Google Buzz – Do We Need Another Social Network?
February 21, 2010
Well Google recently released Buzz (didn’t Yahoo do that a few years back?) upon GMail users and anyone else who wants to sign up for a Google account, but the question is will it be the thing to beat Facebook and Twitter? I’m sure Google now hopes so, but I’m yet to be convinced.
Besides, I already use Twitter and Facebook, do I really need another social network? Don’t know what I’m talking about? You can read all about it in this Google Buzz features review.
I’m really not sure about Google Buzz, it seems strange for a company who keeps services in beta for years upon end (like they did with having Google Mail in beta for around 5 years), to release a previously unheard of product onto the world…and one that seemed to care little about your privacy of the contacts that you email regularly, but that perhaps just says more about a bunch of engineers creating and testing Google Buzz and their naivety over how it could be used for more malicious activities, take a look at our most recent technology roundup for more information on that.
Continue reading »Zath’s Technology & Gadget Roundup (20/02/2010)
February 20, 2010
It’s the end of another week in the online world of hi-tech gadgets and technology blogging and as usual there’s been a lot happening out there, so here’s a quick roundup of some of the stuff that we’ve found particularly interesting this week, let us know what you think to them too!
Linux Training Week on Zath – I’m sure we’ve all heard of Linux, but for me personally it’s not something I’ve ever seriously looked at because I always assumed it wasn’t worth the hassle of installation for something that wasn’t that worthwhile, well clearly I was wrong on that one! As you can see from this useful series of articles about the Ubuntu distribution of Linux – it’s easy to setup Ubuntu, it’s an easy to use the Ubuntu interface and there’s lots of software available for Linux.
Heineken Beer-Serving Robot of the Future – oh yes that’s right, in the future we won’t need to get up from the comfort of the sofa, instead the robots will bring the beer to us! This particular robot makes for a great novelty, but it does make you wonder about the potential of robots in the future.
Buy Walkie Talkie Watches? – admittedly walkie talkies aren’t exactly hi-tech these days or even that wanted by people now we all have modern mobile phones such as the iPhone 3GS and Nexus One, but these particular ones can be strapped on your wrist and would make for great free-to-use communication devices if you like to be out in the great outdoors or perhaps having a multi-car roadtrip given they have a range of up to 5km. I just wish I had some of these back when I was a kid!
Continue reading »Windows Phone 7 Series Announced By Microsoft
February 15, 2010
Microsoft have just announced their re-branding of Windows Mobile; the Windows Phone 7 Series at the 2010 Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona. The name may be a bit of a mouthful, but it’s clear that their new mobile operating system has taken a drastically different approach than previous efforts from Windows Mobile.
Every Windows Phone will have three buttons on the front of it: Start, Search and Back. This consistency will allow for a better experience for the user with hardware and software working together better – it’s a theme that Google’s also been chasing with their Android devices (such as the Nexus One) by encouraging manufacturers to use their 4 button template on the front of their devices, offering consistency across the board. This is definitely a step in the right direction as not only does it allow hardware and software to work better together, but also allows a much easier transition between Windows Phone devices.
Continue reading »Madden American Football Game For Facebook Confirmed
February 8, 2010
EA top dog Peter Moore has confirmed that they’re to expand the Madden american football gaming franchise onto the social networking site Facebook.
There’s been no official date as to when we’ll be seeing Madden’s american football game appear on Facebook, but expect it to be a “simpler experience” in comparison the console version of the game. EA recently bought the Facebook games company Playfish for $300 million dollars so I think we can assume that this won’t be the only EA title to appear on Facebook in the near future.
Continue reading »Facebook For Microsoft Silverlight Beta Client Released
February 1, 2010
All the news this past week has been about the Apple iPad announcement, and the exclusion of Flash from the device. We all know that Flash is an integral part of browsing the web, but it faces more competition in the future, with the capabilities of HTML 5 threatening the main advantages of the platform and a certain Microsoft Silverlight, which may not make the news very often, but has certainly come on by leaps and bounds if their latest creation is anything to go by.
I’m an avid user of Facebook, but don’t always want to go to the full website to check the statuses of my friends or update my own. When I first tried out the beta of Silverlight’s Facebook client (currently in Beta), I was wowed by the stunning interface, even if there are some features that didn’t make the Beta.
