Canon, Nikon video-shooting SLR cameras ready for action

By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

Millions of point-and-shoot-camera lovers have stepped up to more advanced digital SLRs to improve their photography. But while $1,000 or so gets you a faster-performing, sharper camera that can stop action on a dime, the fancier camera hasn't been able to shoot video, something virtually any point-and-shoot can do.

Video clips on low-cost digital cameras have gotten so good that full-featured video camcorder sales have been declining for years. Get ready to weep some more, camcorder manufacturers.

Two new SLRs can now shoot high-definition video, taking advantage of the superior lenses (much better than video cameras, way better than point-and-shoots) available for SLRs.

Nikon's $999 D90 (body only), out now, is the first digital SLR to shoot video at 720-pixal resolution. Rival Canon ups the ante next month with the upgrade to its popular 5D camera, the $2,700 (body only) EOS 5D Mark II, which shoots high-def clips in the higher-resolution 1080-pixal format.

The 5D won't be in stores for four to six weeks. I tested a preproduction model. The verdict: Video on the 5D is vastly superior to the D90, but it's not really a fair comparison. The 5D is nearly three times the cost, and the D90 is an amazing camera but better for stills.

Video quality on the D90 is on par with a good point-and-shoot. The 5D, to these eyes anyway, looks comparable to a professional video camera.

Shooting video on SLRs.

Canon and Nikon were able to introduce HD video to SLRs thanks to advances in Live View technology, which allows shutterbugs to frame images on an LCD preview screen instead of a viewfinder. Manufacturers made this video breakthrough by ramping up the power of their cameras' image processors to increase video output resolution and data transfer speeds.

I'm not a fan of Live View. If you try composing your image in bright sunlight, it's nearly impossible to see. But if you want SLR video, this is what you have to do to get it.

The good news about SLR video, and it is pretty major: You can make use of the mouthwatering, supersharp, add-on accessory lenses that camera makers promote to let us zoom in really close or go wide for wonderful vistas.

I tested both the 5D and D90 with wide-angle and telephoto zoom lenses and got video I never could achieve with a small point-and-shoot, or even my nice, expensive stand-alone video camera.

Furthermore, video from these cameras is a joy to work with. There are no tapes to transfer. And unlike the current crop of tapeless hard-drive or memory-card cameras, the video files on the D90 and 5D aren't in an incompatible format. They open right away in Windows Media Player, Apple QuickTime and other video-editing programs.

The bad news: Auto focusing is very problematic, more so on the D90 than the 5D.

With the Nikon, you need to focus the image before you start recording the video. If you move at all, and need to refocus, you can't. The only way to keep the image sharp is by switching to manual focus.

On the 5D, Canon adds a cool button on the back of the camera to keep the image in auto focus.

Low light.

One of the selling points of both cameras is that they are excellent in low-light situations. Advances in low-light sensors have gotten so good, you could shoot a movie practically in the dark with the new 5D, Chris MacAskill, president of photo-sharing site SmugMug, enthused on his blog recently.

Really?

Well, that's a little optimistic, at least in this version of the camera. Focusing ability on full-size video cameras is so much more precise, filmmakers would be wise to stick with them for now.

But MacAskill is right: You can shoot in dark situations, and the video looks terrific.

Sound.

One adage holds that 70% of the success of a video deals with sound. And most video cameras produce inferior sound, provided by the cheap, tinny built-in microphones.

Want good sound? You need to plug in an external microphone. The 5D has a slot for a microphone; the D90 does not. The sound from the D90's built-in microphone is certainly passable for vacation footage. You'll need to have the camera in your subjects' faces to be able to hear them.

Steadiness.

The 5D and D90 are not camcorders but still cameras with video capability. Your videos are likely to be less steady than on a video camera, your zooming rocky and the images shakier.

The record controls are on the back of the camera, meaning you'll be fiddling with the buttons when you start and stop each clip. You won't reach for a zoom button but the lens itself.

My advice: Use a tripod for your SLR videos.

There will be more Wii consoles this Christmas

NEW YORK (Reuters) — Japan's Nintendo expects to have more of its Wii game consoles available in the U.S. this holiday season, but stopped short of guaranteeing there will be no shortages of the popular device.

There will be a "significant increase from 2007's levels" in North American supplies of the Wii between October and December, the company said in a statement Thursday. Supplies of the Nintendo DS handheld device will also be available "in greater abundance" the company said.

"While there's no way to gauge total demand for our hardware systems, we're trying to satisfy as many of those players as possible," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing.

Last year during the holiday season, the device was very hard to find, with many stores quickly selling out shipments that they received each week.

Nintendo at one point offered a "rain check" program with game retailer GameStop to deliver the Wii in January to shoppers who could not get the game console during the holiday season due to inventory shortages.

The Wii had been in hot demand due largely to its unique motion-sensing controller and simpler games that have drawn customers outside the traditional base of young males.

Sales of the Wii and rival consoles — Microsoft's Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 by Sony — are expected to be strong this holiday.

'Rock Band' sequel steals the show

What do you do for an encore after launching one of the biggest video games in recent memory? If you're Harmonix, the makers of the just-launched "Rock Band 2," you make it bigger, better and louder.

This sequel to last year's ambitious music game features more than 80 new rock songs, including tracks from the likes of AC/DC, Soundgarden, Bon Jovi, The Who, Linkin Park and even Guns N' Roses' new "Shackler's Revenge," from the highly anticipated album "Chinese Democracy."

If you haven't stepped onstage with the original "Rock Band," in this game series you play along to hit rock songs on a plastic guitar or drum kit peripheral, or sing in a microphone, and must hit the right note/drum at the correct time in order to rack up points. Perform well and the virtual crowd claps to the beat, but make too many flubs and you might hear some boos or get yanked offstage.

The real fun in the game, however, is playing different instruments with friends as a band in front of the same TV or over the Internet, hence the name of the game.

This sequel doesn't veer much from what made its predecessor the hottest thing since, well, "Guitar Hero," but a few improvements and additions help justify the purchase. First, the only thing that isn't louder in "Rock Band 2" is the instruments. The "Special Edition Bundle" version of the game ($189.99) ships with a quieter and wireless drum kit, along with a more responsive and better-looking guitar and microphone.

Along with all new songs, "Rock Band 2" also features new solo and multiplayer game modes (such as a "Battle of the Bands" online competition) and the ability to import most of the original "Rock Band" tracks (but this will cost you $5 to "compensate music licensors for expanded use" says Harmonix). Tracks that will not be available for import into "Rock Band 2" are "Paranoid," "Run to the Hills" and "Enter Sandman."

Speaking of extra songs, "Rock Band 2" will again allow you to download additional tracks — by song or complete albums — and will play any previously downloaded track, too. By year's end, more than 500 downloadable tracks will be available for the game.

While unannounced, MTV Games has confirmed that the upcoming Nintendo Wii version of ``Rock Band 2'' will offer the same online functionality -- i.e. song downloads and Internet multiplayer modes -- as the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 versions. The PS2 version, however, will not include online connectivity.

So, is "Rock Band 2" worth the money? The answer is yes, but with a condition. If you loved the first game and are happy with the plastic instruments you already own, then just pick up the disc with all the new songs and modes on it, because the new instruments — while wireless and quieter — might not be worth the cost for the entire kit. But if you're new to the game series or prefer the new peripherals, then the entire kit is for you.

And let's face it — because the original game is only 9 months old, "Rock Band 2" isn't too radically different than "Rock Band" — so consider this game "Rock Band 1.5" rather than a true sequel. That said, gamers looking for a rocking thrill won't be disappointed with this purchase.

Japanese cellphone can unlock car, start engine

By Jay Alabaster, Associated Press

TOKYO — A new Japanese mobile phone will automatically unlock the doors of its owners' cars and let drivers start their engines without using an ignition key.

The phone, built by Sharp, uses a technology previously developed by Nissan Motor called "Intelligent Key" that allows drivers enter and start their cars without removing their keys from their pockets or bags.

Cars equipped with the system sense when the correct key is nearby, automatically unlocking their car doors, and allow the engine to be started once the key is brought inside the car. Nissan said it has shipped about a million cars with the technology in Japan since 2002.

