes just five minutes.

The printer keeps you informed of proceedings through its excellent 2.4-inch touchscreen display. If you've struggled with setting up a regular desktop inkjet printer, let alone an all-in-one, then you're certain to find the steps the Kodak ESP 3.2 guides you through to be extremely clear and helpful.

It's the Kodak ESP 3.2's larger touchscreen that differentiates it from the Kodak ESP 1.2 all-in-one, released at the same time in the UK only for the slightly cheaper price of £69 (around $110).

The Kodak ESP 1.2's comparatively tiny 1.5-inch display only features a touch panel surround, and that makes things less intuitive. Otherwise, specifications, output quality and print times are shared across the two models.

Performance and print times

With colour management left to the Kodak ESP 3.2, print quality of everyday pictures proves surprisingly good. Colours are generally neutral and come close to those seen in the on-screen image.

Our test charts show decent levels of saturation in the solid colours, although these exhibit a faint trace of mottling at times. Some coarseness and a touch of banding is also evident in the colour transitions.

The two brightest values on the greyscale wedge blend into one, and this means that brighter areas of a print will be indistinguishable from a plain white print border.

Text printing showed clear, clean edges without much in the way of bleed, although selecting the Best Quality setting produces a finer result. This is also the case when it comes to colour photocopying, where blocks of colours become cleaner and slightly more faithful to the original.

The cost of Kodak's inks certainly makes this all-in-one an attractive prospect, with a standard black series 30 cartridge costing £7.99 in the UK and $12.99 in the US.

However, having just one colour ink tank means that wastage is inevitable with the Kodak ESP 3.2. Print photos that contain a predominance of one colour - such as cyan in holiday pictures that feature lots of blue skies and seas - and that colour will drain faster than the others.

This isn't a problem with printers that contain separate tanks for each colour - such as the Epson Stylus NX430 or Canon Pixma Pro-1 - where you can simply replace the one that's running low. But when a single colour runs out on the Kodak ESP 3.2, you have to replace the entire cartridge, even if the other tanks still have ink in them.

It might be cheap enough to buy a replacement cartridge, and the prices per print are very reasonable - standard Kodak 30-series ink is rated at 11.5p or 15 cents per A6 (roughly 4 x 6-inch) colour photo and 2.4p or 3.8 cents for mono text (although picking up Value Pack combinations brings these prices down considerably). But this two-tank approach still feels wasteful.

Kodak has already admitted to TechRadar that its printers won't be suitable for everyone - and if you think you won't use the photo printing feature frequently enough to make the efficiency savings then you're likely to be better off looking elsewhere.

Printing and scanning times

Talking of print times, Kodak quotes a 4 x 6 photo print speed of 38 seconds (but points out that actual results may vary). This is accurate, and we were able to regularly achieve a final print in under 40 seconds using Kodak Ultra Premium Photo Paper.

Switching to Kodak Gloss Photo Paper, we consistently clocked print times of 1min 56secs for A4 (similar to US letter size) prints.

Selecting the Advanced Dot Placement Mode option in Print Settings provides the maximum colour printing resolution, but this extended printing time to around 3mins 20secs for a bordered A4 (around letter size) print.

In terms of copy speed, Kodak rates the ESP 3.2 at 28 seconds, with up to 99 copies possible at a time. Scaling ranges from 20-500 per cent or fit-to-page.

Verdict

Perhaps a better choice purely for the home rather than the home office, the Kodak ESP 3.2 is a breeze to set up and use, and a sound choice for a family who want to be able to print wirelessly from their computer or iOS/BlackBerry/Android device.

We liked

The touchscreen controls and logical interface make it easy to print, copy and scan.

We disliked

The scanner is the weak point of this all-in-one's function - highlights are easily blown in photos.

Final verdict

Kodak has certainly delivered value and simplicity, and photo output is convincing when you use premium Kodak glossy photo paper. Running costs are good, and although the launch price of £79 in the UK or $99.99 in the US puts it slightly ahead of its rivals, it's not in a different ballpark.

Kodak embraces Google Cloud with new printer line-up

Amy Davies — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:30:00 GMT

Kodak has launched two new all-in-one printers to sit in its lineup, featuring Wi-Fi technology that enables printing on the go from mobile devices.

First up, the Kodak ESP 3.2 printer features wireless printing technology, along with a 2.4-inch colour touchscreen for navigating the different options and features of the printer.

