Tech
MySpace Loses Millions Of Users In Just A Few Weeks – Could It Happen To Facebook?
March 29, 2011
Remember MySpace? Pretty much every pubescent socialite, unsigned artist or serial spammer at least had an account at some point, but the [sad] truth is, that it’s just not what it used to be. Why? It’s probably Mark Zuckerberg’s fault by taking Facebook to world domination of the social space.
The latest statistics emerging from industry analysts, as reported by the BBC, show that MySpace lost more than 10 millions users during the first two months of 2011. Considering that there was close to 110 million users in February of last year, and that figure grew worryingly close to just 60 million in the same month this year, there must be cause for concern in the MySpace headquarters.
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Edifier Luna 5 Encore iPod Dock/Speakers Review
March 28, 2011
You might be under the impression, having scoured the web for a set of iPod speakers, that anything that’s designed to be a little more than a rectangular unit of plastic and speaker cloth will cost you the contents of your wallet and maybe your whole bank account as well. However, as I have found in the past with products from Edifier, such as the “Sound To Go” Laptop Speakers and Prisma Speakers , the company provides an excellent anomaly to that sometimes infuriating trend. Put quite simply, the Edifier Luna 5 Encore iPod Dock/Speakers the furthest thing from typical for iPod speakers.
Google Nexus S Review
March 26, 2011
The Google Nexus S is here, the second ‘pure’ Android mobile phone, but how will it fare against the latest and greatest mobile handsets? When the Google Nexus One was released just over a year ago, the tech world seemed to stop for a moment to admire. It was a feat of mobile engineering, incorporating the first 1GHz processor into a smartphone, amongst other quite brilliant achievements.
It almost goes without saying that it set the benchmark for what was to come, as for the next year or so, and even now, we have been seeing a multitude of devices with the same 1GHz processors, albeit maybe with some other better technologies in there, hitting the shelves.
Only now, are we hearing of perhaps dual core, or single core with a higher clock speed, processors finding their way into smartphones. However, the world didn’t exactly respond with major demand for the ‘superphone’, and subsequently Google pulled production and adopted it as the official Android developer device.
Continue reading »O2 Delays Release Date of Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
March 25, 2011
Where there is Android, there will be delays. It’s something that owners of devices which don’t happen to be running the stock version of the platform, the Nexus One or the Nexus S, have become used to over the past few years. This time, though, it’s the hardware release date of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play thats being pushed back by a mobile network, though once again the blame lies entirely in the lap of the software.
Here’s what Sony Ericsson, the company behind the gaming-orientated smartphone, had to say on the matter:
Continue reading »BlackBerry PlayBook to Support Android Apps! Is RIM Doubting Its Tablet OS Already?
March 25, 2011
It has been rumoured for a fair while now, but in a move that might prove catastrophic for many competing Android tablets, RIM has announced that it’s forthcoming dual-core, 7-inch PlayBook tablet will indeed run Android apps, despite it running an exclusive operating system created specifically for the PlayBook, by RIM.
So what does this mean, exactly? Well, it includes native C/C++ development support, HTML5 as well as the controversial Flash platform, alongside Adobe AIR support. Put simply, this means you, as a PlayBook user, will have access to more than 200,000 Android applications, on the provision that the developers opt into the ‘quick and easy’ porting procedures.
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Ricoh CX4 Compact Digital Camera Review
March 23, 2011
Looking compact, discreet and not that much different from its CX3 predecessor the Ricoh CX4 is one of Ricoh’s latest offerings in their point-and-shoot compact camera range and from the outside it doesn’t look like anything special – Ricoh themselves have described it as “workmanlike”.
Fortunately for me and you as the reader however “workmanlike” is a pretty big overstatement as this camera has a lot more to offer than the 10-megapixel, back-illuminated and 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor featuring CX4 suggests from the outside and is in fact one of the best cameras I’ve had the pleasure of using.
Continue reading »Windows Phone 7 ‘NoDo’ Update Now Available
March 22, 2011
You may have caught my little rant the other night, or any point since, about why Windows Phone 7 just plain sucks, and a lot of my reasoning was simply because there hasn’t been enough progress since the platform burst onto the scene towards the end of last year.
Now, though, things maybe on the first step to changing, and that’s because the first major update, ‘NoDo’, is now available to most WP7 devices around the world.
Continue reading »Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 & 10.1 Android Tablets Announced – Viable iPad 2 Alternatives?