The new twist on this technology is that it is loaded in a phone. The service will work on the mobile network operated by NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile operator.

The companies said in a joint press release Wednesday they will display the technology next week at CEATEC, a major technology conference in Tokyo. They are continuing development and aim to bring the phone to market sometime after March of next year.

Japanese phones are some of the most sophisticated in the world; most come standard with digital TV, music players, GPS, cameras that double as barcode scanners, and wireless credit cards.

New software converts PC into TiVo TV recorder

By Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK — TiVo and Nero AG of Germany were set to announce Monday that they will be launching a package that turns a Windows PC into a TV recorder, just like a TiVo set-top box.

The kit will cost $199 when it goes on sale Oct. 15, and includes a remote and a TV tuner that plugs into the PC. The interface on the computer screen looks just like the one on a TV equipped with a TiVo box.

It's not the first software that allows TV recording on the PC. That's been possible for years on computers equipped with TV tuners, and some versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system include the necessary software. But it will be the first time that both the TiVo interface and functions have been replicated on a PC.

The Nero LiquidTV/TiVo PC will go on sale initially in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, but it could open up some markets where TiVo does not yet sell its set-top boxes. Joshua Danovitz, vice president and general manager of international business at TiVo, said the plan is to launch it in Europe next year, including in Nero's home country, Germany. Britain is the only European country where TiVo currently has subscribers.

"It's really part of a global TiVo strategy," Danovitz said.

For people who already have a tuner-equipped PC, Nero — a private company mainly known for CD- and DVD-burning software — will sell the TV recording software separately, for $99. Either way, buyers will get a one-year subscription to TiVo's program guide updates. Renewal will cost $99 per year.

The renewal cost sets the product apart from the digital video recording features of Windows Vista, which has a free program guide. However, Nero and TiVo are counting on the popularity of the TiVo interface and brand to overcome that hurdle.

Like TiVo's existing TiVo Desktop software, LiquidTV will allow users to transfer shows recorded on other TiVo devices in the home to the PC's hard drive, and bring shows out of the home, either on a laptop's drive or on an iPod or PlayStation Portable. LiquidTV also allows users to burn shows onto DVDs if the computer has a DVD burner.

Google vaults into global wireless ring with G1 phone

By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — The new Google (GOOG) phone, called the G1, made its long-awaited debut on Tuesday in New York, officially marking the arrival of Google to the big-stakes game of global wireless.
T-Mobile is the first U.S. carrier to offer the device, which will cost $179. Consumers must sign a two-year contract for data and voice. Data plans will start at $25 a month. The device won't be available until Oct. 22, but buyers can pre-order on T-Mobile's website.
REVIEW: Google phone won't win any beauty contests
BLOG: G1 competition, reaction from Wall Street
Technically, it was T-Mobile's announcement, but there was no doubt about who was running the show: Google. To get the device, consumers must register for a Gmail account, Google's e-mail service.
Rich Miner, group manager of mobile platforms at Google, says the requirement is tied to synchronization of the device's calendar, address book and other applications. The synchronization process owes to the design of Android, the new mobile operating system used by the G1, which was also developed by Google.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Internet New York Google Inc. Wi-Fi T-Mobile Gmail Deutsche Telekom Android Nielsen IAG
Miner says G1 achieves what Google had hoped for: a device "that delivers the best mobile Google experience" possible.
In another nod to Google, the G1 is being co-branded. The tagline: "G1 with Google."
Cole Brodman, T-Mobile's chief technology officer, says the carrier likes the association because, "Google is the face of the Internet." Brodman downplayed the Gmail requirement, noting that customers don't have to actually use it. "You just have to sign up."
Still, some may find the requirement "objectionable," says Morgan Gillis of LiMo, a global coalition that supports the idea of open-platform mobile phones. "This brings up a big question about freedom of choice."
Roger Entner, senior vice president of Nielsen IAG, says the Gmail requirement serves a larger purpose for Google: It creates a "unique identifier" for each customer that can be used, eventually, "to target ads to you. That's why they did Android — to help satisfy Google's need for ad revenue" from the mobile Web.
Miner says that's not Google's plan, although he acknowledges that the G1 clearly focuses on Google.
"You wouldn't be buying a co-branded phone" with Google's name on it "if you didn't want Google services," Miner says.
T-Mobile, for its part, is hoping to use the G1 to drive sales, Brodman says. "We hope to sell lots and lots of devices."
T-Mobile, owned by German phone giant Deutsche Telekom, is the No. 4 wireless provider, with about 25 million subscribers. The carrier has been building a 3G wireless network across the USA, with the goal of generating revenue from advanced services such as Wi-Fi, mobile broadband and video calling as consumer interest in the mobile Web soars.

SanDisk pushes music on memory cards

By Rachel Metz, AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK — Just as vinyl once gave way to compact discs as the main physical medium for music, could CDs be replaced now by a fingernail-sized memory card? Perhaps not entirely, but SanDisk, four major record labels and retailers Best Buy and Wal-Mart Stores are hoping that albums sold on microSD memory cards will at least provide an additional stream of sales. The companies were expected to unveil plans Monday to sell memory cards loaded with music in the MP3 format, free of copy protections.

Called "slotMusic," the new format is meant to address two intertwined trends. Most albums are still sold in a physical format — 449 million were sold on CDs in 2007, while 50 million were sold digitally, according to Nielsen SoundScan — yet CDs are decreasingly popular. Albums sold on CD dropped almost 19% last year.

Given this, the record labels — Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group Corp. and EMI Group PLC — are hoping slotMusic can be another physical revenue source — and one that is more versatile than CDs, given the kinds of gadgets people carry around these days.

SANDISK EXPLAINS: 'slotMusic': High Quality, DRM-Free MP3 Music on microSD Cards

Unlike when the CD was introduced and people had to buy new players, many people already have the ability to play slotMusic albums, since many cellphones and multimedia players support microSD cards.

These new albums will come with a small USB dongle that lets buyers use them with computers, too.

"Particularly in this kind of economic climate, the idea of being able to use an electronic device you already own to enjoy music rather than going out and buying a dedicated player is pretty compelling," said Daniel Schreiber, who heads the audio-video business unit at SanDisk, which created the microSD card format and is working on the technology behind slotMusic.

Schreiber said slotMusic albums will be sold on 1 gigabyte microSD cards, which means they will be able to hold a full album and related content such as liner notes and cover art. Buyers will be able to use extra space on the cards to hold songs and photos from their own collections.

The cards and dongles will come in boxes similar to current CD packaging, and Schreiber expects the cost of slotMusic releases to be "in the ballpark" of current CD prices.

It's not yet known exactly when — or how many — albums will be initially sold in the format, but Schreiber expects retailers to give a "sizable amount of shelf space" to slotMusic albums. The albums are expected to debut at multiple retailers, including Best Buy and Wal-Mart stores in the U.S., and later in Europe.

Rio Caraeff, executive vice president of Universal Music Group's eLabs digital music unit, said the label will initially release about 30 titles in the slotMusic format. The titles will include old and new albums, such as one by singer Akon.

"We want to provide the benefits of digital music to people who go to physical retail environments," he said.

Asked whether he sees the format taking the place of the CD, Caraeff said, "I think we would certainly hope that would be the case, but I don't think we are so tied to that."

NPD Group entertainment analyst Russ Crupnick sees a potential for slotMusic to emerge as a compelling format. He said the industry needs "desperately" to give people a new reason to head back into the music sections at brick-and-mortar stores.

"Not that we want them out of the gaming section, but once they're done looking at 'Guitar Hero' we want them to come look at the music section," he said.

Entertainment, tech titans aim for digital compatibility

By Anick Jesdanun

NEW YORK — Buy a CD or DVD, and it should work on a variety of devices and personal computers.

Buy the same music or movie online, and you're on your own: Songs bought at Apple Inc.'s iTunes will generally work only with Apple products like the iPod, while many movies sold in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media format will require a Windows computer or device.

Leading entertainment and consumer-electronics companies — including Microsoft — are trying to change that.

