« January 2006 | Main | March 2006 »
Sony build quality under the microscope
Our review of Sony's latest laptop, the VGN-SZ1XP is online now, and following the flood of complaints we've had about the build quality of the company's products of late, this is an area we've paid close attention to.
Many readers have said they've experienced problems over the past few months, and then subsequently suffered bad customer service when they tried to get it fixed. Unfortunately, it's difficult for us to test customer care, but we did look into its sturdiness.
Although we felt the battery was very slightly loose, we really couldn't find fault in any other areas. However, Sony never leaves it's products with us long enough to conduct long-term usability tests, so we would advise some caution before buying - have a read of the debate on our blog and if possible see the product instore.
Latest reviews out now
Acer MG3001-P
Yet another wireless media streamer that can be a pain to set up, but once it's found its feet the MG3001-P works well. It's also one of the cheaper media streamers on the market.
Read review...
AVG Free for Linux
Linux might be far less susceptible to viruses when compared with its Microsoft counterpart, but it's certainly not immune. AVG, creator of the popular free Windows antivirus utility, has just released a version for Linux.
Read review...
Epson P-4000
Aimed at photographers on a photo-shoot, the P-4000 is much more than just your standard portable hard drive. However, it's also an expensive piece of kit.
Read review...
ECS KA1 MVP Extreme
One of the latest motherboards to support ATI's Crossfire dual-graphics system.
Read review...
Early tests show no gain from Hawking's hi-gain antenna
Following our review of the Hawking HWU8DD broadband booster, which improves wireless reception if your machine is getting a weak signal, we've been trying out its baby brother, the HWU54DM Mini USB broadband booster.
So far, results have been poor, which surprises us, because the HWU8DD was a great product, and the subject of a Product of the Week podcast.
We've tried two of them, in different locations and on different machines, but far from an improved signal, we've experienced the same or a worse wireless reception than when using either laptops' inbuilt wireless Lan.
In a distance test, we got about 30m less when using the directional antenna compared to using our inbuilt wireless. We're going to try it in a third location tonight, as a sanity check and ensure it's not us having a moment of madness - despite following the set up instructions.
But even so, it's worrying because when two people have similar problems, it leads us to question the sort of user experience consumers are going to get.
We'll post an update as soon as we've looked into this.
Six versions of Vista announced
Microsoft today confirmed the names of the 6 separate versions of its upcoming Vista operating system.
For home users there will be a Home Basic version aimed at those who simply want email, Internet and 'basic document creation or editing' tasks, a Home Premium version that adds the glitzy Aero user interface and Media Center capabilities, and an Ultimate version with all the bells and whistles.
Business users will have a choice of Vista Business or Vista Enterprise versions - the latter adds 'higher levels of data protection using hardware-based encryption'.
There will also be a Starter version aimed at 'emerging markets'. All versions of Vista apart from the 32bit-only Starter version will be available in 32bit and 64bit flavours. No pricing or firm release date has yet been announced.
Ask.com bumps off the butler
Sad news for fans of Jeeves - the buter who fronted the Ask Jeeves search engine for the past few years.
Renamed Ask.com, the search engine has bumped off Jeeves in favour of a cleaner, more Google-esque version.
Since launching in 1999, visitors to the web site were invited to pose a question to Jeeves - he would then run off and do his best to answer the query. Unfortunately, more often than not he'd come back with a selection of completely irrelevant sites.
Despite providing a more conventional service in recent years, Ask Jeeves still felt it was being seen purely as a question-based search engine.
Along with a redesigned homepage, the new Ask.com includes shortcuts, a desktop search option and fewer adverts.
Thanks to its complete dominance of the search engine market, we doubt Google will be too concerned about the changes at Ask.com, but you can make your own mind up by putting it to the test. Let us know how you get on below.
Homechoice doubles its broadband speeds
Homechoice is the latest ISP to join the fray of increasing the broadband speed offered to customers.
It's doubling at no extra charge for existing customers. So those who were on 1Mb will get 2Mb from 1 March, while 2Mb customers will move up to 4Mb.
The difference with Homechoice, as we have highlighted in our tests, is that the service also come with a phone line and digital TV, good for those not allowed to put satelite dishes on their buildings.
Review: Logitech Z-5450 wireless speakers
I hate all the wires that choke my PC and its surrounding area, and am keen to see all peripherals go wireless as soon as possible. For now, that's unlikely with most devices, and even where possible, it's currently expensive.
