Windows Phone 7 ‘Copy & Paste’ Update Now Coming in March? Do Microsoft Need To Speed Up Development?
Well, it wasn’t that long ago that we reported the first official Windows Phone 7 update was going to arrive at the beginning of February. Reports elsewhere suggested maybe January was a possibility, but that came and went with no such update.
It’s now being reported on tech blogs around the world that it will be March before we do see the update hitting devices, but will it actually be happening?
Continue reading »HTC To Introduce A Physical Facebook Button To Smartphones? Do We Really Need That?
Well we heard a load of rumours a couple of months back that the ‘Facebook phone’ was on the way, and I guess this is probably what they were talking about, but of course it’s not quite in the capacity we might have expected (if we actually did expect anything)
Anyway, HTC is expected to introduce a new Android device next week at the Mobile World Congress, which could of course be the follow-up to one of our current favourite handsets; the HTC Desire, or indeed not, but it is expected that it will feature a physical Facebook button for quick access to the front page of the world’s favourite social network!
Continue reading »Activision Continues To Focus On Strengths – Guitar Hero & DJ Hero Games Scrapped
Having never really been a huge fan of the title, I can hardly say that I am devastated by this news. But I know that out there, there are millions of fans who literally worshipped (and totally mastered) the Guitar Hero franchise.
However, clearly they didn’t love it enough, because a sharp decline in sales over recent years means that now, it is no more. Activision have killed it.
It’s not the only news either, Activision has also been forced to lay off a nasty slice of it’s employees as a result, which I suppose is a given considering one of the biggest projects is now dead, but on top of that, cuts are likely in the DJ Hero division, meaning more job losses no doubt, and maybe the loss of another favourite.
Continue reading »ArticleSearch iPhone App Released – Student Research Made Easy!
Almost synonymous with being a student is drinking, living off no money and reading though large amounts of old textbooks, but it is the last of these that ForeMind’s latest app for the iPhone is hoping to ease.
The ArticleSearch iPhone App essentially allows you perform simultaneous searches for academic articles across a range of sources, which not only saves you the time of having to search on a range of different engines, but also the irritating hassle of having to type all your criteria in every time.
The concept is fairly simple: you start by filling out one field (or a form for a more advanced search) and tap search which will prompt the app to gather results from the libraries, search-engines and databases that you have selected. It then displays the number of results in a nice little ‘test-tube’ graphic so you can easily see where the bulk of the results lie; to then access the specific content – which really is what you want to do – you just tap the relevant tube and the built-in web browser let’s you look at the results list and then on selection the raw text.
Continue reading »7 Year Old Kid Buys $113k Jet Fighter On eBay!
Wow. We’ve seen some pretty ridiculous stories in our time, but this has to take the biscuit, really. We all dream of being a fighter pilot in our early youth, but not many of us have it in us to achieve it.
This kid, though, has more than that. He defied his parents. He most probably defied the law, too, in order to win an eBay listing. Of a Harrier Jump T-Bird Aircraft XW269. The real thing!
Continue reading »HTC Investing $40 Million In OnLive – Cloud-Based Gaming Platform To Go Mobile?
We have covered much of the rise of the OnLive cloud gaming platform over the last year or so, and in truth it probably hasn’t taken the world by storm as much as the people behind it would have wanted.
However, it’s hardly unsurprising, it wasn’t likely that the gaming populace of the world would ditch their high-powered consoles over night and take up the offering of an unproven competitor which relies on a high-performance internet connection for all aspects of gameplay.
Continue reading »Nokia Windows Phone 7 Handset To Be Released? (Rumour)
With the Mobile World Congress just around the corner, the rumours are all over the place in the press. This one involves Nokia and Windows Phone 7, which is a little unexpected, but could potentially be quite interesting.
For years, Nokia was the dominant player in the mobile phone market, a dominance which arguably came to a stuttering halt around the same time the smartphone came to power. Nokia never really made the transition, and despite a raft of decent hardware, it has been the software, Symbian, which has come under the most scrutiny.
Whilst other platforms, such as iOS 4.2 and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) have surged to billion dollar success, Symbian has only reached such heights in Europe, and whilst financially it has probably been quite a success for Nokia, it undeniably falls short in terms of actual quality.