Printing of personalised photo cards, collages and pictures is available with the Kodak Pic Flick HD app for iOS, BlackBerry and Android devices. The ability to print from Google Cloud Print is also available.

Kodak claims that the ESP 3.2 has the lowest total ink replacement cost and the lowest average cost per page, along with the fastest photo speed printing for highest quality prints.

Social networking

Compatible with Kodak Ink cartridges in the 30 series, other features include the ability to create, print and share a photo collage of you and your friends' Facebook pictures with a Facebook app - the first of its kind on the site.

Kodacolour technology claims to bring quality, speed and photos that last a lifetime.

Second up, the ESP 1.2 printer is also launched with many of the same features but a smaller (1.5-inch) touchscreen.

The Kodak ESP 3.2 printer price is £79 (around $127), and the price of the ESP 1.2 is £69 (around $110).

Apple prepares for iPhone 5 by slowing iPhone orders

John McCann — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:24:00 GMT

Apple could be putting wheels into motion as it slowly starts to gear up towards the iPhone 5 launch later this year.

According to analyst Shaw Wu, the Cupertino-base firm has reduced the number of iPhone orders by 20%-25% for the next quarter.

Wu reckons that the decease is "due to the upcoming 6th generation iPhone refresh likely in the September-October timeframe".

iPhone 5 arriving September-October

We've heard reports that the iPhone 5 - or whatever it turns out to be called - may be revealed in June at Apple's annual WWDC event.

The June prediction is unlikely if Wu is to be believed, as Apple is known for a fast turn around from announcement to stock in stores – ruling out a 4 month wait from a potential unveiling in just a few weeks time.

Wu also reports that iPad orders has risen from 14 to 15 million units, with the reason given that profitability for Apple's flagship tablet is improving.

Google to split Android 5.0 love among manufacturers, cut out networks?

Kate Solomon — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:40:00 GMT

Google is reportedly planning on giving up to five mobile makers early access to Android 5.0 (otherwise known as Jelly Bean) rather than focusing on just one flagship Nexus device.

This new plan, which the Wall Street Journal has on good authority from people familiar with the matter, will see a portfolio of Nexus devices launch at once, including both smartphones and tablets.

At the moment, Google uses just one manufacturer (most recently Samsung) to create a flagship Nexus device with the new version of Android on board (currently Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich).

Googley eyes

The problem is that it then takes other manufacturers a good few months to bring out similar hardware that makes the most of the software.

This change in strategy could see each iteration of Android have a bigger impact than the current method which trickles updates out as and when.

Google's other problem is that Android manufacturers are wary of its plans for Motorola, so giving them all early access to the software at once could calm their fears.

The search giant is also apparently planning on selling the handsets directly rather than relying on networks – so you'll only be able to buy an unlocked, SIM-free handset from Google and possibly some retailers in Europe, Asia and the US.

It's a plan that makes a fair amount of sense. But we think sticking with the Nexus name across all devices is less likely given that it's more of a stand-alone product name than a brand.

But hey, anything's possible – and we won't know for sure until Google breaks its silence, possibly at this year's Google I/O in June.

Scientists show off the future of Wi-Fi - smash through 3Gbps barrier

Marc Chacksfield — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:02:00 GMT

Forget your plain-old fibre broadband connections – scientists in Japan have managed transfer rates of 3Gbps using T-ray technology.

Still in its infancy, T-rays use the terahertz frequency band that is tipped to be the future of data transfer because of the amount of space available for moving around large packets of data.

Due to the sheer volume of devices latching on to lower-frequency bands, scientists have been looking to higher frequencies – the T-ray band runs from 300GHz all the way up to 3THz – to accommodate future wireless data transmission.

Uncharted territory

At the moment, though, this area of bandwidth is completely unregulated and the technology needed to prod around at these frequencies is cumbersome and expensive.

This hasn't stopped scientists from the Tokyo Institute of Technology testing the bandwidth and managing to demo a 3Gbps transmission at 542GHz.

Compared this to the last demo, which squeezed out 1.5Gbps back in November, big steps are being made in this area.

Interestingly, the bandwidth has the potential to support data rates of 100Gbps – considering average broadband speeds in the UK are 4.9Mbps, these speeds are almost beyond comprehension.

All of this was made possible due to a 1mm square device called a resonant tunnelling diode.

While we can only dream about these speeds in the home – the technology only works within a 10 metre range – the future of Wi-Fi is getting closer with the new standard (802.11ac) expected in 2013 and will be the first Wi-Fi standard to break the GB barrier.

