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Hacker 'proves' Olympic gymnasts underage

Gareth Mason — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:34:00 GMT

A hacker has unearthed evidence that several of the Chinese gymnast team were underage, as suspected. The digital remains of deleted files were dug up revealing the real ages of the Chinese athletes that won gold ahead of the United States.

Search engine hacker Stryde Hax – earth name Mike Walker – found traces of the official registration documents in the translation cache of Chinese search engine Baidu. The files had been deleted by the authorities from the official site, and Google documents.

They stated that one of the women-child gymnasts, He Kexin, was only 14 this year, beneath the mandatory age for competing of 16, which must be reached during the Olympic year. Kexin also won individual gold on the uneven bars.

No event for young girls

Two other members of the six-strong team – Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin – also appear to be underage from the evidence of both these documents and most people's eyes. The Olympic age limit was introduced to protect the bodies of young gymnasts. The US protest is motivated more for the extra body bend that youth lends to such activities.

When asked about the age controversy, IOC President Jacques Rogge said: "The IOC relies on the international federations, who are exclusively responsible for the eligibility of athletes. It's not the task of the IOC to check every one of the 10,000 athletes."

On this no-nonsense note, we can only hope the IOC introduces a box in its next registration form asking drug cheats to give details of what performance-enhancing chemicals they have ingested over the preceding months.

160GB PS3 confirmed for October

J Mark Lytle — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:24:00 GMT

Updated: Barely a month after Sony announced the 80GB version of the PlayStation 3, it performed its usual bait-and-switch and bestowed upon us a console with a 160GB hard drive at a premium price point.

Scheduled to arrive in Europe on October 31st, the new PS3 comes with a single Dualshock 3 controller and the historical adventure game Uncharted: Drake's Adventure. So far, we have only the American pricing, which is way up there at $499 (£268).

Media in mind

We do know that the European bundle will include credit good for €70 of downloads, presumably from the PlayStation Network. And, given the large step of doubling the HDD to 160GB, it's pretty clear what the extra storage is for – movies.

SCEA's press release spells it out: "The bundle is also a great option for consumers who want to utilize PlayStation Network's video delivery service, which offers new blockbuster movies and popular TV shows for download on an ongoing basis."

UK pricing

Closer to home, Sony plans to continue to sell the 80GB Core Pack model at £299.99, suggesting the UK price for its big brother will come in closer to £350. We'll bring you the details when we get them.

Go photo-crazy with Photosynth

Gareth Beavis — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:16:00 GMT

Microsoft Live Labs has unveiled a new application that allows you to build 3D worlds using your photos.

Photosynth can be downloaded to your computer, and uses algorithms and other magic computer stuff to knit between three and 300 snaps together in a digital world.

The idea is to share the experience of a place by giving a friend (or long-time stalker) the chance to look around your memory...or something else that sounds a bit less like marketing spiel.

A real synth

However, there is a bit of effort needed to create the perfect 'synth' (you see what they did there). Overlapping, correct camera movement and a whole host of other things are needed, and we at TechRadar were even given a helpsheet to show us how.

However, once complete (and providing your computer can handle it) the synth is uploaded to the website for all the public to see (so a 360 degree view of your genitals might not be the best idea after a drunken night out).

The website has some high profile partners to kick off the application, including the London Eye, Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal.

Next up for the application is joining MSN proper, so if you're a regular on LiveSearch you'll be seeing synths pop up all over the place soon.

In Depth News Feature: TechRadar Choice: Top 11 MP3 players

James Rivington — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:15:00 GMT

The best MP3 players, of all shapes, sizes, capacities and prices

In early 1998, Creative launched its first ever MP3 player. The Creative Nomad was a re-badged version of the Samsung Yepp YP-D40, and it had a colossal 64MB of internal memory.

Over ten years later, the biggest Apple iPod has a capacity 2,500 times larger - 160GB. The great thing about MP3 players today, is that there's something for everybody.