They have formed a consortium, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, to come up with technical specifications that content distributors and manufacturers can follow to ensure compatibility. The idea is to let people know that content and devices carrying a special logo will play nicely with one another.

By reducing confusion, consortium members are hoping to see the digital marketplace grow, said Mitch Singer, president of the consortium and chief technology officer of one of its members, Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Consumers will be able to use digital products they buy on cellphones, set-top boxes, computers and other devices made by a slew of manufacturers. A virtual locker will store those digital products remotely, and the system will permit some copying onto physical media like DVDs.

The technical details are still being worked out, so consumers aren't likely to see products until at least next year.

Content distributors and manufacturers won't be tied to a specific file format or copy-protection system. Rather, the virtual-locker system can convert the information behind the scenes and deliver the one compatible with a particular device.

Founding members of the consortium include electronics retailer Best Bu, technology companies Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Intel Corp. and entertainment outfits such as Sony, News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment Group, General Electric's NBC Universal and the Recording Industry Association of America.

Notably absent is Apple.

Singer repeatedly refused to say whether the iPod maker was invited to join, but he said Apple's membership and expertise would be welcomed.

"I don't anticipate people will stop shopping at Apple," he said. "The product we launch will work side by side with the Apple ecosystem or (go) after different consumers."

Google can sort digital photos on face value

By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

If the human brain sees a million images per day and can instantly identify them, why couldn't software do that, too? Making such a thing a reality has been the longtime goal of German-born physicist Hartmut Neven, whose facial-recognition software firm was purchased by Google in 2006, with the stated goal of bringing his vision to digital photography.

Instead of sifting through thousands of computer file names and badly named photo folders, what if we could organize our pictures by faces instead, gathering all of our pictures of Mom, Dad and the rest of the brood together?

Neven joined forces with Google's Picasa photo editing and management software team, spending two years developing a tool that could bring photo facial recognition to the masses.

Now the software is here, and Google is winning raves for its accuracy. It's not perfect, as Google engineers point out, but it's still a major step forward.

"I find it interesting to understand how the human mind works," says Neven, who now works at Google as a lead technical manager. "How it is so adept and capable at learning. And the best way to teach the theory on brain functions is to write a program that's quite similar."

Google's face-recognition system ties into Picasa Web Albums, Google's online photo-sharing service. It's one of the search giant's smaller offerings. Web Albums had just a 3.4% share of the online photo market in August, according to researcher Hitwise, ranking No. 5. Market leader Photobucket had a 34.7% share.

Google recently upgraded its Picasa desktop photo-editing application with faster uploading tools. Face recognition, however, happens on the Web. After uploading pictures to Web Albums, you simply click the "add name tag" feature. A group of 200 shots from your family vacation, for instance, will be broken into groups based on the faces — 60 of Dad, 40 of Mom, etc.

Just match names with faces

Your job is to match the name to the face by typing in their names. The idea is that, after each face has been identified and tagged you could use the information to, say, call up a group of photos of brother and Mom together, or you with a specific group of friends, and make an instant slideshow.

"What we're doing is taking measurements," says Mike Horowitz, the Google product manager who oversees Picasa. "We're looking at the special elements of the face — where the eyes and nose are, for instance, and trying to make a prediction."

Chris Chute, an analyst at researcher IDC, says photo recognition is something consumers will latch onto, because it solves a growing problem. "We're taking more pictures than ever before, because we can, and the ability to organize them is up to the user," he says. Since many people don't like to take the time, "Anything that makes it easier for them will be greatly appreciated."

Privacy a concern

Facial-recognition applications are a growing phenomenon. Authorities in Germany and England are testing computerized facial recognition in conjunction with new biometric passports. Passengers go through security and deal with computers, instead of humans.

But can computers be trusted? How much do we want them to know about us? In the Tom Cruise film Minority Report, a computer spits out personalized ads directed at the character everywhere he turns.

Google has been a frequent target of criticism on privacy issues, and tech bloggers have weighed in on the new face-tagging feature.

"I don't like it at all," says Rob Williams, who blogs for the Techgage website. "Google knows what I search for, where I live and how much time I spend on websites. Now they know what my friends look like, too. That's just too much."

Horowitz says the tagging feature is "opt-in," so only people who choose to use the feature do so. "Turn face tagging off, and all the data goes away."

For a scientist like Neven, there's no such thing as too much information. Before joining Google, Neven taught computer science at University of Southern California, then started his own company, which became Neven Vision.

"We were a start-up and had to make money, so we turned to Europe, where cellphones were more advanced, and worked with brand marketers," he says.

His goal was to use software to recognize billboards and other objects. He worked toward getting snapshots from cellphones to return information about the product.

In one European promotion for Coca-Cola, people were asked to take a quick camera phone shot of a Coke can for instant registration in a sweepstakes.

At Google, Neven would like to see his software advance to the point where it can eliminate many of the mundane uploading tasks camera hobbyists now encounter.

For instance, once the application learned the faces you regularly photograph (like your spouse and kids), you would not have to manually tag photos when you transfer them from a camera to your computer — the software would do that for you.

"We want to make it increasingly automatic and seamless," he says. It's not there yet — but it will be, promises Neven.

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Skullcandy iPhone FMJ

by Tim Gideon
I'm often asked if I know of any excellent but cheap upgrade earbuds, because the querying party doesn't want to spend a lot but still demands superior audio performance. My answer is always "No." After all, you get what you pay for, right? Skullcandy is a manufacturer that offers reasonably priced earphone upgrades, but they're certainly not cheap. At $80, I consider the Skullcandy iPhone FMJ a great example of affordable, quality earphones that provide a big step up from the 'buds you'll get with almost any digital music player or cell phone.
The headphones are ergonomically well designed but may be a bit flashy for some—you'll either love or hate these edgy earbuds that feature earpieces emblazoned with skulls. There are black, silver, and chrome versions—mine were silver. The cable is bright silver in a transparent plastic coating, and the mic and phone button sit on an oblong, capsule-shaped piece of plastic on the left earpiece's cable. Also included is a small carrying case with a black, rubbery circular zip-up pouch featuring an embossed skull logo.
The iPhone FMJ has a thin 3.5mm connector that—you guessed it—works with the iPhone's recessed jack. It also features an in-line (on-the-cable) microphone so that you can answer calls and drop them with a click of its single button near the mic. The earphones sat well in my ear and eliminated some outside noise without ever coming loose. This should hold true for most ear types, since the iPhone FMJ comes with a few different silicon ear-tip sizes.
Anyone who compares these earphones to the earbuds that come with the iPhone will immediately notice the difference. First of all, since they are earphones, they go inside the ear canal a bit, as opposed to earbuds, which are flat and generally don't create a good seal. The most noticeable difference is the increase in low-end frequencies, or bass, with the iPhone FMJ. It's not booming, but it's certainly present, making tracks from The Knife, for example, an electronic group that features deep bass beats, feel much fuller than they ever could with earbuds. I just wish the sound were a bit brighter. And even with its rounder low end, the iPhone FMJ doesn't distort at high volumes. (Still, you shouldn't be listening to sound that loud if you want to be able to hear 30 years from now!)
The phone feature of the iPhone FMJ worked perfectly—I made and received calls on an iPhone with no problems. When you're listening to music, the ringtone from a call will interrupt, and pressing the button on the in-line mic answers the call. To disconnect you press it again to resume your tunes.
The iPhone FMJ's closest competitors are probably the lower-end offerings from Shure (which require an optional accessory to work with the iPhone) and Ultimate Ears (the Super.fi 4 vi is iPhone-ready), as well as some gym-friendly (but non-iPhone compatible) options from Sennheiser. Spend some more cash ($179) and buy the Etymotic hf2 if you're looking for high-caliber audio performance in a dedicated iPhone stereo headset. At this lower price point, however, the Skullcandy iPhone FMJ may not be a standout audio performer, but it delivers dependable sound in a flashy and interesting package.
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Video: Sony's BDZ-A70 Blu-ray recorder with 1-touch transfer to Walkmans, cellphones, and PSPs

Now we're talking Sony, this is the type of integration we expect to see on the heels of your promise to cash in on portable video after losing the audio battle to Apple. As a Blu-ray recorder, the BDZ-A70 features all the in/outs you'd expect, a 320GB (the new BDZ-T90 offers 500GB) disk with the ability to burn to dual-layer BD-RE media, and a host of analog and digital tuners. Great, but what's most notable here is the new one-touch video transfer to Sony's PSP, select mobile phones including NTT DoCoMo's FOMA 905i, and video Walkmans like Sony's new NW-A820. As you may have noticed, those are all Japanese products. Appropriate given the Japan-only launch of these players in April for about ¥170,000 ($1,658). Still, we're pretty sure they'll go global soon enough.