Netgear has just announced a bevy of new routers for the US market that will take advantage of these speeds – namely the R6200 router, and the A6200 adapter.

No word on whether or not the devices will pipe out the 56k dial-up tone for nostalgia's sake.

HTC Ville C leaked as cheaper One S clone

John McCann — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:44:00 GMT

HTC said it was going to cut down the number of handsets it produced in 2012 as it looked to save money, but after a recent 'leak', we're not so sure.

The HTC Ville C is the latest phone rumoured to be appearing from the maker of the One range of handsets, and this is after we saw the Desire C officially break cover earlier this week.

The details of the handset were uncovered by a Brief Mobile source, who claimed that the Ville C will be a cheaper version of the HTC One S.

Why bother?

However a brief look through the reported specs and we're struggling to see why HTC would even bother with the Ville C.

It's set to pack a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 4.3-inch qHD display, 1GB RAM, 16GB of internal memory, Android Ice Cream Sandwich with Sense 4.5, 8MP camera with LED flash and 1080p video recording and a 1650mAh battery.

All sounding awfully familiar? Well it should, as the only spec which differs from the One S is the processor, which has been downgraded from the 1.5GHz dual-core chip. Oh, and we guess the name counts as a change too.

To be fair there's no mention of Beats Audio technology, but seeing as this is including in the lower-end One V and Desire C, we can only assume it will make its way on the Ville C as well.

In short, we really hope this leak fails to follow through to an actual product, otherwise HTC has just filled a hole between the One V and One S which wasn't even there.

Interview: Cloud gaming: fast to play, faster to start

Mary Branscombe — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:29:00 GMT

Cloud gaming: fast to play, faster to start

The GeForce Grid that's powered by Nvidia's new Kepler GPU is powerful enough to let you play the latest games on a TV – without a console – or to use professional compositing software from a tablet.

Does that mean you'll never need to buy a graphics card again? Not quite, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang told TechRadar.

"There are still power users that require so much performance; because their work requires them to have dedicated capabilities I have every confidence that they'll continue needing GPUs. It's not likely they'll want to share!

"When you're designing a car when you're sitting at your desk, the idea of sharing your computer with someone is completely ridiculous, because time is money and you want to get that car designed. However once that car is designed and they need to show that to clients or to an ad agency so they can create a great commercial, in that case it totally makes sense to access that same data set (through the cloud)."

"You're still going to have your primary computing devices; this makes your primary computing device more convenient. You can now access whatever design, whatever data, whatever application that you want on enterprise desktops remotely and on mobile in a mobile way."

You'll still need your PC

Even with a cloud of GPUs behind it, a tablet won't be all you need all the time, and you'll actually use your PC more often. "All of us will have a primary computing device and all of us will have a remoting app like Citrix on all of our computing devices. So I'll have Citrix Receiver on my phone and on my tablet and on my thin and light notebook. I have three receivers remoting into my computer."

For accessing games on GeForce Grid game clouds like Gaikai, you don't even need a tablet; just a network connection and an H.264 decoder. "The green cable is your came console," explains Huang (pointing at the Ethernet cable running into the back of a TV screen). What else do you need?

"A pretty normal H.264 decoder on just about any mobile device. H.264 is quite universal. Anything that has what you need to decode YouTube - and at this point pretty much every device in the world can decode YouTube - you should be able to use GeForce Grid.

"Of course the faster your decoder is, the smaller the latency becomes. So it is possible to build a better device to receive GeForce Grid but almost every single device can do it; cable set-top box, iPhones, any Android device, PC, Mac…"

But can any device you play a game on really give you the performance gamers are used to from console games? Are GeForce Grid games going to be good for more than casual gaming? How has Nvidia managed to get games in the cloud to be fast enough to avoid latency and lag?

Huang says consoles aren't that hard to keep up with, actually, especially with the new GPU. "Whereas most consoles are now some six or seven years old, when a new game comes out it pushes that console right to the limit. There's no horsepower left and so as a result the visual quality and the performance is balanced so delicately that it gets you just enough frame rate but with the most realism they can squeeze in so the game feels as fresh as possible.

"However that same game running on our state of the art Kepler could run 60hz easily; so the frame time goes from 30 or 60 milliseconds down to 16 milliseconds."

