TechRadar: Linux blog

YouView to begin public trials this week

Kate Solomon — Mon, 28 May 2012 15:52:00 GMT

You might want to take a seat for this: YouView is about to leave the realms of the imaginary and enter the actual as public trials begin this week.

The long-awaited internet-based TV service is set to hit 350 UK homes, each of which will receive a web-connected set top box.

These lucky 350 will be able to watch catch-up services like iPlayer via the box, as well as a few subscription apps including Lovefilm. Well, that's assuming it actually works.

YouHoo

A YouView spokesperson told the Financial Times that if this initial trial is a success, a wider test could be on its way within four weeks, involving thousands of homes. As plenty have noted, this means YouView will be unlikely to get a proper launch until after the Olympics.

Not much more has been revealed about the boxes, other than that they will cost around £200 once they finally hit the UK's shop shelves.

YouView started life as Project Canvas and was intended to launch in 2010. Problem after problem led to delay after delay, prompting fears that the project would be abandoned altogether.

But now that Alan Sugar has taken hold of the reins, things do seem to be zipping along a little bit more quickly (although that didn't stop him putting the breaks on when he wasn't happy with the interface earlier this month).

News In Brief: One More Thing: Blu-ray brings out the big guns for E.T.

Marc Chacksfield — Mon, 28 May 2012 15:47:00 GMT

E.T. in HD – In alternate universe somewhere, George Lucas has just announced the HD DVD release of E.T., a movie that's been tinkered with so much all that remains is a fuzzy CGI version of the titular alien trying to phone home by stabbing his glowing finger on to the touchscreen of a Galaxy S3.

Thankfully in our world, it's Spielberg at the helm and he's reinstated all the bits of E.T. that were missing from the DVD version of the movie. This includes the change he made to the police holding guns, which were replaced by walkie talkies a few years back when the stupid PC brigade got involved. Great stuff.

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?%20&v=DWU42c1ku-o#%21

Any old Iron – The man behind the HUD (heads up display) of Iron Man's suit, 3D video effects designer Jayse Hansen, has revealed his thinking behind the display. The result is a barrage of behind-the-scenes images and a glimpse into the mind of one of Hollywood's hottest talents.

Warning: one look and you will be laughing in the face of anyone who ever buys Google Glasses, because they are not a patch on what Iron Man uses. And also because they look really stupid. [CargoCollective and The Verge]

Doing a Runner – Remember those future-focused magazines in the background shots of some scenes in Blade Runner? No, neither do we but someone who has watched the film very closely – and not just the Sean Young scenes – has and has recreated the magazine covers for fans to peruse. Amazing stuff, even if it is so geeky you will feel a little weird clicking on them. [Kotaku]

Google sued for being a verb – Google is being sued by a man who believes that the company's name is so engrained in the public consciousness that it should no longer be a trademark. According to David Elliott, the trademarks surrounding Google should disappear and he has taken Google to court to prove this.

In what should be an interesting case, the reasons for the court order are a little more suspect as Elliot currently holds 750 domain names with the word Google in them. Will Google go the way of Hoover? Probably not but we can't wait to see what the courts make of the matter. [Cnet]

Graphic nature – an archive of computer graphics from the '90s has been set up by, er, computer graphics student Werner Randelshofer, charting what computer effects used to look like on an Amiga, Atari ST and other old-school computers. The 16-bit graphics may look dated by today's standards but it's a great little look at how animation has changed in recent years. [The Verge]

Nuclear family – Robots in Japan are nothing new but one of the latest to be created has possibly the most useful and scariest job ever. The robot, named Rosemary, has been used to check out what is happening in the damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima. Using an on-board video, Rosemary can feed back in real time just what is going on with the plant. Sorry Wall-E, but when it comes to saving planets Rosemary may well have pipped you. [SlashGear]

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=a6qBHpyQMas

It's the iPhone 5!!!!??!! – It's not the iPhone 5, it's a compact air conditioner that's been mocked up to look like an iPhone but is actually a USB fan thing. We don't think that even a sweaty Jobs would have approved. [Gizmodo]

Face-off – Facebook has decided that it's got far too much cash to throw around and has started to purchase services that include bits of its name in their name. First up may well be Face.com, a facial recognition site that is rumoured to be worth around $100 million.

There's no word as to whether Facebook will buy up book.com which seems to be owned by Barnes & Noble. We are hoping it snaps up ace.com, though, as it's an eBay bookmarking site that looks like it was made in 1988. Surely this is the website Zuckerberg has always wanted to own? [Slashgear]

Olympic effort – Not happy with showing all 24 HD streams of Olympic coverage, Sky has also announced that it will be offering up three new Sky channels for the Paralympics. These will showcasing Channel 4's live coverage of the games. [PR]

Another bite of the Apple – Steve Wozniak spoke to BYTE way back in 1977 about the Apple II and the article has been lovignly republished by Information Week. Even 35 years down the line, Woz speaks a lot of sense about what a PC should be – except the line about them being inexpensive may have gotten lost in translation with Apple's newer, much pricier efforts. [Information Week]

Kaspersky uncovers major international cyber attack

Kate Solomon — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:55:00 GMT

A malicious new programme affecting computers in several countries has been detected by Kaspersky Lab, known as Worm.Win32.Flame (Flame, for short).

The malware is, in Kaspersky Labs' words, "designed to carry out cyber espionage" and is capable of accessing and stealing computer display contents, information about systems, stored files, data and audio conversations.

It looks as though Flame has been around "in the wild" since March 2010 but it managed to elude all security programmes due to its complexity.

In fact, Kaspersky Labs describes it thusly: "The complexity and functionality of the newly discovered malicious program exceeds those of all other cyber menaces known to date."

Not much is known about Flame at the moment. Because of its size (about 20 times larger than Stuxnet), Kaspersky needs a large team of experts with specific experience to work on finding out more.

Weasley worm

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) requested Kaspersky's investigation after another worm, Wiper, was detected deleting data on a number of computers in Western Asia.

While investigating this still-mysterious Wiper, Kaspersky came across the equally worrying Flame malware, which Kaspersky Labs co-founder and CEO Eugene Kaspersky describes as "another phase" in the war begun by the previous Stuxnet and Duqu viruses.

"It's important to understand that such cyber weapons can easily be used against any country," he added.

"Unlike with conventional warfare, the more developed countries are actually the most vulnerable in this case."

Chief security expert at Kaspesky Lab Alexander Gostev added that, "One of the most alarming facts is that the Flame cyber-attack campaign is currently in its active phase, and its operator is consistently surveying infected systems, collecting information and targeting new systems to accomplish its unknown goals."

So there's a vicious cyber weapon on the loose and someone somewhere is controlling it. So what's the plan? Not much can be done until we know more, so the ITU is activating the ITU-Impact network which sees 142 countries and a number of companies working together to alert governments to the threat and speed up the technical analysis phase.

Kaspersky Labs is going to be keeping a close eye on this process so we should find out more in the coming weeks.

ICO updates advice on Cookie law for businesses

Marcus Austin — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:23:00 GMT

The Information Commissioners Office has released updated advice on the guidance on changes to the EU cookie law, and it's a little less restricting than the guidance everyone has been working to over the last 12 months.

The last minute update to the cookie law – it was announced on the ICO blog on the 25 May, the day before the law was due to be enforced - has some clarifications around implied consent:

Implied consent is a valid form of consent and can be used in the context of compliance with the revised rules on cookies.
If you are relying on implied consent you need to be satisfied that your users understand that their actions will result in cookies being set. Without this understanding you do not have their informed consent.
You should not rely on the fact that users might have read a privacy policy that is perhaps hard to find or difficult to understand.
In some circumstances, for example where you are collecting sensitive personal data such as health information, you might feel that explicit consent is more appropriate.