Cyberoam CR 25i

This UTM (unified threat management) device provides firewall, VPN, antivirus, antispam, intrusion detection and prevention (IDP), and content-filtering features on a per-user basis. The Cyberoam CR 25i comes loaded with high-end features not usually found in a product at this price level, like failover capability and the ability to support multiple Internet connections at once. Setting it up wasn't easy, but the CR 25i deserves credit for its flexible configuration options, extensive security, content filtering, and bandwidth management features.
When setting up the CR 25i, all I had to go on was the quick-start guide with its tiny print and pictures of a unit different from the one I received. But this is the type of product you can't install without following the instructions, so I got out my magnifying glass and trudged along—into the first wall.
The device has four Ethernet 10/100 ports on the rear that are not labeled. Not a big deal, you might think, but you can perform the setup only through port A. My odds were 50-50: Port A was either on the far left or far right. I made the wrong choice and woke up in a dark dystopia with a jack in my head and a guy named Morpheus staring down at me. Okay, not really, but Cyberoam should not make the poor IT guy setting up its units guess. Sorting out even such simple gotchas takes time. After I connected to the other port A, I was able to log into the administration interface. I ran the network configuration wizard, which walked me through configuring Ethernet ports and some basic settings.
The CR 25i does not support SMTP authentication (which means I couldn't use it to send e-mail alerts about security conditions, because my server—as well as many others—requires SMTP authentication), yet I was forced to enter information for e-mail alerts. Even though I wouldn't be able to use the feature, the wizard refused to let me advance if I left the e-mail settings blank. I was also disappointed to find that not only are DHCP services off by default, but you have to configure them manually. The good news is that a latch holds the power cord in, so you won't accidentally disconnect the power when you've almost finished this onerous installation.
Identity-based security management is the key to the CR 25i, so you'll want to use those features, but you've got to do some planning first to determine which privileges (and restrictions) should be assigned to which users and groups. If you're already running a network directory service such as Active Directory or LDAP, then you can simply connect to whichever one you're using and begin assigning security profiles to users and groups. If not, you'll have to create users, passwords, and groups on the CR 25i itself and then install a small client on each workstation in your network.
Strangely, you download the client (available only for Windows and Linux, although others can run an HTTP only client) from the help menu. This is sort of a theme with the product's interface: Many common settings are buried three menus deep; you have to drill down that far just to turn on virus scanning! I was able to find everything I was looking for eventually, but compared with the GUIs of other UTMs I've reviewed this year, such as the SonicWALL TZ 180 and the eSoft InstaGate 404, this is competent and nothing more.

Netgear ReadyNAS Duo

by Oliver Rist
We loved the Netgear ReadyNAS NV+, and we gave it our Editors' Choice award in 2007. But that powerful unit might just be more machine (at a higher price) than many home users need. That's where the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo comes in. This new box, aimed more at the home than at small or midsize businesses, takes up less space and has a few new software tweaks aimed at pleasure rather than work. Aside from that (and lower cost, though it's pricier than some competing products), it's very similar to the ReadyNAS NV+.
Where the ReadyNAS NV+ comes in a chromed-out box large enough for four hard drives, the ReadyNAS Duo opts for a small black case just big enough for two. Among other advantages, the device is even smaller than that of its primary rival, the Buffalo LinkStation Pro Duo (LS-WTGL/R1). First and foremost, it supports hot swapping and makes the task easy, thanks to a front-mounted door that provides access to easy-swap drive enclosures. The LinkStation Pro Duo doesn't intend that users hot-swap anything: You've got to open the case with a screwdriver and disconnect the SATA cables to take out a drive. Also, the Buffalo has just one USB port, as opposed to three (two on the back, one in front) on the ReadyNAS Duo. In addition, the Netgear has a front-mounted Backup button that automatically kicks off a one-step backup of its drive (or drives).
Ironically, the only hardware feature that the Buffalo box has and the Netgear doesn't is the two hard drives. If you order a 500GB ReadyNAS Duo, the company ships it with a single preinstalled 500GB drive rather than two 250GB drives. Unless you specifically request a pair of 250GBs, you'll get one. Our model came with a single 500GB Western Digital SATA. That's a little weird, since most of the Netgear's benefits require dual drives.
Still, if you've got the green, adding another drive is easy enough given the box's hot-swap capability—and the process is made even easier by the proprietary X-RAID technology, which lets users plug in a secondary hard drive of any size as long as its capacity is equal to or greater than that of the original. Slide the second drive in and it will start chugging away, no extra effort required. The X-RAID technology saves you from rebuilding the array manually, so you don't need to store your data elsewhere while inserting the new drive.
Those USB ports also make the device more flexible than its primary rival from Buffalo. Where the latter can accept only hard drives, the Netgear handles additional USB hard drives and flash drives, printers, and even a Netgear USB wireless adapter, so you can convert your ReadyNAS Duo into a wireless device. Netgear currently does not have a USB Wireless-802.11n adapter, but if your wireless router is from Netgear, it will likely support the company's Super G implementation. That's Netgear's technology for using two Wireless-G radios in tandem to provide up to 108-megabit-per-second throughput, which should be enough to stream even HD media content. Note, however, that I didn't test that.

ASUS Eee PC desktop finally revealed?

We've all been waiting to see what ASUS's Eee PC desktop would turn out to look like, and HotHardware is claiming these shots are the real deal. Yeah, we know, it's a bit reminiscent of a certain motion-sensing game console, but besides these kind of grainy photos we've still got almost nothing to go by. Yet!

O'Reilly releases guide to iPhone hacking

If you were wondering whether the iPhone software development kit would end the unofficial third-party development craze, stop wondering.
O'Reilly, one of the most well-known publishers of technology primers for professionals, has released a book on developing applications for a jailbroken iPhone. iPhone Open Application Development, written by Jonathan Zdziarski, was spotted by dozens of iPhone aficionados Tuesday. Chapter 1? "Breaking Into and Setting Up the iPhone."

That's not a Tiger or a Leopard, but it will show the way to unofficial iPhone applications.(Credit: O'Reilly)
Zdziarski was among the first hackers to take aim at the iPhone last year in light of Apple's Web-only application policy, and his book is essentially a how-to guide for using the "unofficial" iPhone SDK to create applications. Apple, of course, has started to outline its own vision of how applications should be created for the iPhone, giving developers two options for their projects.
There's a group of developers, of an uncertain size, who feel that Apple's SDK restricts their freedom to develop creative applications for the iPhone. Those folks will likely be all over this book. The book itself appears to be a summation of a lot of the iPhone jailbreaking and development techniques that are easy to find online, but condensed into one handy reference guide.
Once the official SDK is released in June, it will be interesting to watch how unofficial iPhone development progresses. Apple's restrictions have some carrots attached, such as a powerful distribution vehicle in iTunes and the App Store, which will definitely attract those trying to make a living off the iPhone.
But those who are trying to circumvent Apple's restrictions by developing unlocking software, music players, or applications unlikely to sit well with Apple, will need a handbook.