Creative Zen Stone 1GB - 4GB

You can buy a 1GB Trekstor iBeat for less than £30. You can spend £320 on a 32GB super touchscreen iPod touch. Or you could buy any one of a thousand different players at price points between the two.

Here's our list of the top 11 MP3 players on the market today. All price points, all capacities and all sizes catered for nicely.

We're so accustomed to Apple dominating the MP3 player market these days, that it's difficult for other players to make an impact.

However, with its 2GB of space and neat array of colours, the Creative Zen Stone is pretty neat.

It sits in the palm of your hand and weighs next to nothing. With clear and easy controls you can find your favourite tunes or simply choose to shuffle your songs randomly. Simply plug into your laptop and you can drag and drop files to it.

The sound quality is impressive, but even better is the remarkable battery life, as we managed to get well over 10 hours from a single charge.

Read our full review

SanDisk Sansa Clip 1GB - 4GB

This Flash-based MP3 player is pitched as a rival for the iPod Shuffle or the Creative Zen Stone, but manages to have a style all its own.

Measuring 56 x 36 x 13mm, it incorporates a 25mm screen that is far more usable than on the Zen Stone. The controls are simple, but it's the addition of a Home button that really stands out, taking you back to the start menu.

It gets its name from the clip on the back, so you can attach it to the collar of your coat.

Read our full review

Apple iPod Shuffle 1GB - 2GB

Of all the iPods in the 2007 range, the one that changed the least is the iPod shuffle; compared to its predecessor, it costs the same and offers the same capacity.

Compared to the Creative Zen Stone and the SanDisk Sansa Clip, the Shuffle really doesn't offer much as a low-end player. The other two both offer a screen, and larger capacities for a better price.

The Shuffle is the obvious choice for anyone wanting tight integration with iTunes, but really, the Zen and the Sansa are far better options here.

Read our full review

Creative ZEN 4GB - 32GB

While the world is obsessing over Apple's new iPod touch, let's not forget about all the other cool MP3 players out there.

You know, the ones that aren't locked down to proprietary file formats and limited to use with only one PC or Mac (ahem).

Like this one for instance. The new Zen. It's the new MP3 player from industry veteran Creative, and it's pretty cool too.

Let's get one thing cleared away right from the start: this is no iPod touch competitor. It's a flash player but it's designed to be compact and it's also £170 cheaper than the touch.

At the time of publication, the 4GB model was available online for under £70.

Read our full review

SanDisk Sansa Fuze 4GB - 8GB

We loved the original Sansa, it was the office darling in a world filled with more showy Apple products. It did what it did without fussin' or fghtin' and did it well.

It could play a multitude of formats and record clearly on the fly. For a good year, all the press briefings we attended were recorded on our wee Sansas.

The Sansa Fuze is an updated version of the older models; the family resemblance is definitely there but the refinement is just as evident. It's a very functional little player, and the sound quality is absolutely fantastic.

Read our full review

Apple iPod nano 4GB - 8GB

You'll not find a speck of plastic on the new nano; it's got a matt-finish aluminium top surface, and the now-classical stainless steal back plate underneath.

So the first thing you notice when you pick it up is that it has a size-defying solid feel to it.
Surprising for a 6.5mm thick (thin) device that weighs less than 50g, wouldn't you say?

The second thing that will strike you when you get the iPod nano out the box is that it almost seems like it's the 'wrong shape'. At 69 x 52mm it's almost square - not what we're used to from an iPod.

It's a great MP3 player - it looks and sounds fantastic - but the price might put some people off.

Read our full review

Sony Walkman NWZ-A829 16GB

Sony is moving on. It long ago conceded defeat in an unpopular war against Apple's iPod - a war Sony lost because it adhered to a silly proprietary format (ATRAC), listened too hard to the needs of its music and movie stablemates instead of its customers, and served up lukewarm chow when it should have been changing the world. This much we know.

The 2008 NW-A829 Walkman we have in our hands is an evolutionary step up from last year's NW-A800.