But we've just posted our review of Logitech's Z-5450 surround sound speakers which have, at least, wireless rear speakers. Well almost, because they still need power.
But performance was pretty good, and we've found them at half the suggested price, so if of interest, we might even be able to direct you to a bargain.
Gizmondo crashes again - and this time writes off a Ferrari
For anyone wondering what happened to the execs behinf failed gadget company Gizmondo, one of them is now the proud owner of half a Ferrari Enzo, after he amazingly walked unscathed from a major crash.
You can see photos and the full story here, and it's worth it if nothing else to see how little respect rich people pay to their play things - in this case, a Ferrari.
Pointless products flood the tech market
We rarely get really bad products pass our desks these days – most are at the very least, average.
But we have noticed more and more pointless products of late, as companies release devices which are frankly trying to solve a problem that just doesn’t exist.
We've already blogged Sony’s mouse that turns into a phone – and are awaiting its arrival so will reserve final judgement.
But the Integral Splash USB Drive in our opinion definitely falls into the pointless bracket. It’s a USB key that is water resistant. Not, bear in mind, waterproof. It’s designed to keep the wet out of your USB key, a problem so widespread we had never heard a single warning of its existence.
The Mavizen Blueye was also in danger of falling into that bracket. It is technology for the sake of technology, but we could just about see that there’s a very limited market for such a product. And they dropped the price after comments about its cost in our review, making is a slightly more attractive buy.
We also reviewed Gear4's Pocket Party v2 micro speakers recently, a product we simply couldn't see a need for. Travel speakers yes - and we use them ourselves - but Gear4's had no way of controlling the volume and weren't good enough to be a more attractive choice than alternative's such as Creative's travel speakers.
It’s indicative of the gadget market – companies need to find reasons for you to part with cash, and sometimes hit on great ideas. But all too often they release utterly pointless novelty products onto a market and then talk up the gap they fill.
And big companies are just as guilty. Quote of the week has to come from a Sony exec who said of the company’s mouse phone: ‘With the explosion in Internet telephony... Sony has solved the rather new problem of what to talk into’.
An old fashioned idea, but we used to call such a device a phone.
Product of the Week Podcast: Hawking HWU8DD
This week's Product of the Week has just gone live.
The star of the show is Hawking's HWU8DD wireless adapter. It costs more than other 802.11g Wifi adapters, but thanks to its unique design and 8bi antenna it's perfect if you're suffering from poor wireless connections.
To listen to this podcast and more, check out our Product of the Week page.
Zen announces two new 8Mb services
Zen Internet has announced two new 8Mb broadband packages.
Although previously not one to impose usage caps, after trialing its 8Mb service Zen has decided it's not "commercially viable" to offer unlimited services at 8Mb.
The standard Zen 8000 will have a 20GB usage cap and cost £24.99 per month, while the Zen 8000 Pro package costs £34.99 with an increased cap of 50GB.
Although it's more expensive than Freedom2sufr's latest 8Mb package, the cap is far more realistic and we don't see many home users downloading over 20GB in a month - even with an 8Mb connection.
4G trial hits 2.5Gbits/sec
With the UK struggling to adopt 3G, over in Tokyo communications giant NTT DoCoMo carries on with its 4G trials.
In the latest test it managed to achieve a staggering 2.5Gbits/sec, especially considering 3G currently operates at a lethargic 384Kbits/sec.
The trial, which used Mimo technology, actually took place at the end of last year, but the results have only just been announced.
You can read more about NTT DoCoMo's 4G trials here.
Samsung SP-P300ME projector: First impressions
We’ve just finished watching Chelsea’s rather unfortunate home defeat against Barcelona using Samsung’s new SP-P300ME projector.
Although Samsung, who happens to sponsor Chelsea, won’t have been pleased by the result, it must be proud of its new projector.
As we said earlier today, it’s incredibly small and uses LEDs instead of a lamp.
We expected the picture to be on the dull side but, in a near pitch black room, we were actually very impressed.
It can’t match the likes of bulkier projectors in terms of brightness, but the display is definitely watchable. Occasionally it was a little difficult to follow the ball, but on the whole it performed extremely well.
As you can see in the photo above (we had to modify this photo in order to replicate the actual brightness and couldn’t use the flash, hence the noise), we managed to get a decent size display.
In fact, we exceeded Samsung's maximum quoted display of 63in and managed to stretch it to just over 80in.
For reference, the TV you can just about make out in the bottom left corner has a 28in screen.
You’ll find a full review soon on www.pcw.co.uk.
