The big melt is our fault

A UK-led group of climate researchers claim their research has demonstrated for the first time that human activity is responsible for significant warming in both polar regions.

Rising Arctic temperatures and the accelerating retreat of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has been widely reported in scientific journals and the popular press. However, these changes have not formally been attributed to human influence because of sparse observations and natural variability… more at the SMC.

The minor parties on science

The Science Media Centre asked the leaders of the political parties ACT, the Green Party, the Maori Party , the Progressive Party and United Future to answer a series of questions on big science-related issues facing the country.

Only the Greens and United Future were able to respond to the deadline given. The comments of Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimmons and United Future leader Peter Dunne are published on the SMC website.

Science Alert: migrant mice show where we came from

Scientists are examining mice DNA here and abroad, using genetics to determine human patterns of migration over centuries of colonisation and international travel.

And it appears that New Zealand’s cultural mix has created a “genetic melting pot” of several subspecies of mice.

While the nineteenth century saw a large influx of mice to New Zealand from Britain, the genes of subspecies of our common house mice also reveal origins from eastern Europe and southern Asia.

These findings appear in two papers just published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The paper Of mice and (Viking?) men: phylogeography of British and Irish house mice can be downloaded here.

The New Zealand specific research The diverse origins of New Zealand house mice, is available here.

Local expert comment on the research at the Science Media Centre.

Science Alert: Dieting makes you fatter (when you get pregnant)

Yep, that’s right. It appears that women who diet habitually prior to becoming pregnant gain more weight during pregnancy. Repeated cycles of dieting and over-eating may distort one’s ability to perceive hunger and satiety. That’s according to new research in the Journal of the American Dietitic Association. More at the Science Media Centre and in the Dominion Post.

PODCAST: Readwriteweb in the NYT

Just noticed this piece from the Start-Up guys in the Herald about Readwriteweb.com being syndicated in the New York TImes. What a coup for the website’s Lower Hutt-based founder Richard MacManus. Here’s a recording of a presentation Richard gave about Readwriteweb at a conference in Auckland last month.

 

mcmanus

 

 

Crunch time for web radio

Ever listened to Pandora, the fantastic web-streaming radio station that learns from your music music-listening habits and suggests new music you’ll probably like? Well, Pandora hasn’t been available to most users outside the US since its owners had to pull the plug on international service when the RIAA demanding crippling royalties for streaming music worldwide. According to this article, 70 per cent of Pandora’s revenue (from advertising and monthly subscriptions) is consumed by royalty payments to the music industry). Pandora has 16 million registered users.

It’s struggled on in the US, subject to royalty rates set by congress last year and in the face of crushin gopposition from the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) who represent more traditional radio stations and see Pandora and its ilk as a major threat.

Well yesterday a bill passed in the US house of representatives that would allow lower royalty rates to be negotiated with the music industry. Pandora’s founder Tim Westergren is painting this battle as a fight for the future of web radio in general. He’s elated that the house passed the bill, but it still has to find approval in the senate in a hearing likely to happen tomorrow.

I hope Pandora triumphs. Sure, the recording industry and its artists deserve to be compensated for the music streamed to Pandora users. But web radio stations can’t be strangled before they even get off the ground. A service as useful as Pandora deserves to thrive as a global business. I’d certainly pay $10 - $20 a month for a subscription.

 

 

 

Philips TV pull-out, the politicians on ICT

A discussion with Bfm’s Imogen Neale on Philips pull-out of the Australasian TV market and the performance of the ICT spokespeople in the TVNZ7 Internet debate.

Listen here.

The other Trade Me guy

My piece on Nigel Stanford, who helped build Trade Me, Star Now, Findsomeone and is now delving into film with Rubber Monkey is now up on the Idealog website. Check it out here, Nígel is the overlooked star of the New Zealand web-devleopment scene.

NEW RESEARCH: Warmer homes help children with asthma

The nine-page paper was published today in the British Medical Journal.

The study examined 409 children in five NZ communities between the ages of 6 and 12 with diagnosed asthma, both before and after more effective heating was installed in their homes. The better heating included heat pumps, flued gas heaters or pellet burners.

Compared with children in the control group, children in the intervention group had 1.80 fewer days off school, 0.40 fewer visits to a doctor for asthma, and 0.25 fewer visits to a pharmacist for asthma.

Children in the intervention group also had fewer reports of poor health, less sleep disturbed by wheezing, less dry cough at night and reduced scores for lower respiratory tractsymptoms than children in the control group. The intervention was associated with a mean temperature rise in the livingroom of 1.10°C and in the child’s bedroom of 0.57°C.

Findings: “Non-polluting, effective heating did not significantly affect measured lung function of children with asthma but it improved wellbeing and reduced symptoms of asthma and days off school.”

For further details contact:

Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme University of Otago, Wellington. Tel: 04 918 6047 Mob:027 220 1620 Philippa.howden-chapman@otago.ac.nz

To speak to other experts on asthma or respiratory health contact the Science Media Centre on 04 499 5476 or smc@sciencemediacentre.co.nz

Melamine… and not in milk!

Scanning the shelves of Warehouse Stationery today looking for a whiteboard for the office, I was surprised to see the whiteboard’s main ingredient… yep, melamine. Looks like the Chinese got their whiteboards and what the American’s call “whitener” (powdered milk) mixed up.

Google Chrome and Telstra’s mobile play

Simon Morton and I take Google Chrome for a test drive and discuss TelstraClear’s spoiler tactic in the mobile market. Audio here…

PODCAST: Power from pond scum? You bet!

A collection of podcasts outlining the activities of New Zealand companies involved in developing clean energy technology - available to play from the Science Media Centre.

Spore, Android and iPhone pricing

On Thiswayup with Simon Morton on the tech news of the week… particularly the new Will Wright title Spore.

PODCAST: Russell Brown on building an online community

The founder of Publicaddress.net talks about the business model underpinning the country’s most successful blogging enterprise, the move into moderated comments with the Public Address System and the 1000+ posts written in the wake of the Tony Veitch scandal.

russell-brown-part-1.mp3

PODCAST: HODGSON ON SCIENCE

Science, research and technology minister Hon. Pete Hodgson admits in this address that he is in danger of viewing the science field here through “rose-tinted glasses”. After all, he’s been chiefly responsible for engineering some of the big science policy initiatives currently on the table. Still, there’s plenty of debate about whether those policies go far enough - there certainly was at my table during the awards…

hodgson-on-science.mp3

PODCAST: Young Scientist of the Year

Rebecca McLeod’s acceptance speech as Young Scientist of the Year. The University of Otago researcher found that sea floor ‘compost’ produces hydrogen sulphide which is taken up by bacteria and, through a series of chemical reactions, forest material is turned into carbohydrate energy.These bacteria live inside some species of clams and worms, providing their hosts with all the food they need. It is thought that hagfish then feed on these creatures, gaining energy that originates in the forest.

Importance of the research: McLeod’s research raises concerns that marine ecosystems have been impacted and altered by the clearance of coastal forests.

rebecca-mcleod

PODCAST: Skiing goes hi-tech

The acceptance speech and Q&A with Radio New Zealand’s Kim Hill for MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year runner-up Matthew Brodie.

Brodie, a University of Canterbury researcher, invented a system for measuring athletes’ movements in alpine ski racing using “fusion motion capture”. His work has opened the way for improved performance and ways of reducing injuries.

matthew-brodie

 

Science Alert: the science of sport

The 2008 Olympic Games are on and records are being broken all over the place. But how much faster can athletes humanly get? The SMC asked some leading New Zealand experts to share their thoughts on how Kiwi competitors are enhancing and optimising their performance at the Beijing Olympic Games this year…

Winter air pollution and the health impact

A new research paper from the University of Otago’s Christchurch-based Respiratory Research Group suggests:

- Staying inside on smoggy days doesn’t save you from pollution - research showed little difference in the concentrations of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 particulates between indoors and outdoors.

- A small decrease in lung function during high pollution days was detected in boys with asthma (of the sample of 93 male secondary students boarding at Christ’s College, 26 had asthma).

- Exposure to wood smoke pollution can be directly measured in urine (increase in 1-hydroxpyrene levels during high pollution days).

Smile! You’re on Streetview!

My Thiswayup conversation with Simon Morton today was on Google Streetview, which this week came to Australia and not without some low-level controversy. Japan went live with Streetview as well. Most of the faces I’ve seen (and there are generally a lot to be seen on Japanese streets) are blurred, but many aren’t. It seems the software used to detect faces and blur them doesn’t do so well when people aren’t looking squarely in the direction of the camera.

I love the service, but the privacy implications are considerable. I can really see Streetview being used by wouldbe burlars to scope out neighbourhoods looking for weak security systems and telltale signs of an easy score… I hope I’m being paranoid.