The ICO uses a patient visiting a doctor as a description of implied consent

"if a patient visits a doctor this act alone would not be taken as indication that the patient consents to examination, treatment or the recording of health information. The patient and doctor would hold a conversation during which the doctor might offer an invitation to the patient to lie down on an examination couch. In the context of this exchange the doctor might now be able to infer consent from the patient's actions based on the fact that there is a shared understanding of what is happening."

Confused?

The full ICO cookie guidance – including the last-minute update – can be found on the ICO site as a PDF and there's a new video that answers some frequently asked questions such as .

How can UK organisations comply with the new cookies changes?
Is the ICO concerned that many websites aren't yet compliant?
What approach will the ICO be adopting to enforcing the amended cookies laws?
What are the benefits of complying with the new cookies regulations?
What should members of the public do if they are concerned about cookies being placed on their device?
How is the ICO working with web browsers and third party advertisers to ensure they comply with the changes?

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0M8MYiGkQw&feature=player_embedded

The ICO caveats the video link with "NB: playing YouTube video sets a cookie – more info" Is this really what they intend every website to explain before they have a link to a new site, or on an embedded video? Let us know what you think of the law and the changes.

Toshiba sounds netbook death knell in US but UK gets reprieve

Kate Solomon — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Hear that? That's the sound of a thousand netbooks gently weeping into their tiny, tiny keyboards as reports that Toshiba will cease selling the diminutive laptops in the US surface.

A Toshiba executive apparently confirmed that there are no plans to offer any new netbooks in the US to Liliputing, but Toshiba tells us that there's no such roll back in the UK.

The first netbook not to make it to the US is the Intel Cedar Trail-toting Toshiba NB510 but it is definitely still headed to the UK's shelves, according to a Toshiba spokesperson.

Safe haven

State-side, Toshiba is focusing more on the Ultrabook line-up like the Toshiba Portege Z830 - but although Ultrabooks have the portability tied up, the price tag is much, much higher than the netbooks'.

Dell recently said it was stopping production of netbooks in favour of Ultrabooks, saying that "thin and powerful is where it's at for us".

Other companies are also having a think about bidding the netbook a quiet farewell – last year a Samsung email leaked to that effect, while Acer has been rumoured to be ditching the little laptops too and even Intel doesn't reckon netbooks are long for this earth.

UHDTV to be name for both 4K and 8K television standard?

Marc Chacksfield — Mon, 28 May 2012 11:53:00 GMT

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has finally come to an agreement about the future of TV.

According to a new report, UHDTV (Ultra High Definition Television) will be the name for both 4K and 8K transmissions when they eventually arrive, despite the megapixel count of the formats varying so widely.

Currently, 4K is the format that many filmmakers are choosing to shoot in. James Cameron and Peter Jackson have both adopted the format and are currently tinkering with frame rates to make their shots look even more realistic.

In megapixel terms, 4K equates to an 8MP resolution ((3,840 x 2,160 pixels) while 8K dwarves this number. An 8K image is the equivalent to 32MP or 7,680 x 4,320 pixels.

Hi-de hi-def

This is a whopping difference so it is a little strange that both will be called UHDTV.

ITU: "This is the dawn of a new age for television that will bring unprecedented levels of realism."

As this is a 'recommendation' at the moment, the fine print hasn't been set, so we may well see this category broken down much like what happened with high definition – which is at 720p and 1080p. There's no word on this in the original standard, however.

"This is the dawn of a new age for television that will bring unprecedented levels of realism and viewer enjoyment. It's a historic moment," said David Wood, Chairman of ITU-R Working Party 6C.

"Some years will pass before we see these systems in our homes, but come they will. The die is now cast, thanks to the untiring efforts of the international experts participating in WP6C."

Currently, Toshiba is the first to offer a 4K consumer TV. The Toshiba 55ZL2 also offer glasses-free 3D and comes at a penny under £6,999.

Sony also has a 4K projector, the VW1000ES, but 8K technology is very much in its infancy. Sharp has showcased an 8K prototype screen - as has NHK, at numerous conventions – under the guise of Super Hi-Vision, a name that looks to disappear if this UHDTV standard is introduced.

Interview: Raspberry Pi founder: 'we hope a lot of people make a lot of money'

Mary Branscombe — Mon, 28 May 2012 11:30:00 GMT

It's important that Raspberry Pi has a low price so enthusiasts can afford it, founder Eben Upton told TechRadar at Maker Faire.

It's a gathering of thousands of hardware hackers and 'maker' enthusiasts building everything from ride-on robot giraffes to milk bottles that can tell you if the milk has gone off, where Raspberry Pi was getting an enthusiastic reception), but it has to be profitable as well as cheap.

Upton wants Raspberry Pi to be more than a tool for tinkering; he wants it to enable the next generation of hardware developers and system designers. "It's all about how to look at a problem and say how can I solve this in the cheapest and easiest way. There's a smooth curve from 'PRINT HELLO WORLD' to chief architect. If everyone had a PC we could get them started in a day. It's all about the cost and a lot of effort went into that."

Keeping costs down

That focus on keeping costs down continues as Raspberry Pi adds new features, like the camera board with 1080p encoding that's due in Q3. If the full 14 megapixel resolution of the camera chip they're currently testing proves too expensive, they'll pick a lower resolution. And it's why when we asked what's next for Raspberry Pi, Upton said the next goals were adding touchscreen support and selling enough units to make it an attractive ecosystem.

Upton has his eye on some Toshiba interface chips that will give Raspberry Pi a Display Serial Interface connector and support touch as well, which he says will "round out the platform for input and output". Once the connector is ready, he already knows of people planning to build Raspberry Pi tablets.

Those are the kind of products that need lots of companies building on top of Raspberry Pi and that's why it's important to sell plenty of hardware – and to make money.

"[We want to] get volume into the market. There's a big difference in having ten thousand or a hundred thousand units out there and having a million. We have no full time employees. If we try to do it all ourselves we are doomed. We hope a lot of people make a lot of money. We hope they figure out how to make boards, how to make money. Just because we are open doesn't mean we're allergic to money. We're not from that end of the open hardware spectrum."

He was inspired by the glory days of the 1980s when it felt like anyone who learned to program could have a hit game on their hands and he hopes Raspberry Pi can evoke that same sense of potential and possibilities.

"There were kids with Porsches sitting in their drive waiting until they were old enough to drive them," he reminisced - which helped stop his mother telling him "don't waste your time playing with computers". There's a touch of the homegrown success in Raspberry Pi. "Even this bits that aren't done by Broadcom are ARM," he points out. So a British computing ecosystem? "Why not!" he enthuses.

And so far, Raspberry Pi is a commercial success. "It's not a loss making product. Everyone involved is making money. People say 'Broadcom is giving you the chips for free'; no! If someone was giving stuff away for free it would be unsustainable."

The Broadcom chip (which he enthusiastically calls "a lot of fun for the money") is cheap to start with. "We've got an SoC that is not costing us thirty or forty bucks; there are There are SoCs out there that cost as much as [the whole] Raspberry Pi."

Updated: Sky denies that mobile network is on the cards

Kate Solomon — Mon, 28 May 2012 11:01:00 GMT

Update: BSkyB has said it has no plans to offer a Sky-branded mobile network in the UK after rumours surfaced this weekend.

In a statement first sent to Reuters, a company spokesperson explained away the company's meet with Everything Everywhere: "As you might expect we regularly meet with a wide range of companies to explore and understand potential opportunities.

"While we continue to extend our leadership in mobile content, we currently have no plans to offer mobile access beyond our existing public Wi-Fi network."

BSkyB had been reported to be in talks with Everything Everywhere about a possible Virgin Media style Sky-branded mobile network in the UK.

The Sunday Times had a chat with some banking sources who claimed that BSkyB was in talks with the eponymous mobile network and may buy a block of radio spectrum from Everything Everywhere (or Ev Ev, as the kids are calling it) in the upcoming 4G spectrum auction.