Fast response time

The response time of the game cloud will be just five milliseconds, he says; and the GPU is now much more efficient than the one in your console. "Where we used to render into a frame buffer and that frame buffer was then copied back into the CPU for decoding and compression and streaming, our GPU now renders and when it's done rendering it's already streaming out right out of the GPU, so it saves a whole bunch of encoding time not to mention copy time.

"So between rendering things faster, compressing and streaming in parallel we've taken a couple of 100ms lag and reduced it down to something that's effectively the same performance and the same snappiness as a game console."

Games have to play fast enough for people to even consider cloud gaming, but once they do there are a lot of other advantages, Huang points out. "The benefit of cloud computing is convenience; it is the most convenient computing model we have ever known. It's wonderful that one day I have all my music on my Android and it's up in the cloud and the next day I buy a new Android device, I turn on my tablet and all my music shows up. All my photos show up. It is the most convenient model.

"Wouldn't it be great if you could have games the same way? Today you have to download those applications and the biggest apps you can download on mobile devices are - games. And they're larger and larger because the content is so rich; it's arguably so rich that it's hard for videogames to proliferate.

"As big as the gaming industry is, and growing still very fast, imagine how large it could be if you didn't have to download five or ten gigabytes of application every time, if you didn't have to wait eight or twelve hours for the download before you could enjoy it - you could literally click and you're instantly in the game."

The Social Network scriptwriter to pen Steve Jobs movie

Kate Solomon — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:53:00 GMT

Sony Pictures has announced that Aaron Sorkin, the man who won an Oscar for writing The Social Network, will pen the film based on the official Steve Jobs biography.

The Sorkin movie will be based on Walter Isaacson's biography that Sony bought the rights to for over $1 million (about £626,000) just after Jobs' death in October last year.

The book proved to be quite the hit, being Amazon's best-selling book of 2011 and no doubt big numbers are expected of the film too.

Jobs done

Aaron Sorkin is fast becoming Hollywood's go-to tech-movie scribbler, prompting Sony Pictures' co-chairman Amy Pascal to gush that "no writer working in Hollywood today… is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life for the screen than Aaron Sorkin."

It's no massive surprise that Sorkin has signed on after he conceded that he was "strongly considering" agreeing to the Jobs film, inspired by his 11-year-old daughter who's apparently quite the Apple fan-girl.

Sorkin's new project is not to be confused with indie-Jobs biopic starring everyone's favourite Charlie Sheen replacement Ashton Kutcher. That's an "indie" flick with "serious acting" and "hippies". Place your bets now on which one the Academy will favour.

Still, at least the costume designers will have an easy time of it.

Google helps small businesses with mobile

Marcus Austin — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:44:00 GMT

Smartphone ownership has passed the 50% in the UK, and to mark that milestone Google and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), have launched an updated version of 'Our Mobile Planet', a mobile consumer data resource that provides free access to information on mobile markets across 40 countries.

"Understanding the mobile consumer is absolutely critical for marketers, and 'Our Mobile Planet' puts an invaluable resource in their hands," said Greg Stuart, Global CEO of the MMA. "Users can create custom charts that will help them to analyze smartphone consumer behaviour and support data-driven decision making."

Originally launched at the MMA Forum in London in October of 2011, 'Our Mobile Planet' provides users with free access to the data from the unique smartphone research conducted across 40 markets worldwide by Google in collaboration with Ipsos MediaCT and the MMA.

So which six countries have the highest smartphone adoption? "Our Mobile Planet" reports that Australia, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Saudi Arabia and the UAE all have more than 50 percent of their population on smartphones. An additional seven countries - the US, New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland - now have more than 40 percent smartphone penetration.

"That the majority of these countries are in the EMEA region is exciting and confirms that mobile is making immense gains in Europe and the Middle East," says Paul Berney, MMA CMO and Managing Director for EMEA. "These figures also point to a burgeoning global mobile movement as smartphone adoption grows exponentially worldwide, and send a strong message to marketers that they need to make mobile an indispensable part of their marketing mix."

To find out more, visit thinkwithgoogle.com/mobileplane (US) or thinkwithgoogle.co.uk/mobileplanet (UK and Global) to learn more about mobile consumer behaviour and access the latest "Our Mobile Planet" research.

Gary Marshall: Why Chrome for iOS is a waste of Google's time

Gary Marshall — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:30:00 GMT

Look out! The browser wars are back! That's what analysts at Macquarie Capital reckon, anyway: in a note titled "The Browser Wars Part Deux" they suggest that "Google Chrome Browser for iOS is Coming".