Blueye price drop
Shortly after our review of the Blueye went live, manufacturer Mavizen got in touch to say it had taken our comments onboard and would be reducing the price from £69 to £59 with immediate effect.
Although we're sticking with our three stars for Value for Money, it might be enough to pull in a few more customers.
You can read the full review of the Mavizen Blueye here.
Review: Mesh Titan X1800 Fire
Our review of the Mesh Titan X1800 Fire is now online, and it's a pretty powerful PC.
Despite its power and performance, we found it hard to pin down who Mesh is aiming this computer at. You'd think gamers, particularly as it is a Crossfire enabled system and so runs two graphics cards.
But it runs two X1800 cards, not ATI's latest Radeon X1900XTX cards, which seem the more logical choice for that market. It also uses ATI's Xpress 200 chipset on its Asus motherboard, but with the new RD580/Radeon Xpress 3200 chipset due out next month, it is easy to see why power users would hold off for a few weeks.
It's a good PC, but in our view, probably worth hanging on, because Mesh are almost certain to update this sytem with the latest cards and chipset. You can read the full review here.
Samsung SP-P300ME pocket projector just arrived
We've just got hold of the first Samsung SP-P300ME Pocket Imager sample.
UPDATE: You can now read our full review of the Samsung SP-P300ME
Measuring in a just 127 x 100 x 50mm (w x d x h), it's incredibly compact.
Instead of using a bulb as with standard projectors, the SP-P300ME uses an LED lamp to project images.
The 800 x 600 resolution and 25 lumens don't compare well to more cumbersome projectors, but it still allows for a display up to 63in - just make sure you pull the blinds down first.
It will run off the mains or an internal battery (max 2.5hrs) and comes complete with its own carry case.
We're testing it right now and will report back with our findings.
Review: Dell Dimension 5150c
Microsoft is pushing hard to get its Media Center operating system accepted as the standard for home entertainment on a PC, while Intel is pushing ViiV (as in five) as the hardware platform.
Dell has brought out a BTX (another Intel development aimed at home entertainment) Dimension PC based around the Viiv platform. It's a good looking machine, but a bit of a disappointment. It has poor graphics and worse - no TV tuner!
Intel's Viiv platform doesn't call for a TV tuner to be included, but how can a Media Center PC be released that's aimed at home entertainment, and to be used in part for watching the telly without a tuner card as standard?
It forces the customer to invest in additional hardware, which is the case here. You can read the full review of the 5150c here.
We've also posted our group test of £699 PCs, which considering the price, are surprisingly well specified. It includes full performance tables and links to results of all the PCs we've tested, so that you can compare and contrast.
Canon shoots new SLR Canon has launched a successor to its popular EOS 20D single-lens reflex camera. It is to be superseded by the EOS30D, which retains the 8.2 megapixel resolution of its predecessor but has a wider 2.5in viewing screen. The shooting rate can now be adjusted between three and five frames per second, and senisitivity can be adjusted in one-third rather than whole-stop increments up to 3200 ISO. The EOS 30D is available from March at £1099.99 (inc. VAT) for the body only, or £1179.99 with an EF-S 18-55mm zoom lens. It can be used with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites
World first: Mouse makes VoIP phone call
In an attempt to grab a share of the ever increasing VoIP market (see Netgear's latest announcement), Sony has decided to jam a VoIP phone into a mouse.
By pressing a button on the side of the VN-CX1, it opens up just like a clamshell mobile with the scroll wheel acting as a volume control.
Going by the low-res pictures we’ve been supplied with (we’ll get hold of more soon) the mouse might look stylish, but doesn’t appear to be particularly ergonomic.
Sony says “why have two peripherals to deal with when you only need one?”. A slightly bizzare statement and at the moment we’re thinking “why on earth would you put a phone into a mouse?”.
If it were a wireless model it might be a more acceptable, but being a USB mouse you’ll probably find yourself tugging items off your desk when you pick it up to make a call.
But we’re going to reserve final judgement until we get hold of a review sample. The estimated street price is £55.
Nikon adds to Coolpix range
Nikon is adding two new models to its Coolpix range – the S5 and S6. Despite the naming convention, both cameras actually house a 6megapixel CCD.
While the S5 sports a sizeable 2.5in LCD display, the S6 goes one better with a whopping 3in version.
However, the major difference between the two models is that the S6 includes a Wifi component.
It’s not Nikon’s first Wifi camera – we reported on wireless models released by Nikon and rivals Kodak last year.