Continue reading »Apple iPad 2 Enters Production, But Will The Hardware Updates Be Worth Waiting For?
Unlike what was literally years of preparation leading up to the first Apple iPad announcement, the iPad 2 hasn’t had to endure such a strenuous roundup of rumour and disappointment.
However, it is approaching the time of year when Apple is to be expected to unleash the successor to it’s mighty tablet, the iPad 2.
The Wall Street Journal has today reported that the follow up to the greatest tablet of them all is going to disappoint anyone sighting a high resolution, but will make anyone happy who is simply looking for a spec-upgrade and some weight loss.
Continue reading »HP’s webOS Coming to PCs Late 2011
Well, I ended the report on the new HP TouchPad by declaring my satisfaction with the maturing ecosystem of mobile devices running webOS. Of course, that only incorporates tablets and phones, thus far, as the planned printers aren’t exactly mobile. However, HP didn’t leave it there, as it also decided that it would be a good idea to throw webOS on its PCs. And I couldn’t be happier.
HP TouchPad webOS 10-inch Tablet Announced
Well, it was always about the tablet really. webOS phones have come and gone in the past with little delight, but it’s never before been seen on a tablet. But, it’s here. The HP TouchPad is here. Running webOS, obviously, and sporting a quite honestly stunning design, it’s nothing less than a dream machine.
Size wise, it will be familiar to iPad owners being 9.7″ diagonally, and 13.7mm thick, as the rumours suggested it would be.
Inside, though, it’s a different story altogether. Running on a brand new dual core Snapdragon 1.2GHz CPU, it’s far and away more powerful than the iPad (though bear in mind it is due an upgrade soon), it has twice the memory of the Pre 2, 3 and Veer, and again, twice the storage, 16GB or 32GB being the options.
Continue reading »HP Pre 3 Announced With A 1.4GHz Qualcomm CPU
So, we’ve seen the Veer already, and now it’s time to move on to something a little more sizeable. A little more substantial. The Pre 3. Seriously, this has been more than worth waiting for, because whilst the design is pretty much identical the previous Pre, internally it’s on another level.
For starters, the big news is that it will be running on a Qualcomm CPU clocked at 1.4GHz. There’s not a lot I can say there that can’t be summed up with a excited grin, like a child at Christmas. The memory is the same again as the Pre 2 and now the Veer, though this one comes in two versions, HSPA+ and EVDO Rev A world phone, 8GB or 16GB (pretty standard).
Continue reading »HP Veer Mobile Phone Is “Small and Smart”
Well, we pretty much already knew that the Veer would be appearing today, at HP’s press event, but what we didn’t have any idea about, was the size. We posed the question earlier of whether it would be the S, M or L device being announced today, after it was leaked on the HP website earlier on that the upcoming devices were in the aforementioned flavours.
First up on the announcement timetable is of course the Veer, and it’s tiny. Like, really small. However, having said that, it’s also the first device to incorporate the Snapdragon 7230 processor, which is clocked at a reasonable 800MHz (trumps the HTC Wildfire, put it that way).
Continue reading »HP Website Spills Names of Upcoming WebOS Smartphone & Tablet Devices?
Well, there is little doubt that HP/Palm is intending to lavish us with at least one WebOS touting device at the HP event later on today, but just hours before it’s supposed to kick off, the web admins begin to run a few tests (it seems) an prematurely unveil the names of said devices.
The names Veer, Pre 3 and TouchPad were leaked just moments ago, under the ‘deals’ drop-down on the front page of the Home & Home Office section of the online store. It’s unclear as yet what each of them actually is, but the three are labelled S, M and L, in no corresponding order.
Continue reading »Win A Q-Waves Quicklink TV Kit – Watch Online TV On The Big Screen Without Wires (Competition)
Here on Zath we recently wrote about the Q-Waves Quicklink TV which is recently released product that allows you to wirelessly connect your laptop to your TV which really takes most of the hassle out of hooking up your computer to your big screen to watch online catch up TV services such as the BBC iPlayer, 4OD, Seesaw and Sky Player, afterall do you really want the cables trailing all over your living room? You know one of these times you’re just going to trip over them! Or at least I would anyway!