March 22, 2011
The rumours have been circling for a while now, coming further and further to the fore with each passing week, seemingly, and finally the tablet announcement is official from Samsung. It seems only a few minutes since the release of the Samsung Galaxy Tab last year, as it does with the original iPad, but already the second rendition has arrived. In two forms.
The first is the Galaxy Tab 8.9, which you guessed it… has an 8.9″ display and is the smaller of the two. Though having said that, it is only the diagonal measurement to which this applies, as both models are just .33″ thick, meaning they are indeed a single 0.01 of an inch thinner than the iPad 2, which is impressively thin itself. The larger of the two, though, is the 10.1″ inch tab, obviously the more premium model. Glad to see Samsung has steered clear of another 7-inch tablet which, let’s face it, isn’t the ideal size.
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LaCie Wireless Space Review
March 18, 2011
NAS storage isn’t hard to come by, but it usually comes at a pretty hefty price. However, combining it with a router is something seldom scene, apart from the obvious Apple Time Capsule. LaCie, though, a company often praised for its aesthetic prowess here on Zath, has come up with the Wireless Space, probably the most direct competition for the Time Capsule on the market.
Design
As with any LaCie product, one of the first thing that strikes you about the product is the design. And true to form, the LaCie Wireless Space is not a bad looker, considering it’s a router, hardly a glamorous piece of gadgetry. The smooth black plastic finish is typical of the Neil Poulten design for LaCie, as is the down-facing LED indicator which is either blue, green or red depending on the state of the power and connectivity.
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Adapt Pico Play LED Pocket Projector Review
March 17, 2011
There are no shortage of pocket projectors out there, just check Firebox.com or IWOOT for proof of that, and as is usually the case, such saturation makes it difficult to stand out. So, it does take something pretty special to compete, and taking a look at the Adapt Pico Play LED Pocket Projector at first gave very little indication of possessing such a spark. However, here is the in-depth review after having a play with the device.
Design
To look at, the device is neither especially pleasurable, nor the opposite. It’s pretty modest in its design, aesthetically speaking anyway, using a contrasting black and metallic silver case. The emphasis being on the aesthetic design there, because design incorporates more than just looks, and the curvaceous design, diminutive size and weight of the handheld projected make it great to hold, perfect to carry around. On the other hand, the plastic material it’s crafted from doesn’t feel particularly substantial, and the quality of the build is entirely questionable. That’s not to say that it feels like it will fall apart in your hand, I just wouldn’t feel save in throwing it around, is all.
Continue reading »OK, So the Zune Isn’t Quite ‘Dead’ Says Microsoft
March 16, 2011
Earlier this week we brought you news in a somewhat distastefully excited fashion that Microsoft’s Zune hardware was dead. However, Microsoft has responded to the speculation today, with promises that quite the opposite is true. Almost.
Microsoft has admitted that the Zune hardware may have come to the end of its lifespan in the form of the Zune HD, claiming that all consumer electronics at some point do. Can’t find fault with that, and the press release continues on to promise Zune fans that more apps and games are indeed coming to the platform. But that’s all the software side of things, right? And there was never any mention of that going in the can.
Continue reading »Job Listing All But Confirms Combined Microsoft-Nokia Windows Phone 7 App Marketplace?
March 15, 2011
When the news originally arrived that Nokia and Microsoft were joining forces to make Windows Phone 7 a mobile super-platform, there was a lot of talk regarding Nokia’s app eco-system known as ‘Ovi’. There are maps, widely considered one of the best mapping applications around, amongst others, which have contributed to Nokia’s, admittedly relatively small, smartphone success thus far.
Anyway, pressing on with today’s news, we can reveal that a Microsoft job posting, uncovered by WMPowerUser.com, has hinted, or at a stretch, confirmed, that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will indeed by at least partially integrated with Nokia’s offering, meaning that in at least one respect, the experience on a Nokia device will differ from, or improve on, the experience you will get on a device from another third-party, such as HTC or Samsung, two of the first to the table with WP7 devices.
Continue reading »HP TouchPad Arriving June, webOS For PC Beta This Year
March 15, 2011
Well, there’s a real double whammy of news coming out of HP headquarters on this relatively tepid Spring evening. First up is the smaller news of the HP TouchPad – the webOS touting tablet – which is now confirmed to be arriving this Summer. Early summer at that, thankfully, with June the claimed release date.
Also, we reported earlier in the week that HP wanted webOS on every Windows PC that it provides by next year, and that no appears to be on schedule with some substance, as news emerges that the beta of webOS for PC will be available to testers by the end of this year. Now that’s progress.