Genetic modification rules under the spotlight

An interesting two-parter on Bfm this week with the chairman of the Life Sciences Network, Dr William Rolleston opposing any tightening up of rules around genetic modification and a rebuttal of his views from Greens co-leader Jeannette Fitzsimmons. Worth a listen…

Jetpacks, climate change and IVF on Bfm

Talking to Imogen Neale on Bfm’s The Wire show about what’s making the headlines this week in the world of science and technology.

shopping for TVs with Simon Morton

LCD vs plasma, HDMI and DVI, Blu-ray and Freeview HD… I went TV shopping with Radio New Zealand’s Simon Morton… here’s the results.

Science Alert: 30 years of In Vitro Fertilisation

Three decades ago today, on 25 July 1978, Louise Brown, the world’s first ‘test-tube’ baby was born. We asked New Zealand reproductive health experts to reflect on how far the science has come, and what may lie ahead.

John Hutton, Reproductive Medicine Specialist, Fertility Associates Wellington and University of Otago Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences said:

“The birth of Louise Brown just before midnight on the 25th July 1978 was an epoch event in the history of medicine, dramatically signifying the ability of our civilization to be able to take an egg from a woman, fertilise it in a test tube, grow it for a few days, replace it in the uterus and then have a healthy baby.

Since then, the growth of IVF has been phenomenal, and at least 200,000 IVF babies were born worldwide last year. In New Zealand, more than 1% of babies born last year were the result of IVF, and more than 1000 families integrated in to our society – surely better than not fulfilling your dream of a family.

This phenomenal growth has occurred because IVF has become more successful. Today, there is a >50% chance of a birth with the initial IVF, provided the woman is aged <37 years. Also, the indications for IVF now include prenatal genetic diagnosis (as IVF has embraced the new genetic technologies) as well as aging diseases such as cancer and endometriosis. In New Zealand, like other developed countries, women and men are now delaying their family well beyond their most fertile years, thereby increasing the demand for IVF.

But the fact that the natural occurrence of fertilisation of a human egg and sperm could occur unnaturally has spurred 30 years of controversy – there has been much ethical, moral and legal debate and definitions such as “family” have been questioned. Various countries including New Zealand have introduced laws to constrain the health professionals and scientists helping men and women have a healthy baby – and some of these rules have been dictated by fears rather than facts.

Whilst there have been problems during the last 30 years with the application of the technology such as too many multiple pregnancies and the occasional baby affected by chemicals early in its development in the laboratory, lessons have been learned, changes have been made and success improved – surely the best health audit circle.

And in the next 30 years, the new genetic technologies will improve the success of IVF and issues such as cloning will become accepted. The indications for IVF will also change, hopefully in part by our society changing so that reproduction occurs in younger men and women. It is, however, unlikely that by 2038 science will conquer the aging effects of egg and sperm, and diseases such as cancer and endometriosis.

Although today, 3.5million young folk have reason to celebrate Louise’s birth, in 30 years time there will be at least a further 6 million birthdays of other IVF beneficiaries.”

Wayne Gillett, Infertility Specialist, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago said:

“In 1978 I began my own specialist training in this field, so the anniversary has special significance for me.

IVF has revolutionised the treatment of infertility. It is the dominant and most effective treatment for infertility. In New Zealand, however, there are significant gaps in access to treatment, simply from the limited funding directed towards those who would benefit. By contrast, in Australia there is unlimited access.

Much of the last 10 years has been directed towards improving the safety aspects of IVF. Nowadays multiple pregnancy is avoided.

The next 5 years will see continuing improvements in IVF delivery including embryo and host environmental factors that control implantation. In vitro maturation of oocytes is an emerging technology that has shown early promise with its main advantage in the avoidance of hyperstimulation and its consequences.

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is also in its infancy in the routine management of female infertility. Although aneuploidy screening would seem to be valuable in older women, recurrent miscarriage and recurrent IVF failure, its routine use is yet unproven. In the next 5 years I would expect the assessment of embryo health to make significant advances. There is a rapidly evolving science that will enable advanced screening methods to select embryos with a molecular and morphological phenotype that promote successful development.”

Professor Cindy Farquhar. Postgraduate Professor of Obstetics & Gynaecology at the University of Auckland and trustee of the Nurture Foundation said:

“The arrival of in vitro fertilisation and assisted reproductive technologies 30 years ago was probably one of the greatest achievements for the latter part of the 20th century. It has made a huge difference to the many couples affected by infertility opening the way for childless couples to become parents.

“Prior to this time women were considered sterile if they had blocked tubes and there was little that we could do. At that time the success rates were very low (about 10%) but now most clinics report a live birth rate per started cycle of between 30 to 40% and if women (<40 years old) are able to complete 3 cycles of treatment then the likelihood of a baby at the end of 3 cycles is 70%.

“One of the drawbacks of treatment has been the increased multiple pregnancy rates of nearly 30% but this has now improved with the approach of replacing only one embryo at a time. The safety of the treatment has also increased with the use of less ovarian stimulation and shorter protocols. All in all, the arrival of IVF 30 years ago has provided many childless families with great hope.”

Neil Johnson, Associate Professor and Consultant in Obstetrics & Gynaecology Medical Director of Fertility Plus, Green Lane Clinical Centre, said:

“Can Louise Brown really be turning 30 years old?

“Although I was only a teenager at the time of her birth, the event stands out in my mind as something remarkable. The achievement of Patrick Steptoe and Bob Edwards with Louise’s mother Lesley was surely one of the most dramatic breakthroughs in the whole of medical science in the 20th century. In the entire field of medicine, there can be no greater wonder than the occurrence of a human life that would not otherwise have occurred!

“Thirty years have passed since the many lead up years of experimentation, frustration and innovation that led to Louise’s unprecedented birth. And we now have a new millennium of exponential progress. Fine tuning and mini-breakthroughs have now led to a treatment that enjoys high success rates: improving stimulation protocols, embryological laboratory expertise, ICSI microinjection that transformed male factor infertility overnight, PGD where the miraculous taking of a ‘cell or two’ from an embryo can give astonishingly accurate preimplantation genetic diagnosis, now even the plausibility of egg freezing. There have been disappointments and treatments that are unlikely to have wide applicability such as in vitro maturation (IVM) and ovarian tissue cryopreservation. Those that have challenged our morals and ethics, such as embryo stem cell research. And arguably some unsavoury developments, such as sex selection.

“There is virtually no-one who cannot now become parents. However in this age of so many opportunities, and as we celebrate success in infertility treatment, still a substantial minority of couples and individuals remain unsuccessful in their fertility quest – for many varied reasons. One of our biggest challenges is to assist these couples and individuals with making sure they have explored all options and, if so and if still unsuccessful, to assist them to manage the profound emotions associated with this in as dignified a way as possible.

“Furthermore, as we reflect on the advancement of hi-tech fertility treatment, we must not overlook the simpler, less invasive treatments. Our lipiodol research that has led to the development of a newly available treatment that has provided the ‘missing ingredient’ for many couples who had been unsuccessful with all other treatments (often including IVF/ICSI) is the classic example of this. At Fertility Plus, we have always been keen to individualise care to individuals’ and couples’ requirements and wishes. Whilst we pride ourselves on offering IVF/ICSI of the highest standard, shudder to think that we should ever become an ‘IVF conveyor belt’.

“So Louise, we salute you for allowing your life to become one of public interest – this has brought hope and inspiration to all those with infertility. Happy 30th birthday!

We have also put together a background paper on IVF, which is available in the Science Bytes section of the website.

To speak to any of the scientists quoted about or to find more information about IVF, please contact the Science Media Centre on 04 499 5476 or smc@sciencemediacentre.co.nz

Talking science on Mediawatch

I had a interview with Jeremy Rose on Radio New Zealand’s Mediawatch programme yesterday talking science coverage in the New Zealand media and where the Science Media Centre will play a role in helping, as RNZ put it, “hacks handle science”. You can listen to the piece here (you’ll have to skip past the piece on Tony Veitch who I met once at a party and didn’t seem like the type…)

D-day for scientists

The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, through which Government issues funding to CRIs, universities and private companies, released details of its latest funding round today. Scientists depend on this funding to keep their projects alive and get new ones of the ground, so there will be some celebrating going on today and a fair measure of anguish as some projects find no money forthcoming…

More info on the funding on the Science Media Centre website…

SMC Alert: Exerts respond on climate change

The Royal Society of New Zealand has today released a statement on climate change. The statement says that the globe is warming because of increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Measurements show that greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are well above levels seen for many thousands of years. Further global climate changes are predicted and the impact is expected to become more costly as time progresses. Reducing the future impact of climate change will require substantial reductions of net emissions of greenhouse gases. Major international policy changes would be required to deliver these reductions. The full text of the report can be found here… the SMC rounded up comment from other scientists here.