It may well be. Will anyone bar a few Google fans care?

My guess is no.

Macquarie makes several arguments for Chrome on iOS, and I reckon one of them is right and the rest are wrong. I'll start with the right one first: a Chrome browser on iOS could reduce the amount of cash Google has to give Apple for all those Mobile Safari search queries. That's true, but the other arguments - that Chrome did well on PC so it can do well on iOS, and that Chrome ads really shifted copies on PC so they'll do the same on iOS, that reviews of Chrome on Android are quite positive - don't spell Safari Killer to me.

Macquarie rightly says that Chrome on the desktop has done very well and reduced the money Google pays out to other browser makers for searches, which is significant: Firefox only lives because of Google search money. However, iOS isn't the same as 1990s-era Windows, and when Macquarie says that "there are many parallels to the browser wars of the late 1990s" I think they're wrong.

That was then, this is now

People jumped from Netscape to Internet Explorer (and back again) for all kinds of reasons, but the main reason Internet Explorer triumphed in the first browser war was because Microsoft stuck it into every copy of Windows. If history's repeating, then Google is on the losing side here: it's trying to get a foothold on somebody else's OS, an OS that already ships with a perfectly good browser.

Even if you can get iOS users to download the app, it won't work properly. As Kevin Tofel rightly says on GigaOM, with rival browsers "none of them can be set as the default browser, meaning all links in emails, texts or other apps will always open in Safari, regardless of what other browsers are installed."

Unlike the late 1990s, we're also dealing with relatively mature web technologies nowadays. Firms aren't sticking new features into their browsers and letting a million "best viewed with" icons bloom; today's battlegrounds are standards support and JavaScript performance.

I'm not convinced Google can beat Apple in the speed stakes, and the features Chrome on Android has that Safari doesn't - bookmark and tab syncing, a combined address and search bar and easy private browsing - are hardly earth-shattering or hard to duplicate.

Browsers become popular because other browsers fall out of favour. Internet Explorer was overtaken by Firefox because Microsoft effectively stopped developing it, leaving plenty of room for a better browser; Firefox was overtaken by Chrome because it was getting slow and old while Chrome was blisteringly fast. For Chrome to do well on iOS it really needs Apple to really mess up Safari. How likely is that?

Review: Sapphire HD 7870 OC Edition

Dave James — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:30:00 GMT

Faster, cooler and for only another £13 on top of the price of the vanilla AMD Radeon HD 7870 - why wouldn't you go for the new Sapphire HD 7870 OC Edition?

The mid-range Southern Islands/7-series/Graphics Core Next (GCN) cards from AMD have impressed us. They may not have the raw graphics grunt of the Tahiti GPUs in the excellent HD 7950 or the crazy-expensive HD 7970, but they're hitting some decent price/performance numbers.

The HD 7870 and HD 7850 are like-for-like replacements for the HD 6950 and HD 6970, at similar prices and with extra pace to boot. They also benefit from the new 28nm production process, which provides extras like the Zero Core Power tech that enables seriously low-power states when the monitor goes to sleep.

It also makes them serious overclockers, and that's why we've been waiting with bated breath for board partners to bring out special factory-overclocked cards just like this Sapphire HD 7870 OC Edition.

Tough sell

The HD 7850 is our favourite of the new mid-range graphics cards, for the simple reason that it outperforms the HD 6950 it's replacing, and comes in cheaper too.

The HD 7870 is a tougher sell as it's only slightly faster than the HD 6970, and is a little more expensive. That's not a great combination, but as we've said, you get the goodness of the 28nm GCN architecture, and there's that overclocking headroom too.

Sadly though, Sapphire has been rather conservative with the overclocking of this card. The vanilla card is also known as the GHz Edition, sporting, as it does, a full 1GHz clock speed. This OC Edition only comes with a paltry 50MHz boost over the stock speeds. That's disappointing when we had the stock AMD reference edition with the standard cooler running happily with a 1.2GHz clock speed.

As you might expect then, the extra 50MHz on the factory-overclocked card doesn't amount to a lot in terms of performance. So why opt for one of these factory-overclocked cards over the vanilla version when you're only getting an extra 50MHz?

Well, theoretically you ought to be able to push the GPU clock further on this Sapphire OC Edition thanks to the third-party cooling array it has screwed onto the PCB. That's the theory, but in practice it doesn't quite work out like that.