It pretty much boasts the same user interface, same wide compatibility with different music formats (from protected WMA to unprotected AAC) and plays back MPEG-4/H.264 video just like an iPod does.

What marks out the NW-A829 from its predecessor then is Bluetooth connectivity.

Read our full review

Creative Zen X-Fi 8GB - 32GB

The Creative Zen X-Fi is essentially the same size as Creative's last flagship MP3 player, the Creative ZEN. The semi-clunky interface is also pretty much identical. But there the similarities end.

Because while the Creative ZEN was a solid performer, it lacks a distinguishing feature. The Zen X-Fi, on the other hand, has four secret weapons.

The first is the aforementioned X-Fi audio processor, for superior sound quality. The second is a startlingly good Wireless LAN Wi-Fi function which allows you to wirelessly stream and download music from a web server, a PC on your home network as well as to and from other Zen X-Fi players.

The third is an internal speaker which makes the one on the Apple iPhone sound fairly pedestrian. And finally, the fourth is a pair of high-quality Creative Zen earphones which come as standard.

Read our full review

SanDisk Sansa View 8GB - 32GB

It's easy to see how SanDisk has managed to establish itself as a firm number two in the American MP3 market.

The iPod, of course, rules the roost over there, as it does in practically every country on the planet. But SanDisk's Sansa MP3 players have slowly been building a following, and with the View, that following only looks likely to get bigger.

The Sansa View takes over the mantle from the e280 as SanDisk's flagship player. And while there is probably nothing seriously groundbreaking about this new model, there's certainly a lot to love about it. It's a very lovable player, and startlingly good value for money.

Read our full review

Apple iPod touch

The original criticisms of the iPod touch were that it wasn't available in sizes over 16GB.

But now that Apple has introduced a new 32GB iPod touch, removing most people's main objection to the original player in one blow.

In iPod mode this player is sublime. Cover Flow makes total sense on the touch's large 3.5-inch screen, and rooting through your list of artists by flicking your finger on the screen makes it easier than ever to find what you're looking for.

As a video playing device it scores highly again. This is the simply the most elegant and stylish MP3 player ever built. It may not have the best sound quality. And it might not be small enough to fit comfortably into all pockets. And the screen my get very greasy. But still, this is sexy as hell.

Read our full review

Apple iPod classic 80GB - 160GB

With the entry-level capacity now 80Gb, and the top end a seemingly impossible 160Gb (more than most new laptops), it's - in a funny sort of way - the most practical video device around.

The need to prepare for a journey by whittling terabytes of video down to just 20 or 30Gb of what you might fancy watching is gone entirely. With 160Gb, you're sorted for every occasion and relived of the irritations of constantly deleting and uploading.

True, the Archos 605 comes in 160Gb at the top-end too, but it's a much larger and pricier device. The widescreen shape of the also new iPod Touch may make it appear a better bet as a video player than this, but the screen resolution's little better and a maximum capacity of 16Gb places ridiculous restrictions on your options.

Yes, the screen's very small, but four generations of colour LCD down the line for the iPod range and it's become quite a beauty. The display is brighter and clearer than many rivals with four times the pixel count.

Read our full review

Pull the other one - PSP-3000 is real after all

J Mark Lytle — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:15:00 GMT

Here's the way it is. On 23 July, Sony told us there was no imminent PSP-3000 - y'know, the one with the microphone for Skype? Yet, on 20 August, it tells us to start saving for the ... PSP-3000, which has, er, a microphone for Skype. What's going on here?

Sure, companies need to protect their interests, particularly when there's stock to shift, but the new PlayStation Portable surely isn't that big of a deal – if someone wanted a PSP back in July, they'd have bought the older model and been happy with it even now, right?

Better screen

Anyway, the 3000 model does indeed feature that Skype-tastic microphone, as well as an improved LCD screen. Sony says it has, "the highest-level contrast ratio, response time, and widest colour gamut possible on a portable LCD screen."