Continue reading »Sony Ericsson Vivaz Mobile Phone Announced
January 26, 2010
Following the recent release on the Sony Ericsson Satio which we had the pleasure of testing here at Zath, they have announced the second instalment of their new family of ‘communication entertainment’ phones which promises to not only match, but exceed the standard set by its predecessor: the Sony Ericsson Vivaz.
Even if you didn’t know beforehand that the two mobile phones were ‘related’ just looking at the two next to each other kind of gives it away as the Vivaz looks remarkably like a slimmed down, brighter version of the comparatively blocky Satio.
This isn’t all that surprising as ‘looks’ seem to be one of the main two selling points of the Vivaz, and despite the fact that really it looks nothing like the shape of ‘the human body’ (which is what the publicity excitedly claims) the new design philosophy of ‘delivering beauty inside and out’ has succeeded as it really does look quite nice!
Continue reading »BBC Games Based On Doctor Who & Top Gear TV Shows?
January 22, 2010
The BBC are now going to try their hands in the games industry once again for some of their hit TV shows. The games that are privileged to be getting a gaming overhaul are Doctor Who, Top Gear and……….In the Night Garden amongst others.
Out of that list I can only see one game that would actually work if done correctly and that’s Doctor Who. But don’t expect to see high-def versions of these games as they will be released on iPhone, Facebook, Wii and DS.
As much as I love Top Gear I just can’t see it working as a game (perhaps you get to be Michael Schumacher as the Stig!) and as far In the Night Garden, it just again goes with what I have previously said about the Nintendo Wii (drying up) with its gimmicky games. Just by reading what platforms they’re to be released on has me thinking these are nothing more the cheap, crap money grabbing games.
Continue reading »TasteKid Review (How To Find Similar Music, Movies & Books)
January 20, 2010
Tastekid.com is a great website for anyone who is a love of music, movies and/or books and wishes to expand their library or collection with more similar artists, films or authors. I stumbled upon it whilst looking for a site that did exactly this and it was the first hit. To be honest, I have come to trust any site that hits the top of the prestigious Google rankings.
For instance in the case of music, the site is a database of all artists that are similar to the artist you enter in the search box at the top. Anyone who is a user of sites such as eBay or Amazon will know that they regularly suggest items similar to ones you have purchased before. Tastekid works in a similar fashion to this, only with music, movies and books.
Continue reading »Twitter Joke About Airport Bomb Leads To Arrest
January 18, 2010
You may remember a few years back not that long after 9/11 a man was arrested for ‘quipping’ that there was a bomb in his luggage and since then successive arrests and police presence has saw the end to any kind of terrorist-related jokes (or in fact clothing!) within spitting distance of an airport, but not within the wider world. Until now!
Frustrated by the closure of the Doncaster based ‘Robin Hood’ airport a certain Paul Chambers posted on Twitter: “Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your s**t together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!” He was shortly arrested by police under the Criminal Law act of 1977 (which presumably has something in it about threatening to blow up airports!).
In true fashion (when it comes to terrorist threats) it wasn’t just a matter of explaining the frustrated joke, following the arrest ensued six hours of questioning followed by the confiscation of both his PC and his iPhone to check whether or not there was any evidence of any plotting.
Continue reading »New Sony Bravia HD & 3D TV Range Announced (CES 2010)
January 7, 2010
As we predicted television manufacturers have already started building up the 3DTV market, as well as broadcasters such as Sky launching 3D TV services in 2010 and it is only likely to continue throughout this year and decade. Sony are no different. With their new range of Bravia TV’s announced at CES 2010 which continue their long tradition of combining style and elegance with functionality and quality.
The first enhancement they have made is with the Sony Monolithic Design Concept that is featured across the new BRAVIA range of products. It is minimalistic as well as practical. You can recline the TV to alter the viewing angle by up to 6 degrees. The screen surface is flush and it looks spectacular in my opinion as always with Sony products. What they like to call ‘monolithic design’ has been deployed throughout their new range of Bravia TV’s, Blu-Ray players and home cinema systems. Which going by the look of these new TV’s is not a bad thing at all. They’re curvaceous, spacious and absolutely stunning.
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