To the Skymobile!

Original story continues: But that's not the only possibility on Sky's books: it could potentially build its own network using the spectrum bought from Everything Everywhere, or even buy a ready-made network like, say, Three.

But it seems more likely that Sky will opt for creating a virtual network and become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) much like Virgin Media which simply white-labels T-Mobile's network.

We can't help but wonder if there'll be an issue for Everything Everywhere to be providing both Virgin and Sky with a virtual network. Seems to be a bit of a conflict of interest there – but since this is all rumour and speculation at present then we won't worry too much about it.

Still, we won't be surprised if the rumours turn out to be true. Given that Sky already has fingers in the broadband, phone and TV pies, it actually seems a little odd that the company doesn't already have a mobile phone network to its name.

Google launches in-app subscriptions for business developers

Marcus Austin — Mon, 28 May 2012 10:07:00 GMT

Google Play is introducing both monthly or annual subscription options. Both are offered on an auto-renewing basis, businesses can set the price and billing interval, and Google Play manages all purchase transactions on their behalf, just as it does other in-app products and purchases.

Speaking on the Google Android Developers blog, Ibrahim Elbouchikhi, Product Manager on the Google Play team said "Developers can use them to monetize premium dynamic content such as journals and magazines, but they can also use them to sell access to bundled products, game levels, music and video content, value-added services, or any other digital content."

Analysts Berg Insight believes Android's in-app billing will grow from 2010 revenues of £69 million to more than £1.28 billion in 2015.

It's a year since Google first launched in-app Billing in Google Play and the feature has proved incredibly popular with developers and consumers. According to Elbouchikhi, "23 of the 24 top-grossing apps in Google Play use In-app Billing, and the total revenue generated from in-app purchases exceeds revenue from traditional app purchases."

An additional feature of the subscription service is the ability to use the subscription across different platforms. Business developers can now validate or cancel subscriptions via a web link, allowing developers to extend access from their Android apps to their web properties, based on subscriptions that are purchased on Google Play.

In the coming days, several developers will be launching apps with Google Play subscriptions. Glu Mobile will be the first to launch with updated versions of its top Android titles, including Frontline Commando, offering subscriptions through custom VIP currency packages. "We're using Google Play subscriptions to offer consumers a compelling value and a single currency which they can use across Glu's most popular titles" says Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu.

UK cookie law comes into force, now with added confusion

Marc Chacksfield — Mon, 28 May 2012 09:50:00 GMT

Websites in the UK have to change the way they track users from now on, with sites having to receive 'implied consent' from visitors that they don't mind the site keeping tabs on their online movements.

The law has been mooted for some time and originally required 'explicit consent' from site visitors before certain pop-ups and the like are revealed.

But there was a last minute change to the legislation, which means sites have to obtain just 'implied consent' – this is friendlier for businesses but knocks the UK out of whack from the rest of the EU when it comes to the transparency of cookies.

Although it is thought many UK-based sites will not be ready for the law, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is looking to report back on sites that are not obeying the directive and there's the slight possibility of a £500,000 fine for those who flout the law.

Implications of a click

As with any new law put into place, confusion reigns over proceedings. According to Rob Rachwald, director of security strategy at Imperva, the law is a good way of teaching consumers about how websites track them but is too vague to have much effect.

"Websites and internet technology have become so complex that it is impossible for a typical consumer to understand the implications of a simple click," said Rachwald.

"This law will hopefully help people understand that cookies are the keys to personal information and present a threat if exploited, stolen, altered, harvested or hijacked."

Rachwald continued: "The legislative thinking is that ambiguity forces the private sector to experiment with different approaches until somewhere, somehow someone finds the right way."

Speaking to the BBC about the cookie law, Dave Evans, group manager for the ICO, believed that businesses have had long enough to prepare themselves for the new legislation: "Given that everyone has had a year [to comply], we're going to shift from that kind of approach to one which will be very much more focused on those people who don't appear to have done anything and asking them 'why not?''

So, if you run a site you better swot up on what you need to do before the cookie monster is unleashed.

StartUp Loans for young entrepreneurs

Marcus Austin — Mon, 28 May 2012 09:45:00 GMT

The Government is to loan over £80 million to young entrepreneurs under the new StartUp loan programme.

The long awaited StartUp loans for young entrepreneurs, is a strings-free** loan, akin to the University Student loans currently available to anyone wanting to enter into high-education. The start-up loans of up to £2,500 are available from today and are available to young people between 18-24, living in England, with a business idea.

In addition to the loan the Government has also committed to providing mentors and mentoring for the entrepreneurs. Additionally they will also receive a free copy of the StartUp Loans Kit, which offers all the guidance you need to start a business plus over £500-worth of offers on products from business cards to websites, netbooks and work suits.

"To be an entrepreneur is more than having a job. It gives you the freedom to make your own mark" James Caan, Dragons' Den

Lord Young of Graffham, Originator of StartUp Loans, and a serial entrepreneur himself, said at the launch, "The StartUp Loan programme is designed to help you create a business plan, and then give you a loan to get started. You will get continuing support from your mentor, and your future will be in your own hands. The limits of your business will be up to you."

Dragons' Den James Caan

Commenting on the launch, Dragons' Den investor and Chairman of the StartUp Loans Company, James Caan said. "To be an entrepreneur is more than having a job. It gives you the freedom to make your own mark, in the way in which you choose, and create your own path to success. It can be challenging, and exceptionally hard work, but the rewards are immeasurable."

So what's the small print? For StartUp loans

**Yes there are strings, it's a loan like any other loan, so you will need to pay it back. You will be required to pay back the loan within three to five years at a fixed APR (annual percentage rate) of 3% plus RPI (Retail Price Index) which is currently 3.5%. You can have a student loan as well as a StartUp loan, and you will need to submit a business plan, and you might be asked to come in for a chat to talk your idea through. Unlike the Student loan there will be a choice of loan providers, but the actual lenders aren't yet confirmed, it's very likely that they will be banks, sorry, there's no escaping the chat with the bank manager.

Entrepreneurs can register at http://businessinyou.bis.gov.uk/ and they will then be directed to a provider once the lenders are decided.

Samsung registers Galaxy Rush, Amp and Helm names

Kate Solomon — Mon, 28 May 2012 09:32:00 GMT

Samsung has laid a claim to three new potential phone names, registering Galaxy Rush, Galaxy Amp and Galaxy Helm with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The three new trademarks were filed on May 21 and listed as 'mobile telephones; smartphones' so there's a good chance they're intended for phones of some kind.

Does that mean we'll be seeing the Samsung Galaxy Rush replace the Samsung Galaxy S3? Will the Samsung Galaxy Amp be the company's Beats-beater? Can anyone really face going into a shop and asking for a Samsung Galaxy Helm?

Unlikely story

Given that Samsung usually goes for the fairly simple Galaxy Sx format for its high end smartphones, we reckon these are more likely potential choices for mid-to-low end handsets like the Galaxy Ace. But then the Galaxy Note kind of destroys that argument, so what do we know?

And in any case, we'd advise you not to hold your breath for the Galaxy Rush et al – companies register possible names all the time and Samsung has filed plenty of these badboys.

This particular three sound like prime double-bluffers to us, intended to shield the actual product names from prying bloggers' eyes.

Tell you what though, if you're ever after the cheesiest words to pad out the lyrics of the feel good summer pop hit you're penning, we'd advise you to browse Samsung's trademark words – Samsung Solstice, Glint, Trill, Mantra, Vibrant, Impression, Equator, Blackjack, Gem, Fascinate, Mesmerise… they're all in there. Samsung Galaxy Amazing.