Well here at Zath we’ve now teamed up with Q-Waves to help make your online TV watching that bit easier by offering you the chance to win one of the Quicklink TV kits for yourself in our latest competition.
Continue reading »Amazon Kindle 3.1 Software Update Released, Brings Real Page Numbers To Latest Generation Devices
Amazon has got some good news, and some bad news for all you Kindle owners today! The good news is that if you possess a latest generation Kindle (3), Wi-Fi or 3G, then you can head over to Amazon’s website to download a brand new update for your device!
The bad news? If you happen to own a 1st or 2nd generation Kindle, or Kindle DX, then you’re unfortunately out of luck for now, as Amazon has seemingly excluded these devices from the latest update.
So what does this brand new update come with? The main talking point is the addition of real (no, really!) page numbers for many of the books that you own. For years, us early adopters have had to struggle with ‘locations’ and percentages to see where we’re at in our books, which makes it virtually impossible when someone tells us how ‘there was such a good moment on page 319′.
Continue reading »Last.FM Becomes Subscription Only For Home & Mobile Devices – Will You Pay Or Move Streaming Music Services?
Last.FM has announced that users will now require a £3 / $3 / €3 per month subscription to utilise its mobile applications on devices such as the iPhone and Android smartphones from next Tuesday, February 15th.
The service has always been free with an optional subscription available for ‘premium’ features, however, the free ad-based model that works well on the website, and will continue to do so, has not been as prominent on mobile applications.
Continue reading »BBC iPlayer iPad App Launching This Thursday, February 10th In The UK
Catch-up on demand TV services have exploded on to the scene in the past few years, and BBC’s iPlayer is undoubtedly the most popular in the UK, offering all BBC shows on the internet. The only problem for owners of a certain Apple tablet device, however, is that the iPlayer website plays back content using Flash, which of course the iPad doesn’t support. There are third party solutions and websites available, although they aren’t tailored for use on the iPad, either.
It is, therefore, an absolute pleasure to be able to tell you that BBC are launching an iPlayer app specifically for the iPad this Thursday, February 10th! We first heard news of the iPlayer service going global, via an ad-supported service, back in November last year, so it’s no surprise that there will be an app heading to the US app store too, later in the year.
Continue reading »Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Coming to Three (Four) Major Networks in the UK
There has been a sort of muted excitement surrounding the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, otherwise known as the Sony Playstation Android mobile phone. Not so much because we are waiting with bated breath for the next major commercially successful smartphone, more because we’ve been concerned for a slightly new take on what a smartphone should be.
There have been several examples of apparently quality devices not receiving the backing they might deserve from carriers here in the UK, most notably the Palm Pre 2.
Continue reading »HP TouchSmart 610 & 9300 All-In-One PCs Announced – But Can They Compete With The Apple iMac?
The consumer technology industry is notoriously prone to creating bandwagon’s on which any manufacturer who wants to get anywhere should jump. Recent examples of course are the likes of 3DTV technology, tablet’s and more specifically, touchscreens.
Touchscreen technology as a result of the sudden surge of touch smartphones has grown exponentially and the most recent capacitive displays are of quite astonishing quality when you look back a year or perhaps even less. However, capacitive doesn’t work with large screens, and amongst other things, this has been the problem with touchscreen desktops.
On top of that, of course, is the ergonomics of the whole stretching out in front of you job in order to actually use a desktop touchscreen. So, in a worryingly similar fashion to an Apple patent we saw towards the back end of 2010, HP has rolled out a pair of TouchSmart All-in-One PC’s, with a reclining mechanism, which in theory transitions the traditionally stanced PC into a relaxed touch panel, capable of providing touchscreen technology on the desktop that is actually usable to some extent.
Continue reading »Q-Waves Quicklink TV – Connect Your Laptop To Your TV Wirelessly!
There’s an awful lot of content available on our computers, with streaming media taking over the internet everywhere you look. Catch-up TV services such as BBC’s iPlayer and Sky Player have become the norm for many people wanting to get away from the constraints of watching the TV at a specific time when their favourite program is on.
The only problem with this is that in doing so, people are also shifting their big screen TV experiences on to the small screens of their computers, with tinny sound quality and other things demanding the attention of the user.
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