SMC in the Otago Daily Times

Journalists in New Zealand and around the world have a new resource to help them unravel the often complex world of science.

The New Zealand Science Media Centre was launched last week to link journalists to science experts, manager Peter Griffin told a science communicators conference in Dunedin yesterday.

The Wellington-based centre, which has received $1.3 million in funding over four years from the Ministry for Science, Research and Technology, is managed by the Royal Society of New Zealand… (more).

Lotto goes online

I have a very schizophrenic relationship with the national lottery which we all know better as Lotto.

I buy the occasional ticket but more often than not, staggering out of the supermarket weighed down with plastic bags, I can’t be bothered queuing at the Lotto desk and simply flag the weekly gamble. That’s not a great get-rich strategy. After all, you have to be in to win, however slim the chances of hitting the jackpot and becoming a millionaire really are.

That’s why I have mixed feelings about the launch of MyLotto, which launched today. It makes buying a Lotto ticket as easy as transferring money between bank accounts with online banking. I will undoubtedly spend more money gambling as a result of MyLotto than I did before its availability.

This morning I spent $9 to buy a Lucky Dip ticket for Saturday’s Lotto draw. It was so easy I’d do it again. Registering for the first time takes a bit of effort and for the first time ever (other than for online banking) I was asked to enter my bank account number online… (read in full)

MySky HD preview

The fruits of more than $65 million of investment in digital TV production will be on show for viewers from early July, when pay TV operator Sky launches its new high-definition satellite service and a successor to the MySky digital recorder.

Sky will broadcast Sky Sport 1 and Sky Sport 2, Sky Movies and Sky Movies Greats in high-definition, allowing subscribers with Sky’s new MySky HD set-top box and a high-definition TV screen to receive a better quality picture than DVD and surround sound on those channels.

Sky has not yet released pricing details for the MySky HD receiver which is needed to receive the service. Sky spokesman Tony O’Brien said it will be offered on the same terms of contract as the existing MySky box and that a “compelling arrangement” would be on offer for existing MySky users looking to upgrade.

For an upfront fee of $600, current MySky users rent a receiver and hard drive recorder from Sky but never actually own the box. Sky reclaims it if a subscription is cancelled. Sky has more than 720,000 subscribers, but only 31,000 are MySky users.

A major revamp of the MySky box by set-top box maker Pace has seen little change to the look of it but its components have been updated to allow for pictures to be displayed in 720p and 1080i high-definition formats.

“Black is the new silver,” said Sky’s strategic project specialist, Wayne Tibby, of the new black box.

The digital recorder’s 320GB hard drive allows around 30 hours of recording of high-definition content or 90 hours of standard-quality TV. It will have four TV tuners, allowing three channels to be recorded simultaneously while another is being viewed.

But O’Brien said that function would come a few months after the July launch as a major software upgrade was needed to increase the TV tuner capability. In the meantime, MySky HD converts will be able to record while they view another channel.

The electronic programming guide has been revamped and features allowing viewers to pause live TV, skip through adverts and reverse and fast-forward through programmes are still key features.

A remote booking service allowing subscribers to schedule recordings via a web browser while away from the home would also debut after the launch, and later in the year scheduling recordings via text message from a mobile phone would be possible.

MySky HD users will need to have a high-definition TV screen that’s compatible with HDCP (high-definition digital content protection), a standard the consumer electronics industry introduced to crack down on content piracy.

“Pretty much any high-definition TVs in the shops sold in the last two to three years will meet requirements,” said Tibby.

Sky will broadcast several hundred hours of high-definition sports content each month to MySky HD users and O’Brien said two-thirds of movies would be HD, with the proportion quickly increasing to 90 per cent.

The high-definition content coming via satellite from international sources and from local broadcast units is fed into a new high-definition production and editing suite built at Sky’s Ellerslie headquarters.

MySky HD was developed in conjunction with Sky’s Australian sister company Foxtel, which will sell the same box under the iQ2 banner. But that’s where the co-operation ends.

O’Brien said the New Zealand high-definition launch was not timed to coincide with Foxtel’s Australian HD launch and while Foxtel will broadcast the BBC, Discovery Channel and National Geographic in high-definition, Sky has not indicated it will do likewise.

Freeview claimed the title of being the country’s first high-definition broadcaster when in April it began a high-definition service beamed from broadcast towers throughout the country.

Freeview general manager Steve Browning declined to reveal how many people had purchased the high-definition receiver needed to receive the free-to-air service.

Four TV makers had HD TV screens with integrated tuners capable of receiving the Freeview HD service in “various stages of the certification process”, said Browning.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

* MySky HD will debut in early July and is needed to receive HD content broadcast on SKY Sport 1 and SKY Sport 2, SKY Movies and SKY Movies Greats.

* The digital recorder will have a 320GB hard drive, four tuners for simultaneous recording of channels, an HDMI connection and an ethernet connection for a possible video on demand service over broadband.

* Sky subscribers will rent the MySky HD box from Sky.

Around the lounge

Anyone with a Playstation 3 console will know that it also makes a fairly good media server for the lounge. Not only does it play games and Blu-ray movies, but stores your videos, music and photos and connects wirelessly to laptops running Windows Media Player to stream the media files stored on those other devices. But many families aren’t interested in gaming so just want a device that caters to their desire to listen to music and watch videos. Enter the Sony HS1 Home Media Centre. It too has the networking capable of allowing it to be connected to a PS3 and your laptops, but with 1TB (terabyte) of storage, that’s 1000 gigabytes, it’s also a powerful media centre in its own right. It can play a range of audio and video file formats, including high definition and can connect to your home network wirelessly or via an Ethernet connection. Under the panel at the front you’ll find ports for media cards so you can transfer photos and music files straight to the HS1’s hard drive. Released in Japan this month.

Price: US$570 to US$760

The wireless jukebox

In the same vein as the HS1 is the horribly titled WACS7500 from rival Philips. Many devices designed to shift your music around the home wirelessly depend on you already having a Hi-Fi system. Not so the 7500. It consists of  two devices, a central console, which is effectively a stereo with speakers, subwoofer and amplifier, an 80GB hard drive and a top-loading CD player, which can be used to rip CDs to the hard drive. The second device is a stripped down unit, designed to receive music wirelessly from the central console. But it still acts as a fully functioning stereo so you’re not compromising on audio quality in the second room you choose to place the satellite unit. A nice black finish and digital display graces both units.

Price: 700 pounds (released in Europe this month)

Apple & Google phone in the news

Griffin’s Gadgets has been quiet for an unacceptably long period of time by blogging standards - over a month! I’ve nevertheless been busy on some creative projects, at least one of which will hopefully bear fruit in the coming months. In the meantime here’s a wrap of some of the stuff I’ve been writing in the “mainstream media”. Ironically, my last post was on the eve of the iPhone’s debut in the US. So much has happened since then…

The gPhone is in the works

Tomorrow’s World in the Herald on Sunday
If there was any doubt that internet search giant Google has its heart set on dominating the mobile phone industry the way it has the internet, it was well and truly snuffed out last week.

Not only was Google instrumental in winning concessions in the rules of an upcoming auction in the US of radio spectrum that will guarantee that any device or service can be used on that spectrum, but Google has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into developing mobile phone designs.

Whether Google will, in the next few years, go head to head with AT and T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile to construct a mobile network in the US is far from clear. To do so would be horrendously expensive, even for a cash-rich behemoth like Google. It would need to be successful in grabbing a slice of the airwaves in the upcoming auction, and it hasn’t indicated yet whether it will participate.

Last week I reviewed Apple’s iPhone which, with its touch screen and intuitive user interface, is a game-changing device. By as early as next year, if rumours of Google’s tie-ups with Taiwanese hardware makers are correct, the gPhone could be on the market, offering even more compelling functionality.

After all, applications like Google Search, Maps, Talk, Gmail and Documents have been adopted by millions of web users around the world. While many of those people are using Google on their mobile phones, a handset designed to deliver the best Google experience would be very powerful. (The image left is a leaked pic of what is reported to be a mobile phone user interface designed by Google engineers).

If the risk of over-extending itself in the mobile space is a real one for Google, the rewards for going mobile are also very real. The US mobile phone advertising market was worth US$1.5 billion last year and is expected to reach US$14 billion by 2011, says research company eMarketer.

I very rarely click on adverts displayed on the Google search engine or to the right of my messages in Gmail, Google’s free email service. But I’d be much more likely to click on an advertising link on my mobile phone that throws up results based not only on what I punch into Google’s search engine, but also on my physical location. Maybe I could type in “movie sessions” and a group of links to movies showing in the next few hours at inner-city Auckland theatres would appear, because I am standing on Queen St. That would be very useful.