Benchmarks

DirectX 11 tessellation performance
Heaven 2.5: Frames per second: Higher is better

Sapphire HD 7870 OC: 21.2
AMD HD 7870: 20.3
GTX 570: 18.8

DirectX 11 gaming performance
Batman: Arkham City: Frames per second: Higher is better

Sapphire HD 7870 OC: 38
AMD HD 7870: 36
GTX 570: 39

DirectX 11 gaming performance
Metro 2033: Frames per second: Higher is better

Sapphire HD 7870 OC: 27
AMD HD 7870: 25
GTX 570: 24

The reference HD 7870 and the Sapphire OC Edition both top out at the same 1,200MHz overclock, both hitting roughly the same running temperatures. The AMD reference cooler was maybe slightly hotter under full load, but only by 2-3°C. We're actually hitting the overclocking limits of the silicon before we start to reach any thermal limitations, which kinda makes the extra cash you're spending on these sorts of cards a little redundant.

Back when the stock coolers were significantly worse than third-party options, cards like this made sense. Now you're not really getting much more for your money, and it's not like that extra miniscule overclock is worth it in terms of avoiding invalidating your warranty either.

How to choose a web payment provider

Marcus Austin — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:18:00 GMT

Taking payments from your customers has never been easier however choosing the right payment solution can be complicated. Over the next few pages we look at the options available, and help you make a choice that balances the payment methods your customers demand with the cost to the business.

Generally small business payments fall into these categories:

Credit and debit cards
Electronic payments
Direct transfer

How to choose the right payment method

Think about the kind of goods or services your business is selling and how your customers would want to make payment. Credit and debit card payments are the most popular as a number of platforms have matured as online retailing has developed. Examples include:

Most small businesses try and offer as many payment methods as possible so their customers have a wide choice to choose from. This makes commercial sense, as your business doesn't want to lose a sale because your company didn't offer the payment method your customer wanted to use.

Answer these questions to help you decide which payment methods are right for your business:

Does your business trade online and with a physical store? – Credit and debit card payments should be offered to customers.
Is your store online only? – Payment systems like PayPal will be expected that offer fast and efficient payment and checkout solutions for small businesses.
Does your business sell to other businesses only? – If so, credit transfer via the BACS system is the usual way for businesses to pay other businesses for good and services.
Do you sell outside of the UK? – The major banks all offer credit and debit card payment devices that can be used worldwide.
Does your business have a mobile audience? – Mobile payment methods are maturing fast to offer efficient and safe payments to consumers who are on the move.

Implementing electronic payments

The payment methods you choose for your online business should be as straightforward and intuitive to use as possible. If you confuse your online customer or make your store's online checkout system too complex, they will simply abandon their order and according to comScore the average abandonment rate in 2011 was a staggering 72%.

Follow these steps to professionally implement electronic payment services within your online store:

Partner with a reputable payment system vendor.
Include highly visible payment security on your site including MasterCard SecureCode, and Verified by Visa.
Ensure the checkout and payment system is easy to understand with the fewest possible steps.
Offer help at each stage of the checkout system.
Never hide any charges such as postage or credit card transaction fees. Always show the total cost of every purchase.
Ensure the payment is confirmed via an email to show that the transaction is complete.

Online shoppers are now savvy and understand the payment methods that are available. Those businesses that seamlessly integrate their payment systems into their online store will gain repeat business, as consumers today are time poor and want to buy from online stores, quickly and efficiently.

How to prevent payment fraud

One of the major concerns when taking electronic payments is the risk of fraud. As the customer is not buying in person, the threat of credit and debit card fraud is a constant danger for online retailers. However, you are not powerless to reduce the levels of card fraud, and there are steps you can take to reduce the level of fraud.

Systems like Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode should be in place.
Use the address verification service your bank will offer to ensure the card being used is registered to a valid address.
Look for unusually large transactions from new customers. Check their credentials before processing their order.
Ask your customers to register on your website before they can order. This allows you to check their card and address details are valid.
Check or block orders from countries and areas that have a high risk of fraudulent card payments.
Look for unusual delivery addresses, or if a new customer has asked for delivery to an alternative address to the one their payment card has been registered to.

With some simple preventative measures you can ensure the instances of card fraud against your business are minimised.

Considering mobile commerce

According to analysts IDC, 472 million smart phones were sold in 2011 alone. Increasingly your business' customers will want to use their phones to buy and make payments.