Opinion: Why it would be a travesty if Nvidia's Kepler didn't make it into desktop PCs

Jeremy Laird — Mon, 28 May 2012 09:30:00 GMT

I hate to say I told you so. But Nvidia has taken the wraps off a new high end graphics chip, currently known nattily as GK110. It's the biggest, baddest member of Nvidia's Kepler architecture, which powers graphics cards like the Nvidia GeForce GTX 680. And it leaves me with no choice but to say, well, I told you so.

The context here is my recent whingefest regarding the dual-GPU Nvidia GeForce GTX 690. My argument was that the chips inside the premium priced GTX 680 and 690 boards were midrangers that serendipitously turned out to be faster than high end efforts from the competition - read AMD. The real high end Kepler had yet to be seen.

7.1 billion - the magic number

Nvidia has now come clean and GK110 is every bit as magisterial as I'd hoped. The specs aren't completely finalised, but here are some highlights as they currently stand. We're talking about a 7.1 billion transistor chip with up to 2,880 CUDA cores, 240 texture units and 48 ROPs. It's a beast.

For the record, that 7.1 billion transistor figure is big enough to enable Nvidia to claim GK110 to be the most complex single computer chip in Christendom. Roughly speaking, it allows for slightly less than a doubling of many of the key functional units compared with the GK104 chip found in the GTX 680. Lest you forget, currently GK104 is comfortably the fastest single graphics chip on the planet.

Fair to assume, then, that GK110 would be an incredible graphics chip for games and one that would utterly annihilate AMD's top Tahiti GPU, as found in the Radeon HD 7970. But will PC users ever get the chance to experience it?

That's the critical question following GK110's outing at Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference a few days ago. For now, Nvidia has only announced one product that will use GK110. And it's not a graphics card.

Instead, it's part of Nvidia's heavy metal Tesla family, which are effectively co-processors designed to crunch heavily parallelised work loads. Think computational chemistry, bio-informatics, oil and gas surveying, financial modelling, that sort of thing.

Big and complex

Now, it's absolutely true that Nvidia has a track record for rolling out new GPUs in Tesla form first. But things are clearly a bit different for Kepler. For starters, Nvidia is marketing and branding the existing GeForce GTX 680 and 690 as its top-of-the-line graphics cards. In really simple terms, there's not much space left in the GeForce 600 Series nomenclature for a new uber GPU.

That's unlikely to be accidental and ties in with the realities of the hardware side of GK110. For starters, it's so big and so complex, it may not be suitable for desktop PCs. Moreover, Nvidia has loaded it with features that are very desirable for Tesla applications, like high performance double precision processing and ECC cache memory protection, but are pretty much pointless for graphics.

It's an odd situation because, as far as I can tell, GK110 remains first and foremost a graphics chip. But it's not clear if it will ever be used as one. Of course there may be some uncertainty on Nvidia's behalf. We're clearly in a transitional phase when it comes to all manner of computing architectures as CPUs and GPUs converge.

Perhaps GK110 is a stepping stone to future Tesla chips with the redundant graphics hardware stripped out. Whatever, I'd personally love to see Nvidia strap some graphics memory and a DVI port to GK110 and let us see just what it'll do.

These may be the dying days of the conventional performance PC. But it would be a minor tragedy if this monumental piece of silicon mastery never got a crack at what it was primarily designed to do – making games look better than ever before.

Competition: WIN! An iPad 3 with Parallels Mobile app and Desktop 7

Jamie Middleton — Mon, 28 May 2012 08:03:00 GMT

TechRadar has teamed up with Parallels to offer one lucky winner the chance to win an iPad 3, a copy of Parallels Desktop 7 and Parallels Mobile app.

Parallels Desktop 7 lets you run Windows and Mac applications side by side on a Mac without rebooting. It is faster than ever with 90 new and enhanced features, including Mac OS X Lion integration and a Parallels Mobile app.

New iPad support

Used in conjunction with Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac, the Parallels Mobile app for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch enables users to remotely access and run their Macs and all of the operating systems, applications and files they need right from their iOS mobile device.

And now with support for Retina Display, new iPad users can do all this without sacrificing image quality.

Parallels is the number one selling desktop virtualisation software in the world. Get a free trial at www.parallels.com/desktop.

Click here to enter the competition.

Google could face investigation into Street View 'wardriving' claims

Joe Svetlik — Mon, 28 May 2012 07:57:00 GMT

The ICO is looking into a US report claiming Google knew it was harvesting data, and could prosecute the company in Britain.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is studying a report by its US counterpart, the FCC, that claims Google knew it was collecting data using its Street View cars.

The cars collected information from unsecured Wi-Fi networks as they passed snapping roads for its Street View project.

Data remember

A spokesperson from the ICO said: "We are currently studying the FCC report to consider what further action, if any, needs to be taken.

"Google provided our office with a formal undertaking in November 2010 about their future conduct, following their failure in relation to the collection of Wi-Fi data by their Street View cars.

"This included a provision for the ICO to audit Google's privacy practices. The audit was published in August 2010 and we will be following up on it later this year, to ensure our recommendations have been put in place."

The FCC report was published last month, claiming multiple Google employees knew exactly what was going on. The company previously claimed the data harvesting was accidental. It collected the info because an engineer (referred to as "Engineer Doe") thought the data "might prove useful for other Google services."

The document read: "As early as 2007 and 2008, Street View team members had wide access to Engineer Doe's Wi-Fi data collection document and code, which revealed his plan to collect payload data."

Info collected includes instant message conversations, URLs, user names and passwords. As many as one in four home networks could be unsecured, so make sure you encrypt your Wi-Fi.

LG outs 5-inch 1080p mobile screen

Joe Svetlik — Mon, 28 May 2012 07:24:00 GMT

LG has shown off a 5-inch mobile screen that makes the iPhone 4S's retina display look like an 8-bit NES graphic in comparison.

The screen is 1080p HD resolution -- the same as HD TV screens -- meaning it has a pixel density of 440ppi. Compare that with the iPhone's 326ppi, and the fact that Apple's is just 3.5-inches to LG's 5-inches.

It has a 16:9 aspect ratio, so it'll be ideal for watching HD movies on. There's also Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching (AH-IPS), which is tech that makes sure you get the widest viewing angles possible, quickened response times, and improved brightness efficiency.

It's so high resolution, the naked eye shouldn't be able to distinguish between individual pixels.

Out later this year

And this is no mobile pie in the sky. The screen should be available in products in the second half of this year. Could we see a Galaxy Note-smashing 5-inch mobile coming from LG soon?

The screen is 0.5-inches larger, with 2.2 times the pixel density than its previous 4.5-inch screen. That one had 329ppi. Pah. How quickly it looks out of date.

It's not actually the highest resolution mobile screen to date. Toshiba showed off a 6.1-inch tablet screen with a 498ppi resolution last October. Though we're yet to hear any more from Toshiba on the matter.

LG's screen will be on display for the first time at SID 2012 Display Week in Boston starting a week today.

In Depth: LG: a mass market for OLED TVs is years off

Steve May — Mon, 28 May 2012 06:25:00 GMT

A short walk from the most glamorous circuit on the F1 calendar, LG finally took the wraps off its debut OLED TV, the 55EM960V.

Shown in prototype form at CES 2012 back in January, the revolutionary screen will be available for pre-order from July, with models shipping in the autumn. It will sell for 9,000 Euros.

To help with the Monaco unveiling, LG called upon BBC GP pundit David Coulthard and two-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, as well as supermodel Gemma Sanderson and movie director Jean-Jacques Annaud. Well, if you're the Global Technology Partner for Formula One you're entitled to call in a few favours every now and then.

Hands on: LG 55EM960V OLED TV review

Few would argue that the much-hyped screen looked beautiful at the launch. Impossibly thin at 4mm and weighing a mere 10kg thanks to carbon-fiber reinforced plastic bodywork, it's cutting edge in every sense. Couple that to astounding contrast, vibrant colour reproduction and a response time said to be 100x faster than LED and you have a very special screen indeed.