Windows XP vs. Vista: An Explosion of Opinion

When I posted a little survey concerning the news that Microsoft plans to discontinue most sales of Windows XP on June 30th, I expected lots of people to take it, and for the sentiment to be overwhelmingly pro-XP. They did, and it was. (More than 3500 people completed the survey, and 83 percent of them are unhappy with Microsoft's move.)
I was startled by how many people took the time to not only participate in the survey but share their thoughts at length--and by how diverse their opinions were. Some folks were raving fans of XP; others just grudgingly tolerated it. Some reported nightmares with Windows Vista; others said they were happy Vista campers. More than a few said that the prospect of an XP-less world was prompting them to consider dumping Microsoft operating systems altogether in favor of Linux or Mac OS X.Over the next few pages, you'll find a sampling of the 1000+ comments the survey prompted. If they inspire you to share your own thoughts, we're still listening--just leave a comment on this article.
XP Plaudits
"Windows XP has mature to where is the best OS in the market. It's better then Leopard or Tiger from Apple. It's more convinient than Linux and it has gone to a point that I feel it is very secure. Of course nothing is 100% secure, but Windows XP comes very close. The performance is much better than Vista and right now there are more compartible programs to XP than Vista. What would had me jump into Vista, a new file system and a faster seach engine, it's not being deliver. So why switch? Vista is a XP with a fancy look, nothing more. XP has become as secure as Vista, without the slowdown."
"Microsoft seems to want to force us to change to Vista and thus pay an exorbitant price for an OS that is only marginally more advanced (if at all) than XP. I like XP, it's stable, and it works with all of my hardware and software -- why should I switch?"
"XP to date is Microsoft's finest OS. They should have improved on it and called it Vista. I use both OS...and XP is still less tempermental. I can run any hardware on XP. Vista is still problematic. Granted...it's like Beauty and the Beast. Vista is all beauty...while XP works hard and keeps things in pretty good shape."
"XP is a great and efficient operating system - and extremely streamlined able to handle all the tasks I ever need to use such as multimedia, internet, document and administration. Even the performance of new PC's (quad core etc) being introduced on the market run poorly when using Vista operating system (most laptops even with a minimum of 2Gig memory run slow), and this is just unacceptable. In this day and age, a PC which is watch while you wait groaning under the strain of Vista is pathetic. On the other hand, 2Gig with XP results in a very fast and responsive operating system. Until 64bit PCs become mainstream, then perhaps it might be about time to think about a new operating system such as Vista. In the meantime, XP should definitely stay. Microsoft have miscalculated the views of many in the industry as well as end-users just for the sake of boosting their bottom line."
"Windows XP is, in my opinion, the best OS Microsoft has developed. It's fast (being able to run decent on 128MB of RAM, and runs wonderfully on 512MB), and it's very user friendly. Vista is a resource hog (anyone remember Windows 95? Yeah...), needing at least 1GB of RAM to run smoothly. 512MB runs fine, but does run as a slow XP would, and that's terrible. I myself, love XP, and hate Vista. I will continue to use XP as my primary OS as long as possible. I think Microsoft should continue the sales, and support of XP to give the people choice, which is what people really do want."
"I've downgraded numerous times ( from Vista to XP)... actually, let's call it Upgraded. XP has all the features most people need and is very reliable. Vista has been difficult and does not offer anything new I need."
"XP -- solid, reliable, customizeable, yet still retaining a lot of backward-compatibility with older hardware/software. Vista -- makes the simple tasks done in XP (i.e. copying data files directly to CD) difficult and cumbersome. UAC? An insult to everyone's intelligence (and not customizeable -- it's either full "on" or full "off"). Much like Apple's iTunes inability to sort playlists by track number AND year, Microsoft has adopted the approach that THEIR way is better, and we'll tell you how the programs will work, what they can do, what they won't do. I hope XP thrives for many years to come, until Microsoft gets it right (XP is pretty close)."
"XP! IT WORKS! I DON'T LOVE IT - BUT IT WORKS! Please leave it alone. Note to Bill, if you must continue to develop, develop a perfect XP. Or a perfect ME or 2000 or 98 or 3.1! That would be quite a vista."
Harry McCracken

Buffalo 320GB MiniStation TurboUSB (HD-PS320U2)

The Buffalo 320GB MiniStation TurboUSB portable hard drive (HD-PS320U2) ($190 street) is a decent bit of technology. It tries to solve some of the hassles of a portable drive while also using technology that speeds up data transfer rates. The MiniStation drive is worth considering if you're in the market for a large-capacity, pocket-size hard drive, but a couple of nits keep it from scoring higher.
The MiniStation TurboUSB 320GB is compact, at 0.8 by 3.3 by 5 inches (HWD). Even though it fits in a coat pocket, the drive has a cushioning system surrounding the internal mechanism (air inside the case also helps cradle the hard drive mechanism). Hopefully, these will keep the drive safe when it's jostled around in your laptop bag on a business trip, or on your long train commute home. Buffalo claims that the (nonoperating) drive can survive a 5-foot drop. I didn't test this scientifically with a drop table, but it did survive a drop from about that height onto the carpet in my office.
pc_magazine512:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2277051,00.asp
The drive comes with an innovative USB cable that wraps around the drive's perimeter and clips into a slot on the back of the plug. This way, you can keep the cable neatly attached and never lose it (the cable is detachable and easily replaced if it frays or is otherwise damaged). I'm not so sure of the durability of the mini USB plug if the MiniStation is tossed around in a carrying case, but the wraparound cable arrangement is excellent if you keep the drive in a desk drawer or in a pouch or compartment in your laptop bag where it fits snugly. The drive also comes with an auxiliary USB power cable for USB 1.1 and low-powered USB situations. I use an Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Core 2 Duo) to check drives for low-power problems, and the MiniStation powered up fine without having to use the auxiliary cable. The MiniStation also came with an encryption utility with AES-level encryption.
Unfortunately, Buffalo's one-year warranty is a nit for me. Although a one-year warranty is fairly standard for the external hard drive industry, I'd like to see three- or even five-year warranties, as hard drive makers like Maxtor and Western Digital offer, since you're going to be traveling with a drive this small.
Buffalo includes a Mac- and Windows-compatible utility to activate the drive's TurboUSB feature, which the company claims can increase the drive's transfer rate to as much as 64 percent faster than that of a 4,200-rpm USB 2.0 drive. While some of this gain in speed is no doubt due to the MiniStation's 5,400-rpm drive mechanism, I did see a little improvement during tests on our Windows test bed when I turned Turbo USB feature on instead of leaving it off (it's off by default). The drive's PCMark05 performance score increased by about 3 percent, from 3,132 to 3,236 with the TurboUSB feature turned on. (Recent pocket USB hard drives we've reviewed scored from 2,662 to 3,236.)
Backing up our 1.2GB test folder using the included Memeo backup software was a wash (1 minute 39 seconds with TurboUSB off and 1:37 with it on). Empirically, the Buffalo with TurboUSB is the speediest drive for USB 2.0 transfers I've seen since we recently started using PCMark05 for testing. I did see a little improvement when I copied the same test folder using Windows Explorer. It took 57 seconds with TurboUSB off, 44 with TurboUSB on. What's the verdict? TurboUSB is not a dramatic improvement, but every little bit helps, especially if you transfer a lot of data or have a situation where you need continual or speedy backups.
The Memeo backup software that's included with the drive isn't bad; it gets the job done. Memeo is more of a "document safety" backup software package than a full-blown disaster-recovery program, though. As such, it saves multiple copies of your documents (Word docs, audio files, and the like) rather than keeping a snapshot or image of your entire drive to use in restoring your system if the C: drive fails. That's not too bad if you have an IT-supported laptop or desktop, but it may not be adequate if you're personally responsible for your PC or Mac.
Compared with other 320GB pocket drives such as the Toshiba HDDR320E03X, the Buffalo 320GB MiniStation TurboUSB excels at data transfer, so it's a good choice for the user who needs speed. With the TurboUSB utility installed, the Buffalo drive garnered the fastest scores in a comparison of USB 2.0 pocket drives. Though the warranty is relatively short, this drive's capacity means that you can hold years' worth of data and countless backups. The Buffalo drive should be on your short list if you're looking for a pocket-size drive to back up your data.