Systems like PayPass from MasterCard and the new PayTag [www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/paytag] from Barclays offer simple and efficient payment methods to mobile phone users.

Phones will soon also have payment systems built into them with the arrival of NFC (Near Field Communications) that could herald a new era in mobile payments. Berg Insight reports that annual global sales of NFC-equipped handsets has increased ten-fold to 30 million devices in 2011 and is forecasted to reach 700 million units by 2016. In addition, an estimated 20 countries are expected to launch NFC services in the next 18 months, resulting in transactions approaching $50 billion worldwide by 2014, according to Juniper Research.

David Chan, CEO of Barclaycard Consumer Europe, said: "Most of us say that the item we're most lost without is our mobile phone, so we're giving people the option of using them to make easy, convenient, everyday payments without the need to upgrade their current handset."

It's still very early days for these technologies, but as a small business owner you should pay close attention to how these payment platforms are developing. Listen to your customers to ensure your business is ready to offer these mobile payment options when they become popular.

New MacBook Pros will feature Nvidia graphics

J.R. Bookwalter — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:37:00 GMT

With all of the rumors flying fast and furious in recent days, there's little doubt that Apple plans to introduce a new MacBook Pro soon.

In fact, sources now confirm that the company will ditch AMD graphics processors in favor of Nvidia.

According to recent reports, Apple's forthcoming MacBook Pros will make the switch from AMD GPUs in the current models, to Nvidia graphics to complement Intel's Ivy Bridge processors.

The swap appears to be directly related to the high resolution Retina Display which is anticipated with the new models.

While a "trusted source" confirmed the Nvidia news, it's unknown exactly which GPU Apple will be using.

MacBook Pro + Nvidia= The complete package

The most likely candidate appears to be the GeForce GT 650M, an upgrade from Nvidia's 28nm GeForce GT 640M.

"Apple's riding the wave of innovation by teaming up with top technology companies it has strong relationships with," remarks MacLife Managing Editor Florence Ion.

"The Mac may not be a gaming machine, but it's primarily favored by professionals for its software and its technological longevity. Might as well pop in a Nvidia GeForce GT 640M GPU to complete the package."

ABC News also confirmed that Nvidia GPUs will be used in the next generation of Apple's MacBook Pro. What's more, rumors claim the notebook will be thinner and lighter than the previous generation and also feature USB 3.0, the first time Cupertino incorporated the faster version of USB.

Review: Incase Sonic Over Ear Headphones

William O'Neal — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:53:00 GMT

When you think of the name Incase you'll invariably think about aftermarket Macintosh products. From super slick iPhone and iPad cases to protective products for your MacBook Pro, SF-based Incase does one thing very well: They make great looking products that are both stylish and functional.

When we first heard that the company was jumping into the audio market with a complete line of headphones and earphones we had no doubt that they'd be great looking and "hip." The question that remained was whether or not form would trump function.

The Incase Sonic Over Ear Headphones represent the company's flagship audio product and to that end they were impressive. Being Incase your first impression comes in the form of the box. These people, it seems, spend as much time on packaging as they do on the product that ships therein.

Compared to other over ear headphones we've looked at, the Incase Sonic Over Ear Headphones are extremely light and comfortable. We tested our headset with several different audio sources: the HTC Radar 4G Windows phone, an iPhone 4S, the new iPad and several Windows 7 laptop and desktop machines.

Sporting 40mm drivers the headphones handled pretty much any type of music we threw at them with aplomb. Highs and mids were excellent. Of course, in our tests, the overall quality of the experience had a lot to do with the device that we were using.

For instance, with an iPhone 4S the sound was dramatically better than what we experienced with our HTC Radar 4G Windows phone. Of course, we were able to tweak the audio output to fit our needs but your ability to do this has everything to do with the device that you're using.

The Incase Sonic Over Ear Headphones ship with two 3.5-foot cables. One color is the off-white grey of the outside of the headphones while the other cable is bright orange like the inside of the earcups. Both cables sport in-line mics and three-button controls for MacBook, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Incase even included a ¼ adapter for you DJ types.

The suede cover on the inside of the earcups also added to the overall enjoyability of these headphones. Gone are the days of sweaty ears. Additionally, the earcups are fully articulating so they're pretty much guaranteed to fit all ear and head sizes and shapes.