We’re still not convinced there’s a demand for Wifi digicams – is it really that awkward to hook your camera up to your PC or, easier still, use a card reader? To us, wireless digicams seem more of a marketing gimmick than anything else.
That said, Nikon’s range of Coolpix cameras rarely fail to impress. Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but we’re expecting them to sit under the £300 mark. We’ll be testing out both cameras soon and will let you know how we get on.
Would you be tempted by a Wifi camera? Is it just a marketing gimmick or a worthwhile addition to any digicam? Leave a comment below.
Netgear Wifi phone frees Skype from your PC
Netgear and Skype made a big play of the former's new Wifi VoIP phone at CES, which is due for release any day now.
It aims to solve one of the drawbacks to Skype - that your PC must be on to use the service, and often you need to be sitting in front of it when making a call.
Netgear's phone is a mobile handset that can hook onto a wireless network, access your Skype contacts and make and receive Internet calls, where-ever you are - be they Skype to Skype, SkypeOut or SkypeIn.
The two tried to be flash at CES and demo it working with an international call. It turned into a bit of a balls up, with feedback from a microphone making the conversation unintelligable, and resulting in hasty closure.
It can't make video calls at the moment, but when asked Netgear said this would be made possible in a future version of the phone - which suggests to us they hadn't thought about it until we asked the question at the demo in January.
But, we'll give it a second chance, because it's a good idea, Skype's a great service, and phones like this should make it even easier to make free calls, thus ensuring you line the pockets of the telco giants just a little less.
Review: Slimdevice Squeezebox
We've seen a quite few streaming devices over the past few years to wirelessy pump music (and often videos) from your PC to your stereo or TV.
The latest is Slimdevice's Squeezebox 3 which is expensive but performed well.
It's got around a common problem we've found with a lot of rival products, in that it's easy to set up. Often, ease of set up has been a real failure in these types of devices.
You can read the full review here.
Review: Asus W3V
Pentax to launch new waterproof digicam
Pentax has a new waterproof camera coming soon, namely the Optio W10.
Just like the original Optio WP series from Pentax (which we announced back in March last year), it’s capable of being plunged into water up to 1.5m deep without the need for an additional waterproof casing. Seeing as the Optio WP was release almost a year ago, we were hoping this new model would have been able to delve a little deeper.
It sports a 6megapixel CCD, 3x optical zoom and a slimmer chassis. Thanks to its low-reflection 2.5in screen, Pentax also claims this new model is easier to use.
We’ll be off to the seaside to test our review model when it arrives sometime in March, however an official release date is yet to be set. Pricing details are also sketchy, but it's expected to be around the £170 mark.
Product of the Week Podcast: Draytel Vigortalk
This week's Product of the Week podcast is now live - and in it we discuss the Draytel Vigortalk Voice over IP adapter.
We were impressed by the simplicity of the product, and how easy it was to set up. Voice quality was good, although the product is tied to Draytel's VoIP service, which is disapointing.
If you want to hear more about the product and alternative options for making calls over the Internet, it's all on our podcast, or to browse previous Product of the Week podcasts, click here.
Review: Logitech Wireless Music System for Ipod
There's been a flurry of new iPod accessories over the past few weeks, and quality has varied wildly.
The latest, Logitech's Wireless Music System for iPod, is a bit of a luxury item and not limited to iPod owners - it will work with any mp3 player. It's just that putting 'iPod' in the name will get far more attention than for instance the HDD6320. That is Philips latest player, and although a rubbish name, it's a pretty good device.
Logitech's system includes a Bluetooth receiver, and means music will play through your speakers. Quality was pretty good, although a little pricey, and you can read the full review here.
8Mbit broadband, £12.99/month, but a 0.5GB cap!
It’s a worrying trend that while broadband speeds are increasing, usage caps seem to be going the other way.
We’ve just got news of Freedom2surf’s latest offer - an 8Mbit service for £12.99 a month but with an astonishingly low 0.5GB usage cap.
According to Freedom2surf, there are a large number of consumers who demand a very light but speedy Internet connection.
We’re not so sure. If you’re only going to be emailing and browsing the occasional site, you’re not going to benefit much from an 8Mbit connection. This sort of speed only really becomes useful when you start downloading huge files or streaming video.
If you go over the cap, and we find it hard to be believe you won’t, extra gigabytes can be bought at a price of £1.50 each.
If you sign up to a yearly contract, the £49.99 activation fee is waived but, rather surprisingly, the monthly cost rises to £15.99. This means you’ll only actually save £13.99 over the entire year by signing up for an annual contract.