CBS to bloggers: Install our widgets, and we'll split the profits

CBS Television Stations has launched a new program to get its local news headlines onto blogs and social-media sites, the CBS division said Monday.
Called the CBS Local Ad Network, it's a way for participating region-focused blogs to pull in extra cash by embedding CBS news widgets on their sites and splitting the revenue of accompanying ads with CBS.
On Monday, the program was launched in a selection of the TV network's regional markets: Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco, Denver, and Chicago. Within the next few weeks, CBS has said, the CBS Local Ad Network will come to New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore.
Some of the blogs currently participating in the new program are San Francisco's SFBayStyle and Boston's Red Sox Nation. Approved sites will be able to choose the content of the CBS headlines displayed (breaking news, sports, politics), as well as select from a number of options to determine, for example, whether they want video content in the widget.
Bloggers can't just embed a widget and hope for profits, CBS Television Stations Digital Media Group president Jonathan Leess told CNET News.com. "There's a screening process, obviously," he said. "We have to figure out or get some visibility into what the content is on that site, and then we screen, but we have a third party (Syndigo Networks) that administers all this for us."
CBS declined to share exact breakdowns of the revenue-distribution process. "All of it's based on certain traffic estimates from each of the sites, and (ad) placement," Leess said.
Inaugural advertisers in the program (depending on the region) include AT&T and Liberty Mutual Insurance.

Motorola Q9c

Since its inception, the Motorola Q has been successful. Versions of the popular slim handheld—originally billed as the "RAZR smartphone" at just 0.4 inches thick—can now be found on three carriers, with the device available in both CDMA and GSM versions. When Motorola revamped the Q, Verizon saw the new model first and branded it the Q9m. AT&T followed with its upgraded version, the Q9h, which bested the Verizon model with its excellent software bundle. Now Sprint finally has a new Q, and I'm pleased to report that the Q9c is a highly capable, inexpensive ($99.99 with a two-year contract, after a $100 mail-in rebate) smartphone, even if a few flaws hold it back from true greatness.

The Motorola Q9c looks a lot like its siblings except for one key difference--its battery pack. For some reason, Sprint trashed the RAZR-thin thing and decided to package all Q9cs with the extended battery. Now, my test unit scored a stellar 6 hours 56 minutes on a talk-time rundown test; that's easily the best figure I've seen on a CDMA handset. But the extended battery looks seriously bizarre. It sticks out sideways and adds both thickness (0.7 inches) and weight (5.2 ounces) to the Q's otherwise slender design. For those who want the original "standard" battery, it can be purchased for $44.99 from Sprint. But it crosses the line to make that the default option and mess with the handheld's slim profile.
pc_magazine512:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2276305,00.asp
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Other design aspects fare better. The new keyboard is a nice improvement over the original; the Q9c's keys are larger and have just the right amount of quiet resistance for comfortable typing. The bright, 320-by-240-pixel display now includes an ambient light sensor. The thumbwheel on the right-hand side is a little stiffer and more recessed than on the original Q, but it's still usable. There's also a (nonstandard) 2.5mm headphone jack, a Back button, and a control area with six membrane buttons surrounding a responsive five-way control pad. Unfortunately, the Q9c still has the Backspace key above the regular keyboard.
As a voice phone, the Q9c excels. Test calls were clear and punchy, with plenty of volume. In one case, on a blustery day, the caller on the other end picked up a little wind noise but still heard me perfectly well. Another call had a slight buzz in the background. Overall, the handset sounded fine, particularly on my end, with a warm, full-bodied tone in the earpiece. When paired with a Plantronics Explorer 370 headset, the Q9c was clear if slightly computerized-sounding on the other end, but normal on my side.
The Q9c hits the Internet with EV-DO Rev 0 data; sadly, there's still no Rev A support. The handset uses the same Marvell 312-MHz processor as that of the Verizon Q9m and the original Q. It felt reasonably speedy in basic use but bogged down when switching between programs. Part of the problem is memory: There's just 50MB of internal storage and 25MB of RAM available for running programs, so keep an eye on the Task Manager.
The Q9c now supports Sprint TV, which offers dozens of channels. Live TV looked good, with smooth animation in full-screen mode; I averaged about 10 to 15 frames per second. Sprint's latest control panel for changing channels is simple to navigate and responds quickly. Sprint TV audio was distorted, however—the result of too much compression on Sprint's end. Another quibble: The volume control in Sprint TV works left to right, whereas in Windows Media Player it's up and down. I never got that straight throughout the review period.
The instant-messaging client is a welcome addition. It supports AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger accounts, but not Google Talk or ICQ. On my tests, the app was responsive and even logged in and out quickly. I also liked its collapsible buddy lists, and the ability to sign off from individual accounts as well as a one-button "sign off all and exit" option.
The built-in Internet Explorer displayed Web pages at a decent clip, although it's no Opera Mobile (which comes standard on the Q9h). The Q9c includes the excellent DataViz Documents To Go, which views, creates, and edits Microsoft Office documents and also handles ZIP archives and PDFs. There's also a GPS radio, and the device works with Google Maps and Sprint Navigation. E-mail support is robust as usual, since this is a Windows Mobile 6 phone; it works with POP, IMAP, and Microsoft Exchange accounts, as well as Direct Push e-mail.
The Q9c sounded surprisingly detailed when playing music on a set of paired stereo Bluetooth Etymotic Ety8 earphones. Stereo music sounded tinny but clear over the built-in speakers (the distorted audio issue occurs only with Sprint TV). The Q9c accepts media cards up to 32GB; my Kingston 4GB miniSDHC card worked perfectly. Video was another story—none of the Qs perform particularly well on our CorePlayer video benchmark tests, and we couldn't get acceptable frame rates on 320-by-240 video, only on 176-by-144 3GP-format files.
The Q9c disappoints in the camera department and is essentially unchanged from the original Q. It sports a 1.3-megapixel CCD and an LED flash, but no autofocus. The camera takes decent pictures, all things considered, with no glaring flaws aside from muted color; the flash doesn't do much, unfortunately. The phone also records the usual, near-useless 176-by-144 thumbnail-size videos at 10 frames per second.
Overall, the Q9c has the best balance of price and performance on Sprint. The Palm Centro is cute and costs the same, but it's not nearly as capable, and it's uncomfortable to type on. The BlackBerry 8830, our Editors' Choice, is a speedy, stable e-mail handler, but it's more expensive, and the Q9c beats it on document editing, instant messaging, and battery life.
The MOTO Q9c by Motorola is one of the least-expensive ways to get a cutting-edge smartphone on Sprint. At just $100 together with Sprint's data plans, which undercut Verizon's by an average of $25 per month, the MOTO Q9c offers plenty of value, power, and flexibility—not to mention good voice quality. With that bulky battery, just don't look at it sideways.

Dell US hints at bringing Penryn to M1530 -- what's the holdup?

Well, would you look at that? Oh wait, you can't -- because Dell just removed a teaser tagline from its USA webstore that totally gave away the impending release of a Penryn-based M1530. Earlier today, the "Select My Processor" page seen while building an M1530 showcased the following message: "Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, T7700, and T7800 require a selection of 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS as your video card. Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, T9500, and T8300 require a selection of 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT as your video card." Of course, said message has since vanished, but we'd wager that it's only a matter of days (hours?) before Dell finally gets with the program and gives its 15-incher the same treatment the M1330 and M1730 already received (not to mention the M1530 in other corners of the globe).