Apart from that, the only other change is a tweak to the video-out port that means gamers can hook their new PSPs up to older televisions that don't support progressive scan. Do Piano Black, Pearl White and Mystic Silver really count as new colours?

European pricing when the PSP-3000 arrives on 15 October will be €199 (£158), which includes a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo.

China blocks iTunes store

Peter Gothard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:07:00 GMT

The Chinese government has blocked access to Apple's iTunes store, apparently due to athletes listening to Tibetan protest music.

A compilation by the Art of Peace Foundation, an American Tibetan activist group, invited Olympic athletes to download the album for free, hoping they would learn that "compassion and non-violence can overcome intolerance and oppression – beautiful ideas to be associated with the Olympic spirit".

The message seemedironically lost on the Chinese government, because their reaction to the album – which contains music by Sting, Damien Rice and Alanis Morissette – was to block access to the iTunes store from Monday this week, causing anyone who logged in that day to be met with error messages.

'Angry netizens'

According to government-managed China.org.cn, last week a group of "angry netizens" were rallying together to "denounce Apple in offering Songs for Tibet for purchase", as well as expressing a wish to ban the album's singers and producers from entering their country.

Some people, it says, have noweven vowed to boycott all Apple products, including the iPhone, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs has recently been trying hard to introduce to Chinese mobile phone suppliers.

Pure launches the Evoke Flow internet radio

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:54:00 GMT

Pure, the company famous for its DAB radio systems, has unveiled its first-ever web radio that not only connects up to the endless internet radio channels but comprises both DAB and FM too.

The Pure Evoke Flow is the first radio to implement Linux, which will run the system's 'easy-to-use' interface.

The company has also said that it could open up the Linux program in the future, so that programmers could implement new widgets and extras into the device.

Launching simultaneously with the Evoke Flow is an internet site called The Lounge, and is said to be like iTunes for radio.

In The Lounge, streamed radio stations are constantly monitored, so you won't have to put up with any listening lag, and the site will hook automatically up to your system, synching favourite stations from the radio with the site

Stream songs

Pure has been working on this product for two years and hopes it will entice people into internet radio, just like the iPod did for online music.

The radio itself utilises touch-sensitive buttons and comes complete with modest-sized OLED display.

It does seem that Pure has put everything but the kitchen sink into this device, as you will also be able to stream songs stored on your computer, via its WiFi connection and hook up your iPod as well.

The Pure Evoke Flow is out in September and will cost a very reasonable £150.

Man commits suicide on webcam

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:10:00 GMT

A man in Bountiful, Utah, committed suicide this week in front of his webcam.

The person on the other end watching the gruesome footage was his ex-girlfriend in California.

According to reports, police were tipped off that there was a man, Brent MacMillan, about to commit suicide, so they soon arrived at his house, to find him alive and well.

With a negotiator present, the police thought that they had persuaded MacMillan to surrender, but they heard gunshots soon after.

Tried to make contact

It turns out that MacMillan killed himself with a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Lt. Randy Pickett, with the Bountiful Police Department, spoke about the incident to local news site KSL and said: "We had a negotiator present who tried to make contact with the person inside. He was able to do so they talked for a minute.

"About two or three minutes later, the officers heard a shot."

When the police entered MacMillan's house they found that he had broadcast the whole thing to his distraught ex-girlfriend hundreds of miles away.

Dodgy ticket site scams festival-goers

Peter Gothard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:07:00 GMT

Online ticket firm SOS Master Tickets, which was selling tickets for various summer festivals and gigs, has disappeared off the face of the earth, apparently taking everybody's money with it.

People began to smell a rat last week when tickets for Essex and Staffordshire's weekend V Festival failed to show up. SOS promised its users a full refund by 29 August, but yesterday the Spanish-registered website disappeared completely, while the company's phones have remained disconnected.

Now, Leeds and Reading Festival goers who bought tickets from thesiteare in anguish with the festivals but hours away, and SOS still nowhere to be seen.