Vettel described it as "amazing" and "really impressive," adding quite accurately that the high motion resolution would be perfect for sports such as F1.

Jean-Jacques Annaud was similarly impressed, saying he believed the screen's wide viewing angle could change the way people perceive 3D. As a film maker he was also hugely impressed with the clarity of OLED's imagery.

Not mass market

But with a stratospheric price tag, OLED is clearly not a mainstream proposition. Steve Gater, LG's consumer marketing director, agrees. "A mass market for OLED is years off," he says, adding it's not his intention to sell "loads" of OLED TVs.

"We don't think this will happen until the technology gets to a price that's just 1.5x that of an LED screen. What we're doing with this event is saying that OLED is now a core technology for us, that it represents a tangible picture quality improvement for consumers."

In truth, OLED represents a massive power-play by LG Display, the autonomous panel making division behind the brand. Buoyed by the successful gamble that was Passive FPR, it's now ramping up the pressure with next generation displays. Joining the OLED screen in the autumn will be an 84-inch 4K (aka Quad HD) 3D panel, which will retail for the same pocket-numbing price.

Gater is painfully aware of just how treacherous the TV business has become. After all, his brand is just one that has spent the past few years chasing market share, in the process driving the price of high-tech flatscreens down to historic lows.

In the short term, this has been great for buyers – but it's resulted in the biggest names in the business hemorrhaging cash, to the point now where talk of survival and not dominance emanates from boardrooms.

While LG won't be drawn on OLED production line yields (which are probably still poor), it was clear at CES that the company was leading this latest technological charge, forcing rival Samsung to undertake PR damage limitation. Sony could have mounted a challenge, had it not bagged off OLED after introducing the first consumer set, the 11-inch XEL-1, back in 2008.

Says Gater: "We've been working really hard to get ourselves into a position where we still have a TV business in five to ten years time. Thankfully, there will always be people prepared to buy the latest technology. There will always be early adopters."

The white sub-pixel advantage

LG's product and consumer marketing manager George Mead concedes that while LG may be first with OLED, other brands will inevitably follow. "We know other companies are going to produce OLED TVs, but we think we have the edge for a number of reasons. Our 4 Colour Pixel Technology, we think, is the best panel solution."

In a move analogous to its break from the Active Shutter 3D camp, the proprietary OLED panel LG employs features an additional white sub-pixel, which takes the pressure off the blue pixel which historically always fails early; this ensures a long life for the panel "We think we have the best, most scalable panel technology," he says.

Mead notes the challenge now is to put the screen in front of as many people as possible. "It has to be seen to be believed," he says. While the TV offers full net connectivity, a dual core processor and a remote control with voice recognition, "it's the panel which is the biggest innovation of them all.

The contrast level is absolutely incredible. We truly believe this is the future of home entertainment."

Samsung PIN pop-up retail stores begin to appear in London

Chris Smith — Sun, 27 May 2012 22:56:00 GMT

While Samsung certainly mastered the glamorous Apple-esque launch event, when it debuted the Galaxy S3 this month, its attempt at 'one more thing' fell a little flat.

Whereas Steve Jobs' legendary final announcements included the iPod touch and MacBook AIr, Samsung got us all excited only to announce a host of new Mobile PIN retail outlets across London.

Once we all figured out what a Mobile PIN actually was - and to be honest, it wasn't immediately clear - we didn't quite feel compelled to indulge in some Jobsnote-style whooping and hollering.

Makeshift shops where we could buy the Samsung Galaxy S3? Cue polite applause.

Grievous letdown

Regardless of that grievous letdown, the pop-up shops, which will also stock a selection of flagship Samsung Mobile products, are appearing across London and will open on May 29, before the device goes on sale across the nation.

The wrapping has already been taken-off some of the glass structures, including the one pictured here in the massive Shepherd's Bush Westfield shopping centre

More stores will be announced as time goes on.

RIM set to cut 'at least 2,000' jobs next month

Chris Smith — Sun, 27 May 2012 22:12:00 GMT

Research in Motion plans to lay-off over 2,000 staff this Friday, according to reports in the company's Canadian homeland.

The Globe and Mail says the Waterloo, Ontario-based company will make the cuts on June 1 as it struggles to cope with quarterly losses and diminished demand for BlackBerry smartphones.

With around 16,500 employees worldwide, the cutbacks would represent around 12 per cent of its total workforce and would echo the 2,000 jobs it shed last summer.

The job cull "will sweep across departments, ranging from senior positions in RIM's legal division to human resources, finance, sales, and marketing," according to the report.

BB10 or bust

The ailing smartphone giant has also seen a dramatic shake-up at the top in recent months, with co-CEO's Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepping aside and Thorsten Heins taking over.

There has also been several high profile executive departures as the reality of the company's current plight has set in.

RIM is placing its faith in handsets running the forthcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system, which it hopes will halt the iPhone and Android-induced slide into smartphone obscurity.

RIM is yet to comment on the story.

Facebook looking to buy Opera web browser?

Chris Smith — Sun, 27 May 2012 21:30:00 GMT

It's all go over at Facebook HQ with IPO strife, Instagram buyouts, rumours of smartphone creation and now reports that the company wants to buy its own web browser.

Pocket-Lint says that the social network has its eye on the Opera browser, which has carved out a niche on Apple and Android mobile devices, but is also available on Mac and PC computers.

Facebook is cash rich, following its stock exchange offering, and acquiring a browser would allow it to push its own functionality through plug-ins and toolbars.

It would also enable the company to compete with the likes of Apple's Safari and Google Chrome rather than rely on those browsers to push traffic to the Facebook.com desktop and mobile sites.

Potential buyers

The report's "trusted source" didn't offer further information on the sums of money involved or the timescale for a possible bid.

The Next Web followed up the report and says Opera Software, which owns the browser, is currently taking to potential buyers.

Facebook to launch own-branded smartphone next year, says report

Chris Smith — Sun, 27 May 2012 20:45:00 GMT

Speculation that Facebook plans to have another crack at building a smartphone has gathered pace in recent weeks and now The New York Times is in on the act.

The 'paper says that Facebook has already hired half a dozen hardware and software engineers who had previously worked for Apple on the iPhone and one who worked on the iPad.

The report brings word from several Facebook employees and outside engineers, sounded out about possible positions, that the company plans to release the phone "by next year."

The renewed efforts come following the social network's rumoured plans to team up with HTC on a handset and earlier plans that were abandoned in 2010.

Peppered with questions

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has, according to the NYT, taken a particular interest and has been interviewing potential suitors for the project, codenamed "Buffy."

The 'paper says that Zuckerberg spoke to one engineer and "peppered him with questions about the inner workings of smartphones. It did not sound like idle intellectual curiosity, the engineer said; Mr. Zuckerberg asked about intricate details, including the types of chips used, he said.

"Another former Apple hardware engineer was recruited by a Facebook executive and was told about the company's hardware explorations."

One Facebook employee told the New York Times, says Zuckerberg is worried that the social network is just an app on other manufacturers' hardware.

Of course, having just (somewhat disastrously) floated on the stock exchange, Facebook is now in a position where it must establish new and increasing revenue streams, so a smartphone may form part of those plans.

Facebook has not commented on the story and the reports says that the company is determined to keep it secret.

Cisco exits the tablet space in pursuit of "choice"

Dan Crabtree — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:48:00 GMT

Cisco announced this week that it will no longer invest in its enterprise tablet, the Cius, citing "market transitions" and opportunities for "the broadest choice of collaboration options" as the impetus.

In a blog post on the company's website on Thursday, OJ Winge, Senior Vice President of Cisco's Telepresence Technology Group, quietly noted that the Cius tablet would receive no further funding.