Adobe Media Player (beta)

A media player is about entertainment—and it's not entertainment if it's not fun. Adobe's new media player is just not fun enough to offer any real reason to use it—yet. The company's Flash technology—both the player and the servers—powers most of the video that's watched on the Web. Now the company wants in on the content side, too, with this conduit between the media companies and your desktop. Adobe Media Player (AMP) takes the company into territory occupied by iTunes, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, and others, offering standalone Adobe-branded video player software for the first time.
Getting going with AMP requires downloading and installing three pieces of software: AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime), Flash Player 9 (chances are good you already have this one, however), and the AMP software itself. The standard, simple AIR app installation ensues. For those not familiar with AIR, it's Adobe's platform software for turning Web applications into desktop applications that keep their ability to access the Internet. AIR programs have full access to your system as well as to the Internet, so be sure you trust the source for any AIR app you install. At any rate, Flash Player 9 is also a good update to have on your system, as it supports the H.264 encoding used by HD video.
When you first run AMP, you're presented with a simple black window with just four sections: My Favorites (empty to start with), Catalog (which highlights partner content, like new videos from Geffen), Personal Videos, and Options. The top of the window offers Home and Back buttons. Clicking on an entry in Catalog brings up a list of videos you can play along the left, with the player window in the center. H.264 and HE-AAC support mean that the player is capable of excellent image quality, but most of the content I found was not high-def. The player can zoom your show out to full screen, so it's ready for higher-def content.
The AMP interface, however, is somehow just not as inviting as most other ways to get video on your PC. It's hard to know how to get into it, where to start. "Catalog" somehow doesn't grab me, but that's where you'll generally start getting content. The fonts in the interface are very small, with no way to resize them. There isn't the kind of hierarchical organization you see in iTunes or Windows Media Player that lets you easily find media types and genres. What's the difference between Home and Dashboard? How come so often there's a link or button for where you already are?
When I clicked on Catalog, then Featured, there were still three links for Catalog on the page, but none of them took me back to the first Catalog page that showed all content, not just Featured. I had to hit Back, and then choose Catalog again to get there. The only way to browse content is via video thumbnails—a text list browser like that in iTunes or Windows Media Player might sometimes be a faster way to get to the media you want. I could add my own Flash videos to AMP's Personal Videos section, but not Windows Media or Apple .MV4 videos.
The Catalog section includes content from AnswerTV, Better.tv, blip.tv, concierge.com, Motionbox, PBS, and Universal Music Group, but missing are some big Web video content sources—in particular, the one that dwarfs the rest: YouTube, which uses the same FLV Flash Video file format. Also missing are network shows, which would make sense for AMP to have. NBC Shopping is in the Catalog section, but not NBC programs. Favorites—really RSS subscriptions to shows—are another touted feature of the service and take their place at the top of the program's window. It would be nice to see which videos were most popular and most favorited, but alas, that's not in this version of AMP.
When I tried to add the Mindflo channel to my Favorites (I had just watched an episode from the channel), the left panel read "This show does not contain any episodes," but it actually was added, with all 20 episodes showing. I got "buffering" delays periodically while watching a KQED video about smart mobs. And sometimes the application was very slow to load thumbnails of content during navigation. Animated thumbnails slide across the screen to the left when you pick a video to watch, so there are some slick interface tricks up AMP's sleeves. Another video from concierge.com just stopped advancing halfway through, though the background music continued.
AMP content is restricted to videos for now, not standalone music. Music videos are a big chunk of the content it targets. Despite this, sound quality was awful for the top highlighted video, Emmy Rossum's charming Slow Me Down, even for streaming audio—and I'm not usually very demanding that bit rates be over 64–kilobits per second—audiophiles take note. Further taking away from playback pleasure was that doing anything else with the Internet while watching the video made the video stutter.
A lot of the tech behind AMP is aimed at giving large media publishers a way to "monetize" their content, with strong DRM, backgrounds, banners, in-rolls, overlays, and logos they can add around the content display. Ad display capabilities are particularly emphasized, with technology that prevents the video from being viewed without the accompanying advertisements. And AMP allows content owners to collect anonymous usage data.
On a more personal level, social features are absent at this point. I'd love to be able to vote thumbs-up or -down on videos, or rate them as you can in RealPlayer or YouTube: I'd show those media companies what's good! This way, too, I'd see what other people liked, and maybe subscribe to users whose choices were similar to mine. It's surprising that even at this early stage in the product's life, there is no "most watched" video section. And if music videos are the mainstay of the service, how about some music genre choices? The genre choices in the program are all TV show related.
The AMP interface needs some serious work before anyone's going to ditch iTunes or Windows Media Player in favor of it. It just doesn't feel fully baked, and the content selection is not enticing. Fair enough: This is a beta, after all. Still, there's a lot of work to be done here. With no ability to sync to portable viewing devices or to larger TV screens, and no content or interface advantages over simply going to the video Web sites, I find no compelling reason to make AMP part of my daily entertainment or information consumption—yet. All this could easily change as the product and its content evolve. And it's likely that Adobe will attract more content providers with all the DRM and advertising features incorporated into the software.

iPhone to Support Corporate E-Mail Soon

Apple is likely to introduce better support for corporate email solutions such as Lotus Notes and Exchange next week, an analyst said Thursday.
American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu made the prediction in his latest note to clients Thursday, in which he once again marked Apple's a stock to buy with a US$175 price target.
"Even before the iPhone was launched, our concern was its mediocre corporate email support even though it had strong consumer email capability (Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, .Mac, AOL mail). Our concern stemmed partially from Exchange's lukewarm support of Macs (understandably so as Microsoft needs to defend its Windows franchise)," the analyst notes.
The analyst cites his own industry and developer sources, who suggest that after "months of beta testing" this weakness will be addressed with improvements in iPhone's ability to work with Exchange server and IBM's Lotus Notes.
"What isn't as clear to us is how Apple will accomplish this, whether this is from internal development (most likely), third-parties including MSFT (next likely) with its ActiveSync technology, or RIM Blackberry Connect (possible but less likely), or a combination of two or more."
The analyst also predicts Apple will also deliver improved security, better support of Virtual Private Networks, and enterprise applications such as Customer Relationship Management systems.
"We still have high conviction that Apple will ship ten million iPhones by the end of 2008. To a degree, what gives us confidence is the large number of hacked phones signaling strong intrinsic demand," Wu wrote.
The analyst concluded that Apple's remains a strong stock, noting: "While near-term trends look difficult with a looming recession and a slow-down in consumer spending, we continue to believe Apple is well-positioned to weather the storm better than most with its strong fundamentals."