"Absolutely gutted"

According to users on the Leeds Festival website,SOS Master Tickets has been charging up to £200 for individual tickets for the past few weeks, though nobody seemed to be actually receiving any.

Such is their anger, some forum members have even formed a "We hate SOS Master Ticket" Facebook group.

"Me and my boyfriend ordered them, we were told they were to come today - HA! They haven't come, also the website doesn't work anymore," said one poster.

"There is no contact to them. Hopefully we can claim back off the credit card. Absolutely gutted as I was stoked to be able to see Metallica."

Graham Burns, spokesman for the Association of Secondary Ticket Agencies, told The Metro (link): "I am afraid they have been victims of a rip-off.

"We alerted the authorities to this months ago, because the prices they were offering for tickets were simply not achievable."

The 30-second guide to a healthier PC

PC Answers — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Next time you reboot your PC, spend half a minute in the BIOS - it'll give you vital information about the health of your PC. Here's how...

Access the BIOS

BIOSes vary but generally it's a matter or rebooting your PC and pressing [Del] repeatedly as it starts. If this doesn't work, check your PC's documentation to find out the key combination. Once there, use the keyboard to navigate.

PC Health

Select PC Health or System Monitor. This screen has details on voltage to components, the temperature of the CPU and the overall system, and the fan speeds. In this case, they're not working and so need attention.

SMART monitoring

While in the BIOS it's worth checking that hard drive SMART monitoring is enabled. You'll usually find it under BIOS features setup. When it's on, you can run software that can predict hard drive errors before they happen.

Boeing scoops raygun contract

Gareth Mason — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:25:00 GMT

Boeing is adding further to its extensive portfolio with the contract to build a 20-tonne truck housing a laser gun.

It's designed to be parked close to vulnerable facilities such as airports, where it would shoot down enemy projectiles such as rockets, mortars, or indoctrinated clay pigeons.

The solid-state electrically-powered laser is a new departure from the 'household' version that uses highly-poisonous chemical fuel (rather than, say, diesel).

The High Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) contract was won by Boeing last year but the project has been given a $36 million cash injection with the planes and arms manufacturer now being asked to act as systems engineer for the weapon.

Radioactive pigeons

Boeing has already developed chemical rayguns that can be mounted on aeroplanes to take out targets hundreds of kilometres away, but the literal fall-out from such a weapon going wrong makes an electrically powered version far preferable.

Rapid -fire automatic cannon systems have been used in the past for similar defence work but these are inevitably compromised in built-up areas by the fall out of fist-sized chunks of lead that hurtle from the sky towards the soft heads of those not actively practicing terrorism.

Shooting from the truck

Boeing raygun czar Scott Fancher said: "This contract award is an important win for Boeing because it supports a cornerstone of the Army's high-energy laser program, HEL TD will... counter the difficult threats posed by rockets, artillery shells and mortar projectiles."

It may also be used in those Olympic shooting events at which the US was unable to win a gold medal, though admittedly, there is no evidence to support this assertion whatsoever.

News Feature: File-sharing fines: are you next?

Gary Marshall — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:25:00 GMT

There's a brand new game sweeping the internet: Nastygram. If you haven't heard of it, you will soon – especially if you've been getting your games from peer-to-peer networks.

Like many games, Nastygram starts with a cut-scene. It shows a group of lawyers hunched over a PC, scanning P2P networks for people sharing their clients' games. They log the IP addresses, get a court order forcing ISPs to identify the offenders, and bash off a Nastygram to each one. The cut-scene ends, the game begins and each player has to make a choice: hand over £300 now, or wait a few months and then hand over sixteen thousand quid.

Scary lawyers

Okay, it's hardly Gears of War, but as Londoner Isabella Barwinska discovered this week, lawyers can be much scarier than space monsters. A court found Barwinska guilty of sharing the Dream Pinball 3D game online, and fined her a staggering £16,000: six thousand in damages, and ten thousand in legal costs.