Gear4 protects the Nano from scratches as Apple addresses the problem
Ipod Nano users around the world have complained bitterly about its poor screen design, with many suffering scratched and cracked displays.
Ignoring the question of just what the hell are they doing to their Nano for it to end up in such a bad condition, Gear4 is targetting this group with its Icebox X-Clip plastic cases.
In terms of looks, they add nothing to the Nano, and it's shameful that users need to resort to such products to protect their purchase. But that's an Apple issue, and not the fault of Gear4.
There are two designs Icebox X-Clip (£15) and the Icebox X-Clip Splitter (£20), into which friends can also plug in their headphones.
But it looks like Apple may be addressing the problem anyway, with rumours of a slight design change to prevent the screen from touching a surface when it lays down flat.
Intel explains how dual core works
We all know that the future of CPUs is dual core, but if you're not sure exactly what this means or how it's going to help you, Intel has put together a short(ish) film explaining the technology's finer points.
Biased? Well of course. Not a mention of AMD dual core anywhere, but then again, would AMD talk up Intel dual core?
It stars Dominick Diamond - just to give it that techie yet cool feel, and although not as funny as Hitachi's explanation of perpendicular drives, it will fill in a few gaps in your knowlegde.
You'll find the video clip here, plus you can see how these processors compare to AMD's in our performance tests.
BenchPress
BenchPress lets you know about the latest products to the the Labs test benches.
This week so far
Sapphire Radeon X1900 Pro AGP
Seagate Monentus 5400.3 Seagate's first perpendicular hard drive.
Orange and HTC launch new push email handset
Windows Mobile handset manufacturer HTC has jointly announced a new smartphone with Orange – the SPV M600.
The big news is that it supports push email technology – this means new email will be sent direct to your handset as opposed to having to go online to check first. The SPV M600 also comes with 802.11b/g Wifi, Bluetooth and a 2megapixel camera.
Blackberry devices have been using a similar push email service for some time now and handsets such as the 7100v have proved popular with business users.
Talking of Blackberry, we’ll be posting a review of its new 8700g handset in a couple of days.
As is usually the case with HTC handsets, you’ll find the SPV M600 cropping up on other networks soon under different names, but for the moment it’s limited to Orange.
Watch out for a full review soon, but in the meantime you can read reviews of other HTC handsets here:
O2 XDA Mini (listen to the podcast)
Review: Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro 3
If you fancy yourself as something of a guitarist, and want a fuller studio sound, take a look at Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro 3.
We were impressed with the software - you can read why here.
Apple Ipod speakers with a booming price
With iPod accessories becoming a must-have for owners of Apple's music player, two very different types of speakers have been released.
The first, which we've already reviewed are Gear4's extremely small and light Pocket Party v2 speakers. They cost £25, and are aimed at anyone that wants total portability and isn't too fussy about sound quality.
They're okay, but have in our opinion one major fault - you can't change the volume, other than setting them at high or low!
The second, from Think Outside, are a lot less portable - although still small enough to transport - but have a whopping 40watts of power, which is very loud compared to the 1w Gear4 speakers.
Called the Boomtube H2O1, they are, as the name suggests, tube shaped and can be used with any mp3 player, CD player or your laptop. They're made of aluminium and include a sub-woofer.
We've no idea of the sound quality - we'll get them in, test them and let you know. But first impressions are that the price is going to be a serious drawback, because they cost a massive £170.
This puts them well above the price of every other set of travel speakers we've ever seen, some of which have pretty good sound quality.
Fuji makes noise about its high ISO
Not content with the ISO 1600 sported in its Finepix F10 and F11 digicams, Fujifilm has decided to fit its latest Finepix F30 with an ISO 3200 option.
The ISO rating basically alters the CCD’s responsiveness to light - the higher the ISO, the less light required to produce a well-exposed image. In turn, faster shutter speeds can be used to combat dreaded camera shake.
While this means you can shoot without the flash in evening shots, higher ISO ratings bring with them noisier images.
We’ll report back on just how useful an ISO3200 setting is as soon as we receive our review sample.
Wifi radio is jailbait
One of the criticisms often laid at Wifi devices is that they are too tricky for non-techies to set up. It doesn't seem to be the case with Acoustic Energy's Wifi radio reviewed here.
I'd been trying one out on my home network at a time when my wife was moving out of town to do some work. I said she could borrow my digital (meaning DAB) radio and of course she took the wrong one.