I use Gmail on my Harrier smartphone, but if I could use a phone to have Google Talk chat sessions and to access Google Documents in a nice way, I’d consider switching.

While Google has prototypes of its own phones in the works, it also appears that it is developing software and hardware standards that it will encourage mobile handset makers to adopt. If early reports are accurate, the standards have a heavy weighting towards mobile internet access, with recommendations that handset makers build Wi-fi and 3G high-speed data access into their phones. Google is also said to be working on an internet browser for mobile phones.

Google’s business model has always rested on free services, but supporting them with advertising is a highly lucrative strategy. Would a “gPhone” allow free calling and internet access but require you to listen to or watch adverts? It’s not out of the question and would turn the existing mobile billing model on its ear. Will Google and Apple steamroller the traditional mobile heavyweights Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson? Unlikely, but they’ll certainly get a run for their money in the next couple of years if the gPhone comes to life.

Apple iPhone first look review - 8/10

Tomorrow’s World in the Herald on Sunday

I’ve finally had some decent hands-on time with the Apple iPhone, the music player cum phone released on June 29 in one of the most anticipated product debuts in history.

Much of the hype has turned out to be true. The iPhone is simply a fantastic little gadget. I probably wouldn’t be inclined to buy one myself, having recently acquired a stand-alone iPod, but I’m excited about what the gadget, selling for NZ$653-$818 depending on storage allowance, means for the mobile phone design of other companies now clambering to catch up.

My reservations about the iPhone’s touch-screen, the only form of interaction with the phone (there being very few buttons to push) began to evaporate as I started tapping icons and punching in web addresses on the iPhone’s virtual keyboard. I’ve been a keen user of touch screens for years, from the Palm Pilot, to a range of Windows-based smart phones, to the likes of Sony Ericsson’s P800.

All those phones required a little plastic pen to tap on the screen with precision. Not so the iPhone. The icons on the menu screen are big enough to be tapped with your finger and the keys on the virtual keyboard enlarge as your finger hovers over them allowing for surprisingly easy typing.

The iPhone is really an entertainment device first and foremost. It will appeal to people who want good messaging options, the ability to do some light web browsing, listen to music on the move and make phone calls.

You can’t now use the iPhone with a Vodafone or Telecom mobile account as American network operator AT and T stitched up an exclusive deal for the iPhone’s release in the US. Instead, people have hacked the iPod to unlock all of its functions bar the mobile calling. That means you can surf the web on the iPhone using its wi-fi connection, if you are in range of a wireless hotspot. That’s a surprisingly seamless experience.

The iPhone uses the Safari browser Apple Mac owners will be familiar with and has a couple of great features that make surfing the web on the iPhone better than on any other phone I’ve used. You can navigate full-sized web pages simply by dragging your finger around the screen and by pinching your fingers together or spreading them out, zoom in and out. The iPhone senses when you tilt it on its side, so will change the layout of the screen to landscape, automatically giving you a better view of web pages and pictures.

The email suite is pretty smart, allowing you to set up inboxes for multiple email accounts. The fonts and icons look crisp on the large screen and the camera takes reasonable-quality digital photos as long as there is good light.

Then there’s the music player function, which has been cleverly adapted for the phone. Again, your finger does the navigating. You can skip through your songs and albums quickly, just by tapping the screen.

The real test of the iPhone will be how it ages, how, after constant fingering over months or years, that touch screen holds up. I know people who are still happily using first and second generation iPods. Will the iPhone have that staying power and, therefore, the value for money?

What I’m looking forward to is the response from the traditional mobile heavyweights to the iPhone. Apple has proven that the touch screen can act effectively as the sole form of interaction with a phone. The mobile phone makers are sure to follow.

I should point out my Herald blog posting on the iPhone which I wrote in the lead-up to the iPhone launch and suggested that people should forget about the iPhone and look at some of the other decent smartphones on the market. That piece, which sparked a pretty big mailbag of responses from readers (which is always good) was in response to the unbelievable hype that had built up around the phone and was meant to be slightly antagonistic. Still, my advice remains the same, given the iPhone’s absence from our market.

Google muscles in on mobile

from New Zealand Herald

We have a little Government radio spectrum auction coming up in December that will sell access to some highly sought-after radio frequencies so new services such as wireless broadband can be offered.That will raise a reasonable sum for the Government, maybe tens of millions of dollars.

But just wait for the frenzy the auction of 700Mhz radio spectrum in the US will generate.Payments for that spectrum - seen as the “last beachfront property” in the US wireless space, as most of the other appropriate frequencies are already in use - are expected to total upwards of US$15 billion ($19.9 billion).

We haven’t seen that sort of money on the table since the European 3G auctions, which sent more than one mobile player bankrupt.

And if there wasn’t enough competition for the airwaves from traditional US mobile players such as Verizon and Sprint, internet giant Google has also given a strong indication that it will join the bidding.

That has no doubt struck fear into the mobile industry, whose collective pockets are nowhere near as deep as Google’s, with its US$160 billion market capitalisation.

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday bowed to the lobbying of Google, which was demanding that a good portion of the spectrum sold in the auction be used to support any device or service desired by the consumer.

Traditionally, the successful bidders in spectrum auctions have been able to tightly control what their customers can use.

This has largely determined over the past 15 years what mobile operator a customer chooses to sign up to.

Now Google, whose allegiances lie not with the network operators but with the consumers who use its search engine, wants mobile phone networks to be treated with the flexibility the internet offers. Bring along any compatible mobile phone and, in theory, you’ll be able to use any service on offer.
On the web, you can pretty much do this now.

Internet providers sell access to the pipe that connects you to the internet but unless you’re illegally downloading thousands of movies or albums, making you what’s known in the industry as a “bandwidth leech”, you are generally left to your own devices.

Contrast this with the mobile operators, which do their best to keep you in a walled-garden of content offerings.

Vodafone Live is the best example of this approach.While most mobile operators now sell straight internet access, they also package up services to make it more attractive to buy what they decide to offer - whether that be ringtone downloads, streaming TV feeds or news alerts.

Google is trying to offer better access to the services its business relies on, and in this area it sees the wireless providers and their walled gardens as the enemy.

The hostility between Google and the mobile industry was no more obvious than at the 3GSM mobile industry show in Barcelona this year, where several mobile operators said they’d rather work together to build their own alternative search engine for mobile phones than use Google’s.

The tension springs from the fact that everyone knows that mobile search is the next major form of advertising revenue.

The location-sensing power of mobile phones mean search engine results can be tailored to your actual location, giving more targeted results than you would get from using the Google search engine on your home computer.

With those location-based services in mind, Google has been building a free city-wide Wi-Fi networks in San Francisco and Mountain View, California, to give people in those areas better, unimpeded access to the internet.

It also struck a deal with mobile operator Sprint to offer Google applications on Sprint’s WiMAX wireless broadband service.

With its acquisition of the YouTube video-sharing website, and already the biggest search engine provider in the world, Google’s success depends on its customers being able to gain access to enough bandwidth to use its services, and preferably from mobile devices.

For that reason, an increasingly realistic scenario would see Google buy radio spectrum and build its own mobile network.

On the other hand, it may be a bluff to extract better co-operation from the mobile industry. Either way, the mobile landscape is irreversibly shifting and Google, with its desire to take internet search mobile, is driving the change.

Kiwi businessmen sum up the iPhone

from the New Zealand Herald

New Zealand’s first iPhone owners are globe-trotting technology entrepreneurs who see business opportunities for themselves in Apple’s sought-after gadget.

Tech sector veterans and regular visitors to the US, Steve Simms and Derek and Geoffrey Handley, picked up iPhones after the combined phone and music player was launched last week.

While the three share an interest in gadgets, their iPhone purchases also fall into the category of market research - they may soon be tailoring services to meet the new gadget’s requirements.

The three will not be able to use their phones on the local Telecom or Vodafone networks as they signed up to exclusive contacts with US operator AT&T.

Hackers are already working on ways to bypass the exclusivity deal so that the iPhone can be used on any GSM network.Simms is the founder of Wi-Fi hotspot service provider Tomizone, which allows you to turn your wireless internet connection into a commercial service, selling access to others with Tomizone providing the back-end billing functions.

The iPhone has Wi-Fi connectivity built into it, allowing users to surf the web from wireless hotspots.

Derek Handley’s (pictured left) company, The Hyperfactory, designs and hosts internet-based advertising and branding campaigns for companies with a focus on the mobile internet delivered to phones.

If his clients take an interest in the iPhone, Handley will have to adapt services to suit its format and the Safari web browser that is used by iPhone owners to access the internet.