Barwinska is one of around 500 file sharing users who had been sharing Topware Interactive's game on peer-to-peer networks. The firm's lawyers offered to settle out of court for £300, but Barwinska decided to fight. She lost.

That's bad news for the three other file sharers currently awaiting court judgements for sharing the game, and it could be bad news for anybody who has downloaded a dodgy copy of any commercial game from file sharing networks.

Because such networks share files as they're being downloaded, every downloader is an uploader and every uploader is potentially another Isabella Barwinska.

More fines on the way

The case has set an important precedent, as Struan Robertson, technology lawyer with Pinsent Masons explains. "The law that applies to file-sharing is already established, and the Barwinska case did not change that – but it is a significant ruling because it is the first damages award of its kind," he says.

"Unlike the US, our courts generally don't award punitive damages – so Barwinska could only be made to compensate Topware's losses. Those losses are difficult to calculate."

Rather than fine Barwinska the price of the game, "the court has awarded a figure that is probably based on an estimated number of downloads made available by Barwinska's file-sharing – though we haven't seen the judgement yet."

Cost of sharing

That's likely to open the floodgates for similar action by other publishers. "They have been deterred in the past by the cost of taking action against individuals, when the awards might be trivial. It's not just the risk of negative PR that prevents action," Robertson says.

"The Barwinska ruling will encourage other rights holders to take action."

So should the prospect of a large-scale crackdown on file sharing worry us? There's certainly something chilling about lawyers demanding money with menaces from alleged file sharers, particularly if they identify people with the same accuracy as the "let's sue grannies and dead people!" team at the RIAA.

If you or a member of your family is wrongly identified as a dodgy downloader, clearing your name in court could be a very risky business – and an expensive one, too, because even if you win you still need to pay your lawyers.

Costing the industry cash

Downloading games costs the games industry money. According to Roger Billens of Davenport Lyons, the lawyers representing Topware Interactive, "In the first 14 days since [they] released Dream Pinball 3D it sold 800 legitimate copies but was illegally downloaded 12,000 times."

Not all downloaders are doing it to try before they buy, and the suggestion that downloaders don't have an effect because they wouldn't buy the games anyway is pretty far-fetched.

If developers are losing money, they may dump the PC market altogether. In April, Cevat Yerli of Crytek – the developer of Crysis – said that the firm would no longer develop just for PCs. "I believe that's the core problem of PC gaming: piracy," he said.

"PC gamers that pirate games inherently destroy the platform."

According to P2P monitoring firm Peerland, titles such as Battlefield 1942 can rack up 1.5 million illegal downloads in a single week.

"We can't earn money from gigging"

Games developer Cliff Harris solicited gamers' opinions on piracy, dumped DRM and dropped his prices as a result – but that doesn't mean he's a fan of the file sharers.

As he points out, music pirates say that artists can make money from gigs and merchandise. That's not an option for game developers. "We can't earn money from gigging," he says. "Given that almost everyone who plays games is online, and most of them have broadband, it's actually a worse problem for the games industry than the music industry."

Pay the fine

While he doesn't have much sympathy for Barwinska – "If I get fined for speeding I pay the fine. I certainly don't ignore the problem and hope it goes away. If I did, I'd be in big trouble". Harris thinks things need to change.

"I hope we don't have to see more cases like this," he says. "I hope that people sharing games start to realise the damage they are doing, and that people making games start listening to their customers more. We are at a crossroads where we can go the same way as the music industry, or we can take a more sensible attitude. One side needs to start listening to the other, rather than fighting."

What do you think? Is piracy killing PC gaming, or is it nonsense to say every illegal download is a lost sale? Let us know in the comments.

News Feature: Comment: Intel's mobile internet devices still suck

Jeremy Laird — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:25:00 GMT

In an unconvincing keynote at IDF today, Intel's ultramobility figurehead Anand Chandrasekher banged the drum once again for the mobile internet device (MID). His message, however, was undermined by unimpressive demos and devices.