As with any investment opportunity, Winge said that the company "will continue to offer Cius in a limited fashion to customers with specific needs or use cases."

The Cius was designed with specific needs in mind just one year ago, which is why this discontinuation may be the first many consumers even hear about the device.

Cisco only sold the 7-inch tablet (for $750) to its enterprise partners, touting its network integration as the primary benefit.

To put that in perspective, a Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (sporting a 8.9-inch display) sells for $480, and among other capabilities it can access Cisco networking devices by IP via its mobile web browser.

Most customers - those without the need to manage a Cisco Unified Phone System of a Cisco UTM Firewall on-the-go - have turned instead to personal pads to meet their mobile computing demands.

B.Y.O.D. takes over

According to the Cisco IBSG Horizons Study from earlier this month, "95% of organizations surveyed allow employee-owned devices in some way, shape or form in the office."

The study also found that 36% of enterprises fully support devices that employees bring from home, like an iPad or Android tablet.

Winge asserted that these findings are evidence of a "major shift" towards B.Y.O.D. (bring your own device) workplaces, where tablets act as personal media and communication devices, then transfer seamlessly into business activities.

Because of this shift, Cisco has reset its sights on software like Cisco Jabber (messaging) and Cisco Webex (remote conferencing), which it already offers for third-party PCs and tablets.

With Windows 8 on the horizon, and the slew of tablets it's slated to support, in addition to the rising popularity of Android tablets following the market expansion of the iPad, it's a tough time for any tablet manufacturer to compete.

Limiting the device to business-only functions now seems ill-fated from outset.

It's with certain reluctance that Cisco relinquishes its in-road to the tablet hardware space. The company, for now, remains cool about the networking arenas it already dominates.

In Depth: Get started with keyboard shortcuts in Windows 8

Mike Williams — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT

Discover Windows 8 secrets

Let's start from the beginning. Windows 8 opens on its lock screen. You can either tap the space bar, spin the mouse wheel or swipe upwards on a touch screen to reveal a regular login screen. Enter your password to begin.

You can later do away with the lock screen; launch GPEdit.msc (the Local Group Policy Editor) and browse to 'Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalisation'. Double-click 'Do not display the lock screen', select 'Enabled' and click 'OK'.

Hands on: Windows 8 review

But the key way to get the most from Windows 8 is to use the keyboard to get around the Metro interface. Press the [Home] or [End] keys to jump from one end of your Start screen to the other, for example, then use the cursor keys to select a particular tile, tapping [Enter] to select it.

It's easy to reorganise, too: press [Win] to return to the Metro screen, then right-click (or swipe down on) apps you don't need and select 'Unpin' to remove them. Why not try sorting your tiles into custom groups while you're at it? You might drag People, Mail, Messaging and Calendar over to the left-hand side, for instance, to form a separate 'Contacts' group.

Click the magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to carry out a semantic zoom, and you can drag and drop the new group around as a block. Right-click within the block (while still in the semantic zoom view) and you'll also be able to give the group a name. This will make it easier to find the tools you need if you go on to add another 20 or 30 apps to your Start screen.

If you're short of time, hold down [Win] and press [Q] (or right-click an empty part of the Start screen and select 'All apps') to see a list of installed applications. Browse the various tiles to find what you need and click the relevant app to launch it. You can also pin these items to the Start screen by right-clicking and selecting the appropriate option. Just type the name of the app if you can't find it in the list.

Master Metro

Metro apps aim to be simpler than old-style Windows applets, which means waving goodbye to menus, complex toolbars and many interface standards. There are usually a few options available on the App bar though, so if you're not sure what to do, right-click an empty part of the screen or press [Win]+[Z] to take a closer look.

The lack of a taskbar can make it hard to find out what's running. Hold down [Win] and press [Tab] to display a pane on the left-hand side of the screen with your running apps. To see this with the mouse, move your cursor to the top left corner of the screen, wait until the thumbnail of one app appears, then drag down. Alternatively, press [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Esc] to see all your running apps in the Task Manager.

Metro apps don't have close buttons, but apps are suspended when you switch to something else. If Windows needs the system resources, suspended apps will be shut down automatically and will pick up where you left off when they're relaunched. If you want to close down an app anyway, move the mouse cursor up to the top of the screen.

When it changes from the regular mouse pointer to the icon of a hand, hold the left mouse button and drag it downwards. Your app should shrink to a thumbnail, which you can drag off the screen to close it. [Alt]+[F4] also works.

The right-click option is your best friend in Metro. You can use it to get administrator rights, to uninstall apps, and to dismiss applications from the interface entirely. Inside apps Metro's version of Internet Explorer seems to lack a number of major controls. Right-click an empty part of the page and you'll find tabbing options, as well as Refresh, a Find tool, and the ability to pin an internet shortcut to the Start page.

If you're running multiple apps and using a keyboard, use [Win]+[+] to snap an app to the right, or [Win]+[Shift]+[+] to snap to the left. Remember that whatever the interface, you can't snap apps unless your screen resolution is at least 1,366 x 768.

Windows 8 apps can use your name, location and account picture by default. If you're not happy with that, it's easily changed. Press [Win]+[I], click More 'PC settings', select 'Privacy' and click the relevant buttons to disable any details you'd rather not share.

Install anything

Most mobile platforms recommend you only install apps from approved sources, and Windows 8 is the same: it'll only allow you to install trusted (digitally signed) apps from the Windows store. If you're willing to take the security risk (this isn't something to try unless you're entirely sure it's safe), then the system can be configured to run trusted apps from any source.

Launch GPEdit.msc, browse to 'Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > App Package Deployment', then double-click 'Allow all trusted apps to install' and select 'Enabled > OK'.

While you're at it, open the Metro Settings panel (press [Win]+[I]), click 'Settings', change 'Show administrative tools' to 'Yes' and click on an empty part of the Start screen. It's as simple as that. Scroll to the right and you'll find a host of new tiles for various key applets - Performance Monitor, Event Viewer, Task Scheduler, Resource Monitor and more - ready to be accessed at a single click.

Tutorial: How to recover missing or deleted files

Richard Cobbett — Sun, 27 May 2012 09:00:00 GMT

How to recover missing or deleted files

The cold sweat beading on the brow. The panic rising from the stomach. The shaking hand that scrolls the mouse in a vain attempt to locate that incredibly important, but absent file.

These symptoms will be all too familiar to anyone who has accidentally deleted a file, or found that a hard drive or USB stick they've been relying on has become corrupted.

While the Recycle Bin sometimes catches accidentally deleted files, it just as often doesn't, and Murphy's law dictates that you'll empty the Recycle Bin just before you notice your mistake anyway.

Luckily there is a range of software available that can trawl your hard drive and reconstruct lost files. While the programs themselves are rarely glamorous, it's a fascinating process that goes to show that very rarely is anything truly deleted or lost, except if you somehow drop the hard drive into a vat of acid.

While this has obvious security implications if you ever chuck out or give away an old PC or hard drive, it cannot be understated just how useful this software can be. This means it's incredibly important to make the right decision if you're going to trust a piece of software to recover your files.

As you'll see in our group test, while a lot of the products offer similar features and produce similar results, there are big discrepancies in price. We put eight file recovery programs through their paces to find out which ones you should trust.

Brian Kato's Restoration
Website: http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
Price: Free

O&O DiskRecovery
Website: www.oo-software.com
Price: £99

BinaryBiz VirtualLab
Website: www.binarybiz.com
Price: $99

Ubuntu Rescue Remix
Website: http://ubuntu-rescue-remix.org/
Price: Free

PC Tools File Recover
Website: www.pctools.com
Price: £30

TestDisk/PhotoRec
Website: www.cgsecurity.org
Price: Free

Genie Timeline Professional 3
Website: www.genie9.com
Price: £45 (TBC)

Piriform Recuva
Website: www.piriform.com/recuva
Price: Free

Brian Kato's Restoration

It says what it does, and it does what it says

Restoration is a quick and dirty data recovery tool. Options? Choices? Forget it. Everything it does is given to you on a single screen, and it's not very much at all.