Still in their honeymoon phase with the most desired of gadgets, Simms and Handley suggest the iPhone lives up to much of the hype.

“It has a really slick interface, beautifully silky,” said Handley, who was also impressed with the iPhone’s suite of applications.

“There’s a nice Google Maps function, you can get directions to go places. There’s a very cool YouTube widget for streaming YouTube videos.

“It’s not some old stylus thing or one-touch wonder. I’m talking Minority Report styling. Touch the screen with one or more fingers, pinch or expand photos and websites. It’s cool,” said Simms, who was given his iPhone by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The pair share a passion for the geeky sport of Segway Polo.

But it’s not all praise from New Zealand’s first iPhone owners.

Simms (pictured left) picked out Apple’s “dumb exclusivity deal” with AT and T which limits use of the iPhone to one mobile network in the US. The model is likely to be replicated around the world, with Apple rumoured to be in the final stages of negotiating a worldwide deal for the iPhone with Vodafone.

“The keypad is crap, it will never replace the Blackberry,” said Handley.

“The browsing experience is designed for Wi-Fi and Edge, not 3G.

“Handley admits that Hyperfactory’s philosophy for how the mobile internet should be presented to users differs from that of Apple boss Steve Jobs.”He thinks that the [regular] internet 100 per cent on the go is the way forward, but no one goes from Wi-Fi spot to Wi-Fi spot. Things need to be designed for the mobile internet,” said Handley.

“When you get to a mobile internet site on [the iPhone], it treats it like a web page, which is completely unworkable,” he added.

With his business case resting on the availability of Wi-Fi internet hotspots and devices that can connect to them, Simms naturally has a different view.

“Wi-Fi is massive on this, a great call by Apple not to get painted into a corner with the 3G argument,” he said.

“The ease of use for Wi-Fi in the iPhone is a dream and in the field its faster and cheaper than 3G any day.

“Both Simms and Handley saw plenty of opportunity to develop their offerings for the iPhone.

“Our opportunity is to take advantage of their stubbornness and their view of the mobile world and render content in a much smarter way, recognising the Safari operating system,” said Handley.

“We are looking for a widget for the iPhone that will auto-detect and log in to a Tomizone hotspot or any other hotspot you are registered with,”said Simms. “My guys will be figuring that out shortly.”

Locked out

• Apple’s iPhone cannot be used on the Vodafone or Telecom networks, but can be used outside the US where AT and T has roaming coverage. International charges apply.
• iPhone owners have to sign up to mobile plans starting at US$60 ($76) a month, locking them into a service contract for two years or more.
• Hackers are working to crack the lock-in technology that prevents the phones from working with sim cards from other mobile network operators.
• No date has been given for the iPhone’s arrival on the market here, however Apple is rumoured to be in discussions with Vodafone for a worldwide partnership to launch the iPhone where Vodafone has subsidiaries.

Reviews: The official Freeview receivers

by Peter Griffin | from the New Zealand Herald

Digital satellite TV operator Freeview admits a “stuff-up” with its flagship brand of set-top boxes marred the service’s launch, but says the technical glitches are now behind it.

Freeview general manager Steve Browning said it was too early to give accurate Freeview sales figures and that a clear picture of usage patterns would not emerge until ratings company ACNielsen began collecting viewer-trend information for the platform.

Technical problems with one of the two Freeview-approved set-top boxes led to many having to be returned by customers, while other glitches were able to be fixed with an over-the-air software update from the Optus D1 satellite.

Browning said new channels, such as the family and 24-hour news channels in the works at TVNZ, would make the Freeview proposition more attractive. He had also been talking with radio-station operators who were struggling to find sufficient FM radio frequencies to expand their services and were considering Freeview as an alternative platform.

Despite issues with the Zinwell set-top box, Browning said it was the more popular of the two currently selling in stores. He put that down to the presence of an RF (radio frequency) connector on the back of the Zinwell box, which gives users the option of plugging it directly into the aerial socket on their TV sets.

However, most users are connecting their set-top boxes via AV (audio-visual) cables as they offer a better signal. AV connections are standard on all but the oldest of TV sets.

The Business Herald took a look at the two official digital set-top boxes on the market.

Hills Satellite Receiver

Price: $299

Herald rating: 7/10 What strikes you about the Hills set-top box is how small it is compared to its Zinwell rival.

The Hills receiver has a profile similar to that of the slim-line PlayStation 2 console and like the PS2 can be positioned vertically to save space. Hills uses a European Scart connection to link the receiver to the TV’s AV (audio-visual) inputs.

There are two Scart connections, one for the TV and one to feed the signal to a VCR or digital recorder. I’m not a big fan of Scart cables, but they seem to work fine here. Set-up was a breeze - I simply plugged the satellite lead coming from the wall into the Hills box, connected the Scart cable to my TV, plugged in the power cable and was away.

The Hills logo pops up on your TV screen when you first boot up the receiver and set the TV to an AV channel. An online menu then appears and asks you to set your geographical region.

Tuning of the channels is automatic. A screen showed me the signal strength of the satellite feed - virtually 100 per cent on the Hills bar graph. I exited the menu and was greeted by a crystal-clear TV One. The channels were listed in order, one through five, the latter being Maori TV and channel 20 reserved for V8 Supercar coverage.

A basic four-digit display on the front of the Hills box tells you what channel you are on. Button functionality on the receiver itself is minimal, with the remote control and electronic menu system favoured for adjusting settings.

The menu and eight-day electronic programming guide are simply laid out and straightforward to use.

While the Hills box does everything advertised well, it’s slightly lacking in the aesthetics department. The box is made of standard silver and white plastic, and the remote control has a gaudy, plastic feel to it.

Again, the comparison with the PS2 comes in handy. That is a device that with a DVD drive and computer processor, is much more sophisticated than the Hills receiver. Yet it looks much better and sells for $220.

At least you can tuck the Hills receiver away out of sight.

Zinwell Satellite Receiver

Price: $299

Herald rating: 5/10

The Zinwell receiver has a larger form factor than its Hills rival, although it performs almost the exact same set of functions.

The most obvious differences between the two are discovered when you look at the rear of the Zinwell box - it has more options when it comes to connectivity, notably the RF connector mentioned above. The presence of standard composite video and component connectors give you better options when it comes to cabling.

Again, set-up was simple. The menu screen asked me to set my region and then automatically found the channels for me.

That is where things started to go wrong: the Zinwell box failed to pick up channels 3 and 4. After repeating the process several times I gave up and rang Zinwell service agent Next Electronics. I was sent an email with instructions on how to manually tune the channels. However, following those instructions failed to produce anything.

“If you still cannot receive the missing channels, after manual tuning, then your antenna dish and LNB most likely needs professional alignment by an accredited installer,” an email from Next stated.

That was despite the Hills receiver and my Sky receiver, which connect to the same Optus D1 satellite, picking up all channels. It seems my Zinwell receiver hadn’t picked up the over-the-air software upgrade that was issued to fix the initial glitches with the box.

The Zinwell receiver does have the additional options of programmable timers and favourite channel lists.

But again, the box seems pricey for its basic functionality and the average quality of the hardware and remote. Hardware this common around the world should be cheaper and glitch-free right from the start.

Rise of the robots

by Peter Griffin | Herald on Sunday

A pasty looking child was the centre of attention in Japan last week. He made faces, rolled around on the floor and barked out words. None of that would be too special were if not for the fact that CB2, as he’s called, is a robot.

CB2 has a biomimetic body, which includes dozens of actuators to replicate muscles and sensors to simulate touch and hearing. Tiny cameras substitute for eyes.

When CB2 stands up, he needs the support of an adult and his legs shake just as those of a child who is learning to walk would.

CB2’s creators hope the robot can be used to improve understanding of how children develop human relation skills – learn language, recognize objects, interact with other people.

The Japanese have been fascinated by robots for decades, but biomimesis, the imitation of biological functions, is seen by many scientists worldwide as the key to building robots that can operate in unstructured environments. That science is in its early days, but

think of the Terminator or the hordes of sleek androids in I Robot as the ultimate biomimetric robots.

Robots already man the assembly lines of car and electronics factories the world over. It’s a different story when it comes to consumer uses for robots. We’ve been told for years that robots will be infiltrating the household, but the only one to successfully do so has been the Roomba vacuum cleaner, which motors around your floors sucking up dust, mapping out your home in its memory so it knows where it has already cleaned.

Sony last year ditched its much loved Aibo robotic dog and the Qrio humanoid robot because the robots, while impressive, simply didn’t have commercial appeal.

But while the home may remain robot free for a good few years yet while models that can cope in non-structured environments are developed, there is plenty of robotic progress being made in other fields.

The US military, for example, is taking to robots as it seeks to lessen the risk of its soldiers being killed or injured.

The Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot (BEAR) from US robotics company Vecna, is designed to rescue an injured soldier, scooping the body into its arms so that other soldiers aren’t put at risk retrieving their wounded comrades.

The six-foot tall BEAR can cross unstable ground and stay upright thanks to the use of gyroscopes and motors controlled by computer. It can carry over 200kg in its arms and kneel down to gently scoop up a wounded soldier. It even has a teddy bear face to put wounded soldiers at ease. It’s expected to be ready for testing within five years.

Built on a much smaller scale, but potentially as useful in the war zone, are LANdroids, tiny robots that can be dispersed to form a wireless radio network to maintain communications.

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing LANdroids to overcome the problem of patchy radio communications in the field. The idea is that the robots are light enough to be carried by soldiers so they can be dropped at regular intervals to collectively form a wireless network for voice and data communications. Mounted on wheels, The LANdroids will also be self-adjusting, so that they can change position to ensure the best signal strength of the network. DARPA wants to get the average cost of a LANdroid down to around US$100 which will be a tall order given the sophisticated work they will be expected to perform.

The robots are coming in all shapes and sizes, but are unlikely to appear any more humanlike for some time to come.

On the web:

http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/solicitations/open/07-46_PIP.pdf

http://vecnarobotics.com/robotics/

NEW WALKMAN PHONES

Ahead of the iPhone’s arrival Sony Ericsson has announced two new music phones with similar memory storage to Apple’s music phone. The Sony Ericsson W960 has 8GB (gigabytes) of internal storage, Wi-fi networking, a first for a Sony Ericsson phone and high-speed data access. There’s a 3.2 megapixel camera and the W960 has smartphone capability syncing Windows email and documents. The slimmer W910 also has the digital camera but not the hefty onboard flash memory allowance. It’s unique feature is “Shake Control” which lets the user shake the handset to turn the playlist to random. You can see the Nintendo Wii’s influence there. The new phones will debut before Christmas.

www.sonyericsson.com

HP’s view of tech five to ten years out

A story of mine in the Herald about the design concepts coming out of HP Labs for the computers, tablets and personal devices of the future. Minimalism seems to be the design trend of the future for HP. Their mock-ups of future devices seem like scaled down, skimpy gadgets of the Apple variety. Everything is white or brushed metal and the HP-designed coffee table of the future resembles an iPod docking station.
Here are a few photos of concepts HP’s band of Ph.Ds are working on:
The HP coffee tablet which has a display built into its surface and an inductive charging bay so you can simply pop your tablet into the tray to recharge it.

It doesn’t get more minimalist than this. A light-based keyboard allows you to gently tap on the notebook’s surface rather than punch the keys.
The HP media mat, which presumably one day with be flexible and foldable, so you can hold it on your knee like a page from a newspaper. It uses UWB communication to update the displayed information.The Watch that sits are the center of the future HP digital environment. With UWB built-in, it communicates wirelessly with other devices in the home, acting as a control, communications device and personal media player.

The best and worst mobile phones

My Herald on Sunday story looking at where mobile phone technology is going.

A good indication is the Nokia N95 (pictured left), which goes on the market here next month for $1599.

The paper asked me to make a call on what I though were the best and worst phones on the market here at the moment. It was a hard list to assemble. I only considered handsets I’ve actually had a decent play with and that are sold through the main chains - not through Parallel Imported, for instance.

I balanced things such as price, features and
design to come up with the list. Hardly scientific, but then look at the ho-hum list the Consumer’s Institute comes up with when it gets all technical and ignores aesthetics? You’ll need a subscription to browse their best-of list.

My list:

THE BEST

Nokia 6275 (Telecom)
A fairly plain looking Nokia, but about as good as they come for Telecom customers – the Consumers Institute agrees, it’s their top pick in CDMA handsets. The 6275 packs the features in – mp3 player, FM radio, two megapixel camera, which actually takes decent photos, an expansion slot for loading up with music. There’s no mobile broadband and it’s a tad on the expensive side but Nokias are built to last. It’s also got a cool GPS feature that lets you measure your location and find out what direction you are going in.
Price: $699

Motorola RAZR V3 (Vodafone)
An absolute classic. It’s the iPod of the mobile phone world, changed Motorola’s fortunes and launched a line of phones with similarly bizarre names. It’s all in the looks with the RAZR, which is a little anaemic when it comes to features. The camera isn’t up to much, but it handles calling and texting well. A nice metallic keyboard and large, bright screen are revealed when the slim-line clamshell is opened up.
Price: $299

Samsung W531 (Telecom)
Samsung’s dual-mode phone wins instant credit for incorporating at such a reasonable price, chips that allow access to both GSM and CDMA networks. The W531 is the phone Telecom customers who are traveling abroad can use for roaming in countries where there is no CDMA network. The handset is also of compact, lightweight design and has good battery life and calling quality.
Price: $299

Vodafone 1210 (Vodafone)
The cheapest smartphone to support the Windows Mobile platform, the 1210 is ideal for those who want to sync their Outlook address book and view Microsoft Office documents on their phone. A fairly conservative design masks the rich functionality of this candy bar smartphone which is ideal for email and has expandable memory and Windows Media Player built in, so it can be used as a music phone too.
Price: $599

Nokia N73
The N73, as nice as it is, would be far too expensive where it not for the fact that a 1GB miniSD card is currently being bundled with it. Don’t buy a N73 unless you get the memory card thrown in as well. The addition 1GB card makes the N73 a suitable music phone and gives you enough capacity to make good use of the surprisingly good 3.2 megapixel camera built into it.
Price: $999

THE WORST

Motorola V3XX (Vodafone)
It packs more punch than its predecessor, the V3, but not enough to justify its massive price premium. The V3XX is basically aimed at the same target market – people who want a good-looking phone for calling and texting. In that respect, the high-speed data access is of marginal value.
Price: $799u

Sharp GX29 (Vodafone)
Ugly, ugly, ugly. It resembles the first generation of 3G phones we saw two years ago – too big, too chunky and it udoesn’t even offer 3G services. The camera isn’t up to much and there’s virtually no onboard memory to store photos anyway. Even at its low-end price there are much better models on the market.
Price: $299

LG KU800 (Vodafone)
A good phone spoiled by its touch-sensitive menu keys which cause no end of frustrated fiddling around. The KU800 is the updated version of the LG Chocolate, which was hugely successful in the US. The sliding action of the phone is nice and there are some good features built in – a two megapixel camera and second camera for video calls, memory expansion slot and high-speed data. Pity about the touchy controls.
Price: $799

Sanyo Pinkilicious (Telecom)
It may be popular with teenage girls but with the horrible grill on the front and that pink protruding aerial, the Pinkilicous is a design disaster. The external display is monochrome giving it a distinctly retro feel and meaning picture caller ID is out. It’s worth stumping up the extra $100 for the Sanyo Diva clamshell which is better featured and wins points for its styling.
Price: $249

Nokia 6165 (Telecom)
A strange fixture in the Nokia line-up, the 6165 is a mid-range phone that tries to do many things, but does nothing very well. The one megapixel camera is a write-off. There’s Bluetooth and infra-red connectivity but not supporting high-speed data, it’s not ideal for use as an external modem. Its design is symptomatic of the CDMA phones that carry the Nokia brand – uninspired.
Price: $399

FEEDBACK:
From Ross

Hi Peter, I really enjoy reading your stuff, and I also enjoy your blog as well. I just got a new N95 here in Australia (for AU$1200). I have only had it for a couple days, but it that time I have been unable to connect it to any wifi networks, after a long support call with Nokia they blamed my home and work networks for not accepting the device. They are going to get a tech to call me back. But after googling the problem I see many other N-series users have similar problems connecting to wifi networks- one of the best features of the phone.

The games we play

Here’s a link to my review of the PS3 which is still sitting in my lounge and is indeed growing on me (even though it won’t display an image on my main TV and has to be plugged into my computer monitor). I think the glitch is to do with my AOC flatscreen TV rather than the PS3 itself.

I think the PS3 deserves to have a great future, but at the price point it has entered the market ($1199), it’s out of the league of the average kiwi. People point out that the PS2 also debuted over the $1000 mark, but dropped quickly in price. That is true, but the PS3 includes a number of things that make it expensive to produce - the Cell processor and the Blu-ray drive to name just two components. It’s unlikely that the price drop will be as rapid, but I can still see Sony matching the price of the combined Xbox 360 and HD-DVD drive purchase price of $969.

The debut of the Xbox Elite, a sort of premium version of the Xbox 360 featuring a HDMI connection brings the Xbox up to he standard it should have been launched at, but again excludes an HD-DVD drive. This is the surest sign that Microsoft is less than confident of success with this high definition technology.

