Tag: techdigest
Euro iPhone Rumours continue: O2 poised for UK launch?
With the US iPhone launch safely out of the way, attention turns to a European launch, and it’s as rumour-filled as anything the Americans could cook up.
On Tuesday, we reported that German company Deutsche Telekom were poised to clinch an exclusive iPhone deal, at least for German customers. In previous months, both Vodafone and T-Mobile were said to be favourites for winning the iPhone.
O2 were supposedly nowhere to be seen.
Yet a report in yesterday’s Financial Times suggests otherwise.
How likely is a Monday announcement of a European iPhone 3G?
Andy Merrett writes…
Now that the deal with the first US version of the iPhone is virtually tied up, the rumourmongers have turned their attentions squarely to Europe.
Yes, I’ll come out straight away and call it a rumour, because I’m not convinced that Monday will see an announcement from Apple about the European iPhone.
If I’m proved wrong next week, so be it.
Guy Kewney at Newswireless.net has published a story claiming that Apple has struck a rather complicated deal between Vodafone, T-Mobile, and the Carphone Warehouse.
American doctors want further study on video game "overuse"
The American Medical Association has called for more research into the potential public health risks of prolonged use of video and Internet games. It hasn't gone as far as declaring them addictive, but instead left that decision to the American…
BBC iPlayer: yet another "TV highlights over the Net" service launches – how about some nostalgia?
Andy Merrett writes…
The BBC has announced that an open beta trial of its iPlayer will launch next month. It joins Channel 4’s 4oD service — reportedly doing quite well — for those who want to sit at their PCs and watch highlights of the last week’s TV.
Stuart has already extolled the virtues of “Telly 2.0”. BT are heavily marketing their Vision service, and 4oD can be accessed via BT Vision and Virgin Media.
Are the BBC slow off the mark? When the beta launches next month, it’ll be for a select band of Windows XP users only, with other versions potentially rolling out over the following months. Having said that, Channel 4 still have licensing and technical issues with protecting their content – their excuse for not getting the service to work with Macs (or indeed, any other non-Windows system).
European high definition TV is 25 years old this week
Would you believe that, in Europe, high definition TV is officially 25 years old this week?
Between 25-28 June 1982, demonstrations were given to the European Broadcasting Union in Killarney, Ireland, raising awareness of the potential of HDTV to provide a significantly improved viewing experience.
The development of HDTV began in the 1970s with the pioneers at the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation NHK, an Associate Member of the EBU, and the inventors of HDTV. Many individuals and organisations made the first demonstrations of HDTV possible in 1982. There was great help from NHK and CBS, together with the companies Sony, Ikegami, Panasonic, and Hitachi, who made equipment available. Delegates saw HDTV on a 100-inch projection screen with stereo sound, also a new feature. Hitachi and Panasonic provided a 65-inch projection display and 24- and 28-inch monitors. Ikegami provided an HDTV camera, and NHK an HDTV digital video tape recorder.
Apple's green pledges move them up the Greenpeace ranks… slightly
For the first time, Apple aren’t rock bottom in Greenpeace’s quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics.
Thanks to the “Greener Apple” pledge to phase out PVC and other chemicals from their product line, Greenpeace moves them up to 10th place, now tied with HP and above Sony, LG, and Panasonic.
Ocean Blue calls for a single PVR standard
Ocean Blue Software has called for a single standard for digital TV recorders (PVRs). Managing Director of Ocean Blue said that the introduction of Freeview Playback has been a step in the right direction, but that most PVRs contain proprietary software due to a lack of industry standard guidelines.
Ocean Blue would like to see a single brand across satellite, cable, and even IPTV broadcasts. Their Voyager software system is already the standard mandated middleware solution for Freeview digital TV receivers, while Sunrise is a DVB compliant suite of software that can receive analogue and digital video and audio, with Surfsoft being a Freeview Playback standard.
Could Ocean Blue be suggesting that they would offer the best software standard?
High-value consumers want Net Neutrality: no two-tier Internet
Tim Berners-Lee has spoken out against it, now new research suggests that high-value Internet consumers in Europe want flat-rate pricing on their broadband service without Internet Service Providers (ISPs) placing restrictions on what they can access.
JupiterResearch, which carried out the Europe-wide study, is urging ISPs not to supply faster, prioritised Internet access only to a select group of web sites that pay for improved performance.
29% of consumers questioned said that they desired flat-rate, unlimited broadband, while 16% said they wanted no access restrictions.
This week's hottest high definition stories: Blockbuster support Blu-ray, but do the discs rot?, SIM2 projector, new TVs from Sharp and Pioneer, reviews of JVC and Toshiba, Arcam, Texas Instruments, BrilliantColor
The biggest news this week, though the HD DVD Promotions Group deny it, is that Blockbuster has chosen Blu-ray over HD DVD. Not surprisingly, Sony is very happy about that, and a Panasonic executive thinks it’s game over for HD DVD.
However, the fly in the ointment could be rotting Blu-ray discs. Not good.
SIM2 has rolled out its HT3000E 1080p projector, while Sharp reveal their latest RD2E 100Hz TVs, and Pioneer release their new plasma TV range with 80% deeper blacks.
This week's hottest iPhone stories: YouTube on iPhone, better battery life, Bluetooth headsets, Google applications, Opera Mini browser, iPhone cases
There’s now less than one week to go until the iPhone launches in the US, and there’s only so much hype that can be reported. Much of the news has been focused on the latest tidbits of information that Apple has chosen to reveal, or has been ‘leaked’ to the press.
The big news, features wise, is that YouTube will be on the iPhone, starting with 10,000 videos converted to the iPhone-friendly H.264 format, and with the entire catalogue converted by the autumn.
Apple has updated its battery life claims – now you’ll get up to 8 hours of talk time. Impressive, if true.
