Author: Duncan Geere
Chrome on Mac gets a step closer
Google’s Chrome browser doesn’t have a massive marketshare, but those who use it love it very dearly thanks to its great UI and blazing speed. At the moment it’s Windows-only, however recent videos posted by Google indicate that a Mac client is making good progress.
Chromium is the open source project that’s behind the Chrome browser. The latest iteration of the source code for OS X is making good progress, as you can see in the video below:
Unlike the last video of the software in action, now you can actually click on the screen, load websites, and follow links. Crazy, eh? Who on earth would want to do that? It’s still crashing a lot, but at least Google’s getting closer to a working OS X port.
(via Ars Technica)
Research claims violent video games are good for you
Research from US and Israeli scientists indicates that playing violent video games might be good for your eyes. The researchers asked two groups of non-gamers to play Call of Duty and The Sims, and then tested their vision.
Turns out that contrast sensitivity increased 43% in the group playing Call of Duty, whereas it only increased 11% in the people playing The Sims. The researchers think this may be because Call of Duty is a little more fast-moving than Maxis’ hit game.
As an avid gamer who had his first eye test over the weekend, I’m not convinced. As a gamer who gets occasionally nagged to play less ‘shooty-loud’ games, I’ve now got an excuse. Guess science is good for something.
(via Metro)
Spotify and 7Digital buddy up
Digital music upstart-of-the-moment Spotify has added yet another revenue stream to its growing collection – users are now able to right-click tracks to buy them via 7Digital.
Currently, the click just takes you to the relevant 7Digital page for the album. In the future, however, the companies hope to allow one-click downloads in Spotify itself, as well as functionality to buy entire playlists.
This move should further silence the doubters who claim that Spotify has no business model. On the contrary, this is now a third solid way of monetising their business, after ads and premium subscriptions. I do doubt a little how much people will use the functionality, though.
Fizy – super-quick streaming of songs and music videos
Are you a big fan of Spotify, but you’d like it to be more… illegal? Fizy is for you. It’s a super-quick website that’ll let you search for songs and music videos. I’m not kidding about super-quick, we’re talking ‘faster than searching your MP3 folder’ quick, on par with the aforementioned Spotify.
That’s not the only similarity. It’s got a very clean interface with minimal features and you can easily share tracks with other people. It claims to have more than 75 billion MP3s in its index, and you can expand or remove any videos involved.
Very impressive, and very useful for ‘do you know that song?’ moments. Not exactly a media player, though, as there’s no playlist functionality. I quite like that, though. That’s what I’ve got Spotify for.
Fizy (via @mychemtoilet)
Image courtesy of Lifehacker.
Asus plans netbook with optical drive
All the pillars that we once knew as hallmarks of netbookiness are crumbling. Screen sizes now go up to 12.1″, the Atom processor is being seen less and less regularly, solid state drives are rare and now Asus is bringing out a model with an optical drive attached!
The E1004DN will have an optical drive, as well as an Intel Atom N280 CPU paired with GN40 chipset, and a 120GB hard drive. It’ll be out mid-April in Taiwan and will cost NT$18,000-20,000, which is about £375 or so in quids.
(via Digitimes)
EU rejects 'three strikes' approach to filesharing
The EU has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a report that heavily criticises the ‘three-strikes’ law implemented in Frace that would kick filesharers off the internet after being caught downloading copyrighted content three times.
It’s been massively unpopular with everyone except the content industries, with ISPs in particular fighting against having to cut off their own customers. Greek MEP Stavros Lambrinidis fought back against the idea too, with his report being overwhelming voted in – 481 votes in favor, 25 against and 21 abstentions.
Whether or not this will force France to back down is yet to be seen. Sarkozy doesn’t have a great track record of obeying the EU parliament. Still, it should lessen the pressure on Irish ISPs who are being forced by their content industries to enact similar rules.
(via TorrentFreak)
In Soviet Russia, nuclear reactor goes on truck
If you needed further evidence that the Soviets were more than a little barmy, then here it is. They built a nuclear reactor onto a truck. Thats it, up there. They were used in the more distant corners of the country, presumably because in the more distant corners, fewer people would be irradiated when they used the things.
After the Chernobyl accident, the use of these things was discontinued, but crikey. Imagine seeing one of those things rolling up the main road of your town, village or hamlet. I’d run for my sodding life, wouldn’t you?
Tech Digest Podcast #1
So, this morning, Dan and I got on Skype and had a go at recording a podcast. We chatted about the big stories of the week – Twitter and Last.fm trying to monetise their services, and the big media companies approaching Google to try to get their content higher in search rankings.
I’m a bit of a software person, whereas Dan’s into his hardware, so as a central feature, we thought it’d be fun to try to convince each other of the joys of a bit of software and a bit of hardware respectively. I plumped for Last.fm, whereas Dan tried to convince me I need Canon’s EOS 500D DSLR in my life.
Lastly, we took a brief look at some of the stranger news stories of the week – the 60ft penis on the roof and the CC all your emails to Jacqui Smith campaign. I wanted to talk about a few other stories here too, but we ran out of time.
Download the podcast as an MP3 here, or subscribe via RSS here.
It’s a little clunky, still – my voice buzzes a bit thanks to the cheap headset I’m using. We’re very much feeling our way around how the whole process works, so any recommendations and advice are more than welcome. Drop us a tweet at @techdigest or email me or Dan.
Will WiMax or LTE win out?
EDGE, 3G and HSDPA are all very well, but what will the next jump in technology be for wireless internet? There are two competing technologies – WiMax and LTE. Which one is likely to win the race in the UK?
WiMax is based on Wi-Fi, and doesn’t require a SIM card for usage. Its benefits are that it’s an open standard – anyone can create the gear required to use the technology without paying license fees. That means the tech can be up to half as expensive as the equivalent LTE tech.
LTE, on the other hand, is based on the existing 3G network technology. In fact, LTE stands for “The Long Term Evolution of 3GPP”. Its advantages are that it’s well-understood by carriers, and when a device is out of range of an LTE signal, it can drop back to a 3G or 2G service. LTE’s currently a little faster, too, but that difference should be addressed by the ratification of a new WiMax standard later this year.
In the last year or so, Motorola’s been trialling an LTE service, but there are already commercial WiMax deployments out there. As a result, WiMax has an early lead. But given how entrenched many operators are in their love of 3GPP networks, we’ll soon be seeing more of that. In fact, Motorola’s already testing an LTE network.
What’s eventually likely to happen, however, is that laptops and netbooks will rely on WiMax (thanks to lower prices and enhanced compatibility) and LTE will take hold on mobile devices, just because it’s easier for operators to continue working how they do now.
So I reckon it’ll be a draw, and both technologies will have their own places in the next 5-10 years. Bit of a cop-out, perhaps, but there you go. What’s your opinion? Drop us a tweet at @techdigest letting us know exactly how wrong we are.
Play.com sim-free iPhone 3G is legit
I must confess, when I saw the story earlier this week about Play.com selling unlocked iPhones, I was a little skeptical. It seemed rather ‘off the back of a lorry’.
Well, the company has explained where they’ve come from. European regulations insist that a sim-free version of any phone is offered, so they’ve shipped them in from the continent. Play reassures customers that they come with a ‘full manufacturer warranty’ and you’re encouraged to register it at the Apple website.
Play was vague on how well it’s selling so far, offering only the statement that “customer response so far has been very positive and orders are growing nicely”. As previously reported, the 8GB model is £550, and the 16GB will cost £600. Expensive, especially with version 3.0 only a few months away.
(via T3)