My review here of the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive (which I gave four stars, despite it looking fairly unattractive.)

THE XBOX MOVIE FIX

by Peter Griffin

There’s Sony’s black box which plays Blu-ray discs, Nintendo’s pint-sized Wii which doesn’t play DVDs at all, and then there’s Microsoft’s high definition plug-in.

When the software giant was preparing its Xbox 360 console for launch back in 2005, it made a serious call – not to include a high definition disc drive as a standard feature. The drives weren’t available in reliable supply back then and would have boosted the cost of the Xbox 360 by several hundred dollars.

Instead, Microsoft decided to build a separate drive which Xbox owners could buy as an accessory and it’s that drive which has just gone on sale here.
In terms of aesthetics, the HD-DVD drive doesn’t do much for me – it’s bulky, need sits own power pack and makes for a lopsided partner to the Xbox 360.

>But the drive is actually quite good at what it does – play high definition DVDs. It connects to the Xbox 360 via a USB cable, employs the Xbox menu which you’re already used to and comes with a decent multimedia remote control. Set-up is easy. The included DVD configures the Xbox for the new drive. The opening credits for King Kong were appearing barely five minutes after I plugged the drive in. And what a sight Peter Jackson’s epic gorilla flick is in high definition. I compared it directly with the standard DVD version and the picture appears crisper, Jackson’s admittedly computer generated world look more lifelike. HD-DVD allows some useful new DVD menu features you won’t have seen yet. Picture in picture lets you watch additional documentaries or out-takes while the movie is playing and you can choose a new chapter from within the movie. Real movie buffs can bookmark there favourite scenes for replay.

The one major technical downside of the Xbox add-on is its lack of a HDMI connection slot. These are built into the latest flat-screen TVs and allow you to send a digital, high-definition signal from media players directly to the TV set. The absence of HDMI, means many people won’t have TVs that can support the true high definition quality the Xbox 360 drive supports – the so-called “1080p” video mode. That’s a big disappointment, but the next quality level down, 1080i, which my TV accepts, is still miles better than regular DVD quality.

Sony’s PS3 makes for a tidier living room and, for many, a smoother transition to true high definition, but there’s an advantage for consumers in Microsoft keeping the drive out of the Xbox. It’s still unclear how the high definition format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray will pan out and as an optional add-on, the drive doesn’t force you down any particular fork in the road just yet. For those who want to jump in now, it makes for an affordable way into the HD realm.
Price: $249
Herald rating: ****

All gamed out

The video games are arriving thick and past as the Christmas release schedule starts to kick in. Below are some of my truncated reviews from the Herald of some of the recent big titles. I’m still hooked on Flight Simulator x, which I suspect will run slightly better when I upgrade to 1GB of RAM. Some big titles are still to come including: Splinter Cell - Double Agent and Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs.

Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Deluxe Edition) (PC)

Censor’s classification: G

Herald rating: * * * * *

Pros: Every aspect of flying is re-created to produce the most realistic simulator on the market. Choose to take off from one of 24,000 airports and take scenic flights over the world’s best known landmarks.

Cons: This game is an immersive experience and you need to put in some work to get the best out of it.

Verdict: An impressive leap forward for Microsoft’s successful flight simulator.

Killzone: Liberation (PSP)

Herald rating: * * * *

Pros: A third-person action fighter with impressive graphics and challenging missions. Autosave points make it ideal for short gaming bouts.

Cons: This game has a straightforward premise and a slightly arcade-like look. It’s often difficult to keep track of the action on the small screen.

Verdict: Has lush graphics and sound, and a storyline that will keep both fans and newcomers interested.

Censor’s classification: 16+

B-Boy (PS2)

Herald rating: * * *

Pros: Once learned, the breakdancing moves are impressive to watch and the story and arcade modes work well.

Cons: B-Boy will have limited appeal for gamers seeking the storytelling and gaming action of other genres.

Verdict: There’s no shooting or punching, the aim instead is to breakdance your way through street fights. A novel idea that doesn’t quite sustain a full-length game.

Test Drive Unlimited (Xbox 360)

Herald rating: * * * *

Pros: The Hawaiian island of Oahu has been mapped in minute detail giving a realistic and picturesque backdrop and plenty of coastal roads to traverse. The 90 cars available look great and handle well.

Cons: The artificial intelligence of other computer-controlled cars on the road is patchy, making the single player game less enjoyable that venturing online for group races.

Verdict: It’s fun, fast and offers an exhilarating style of street racing.

Mercury Meltdown (PSP)

Herald rating: * * * *

Pros: The fluid movement of the mercury is convincing and the games levels are well structured to keep the tension high. The graphics make it one of the better puzzle games for the PSP.

Cons: Levels are variations on the same liquid theme.

Verdict: Race against the clock to save globs of mercury disappearing into a bizarre, futuristic landscape. A fun puzzler that looks great.

Censor’s classification: G

Browsers and BlackBerrys

My Webwalk column in the Herald looked at the various add-ons available for Firefox and Internet Explorer. With the two major browsers now pretty much identical in functionality these add-ons will become much more important in determining which browser becomes the web surfer’s primary choice…

Also see my story about the debut of the new Treos with Windows Mobile 5.0. I’m currently trialing the v750 and will file a report once I’ve sorted out MS Exchange hosting.

Peter Griffin: Browser wars - IE7 and Firefox 2.0 virtually equal

Thursday November 2, 2006

Life has just got a little easier for the world’s web surfers with the release of the shiny new Internet Explorer 7 and equally good-looking Firefox 2.0 web browser.

I’ve been playing with the early release version of IE7 for months and really like it. Microsoft’s popular browser was in dire need of a major overhaul, and that is exactly what it got. Security features are beefed up, the toolbar design improved, and Microsoft finally adds tabbed browsing, a feature available to Firefox users for years that lets you have several web pages open within one browser window for easy access.

Firefox, which maintained technical superiority over IE6 with regular upgrades, shot back this month with some tweaks to what was already a fairly comprehensive web browser. The single best new feature of Firefox is an inline spellcheck which will ensure you send literate messages when typing into web forms, blogs and webmail applications. You can download a comprehensive dictionary that is in written in “British” English.

The new antiphishing features help prevent you from falling victim to attempts by fraudsters determined to steal your personal information.

IE7 has both antiphishing protection and an inline spellcheck, so the playing field has been well and truly levelled.

After all the upgrades and redevelopment, Firefox still has a slight edge technically, but the average web browser user isn’t going to notice. As Internet Explorer and its erstwhile competitor Firefox close the gap in functionality, what will ultimately determine which browser web surfers choose to use most of the time? It’s the browser extension.

Microsoft and Mozilla, Firefox’s developer, have the same idea when it comes to the web browser. They want to make the browser the primary point of contact with the web services you use on a regular basis.

Rather than surfing to a website, you can install icons on your browser’s toolbar which connect you directly to your service of choice. Search Google and Wikipedia directly from your browser toolbar. Access file-sharing networks and organise your web bookmarks by clicking on the browser toolbar.

There are thousands of browser add-ons for both IE and Firefox. Many are free and take a lot of time and hassle out of web surfing.

With the weight of the Mozilla open-source developer community behind it, Firefox has no shortage of extensions. One I’ve been tinkering with recently is Foxytunes, a media player that sits at the bottom of Firefox and interacts with iTunes or Windows Media Player to access your music collection and stream content from the web. You don’t have to interrupt your web surfing to change the tune.

LinkedIn puts a button on your toolbar that immediately connects you to this business networking service which is very popular in the US. There are only occasional references to New Zealand and Australia, so LinkedIn will be of limited use to you unless you want offshore contacts. But it’s a good idea and a localised version would be popular.

A neat little add-on called DejaClick remembers the clickable web links on a page in an easy-to-access format. It’s a great research tool for extracting links from web pages.

Torrent Search connects you from within Firefox to numerous peer to peer file sharing networks which avoids the need to open another application. Wordwiselookup acts as a dictionary and encyclopedia, a handy reference tool for checking facts, and KeyScrambler encrypts passwords entered through the browser so keyloggers can’t steal them.

Microsoft has a similarly strong mix of add-ons for Internet Explorer. IE Autologin and Free Password Manager Plus allow you to safely store your numerous passwords so you don’t have to keep entering them into your browser.

Yoono, which is available to both IE and Firefox, lets you search and share common-interest topics with other Yoono users - a networking and research tool of sorts. Calorie Count gives you nutritional information on your toolbar and lets you monitor how many calories you’re munching.

More technical web surfers will appreciate Greasemonkey, which allows you to tweak the code behind web pages to change their format to suit you using DHTML.

All of these add-ons are free and typically only 100 to 500 kilobytes in size so make for quick downloads.