Pick a disk. Enter a filename if you're looking for something specific. Decide whether or not you want to be bothered by files with a size of zero (in short, only their name still remains). Press the 'Search deleted files' button to scan your drive. Done.

In testing, Restoration turned up as many files as its competitors and offered a couple of advantages. It's only 400Kb in size, for example, and doesn't require installation. That makes it extremely convenient if you only have one drive and don't want to risk overwriting the very data you want it to pull back. It's also much easier to use than the various Linux alternatives, and is free - two things that never hurt.

The downsides are firmly interface related. There's no indication of how damaged files might be, no way to browse the tree of recovered files by directory, and searching is a slow process. Most frustratingly though, there's no way to restore multiple files at once. The list won't let you group-select anything or do a mass restoration of everything that's uncovered.

The cut-down approach also means that you can forget about restoring from devices like cameras. Even USB sticks are brushed off in the Readme as merely "a user reported that it worked correctly".

Finally, while there is a shredder utility, you're not likely to use it - it zaps all the deleted files it finds, with no targeting whatsoever. For what this is - a quick and dirty recovery tool - it works well enough. There's little reason to choose it over the more powerful utilities though, unless you're looking for a tool to go on a system-restoring USB stick. Even then, you're better off with something a bit more flexible. Like pretty much anything.

BinaryBiz VirtualLab

A data recovery tool that always meets its quota

VirtualLab is an extremely impressive performer, with one unfortunate twist - its pricing model. Unlike most, you don't buy it as an individual program. Instead, you pay as you go, and $40 is only worth a pathetic 100MB of recovered files. That's MB, with an M, and if that doesn't seem stingy, the next level up is $99 for 500GB.

Putting a fixed limit on how much you can recover is odd, but to jump from effectively nothing to half a terabyte is just plain bizarre.

The tools themselves are impressive though. While File Undelete is the obvious go-to, VirtualLab also handles standard partition recovery, supports Mac partition types, and will even have a go at recovering a RAID system.

As far as un-deletion goes, its regular scan is blisteringly fast and the tools it offers to search through what it finds are easily the best of all the programs here. You can browse the directory tree at will, search the recovered files for specific types, or look something up by name - and VirtualLab serves up results instantly.

Exploring further, most screens offer this kind of one-step-further care and attention. When recovering files for example, you can obviously save to a drive (as long as you still have storage in your quota), but this is the only tool here that also lets you output files to an FTP server instead.

On our test system though, we had trouble with the Photos side of the application. For some reason it turned up no images or MP3 files (also covered), despite having found plenty of both in a general File Un-delete sweep.

It's the pricing model that really holds this tool back though. You can try it out with a desultory 1MB of free recovery and see what it can save on your machine if you pay up. For practical use, you're looking at $100 for the 500GB version - 100MB these days isn't worth your time.

PC Tools File Recover

Get your data back without having to fight for it

File Recover is as simple as data recovery gets. Where others have several screens to wade through, here everything is provided on just one - the option to choose a quick scan, deep scan or physical scan, to only target specific file types, and not much more. It also offers a couple of less common options, like the ability to target a single filename, and to recover files from a directory to the right-click menu.

The latter may or may not be very useful though, as it only performs a quick scan, and deleted files are likely to have been moved to the Recycle Bin in any event, and therefore not show up in the search. It offers no support for cameras or other media devices.

While File Recover has no trouble digging up an impressive number of files, if somewhat more slowly than many others here, its recovery screen is lacking. There's no way to filter the results of a scan after getting the list, nor to scan to see if it found a specific file.

Recovered files are colour-coded by how damaged they are, but that's all the detail on offer - no header information for example, as in Recuva.

Most frustrating though is that you can't resize the extremely small window, leaving the important matter of each file's location at the mercy of a scrollbar.

File Recover turned in a solid, but unexceptional performance. It's one of the easier tools to use, and while a bit slower than others, its recovery performance was up to scratch. You'll probably miss the options on offer elsewhere though, and it's worth noting that while the price is lower than many, it's a year's subscription rather than an outright purchase. That's something that makes sense for antivirus software, which needs constant updates. Here, it seems out of place - the basic techniques for data recovery don't change much in the course of a year, after all.

Genie Timeline Professional 3

Help put problems back in the bottle

Genie Timeline offers a different take on data recovery. It doesn't pick apart the detritus on your hard drive or try to salvage deleted files. Instead, it's a live backup tool similar to Apple's Time Machine. Install it, ideally point it to a spacious second hard drive, and it keeps track of and copies anything that you add, delete or change on your primary disk.

The main benefit of this is that you're not just protected against data loss, but far more common data accidents. Yes, Windows 7 has basic versioning support built in, but it's not particularly useful on a minute-by-minute basis, especially if you accidentally overwrite something you've been working on all day.

Genie Timeline also provides a disaster recovery disc creator for pulling files from a broken system, which could come in handy in a crunch. It can scan everything on your system, limit its actions to specific folders, or look for file types like pictures.

It can also make a pseudo-backup of your iPod or BlackBerry, though only by copying backups already made by tools like iTunes.

There are some oddities though. Files aren't restored to their original location, but to a directory of your choice. This makes sense when working with undeletion - the more you mess with a drive, the more you risk damaging files on it - but here, a simple 'put that back' button would be more fitting.

Backups also work on a surprisingly long timer - a minimum of three minutes in the commercial version - whereas tools like Dropbox work live. At the time of writing, this version was yet to be released, but its predecessor's 'Home' edition had an even more questionable 30 minute minimum. Provided you have a second drive, Genie Timeline is a handy way to keep a copy of your most important files, with the advantage that you get something out of it even if disaster doesn't strike.

O&O DiskRecovery

Bring your data back with professional ease

Costing over twice as much as many of its competitors, not to mention facing off against free alternatives, O&O DiskRecovery 7 is on the defensive even before it's been installed. Its primary advantage is its ability to handle formatted and damaged partitions, and very powerful engine, regardless of whether you do a quick or deep scan.

It stumbles in some other ways though, especially post-scanning. This isn't to say that it's complicated to use. In most cases, you just point it to the partition you want to recover, pausing only to specify individual file types if you don't want everything, and whether you want to save files automatically or be presented with a list. One biscuit/ five-course dinner with mints later (depending on whether you used the deep scanner), and it's done.

Unlike many tools, you're not allowed to restore to the disk you're recovering files from - but that's good sense. Just make sure you have another ready. The catch comes if you're looking for specific files. You can't scan for them exclusively, or even target directories - only file types, with the option to add a couple of filters like size and date of creation.

The finished report offers no search box to help drill into it either - an unfortunate omission. The result is that while O&O works superbly if you have a crash or drive-wide disaster to take care of, it's not so effective for day-to-day deletions and recovering from smaller-scale accidents.

If you do end up needing its heavy lifting, there's not much that escapes O&O's eagle eye. It handles hard drives, flash cards, USB sticks and more. Its partitioning support is extremely useful, and the option for an 'Instant' installation if you're bringing it in to clean up is a handy touch.

For general home use though, you can get similar results more cheaply elsewhere.

Ubuntu Rescue Remix

Data recovery for the sysadmin crowd

Ubuntu Rescue Remix is the hardcore solution to bringing your data back to life - with one minor drawback. Specifically, unless you're comfortable with booting it up from a live CD and only seeing a blinking cursor, you should just stop reading now.

There's no GUI and no wizard to talk you through things - just a carefully chosen set of open source tools with the power to bail you out of trouble.