At around $149.95, the Incase Sonic Over Ear Headphones aren't necessarily cheap. That said, for daily commuting and even flights, we found them to be just so comfortable, durable and light that they've quickly become the headphones we reach for when heading out every morning.

New Jersey town outlaws texting while walking

Scott Nichols — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:49:00 GMT

While texting and driving is a well-established safety and legal faux pas, A New Jersey town escalated the texting ban to other modes of transportation, such as walking.

Fort Lee, New Jersey made texting while walking illegal for its 35,000 residents. Police who catch pedestrians in the act can issue a jaywalking ticket for $85.

It sounds rather silly at first, but Fort Lee police chief Thomas Ripoli is taking the matter very seriously.

Deathly serious, in fact, as the town suffered three fatal pedestrian texting accidents so far this year.

"It's a big distraction," Ripoli told ABC News. "Pedestrians aren't watching where they are going and they are not aware."

Texting tickets increase

During a grace period in March police officers handed out informational pamphlets about the dangers of simultaneous walking and texting to raise awareness of the law.

Since then more 117 tickets have been dished out.

A report last year by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 73 percent of adult cell phone owners age 30 and over send and receive an average of 41.5 text messages each day.

That number rises for young adults ages 18-29, with 93 percent averaging 87.7 texts every day.

With people increasingly living on the go, it isn't a stretch to guess that a fair number of those daily texts happen while walking from place to place.

And for New Jersey residents, that busy lifestyle could earn you a nice ticket for your trouble.

Google admits Project Glass falls short

Michael Rougeau — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:01:00 GMT

Google's Project Glass is an ambitious take on augmented reality technology, but the company admitted that the futuristic glasses won't completely measure up to their original plans.

The video introducing Project Glass to the world showed notifications and other contextual information hovering directly in wearers' sight lines, but it seems the reality will be slightly less exciting.

Instead of taking up a wearer's entire field of view, Project Glass will display information "about where the edge of an umbrella might be," a Google spokesperson said.

You likely won't want to wear Project Glass in the rain, though.

Augmented reality

The color graphics shown in the original video may eventually be replaced by a far simpler display, although "it's still too early to know what the functions and UI will be," the spokesperson continued.

The spokesperson added that it's the "simple interactions that are making people the most excited" among those who have tried Project Glasses for themselves.

A more simple design could make Project Glass safer for pedestrians and drivers and easier to use.

Project Glass's initial design may be less futuristic than was initially expected, but if the facewear catches on then anything is possible for the future.

But what do they look like?

Oakley CEO Colin Baden previously said that his company has been working on augmented reality glasses since 1997, and he believes that style is one of the most important factors of any wearable technology.

To that end, Google filed potential designs for Project Glass with the US Patent Office, providing a glimpse of what future versions could look like.

The patents (one, two, three) show the first example of Project Glass for users who wear prescription lenses (the previous designs have all been lens-free).

Whether the proposed design appears stylish is a matter of personal taste, though it's likely to change significantly before Project Glass becomes available.

Windows 8 makes it easier for parents to track kids' internet usage

Mic — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:50:00 GMT

Microsoft's Windows 8 will include a brand new suite of tools to help parents keep track of what their kids are doing on the internet.

The Windows 8 Family Safety toolset will send weekly usage reports about the sites that have been visited, and will allow parents to block specific websites and apps, set time limits for usage, lock search engines into strict SafeSearch, and track Windows Store purchases.

All of this can be done through a parent's administrator account, so the kids don't have access to the information and tools.

The administrator is meant to set up separate accounts for each child so they can keep track of exactly who is doing what.

The reports aren't limited to a single device, either, instead collecting information on websites visited, time spent on each website, search histories, and apps and games usage from every device a child uses his or her Windows account on.

Microsoft has some parenting advice

"Computers give children access to many positive experiences; however, parents face challenges in monitoring what their children see online, the people they meet, and the information they share," said Phil Sohn, Microsoft's senior program manager for family safety, in a blog post.

"Parenting techniques like this are important, but they may be difficult to employ if your household has multiple PCs or if your kids use laptops and tablets. And glancing over a teenager's shoulder can be awkward for both parents and kids," he continued.

Sohn said the purpose of using individual Windows accounts for each family member isn't solely to monitor what they're doing online.

"It is also a great way for each family member to maintain their own unique online identity while still sharing a single PC," he said.

He believes that the simplicity of the new Windows 8 Family Safety tools will cause more parents to readily use them.