Continue reading »Microsoft’s Zune Media Player Hardware Dead. For Good. Finally.
March 14, 2011
How can we put this nicely? The Zune isn’t exactly… popular. There are some who defend it (I think they’re known as fanboys), but in truth it’s never been the revolutionary of say, the Apple iPod.
Now, I know many of you will be growing tiresome, if you didn’t a couple of decades ago, of the endless debate regarding Apple and Microsoft, but nobody, literally nobody, can deny that the iPod is just better than the Zune. Of ANY generation, including the Zune HD.
Continue reading »White iPhone Finally Arriving Spring 2011! But Will It Be An iPhone 4 Or 5?
March 14, 2011
A white iPhone. iPhone. White. It’s almost become a frustrating oxymoron that will never actually come to anything more than well, a promise unfulfilled given we never saw a white iPhone 4 in 2010 or even so far this year.
However, it finally looks as though the white iPhone could finally come to fruition and appear on shelves this Spring. And if my calculations are correct, it’s Spring now, so it’s arriving soon!
Continue reading »New ‘Google Circles’ Social Network To Launch Soon? Or Just Another Rumour?
March 14, 2011
It won’t be the first time, but I’m pretty sure Google will hope it will be the last, and thus the most successful, that Google might be launching a social networking site. It’s not the first time we’ve heard about this kind of possibility with rumours of a ‘Google Me’ social network in the past, so far nothing has appeared to take some sort of sizable chunk out of Facebook’s ever-increasing market share. A market share that can’t keep increasing as it continues to steam-roller the likes of Bebo, Facebook, Friendster on its path to web-world domination.
Anyway, rumour has it that Google is once again stepping into the game, with ‘Google Circles’, its latest and hopefully greatest social networking site. So far, all that the rumours suggest is that you’ll be able to share photos, videos and status messages. That’s nothing new. At all. So there must be more, or once again it will be back to the drawing board for the brains at Google as once again, nobody migrates from Facebook.
Continue reading »Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Release Date Announced
March 13, 2011
Sony has announced an official release date for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (or the Playstation Phone), which will be hitting UK stores from 31st March 2011.
When the Xperia Play is released it will come pre-installed with six games which will include Tetris, The Sims 3, Fifa 10, Bruce Lee Dragon Warriors, Star Battalion and the PSone classic Crash Bandicoot. All the games listed will be Android titles as the phone will run off Google’s Android OS, and as well as the six game listed above, there will be another 50 games that will be available from the Playstation Suite.
Continue reading »Symbian OS Getting Major User Interface Update For Late 2011 – Too Little, Too Late?
March 13, 2011
Thought Symbian was dead? I certainly did, especially when the news broke of Nokia and Microsoft’s little get-together, however the rumours circling today would appear evidence to the contrary. Whilst support for the platform must continue, it’s a little bemusing to hear talk of a complete UI refresh when it seemed all but stagnated for so long.
Marc Driessen, Nokia product manager, was the first to spill the beans in an interview with Engadget, revealing details of a previously undiscussed update scheduled for this Autumn. In truth, there has been talk of a Symbian OS UI update for some time, however considering the apparent death of the platform, you would be forgiven for assuming that the official roadmap had, in fact, been scrapped.
Continue reading »Denmark Introduces ‘Postage Stamps By Text’ – Are Smartphone Apps Next?
March 12, 2011
Given how quickly the world seems to have moved on with communication in the last few decades it is perhaps surprising that the stamp has survived, we’ve already seen here in the UK you can get Royal Mail “intelligent stamps” but the Danish Post Office have become the first in the world to begin to change the way we use stamps by replacing them with texts!
From the 1st April the Scandinavian service will be bringing in their Mobile Postage Service which looks like it could well spread to Sweden and, quite possibly, over to the UK in the near future… but how does it work?
Continue reading »BlackBerry Playbook to Feature 7Digital’s Music Service
March 12, 2011
Whenever news like this emerges, it’s far too easy to compare it to iTunes, with clichéd headlines posing the question, ‘is this the iTunes/iPad/iPhone killer?’. Well, why is that exactly? It’s obviously really, because in so many departments, Apple sets the benchmark. Particularly in the tablet and music distribution industries, Apple is dominant, revolutionary and successful to the tune of billions of dollars.
So, let’s not compare this to iTunes. Let’s not compare this to the iPad tablet just yet, let’s just tell you how it is.
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