I rang her digs in the morning to tell her. "It won't work without a Wifi network," I said.
"It is working," she said.
She had inadvertently hi-jacked someone's broadband link. Says a lot for Wifi but it could have landed her in jail.
Robot does his party tricks
The simplest example was the Maron-1 robot above left (click for larger image), which is designed for security purposes. It can wander about peering at visitors and sending you pictures of them. The aim in the long run is to make HOAP-3, or his successor, able to operate autonomously. He learns how to move about in much the same way as a child, by trial and error, thanks to the use of neural networks that mimic one of the ways in which our own brains appear to work.
Fujitsu showed off some of its work in robotics at its Technology Forum in Windsor last week. The aim of the research in to create robots that can be a real help in the office and home, according to Dr Kazuo Murano, president of Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.
More impressive, though not half as pretty as his minders, was HOAP-3 (Humanoid Open Architecture Platform) pictured right while feeding... that is, while his battery was being charged. He can climb up and down stairs, do Tai Chi, write his own name, and do ceremonial Sumo wrestling stances.
He can also sit down (left) and kick a ball in a net (below right), provided it is too close even for your reporter to miss. But he was not so hot at hitting a ball with a stick, even when it is placed under his nose (bottom left). However, he is quite good at grasping objects, though his grip is not very strong.
Latest reviews: Graphics, vehicle restoration and The Matrix
EVGA Geforce 7800GTX Black Pearl
EVGA has taken one of the fastest graphics cards currently available and paired it with an impressive water cooling system. Definitely one for the enthusiast.
Restoration Manager
A great way of organising projects to strip down and rebuild your car. What’s more, it will happily run on a puny PC with a 350MHz PIII and just 64MB Ram.
The Matrix: Path of Neo
Take control of ‘The One’ and unravel the Matrix with Atari’s latest spin on the trilogy. Much like the films, as you work your way through its appeal diminishes, but for Matrix fans it’s a must.
LG's sky high contrast ratios
While Viewsonic has been wowing us with its 2ms monitor, rival LG (who makes everything from washing machines to widescreen TVs) has turned its attention to contrast ratios. Typically, higher contrast ratios allow monitors to display richer images.
Using what it calls Digital Fine Contrast (DFC), it promises it can achieve an industry high of 1600:1, which, if true, is pretty impressive.
Monitors using DFC are expected to appear next month and we’ll be getting a few of them in to test out LG’s claims.
NTL plugs P2P at 100Mbit and shows how GSM could go when it drops its guard
A few more details on NTL's trial 100Mbit/sec service. Kevin Baughan, director of network strategy, says it will be good for peer-to-peer file swapping because of optimisation by a company called Cache Logic, which ensures that you peer with a machine operating with a similar bandwidth.
P2P speeds are currently slow because they are limited to the upload speed of the source machine, which is typically 512Kbits/sec or below on a DSL link. I'm still trying to double check what the upstream bandwidth is on the NTL system but it is likely to be higher.
You may wonder why NTL is encouraging P2P, which service providers complain clogs up their systems. But rights-managed P2P can be an efficient, fair way of delivering content and is used in the BBC's iMP player, the front end of a trial service that allows you to catch up on programmes of the past week.
Pictured above (click for a larger view) are three boxes used in today's demonstration of the NTL system. The lower left box is the prototype wideband modem from Arrisi; sitting above it is a box showing what this will look like when it goes on sale; the third box is a PC.
Among the gadgets on show at the demonstration was the box pictured right, which is a home GSM base station. This is designed to capitalise on the auction, some time this year, of the DECT guard band spectrum which was originally intended to create a buffer zone between frequencies used by home hands-free phones and GSM mobiles.
The guard band is no longer needed and Ofcom has decreed that it can be sold for use in short-range, low-power communication using any standard the buyer wants to use. The GSM base station would allow an ordinary mobile to double as a hands-free phone in the home. Baughan speculated that the same system may be developed for 3G phones.
A company called Coffee Telecom plans to set up hotspots using the guard band spectrum, if it can get the rights.
50% of PCs won't run Windows Vista's new interface
According to a report just published by Jon Peddie Research (JPR), as many as 50% of PCs in use today lack the graphics horsepower to run the new Aero Glass graphical user interface that will appear in the Windows Vista operating system.
The claims are made on the basis that in 2005, 63% of PCs shipped worldwide included last-generation integrated graphics controllers that will not be powerful enough to run the advanced Vista interface. Integrat