Palm gets a hand from Microsoft

Thursday November 2, 2006
Reviewed by Peter Griffin

It started the handheld computing revolution in the 1990s, but lost its advantage to eager competitors.

Now Palm is relying on former rival Microsoft to help it try to regain the dominance it once had.

Both Vodafone and Telecom this month launch, for the first time, devices from smart phone maker Palm which operate not on Palm’s software, but on the Windows Mobile platform.

Palm has launched a charm offensive on mobile carriers the world over in a bid to bypass the popular Blackberry smart phone in favour of its Treo device, which acts as a phone and device running versions of popular Windows programs.

The Blackberry’s addictiveness among executives, who use it to constantly stay in email contact, has earned it the nickname “Crackberry”. Its rivals have geared their businesses up to try to beat it.

But Palm is one of several competitors hedging its bets. It has signed a marketing deal with Blackberry maker Research In Motion and the Blackberry Connect software now runs on the Treo.

Microsoft, too, is under pressure in the smart phone space, from the Blackberry and the Symbian platform used by Nokia.

In Europe, Microsoft’s market share in smart phone operating systems fell to 16.9 per cent in the three months to September 30, down from 18 per cent in the same period last year, according to research company Canalys.

But in Asia Pacific, Microsoft is already the dominant player, holding 55 per cent market share in the third quarter, with Windows Mobile growing faster than other operating systems. Symbian held 16 per cent market share in the same period, Blackberry had 14 per cent while Palm’s own software accounted for only 2 per cent.

Palm’s sales director for New Zealand and Australia, Geoff Anson, said the Treo was a device that mainly appealed to business users but that all-you-can-eat, US$20 ($30) a month mobile data plans had made it popular with consumers in the US.

“The cost, return on investment and usability of data are the main drivers, plus, people just want one device that does everything well.”

The Blackberry, he said, did not do that and its proprietary design meant it wasn’t flexible for handing third-party software programs.

“We all know what happens to proprietary solutions. Anyone got a Wang word processor handy?”

Telecom is launching a Windows-based Treo, the 700wx, which uses Telecom’s high-speed data network and sells for $999 on open term.

The 750v is being sold by Vodafone for $1299 on an open contract.

Microsoft solutions specialist Mark Bishop said any company running Microsoft Exchange Server could push email out to its employees’ Windows-based mobile devices.

Small businesses and home users could instead use a hosted Exchange service.

The Treo

• Acts as a phone and runs popular Windows programs.
• Also runs Blackberry Connect software.
• Telecom and Vodafone are both offering versions of the device.

Tuning into digital TV

Turn your computer into TV and video
Friday July 14, 2006

Reviewed by Peter Griffin

A computer can do many things: connect you to the internet, burn DVDs, play music and store all your digital photos. With the addition of a simple tuner card and some software it can also become a television and personal video recorder, capable of recording your favourite programmes to the computer hard drive.

The Hauppauge WinTV analogue and digital tuner does exactly that. It’s the first tuner card I’ve tried that is built into a UBS (universal serial bus).

I’ve owned TV tuner cards that either fit into the spare card slot within my desktop computer and the more accessible PC card slot on my laptop. The USB format is about as convenient as the PC card method.

Once the drivers and software are installed, all you need do is plug in the USB tuner, connect it to the supplied 35cm high-gain aerial and let the software automatically tune in the available free-to-air TV stations.

But it’s not quite that simple with the WinTV tuner. The device only supports the fast USB 2.0 interface, not the earlier USB 1.1 standard that older computers use. For recording TV to the hard drive you will need a fast machine - a Pentium 4 with a 3GHz processor is recommended.

While the USB stick is quite compact, it’s fatter than most USB storage sticks and obscured the neighbouring USB port on my laptop. An extension cable is supplied, allowing you to clear access to your USB ports, but it’s not a very tidy or pretty solution.

The tuner sticks’ selling point is that it is capable of receiving digital TV signals and is designed for the British terrestrial Freeview (DVB-T) service, which allows viewers to watch dozens of free-to-air channels with improved image and sound quality.

New Zealand will launch its own Freeview service next year and viewers will need a digital set-top box to receive the signals. The Freeview signals are beamed out unencrypted so it’s highly likely that the WinTV tuner will pick up Freeview when it becomes available here.

The local Freeview consortium is yet to announce which set-top boxes and tuner devices will support the service so be cautious buying digital TV devices in the interim.

The WinTV 2000 software is a bit underwhelming compared with other TV tuner suites, but lets you scan for channels, schedule recordings and take live snapshots. Hitting “record” will start recording the TV feed to your hard drive in the mpeg2 video format. This will consume about 1.5GB of data per hour of video. There doesn’t appear to be any provision for the electronic programming guide that may be offered when Freeview arrives.

For analogue recordings, the tuner card worked well, but the supplied aerial was unable to deliver a clear picture. Plugging into a roof-mounted aerial gives better results but defeats the portable purpose. There’s no remote so you’ll have to revert to keyboard or mouse to change channel.

The WinTV tuner will appeal to travellers who want to use their laptop as a TV or those inclined to using their computer as a cheap video recorder. But it looks in need of updating and by the time digital TV arrives, there’s likely to be a new version.

* Pros: Easy to use, compact and portable
*Cons: USB 2.0 only, no remote, digital not yet available
* Price: $181
* Herald Rating: 6/10

www.acquire.co.nz

From Nick:

I don’t know where you live but you can pick up digital DVB-T transmissions in Auckland from the Waitakere transmitter. I’ve done it using a Dick Smith PC Card based hybrid digital/analogue tuner. However, I needed an external UHF antenna pointed at the transmitter.

My response:
I don’t live in Auckland but am aware of the test being conducted offthe Wiatarua tower.My point was that TVNZ hasnt confirmed that the test signal beingtested is the one that will go nationwide next year and it hasn’t said that all digital tuners will be compatible. The last thing I want todo is encourage readers to buy a tuner for a service that wont bewidely available until next year and then may not be compatible. Imsure it will work fine, but I’ll hold off until the standards are confirmed.

From Tex:

Howdy Peter,I read with interest your article on the Haupauge TV tuner. I have the dual tuner internal model, but it comes with NO software other than the drivers. Do you have any idea where to get the WINTV 2000 software you mention in your article?Thanks for your time and interest.

My response:
Hi Tex,
Did the internal model come with a single yellow disc? Mine did and it had drivers and the software package on it as well.
Nevertheless, it appears you can download the WinTV 2000 software package from the company’s website. Follow this link and scroll down to “Latest WinTV applications” to begin the download.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_usb2.html
Hope it works!

From Juha Saarinen (Computerworld writer):

Heya,
Don’t quite see why it’s a con that the device only works with USB 2.0 because you couldn’t use it with 1.1 anyway - the older standard is much too slow to copy with high bitrate video streams.Either way, 2.0 has been around for years now, and the older machines with 1.1 ports only are likely not to have enough oomph to display big picture video. Hauppage recommends at least a 733MHz CPU, so it seems you need a pretty powerful machine.Yeah, yeah, call me a pendant etc…

My response:
Hi Juha,
I can’t see why it can’t be USB 1.1 compatible for the analog tuner only. That’s fairly low-level technology. Sure, if you want to record video you’ll need US B 2.0, but there are a hell of a lot of people out there with desktops and laptops with the older standard and would be happy with a simple USB tuner to watch TV. I’m sure you’ll be able to pick up digital but unless you’re plugged into the roof aerial, the signal will be worse than analog anyway. Can’t really see the point.

From John:
Hi there, how do you get a job as the NZ hearald technology writer?

Your current one Peter Griffin does not know what he is talking about and has the technical ability of a 5 year old school girl.Refer to todays story on the Hauppauge tuner http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10391141
He writes”The tuner sticks’ selling point is that it is capable of receiving digital TV signals and is designed for the British terrestrial Freeview (DVB-T) service, which allows viewers to watch dozens of free-to-air channels with improved image and sound quality.”then goes on to say”Cons: USB 2.0 only, no remote, digital not yet available”He says above that it is capable of digital above.TVNZ has a test DVB-T transmitter broadcasting 5 channels from Waitarua, this may not be the same format that is used when they sttart broadcasting Freeview but the Hauppauge tuner would have worked if he had looked for it.He also goes on to say about the lack of picture quality on it Aerial and is much better on the house aerial.While this is true, the picture quality is proprtaonal to the quality signal, Fact! you can not change the laws of Physics.

It annoys me when you get overpaid and underqualified people publising reviews like this, it is inaccurate and damaging to products and makes false claims.If I was the Hauppauge importer / distributor I would have called the lawyers already.Best regardsJohn Mitchell

Radio and Electronics servicemanRadio HamSatellite TV enthusiest