Those tools are split into three categories: Filesystem, Disk and Other. These include TestDisk, as seen separately here, along with Photorec for pulling back media specifically, and Magic Rescue for more general files.

Working as a live CD means that there's nothing to install, which in turn means that you can pull the plug as soon as you realise you've deleted a file and have a good shot at getting it back.

If you're not comfortable with live CD tools, avoid these like a solid chunk of bubonic plague. They're powerful, but choosing the wrong options and firing up the wrong programs can do more harm than your original accident. Together though, they can do far more than any individual program here, and make for an excellent emergency rescue disc for those in the know.

Documentation is primarily provided in the form of manual pages on the disc itself, along with a cheat sheet, and tutorials on the web page that cover the basics. If you'd like to try this pack out without risk, the best way is with VirtualBox (a free virtual machine from www.virtualbox.org).

Create a new disk, mount the ISO and play in the knowledge that you can't harm anything on your real PC. If it proves too much, other boot CDs are available - like www.ultimatebootcd.com - which you may find more approachable. That one also includes TestDisk and Photorec, which are the main tools you're likely to use for regular file recovery.

TestDisk/PhotoRec

A double-whammy of data recovery demons

We're putting these two open-source tools together, because united they can take care of both data-recovery extremes.

TestDisk is the broadsword. It works on whole partitions and non-booting disks, typically in the aftermath of virus attacks or major human error.

PhotoRec is the scalpel. It digs up individual files, from the photos that give it its name to video, documents and archives, and reassembles them as well as possible.

Both come from the world of Linux, so you shouldn't need to glance at the screenshot to expect utilitarian interfaces and the assumption that you know what you're doing. PhotoRec in particular is easier to use than it looks though, with menus to flag the file types you want, and a recovery process that spits everything onto a safe drive for you to sift through.

As the name suggests, it's as good at pulling information from memory cards as hard drives - an increasingly common feature in these tools, but still far from universal.

TestDisk is a much more complicated beast, asking for details like 'disk geometry' and throwing out a stream of jargon. It features analysis tools that will try to work out many of the details if you don't know them, but don't expect to just hit a button and bring back your disks after a crash.

Both tools are small, and neither requires any form of installation. That makes them perfect for emergency USB sticks and custom recovery discs, and together they're not even a megabyte. As a rule, they'll be the go-to tools on any Linux based disc anyway, including the Ubuntu Rescue Remix reviewed here separately.

They're not the ideal tools to try and learn while sweating at the thought of losing a vital file, but they'll definitely help keep you cool if you've already learned the ropes before disaster strikes.

Piriform Recuva

A powerful, free solution that will help you avoid file deletion disasters - even if it can't spell

Recuva is an amazing tool with only one serious flaw: that it can't head back in time and install itself on your PC before disaster strikes. Beyond that, it does everything right. It's fast, it's easy to use and best of all, it's completely free.

As with all tools, you get a standard scan and a much slower deep scan. If you know what you want to retrieve, you can point Recuva towards individual file types (like pictures or saved emails), and destinations from the Recycle Bin to attached devices. Everything is presented in a simple list that can be sorted and searched at your leisure.

Files are flagged according to their quality: green for perfect, yellow for partially overwritten but possibly still of use, and red for unrecoverable. You might still be able to salvage something from these, but don't expect miracles.

You can select many files and recover them at once, with Recuva recommending you do so to a different drive. There's no direct way of putting them back where they came from as if nothing happened, although you can obviously do so by hand once you have them back.

As a bonus, you can also securely overwrite any files to prevent them being recovered (at least without more forensic tools), though their filenames can still be found.

The only annoyance is when searching through potentially recoverable files. This is done via a live search box, but the sheer number of files it churns through as you type brought our quad-core i7 test machine to a crawl. For smaller searches, like 'Pictures', you won't notice. On a full search, it's best to copy and paste queries instead of typing them in one letter at a time.

There's no good reason not to have Recuva on your PC. Other suites may offer more tools, but nothing comes close to its value, reliability and ability to save your bacon.

The award winners

While all of the products we've tested here worked well and did what they promised - which was to recover lost files - we were surprised just how well the free software fared against paid-for. With something as important as data recovery, it's often thought that splashing out on a paid-for app rather than a free one will give you more features and functionality, while delivering peace of mind.

Some people still mistrust free software, especially when trusted brands offer more expensive versions. After all, why would one company give away something that another charges for?

As you can see from this test, the free software excelled, while the paid-for tools just offered more of the same - but for a price. While the paid-for software gives you better presentation and support, but if you know what you're doing either of the two winners will serve you well - they're free and do a great job.

Piriform Recuva

It's powerful, full of features, works incredibly well and is free. Is there anything not to like?

While there's usually a catch or caveat following a sentence like that, Recuva manages to avoid such pitfalls. The best thing we can say about it is that it works well, is easy to use and includes features that even some paid-for applications are missing. If you've lost a file and are looking for a quick and easy way to get it back, make sure you use Recuva.

TestDisk/PhotoRec

When a free program scoops our Editor's Choice award, it can pose a bit of a quandary when selecting the winner of our Value award. Here we felt that while the TestDisk and PhotoRec applications offer amazing power and features for free, they don't match the user-friendliness of Recuva.

You might notice that Ubuntu Rescue Remix scored well, but was only awarded 2.5 stars overall. This is because although it's powerful, we can't recommend it to everyone due to its complexity and the harm it could cause if not used correctly.

Review: Dell Vostro 3555

What Laptop — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:30:00 GMT

Dell has a solid reputation when it comes to business laptops, and the Dell Vostro 3555 is a good indicator as to why.

The performance is just what you need from a reliable business machine while a couple of extra touches make it a pleasure to use. Moreover, the asking price is appealing to anyone shopping on a budget.

For a business machine, nothing is of greater importance than the usability. You're going to be typing a fair amount of reports, emails and other correspondence so it's vital to have a solid keyboard.

The isolation-style keys here are very comfortable and there's a decent amount of travel on each key. You'll have to make your peace with the lack of a numeric keypad, but the backlight on the keys gives them a premium look. What's more, if you leave the Vostro alone for a few minutes, the backlight will shut off to save on power.

The touchpad is very good. It's large and very sensitive, with a couple of chunky click buttons and, like the keyboard, is surrounded by a chrome silver border.

The silver and black look of this laptop is typical of a business machine. The brushed metal exterior and black plastic interior will look just as comfortable at the office or in your study at home.

AMD processor

Instead of the usual Intel chip, the Dell Vostro is built around an AMD A6 CPU. The A6 is part of AMD's Fusion APU range and, while not as recognisable or powerful as Intel's Core range of chips, this processor can more than handle the necessary requirements. It also costs less than Intel's chips, leading to the lower overall price.

The A6 scored a respectable score in our benchmarking tests and is helped along by the 4GB RAM. Although the integrated graphics aren't to be sniffed at, this is certainly a machine you'll want to leave to the office programs - and for that the performance is definitely acceptable.

Benchmarks

Battery life: 106 minutes
Cinebench: 6474
3DMark 2006: 3661

Beyond that, you've got some extra features to take advantage of, such as the fingerprint scanner below the keyboard. This gives you an extra layer of security and an easier way to log in and use the machine.

There's also a quick launch hotkey above the keyboard that you can assign any function to. So, for example, with Skype pre-installed, you could launch it with one click and use the built-in webcam and microphone to set up a conference call. You also have hotkeys for Dell Support Centre and Windows Mobility Centre.

On top of that is the usual connectivity, including an HDMI and VGA port, three USB ports, one of which is USB 3.0, an eSATA port that doubles as a fourth USB and an Ethernet port and DVD RW drive.

We can recommend the Vostro 3555 as it easily checks the boxes we set out for a business machine. Our only gripe was the relatively poor battery life. That said, performance and usability are decent, adding up to a laptop that should well see you through the next couple of years.