LG 50PY3D

The 50PY3D ($2,999.95 list) is LG Electronics' first 50-inch plasma television to feature a 1080p resolution screen. And although the set's performance on my lab tests was mixed, I found its picture quality to be very pleasing—once properly configured, that is. The main problem is with standard-definition (SD) video sources; quality depends on which of the TV's several picture mode presets is used. Some modes overly soften fine details, while others deliver some of the best SD video processing I've seen from an HDTV. With HD video, the picture was detailed, but colors were slightly oversaturated. When processing 1080i video, such as that from broadcast HDTV, the set delivered a picture containing more jagged edges than other 1080p plasmas I've tested.
The TV's glossy black frame incorporates a couple of slick design touches, such as a multifunction display centered along the bottom edge that shows which video input is selected or the channel that's currently tuned. And immediately to the right of the display are a set of stylish, touch-sensitive controls that are visible only when in use; however, these controls were a magnet for fingerprints.
Integrated side-mounted speakers give the set a relatively wide stance for a 50-inch screen. It's similar in width to larger 52-inch LCDs, such as the Sharp LC-52D92U and the Samsung LN-T5265F. With its crescent-shaped swivel stand that provides 40 degrees of total travel (20 degrees both left and right), the 50PY3D measures 34.3 by 51.3 by 14.0 inches (HWD) and weighs 117 pounds. Removing the stand reduces the height and depth to 31.9 inches and 4.3 inches, respectively.
The remote control is similar to those included with most LG HDTVs, including the 47LBX. Its rectangular face has a slight curve that transitions nicely into its beveled sides, and the wedge-shaped profile thickens toward the bottom, providing a natural gripping point. The buttons on this comfortable, well-balanced control also have good tactile feedback, but the only backlit keys are those located along its top edge. Programming the remote to control other components such as a VCR, DVD player, audio receiver, or set-top box requires using the codes provided on an included CD.
Most of the video ports are located on the back of the set and face outward for easy access. I was pleased to find that the three HDMI ports, two component video inputs, and VGA port are all compatible with 1080p60 (60-Hz) input. The TV's HDMI ports are also compatible with 24-Hz signals from capable HD disc players such as the Samsung BD-UP5000. A selection of front-accessible connections occupies the left side of the set. Among them is a USB port for accessing data on portable storage devices. Using the integrated software you can play digital music and display pictures over USB.
The 50PY3D offers a native screen resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels progressively scanned (1080p). Overscan is an issue, though; the set expands the picture and loses some of the viewable image along the edges. As with the LG 47LBX LCD, the 50PY3D unfortunately overscans all HD video sources connected via HDMI by 6.5 percent unless the input label is renamed to "PC" in the TV's option menu. All HD component video sources sacrificed 6.5 percent of the video picture regardless of menu setting, and standard-definition video was overscanned by 7.5 percent (ideally, overscan shouldn't exceed 1 or 2 percent). If you own the HDMI-less version of the Xbox 360, you may want to consider picking up the console's VGA adapter, as the TV's corresponding port allows for 1080p input without any detail-destroying video overscan. On a positive note, the 50PY3D didn't add any lag-inducing video delay that can interfere with game play.
As with all HDTVs, the 50PY3D provides several picture presets that help you easily optimize picture quality for varying room environments. Color and luminance measurements using a Konica Minolta CS-200 chroma meter revealed that the 50PY3D's "mild" picture preset came closest to matching standards used in broadcast TV and cinema production. I found its colors were slightly oversaturated, but uniformly so. The TV's mild preset negatively affected standard-definition (SD) picture quality by softening the picture excessively. This resulted in a loss of some fine details, particularly obvious in a waving flag scene in the HQV Benchmark test DVD. Comparing the mild preset to the other presets available, I noticed that the sharpness control determined how much detail was visible in SD video. Increasing sharpness returned the missing details, but some portions of the picture (particularly along vertical edges) began to look overly enhanced, resulting in ringing artifacts.
Picture quality with HD, as opposed to SD, video sources was less dramatically affected by the 50PY3D's video presets. But when I examined the TV's performance on the section of the HD HQV Benchmark's video reconstruction test, which features three moving bars, I noted jagged edges on all three. I then looked closely at some 1080i satellite TV programming and found more jagged edges than were visible in other 1080p plasma televisions, such as the Panasonic TH-42PZ700U and the Pioneer Elite KURO PRO-150FD. Objects with curved edges were particularly prone to these jagged-edge artifacts.
The 50PY3D, however, easily handled two scenarios that have historically been challenging for plasma televisions: displaying fine color gradients without introducing banding artifacts, and minimizing the appearance of video noise in extremely dark scenes. Grayscale tracking from dark to bright intensities, however, exhibited an increasing amount of variance as it approached black, with some shades tinted slightly green or yellowish-red. A professional calibrator should be able to correct this issue by accessing the set's hidden service menu.
To measure the TV's contrast performance I used a checkerboard test pattern and a 9-point sample. I logged an average contrast ratio of 511:1, which is below average for a modern plasma television. While the TV's black-level measurement of 0.18 cd/m2 wasn't obviously brighter than the Panasonic TH-42PZ700U's result of 0.15 cd/m2 (another 1080p plasma set), the Panasonic was able to generate a peak white level that measured 36 percent greater resulting in a contrast calculation of 847:1. Thus, the extra brightness of the Panasonic plasma would make it better suited for use in a well-lit environment.
Power consumption of the 50PY3D using its default picture preset (dynamic) resulted in a monthly cost calculation of $13.81, based on 8 hours of daily operation at $0.13 per kilowatt-hour (a local average). Switching to the TV's mild picture preset brought this calculation down to $10.64 per month.
The LG 50PY3D doesn't produce the brightest whites or the darkest black levels I've seen. Despite that, it remains a competitive plasma, and professional calibration would greatly improve its grayscale representation for a more natural and realistic picture. Another asset is the 50PY3D's stylish and functional design, with its swivel base and generous assortment of 1080p compatible video inputs. In addition, this TV also offers some of the best standard-definition video processing I've seen from an HDTV—if you can get past its excessively overscanned picture. But with the lights dimmed low and an HD movie rolling, the 50PY3D's detailed picture and room-filling sound may just make you forget its few flaws.

Cell phone sales hit 1 billion mark

Sales of cell phones skyrocketed to more than 1 billion in 2007, according to data released Wednesday from market research firm Gartner.
More than 1.15 billion mobile phones were sold worldwide in 2007, a 16 percent increase from the 990.9 million phones sold in 2006, the firm said.
The developing world helped boost sales significantly. And in the developed world, sales of new cell phones was drive by consumers looking for replacement phones with tons of features.
"Emerging markets, especially China and India, provided much of the growth as many people bought their first phone," Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, said in a statement. "In mature markets, such as Japan and Western Europe, consumers' appetite for feature-laden phones was met with new models packed with TV tuners, global positioning satellite (GPS) functions, touch screens and high-resolution cameras."
Nokia leads the market, gaining 40 percent market share for the first time during the fourth quarter. The company sold some 435 million phones in 2007. Meanwhile, Motorola lost market share during the year, slipping to third place in terms of total market share. Other companies like LG, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson helped take up the slack. These companies all gained market share in 2007.
Gartner's analysts expect mobile handset sales to decelerate slightly in 2008 with sales growing only 10 percent. While most of the new growth will come in the developing market, it will be the saturation of the market in North America and Western Europe that will cause momentum to slow a bit. North America and Western Europe are expected to account for about 30 percent of global mobile device sales in 2008.
As for the handset makers themselves, a few questions loom large in 2008. First, will Nokia be able to keep up its momentum? It will need to penetrate the North American market to do so, say Gartner analysts. Nokia has not had great success in the U.S. market despite its efforts. The Finnish company has set up a design facility in Southern California specifically to address the North American market. And with U.S. consumers primed with the Apple's iPhone for cool new phones, maybe Nokia will finally be able to get some of its high-end N-series phones in with a major carrier like Verizon Wireless.
There might also be opportunity for Nokia as Verizon Wireless opens its network to allow uncertified devices to operate on its "open" network. But it is still unclear how Verizon will charge for this service. If it is priced too high, consumers may not opt for a service that allows them to bring whatever device they want to the network.
The other big question, of course, is what will happen to Motorola? The company's executives don't expect a major turnaround this year of its mobile device business. The company has said that it is considering its "strategic options," which may or may not include selling the handset business. Even though Motorola executives say they'd rather not sell the handset business, the option is still on the table for now.
In its report, Gartner also noted the emergence of new players in the handset market, including ZTE, a Chinese company that sells low-end phones at aggressive prices, and Research In Motion and Apple, each selling more feature-rich phones designed to take advantage of data services.
And with Google's Android cell phone software making its way into the market sometime this year, it will be interesting to see where the industry is a year from now.

Yahoo Set to Open Search Engine to Third Parties

New open-source application programming interfaces will allow Web site owners to add information directly to the Yahoo Search results Web page.

Yahoo Inc. is planning to open its Yahoo Search engine to allow third parties to add a wide variety of data to search results.
Code-named "Search Monkey," the new open-source application programming interfaces (API) will allow Web site owners to add information such as ratings and reviews, images, deep links and other data directly to the Yahoo Search results Web page.
"Our intent is clear -- present users with richer, more useful search results so that they can complete their tasks more efficiently and get from 'to-do' to 'done,'" noted Vish Makhijani, senior vice president and general manager of Yahoo Search. "So instead of a simple title, abstract and URL, for the first time, users will see rich results that incorporate the massive amount of data buried in Web sites."
Web site owners can supply Yahoo with data, and the company's Machined Learned Ranking technology will ensure that the results are presented to users at the correct time, he added.
"We believe that combining a free, open platform with structured, semantic content from across the Web is a clear win for all parties involved -- site owners, Yahoo and, most importantly, our users," Makhijani said. "And by the way, users will be in complete control of the experience and will be able to turn off anything related to open search if they so desire."
In an example provided by Yahoo, a search result for a Japanese restaurant in California that previously would have included the URL, an abstract and an address would provide ratings, price information and links for reviews and photos with the new tools. Yahoo plans to provide additional details on how the open search tool will work over the next few months.
Not to be outdone, Google Inc. posted a reminder Monday that its similar effort, called Subscribed Links, allows users to create custom search results that users can add to their own Google search pages. Matt Cutts, a Google software engineer and head of Google's Webspam team, noted that Subscribed Links, which Google debuted in 2006, allows users to "display links to your services, answer questions, and calculate useful quantities and more."