Chandrasekher reprised Intel's well worn pitch for putting the internet in your pocket courtesy of MIDs powered by Intel's low power Atom processor. Once again, the Atom chip's superior support for existing web applications thanks to its x86 architecture was emphasised.

Oversized, underwhelming, over there

And once again, Intel wheeled out a number of oversized, underwhelming MIDs. In fact, the basic concept that underpins the MID is little changed from the failed UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) initiative of several years ago.

The MIDs Intel showed from partners including Clarion, Lenovo, Panasonic and more are all too big for comfortable pocketability.

To make matters worse, Intel attempted to demonstrate the popular multiplayer game World of Warcraft on an MID. Despite claims that the device gave a "great" experience, the choppy frame rates and poor performance were all too obvious.

Not a bad idea

It's not that the basic idea behind the Atom processor is flawed. Full x86 compatibility in a genuinely pocket-sized device would be a wonderful thing. Likewise, the Atom is impressively power efficient by x86 CPU standards.

But it's not yet efficient enough to go into iPhone-sized smartphones. And that is what is required for Intel's vision for the mobile internet to really take off.

Frustratingly, Chandrasekher only touched briefly on the progress of the next generation Atom platform, known as Moorestown. Tantalisingly, he reaffirmed that Moorestown will deliver a 10x reduction in idle power consumption.

My kind of Moorestown

But he also let slip that Moorestown will not appear until 2010. We reckon that's a delay of at least six months compared with previous statements.

The real irony in Intel's relentless promoting of the unimpressive MID concept is the fact that the Atom is looking like a roaring success in other segments. The netbook concept has really picked up pace, with new designs appearing by the day.

Likewise, Atom looks like a winner for a wide range of embedded applications including automotive infotainment systems, IP phones, and other internet enabled devices.

So, the Atom looks extremely healthy. We just wish Intel would cool it on the MID concept until it has a chip that does the internet-in-your-pocket idea justice.

Angry email nets lecturer £10,000

Peter Gothard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:06:00 GMT

A Salford University business lecturer who was accused in an email of fiddling his travel expenses has won a £10,000 libel payout.

Dr Tom McMaster, an amateur sailor, decided to travel to a conference in Ireland on his own boat, and attempted to claim £180 in expenses for the trip.

However, the University's finance department rejected the request, and when Dr McMaster questioned the decision he was met with a rather snooty email from finance director Ray Corner.

"Attempted fraud"

Mr Corner's message read; "Clearly the original claim was an attempted fraud and appropriately rejected.

"Those who submitted and certified it should be ashamed of themselves."

The good doctor demanded an apology – especially as the email had been sent to four other people – but the finance boss was having none of it.

Approaching the High Court for damages against this "unrepentant and unapologetic stance" from Mr Corner, Dr McMaster succeeded in reaching a settlement with the University resulting in his £10,000 windfall.

Samsung announces new budget, compact camcorder

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:48:00 GMT

Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung has announced the arrival of its new budget camera, the MX20.

Forgoing HD shooting for the more cut-price MPEG4 variety, the MX20 is a camcorder aimed at the YouTube videomaker market.

So much so, the cam has a direct-to-YouTube button, so you don't even have to do any messy file transcoding.

Footage is stored on an SD card – up to 32GB – and features include a 34x zoom, image stabilisation and face detection technology.

Life through a lens

The CCD itself is not too shabby for a budget model, with the sensor weighing in at 680k, while the lens itself is made by Schneider-Kreuznach, so it shouldn't give you any imaging problems.

Although it's labelled a budget camcorder, we have no idea what this budget is as Samsung is being cagey about price details, but expect to see the MX20 in the shops this September, available in either black, white, red, or blue.

Logitech's force feedback Wii wheel

Peter Gothard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:47:00 GMT

After putting up with waving controllers around in the air for the last couple of years, a more realistic racing solution might be on the way for Wii owners.

Logitech have announced their Speed Force Wireless Racing Wheel, which will be the Wii's first steering wheel with force feedback.

The driving rig, equipped with Logitech's patented force feedback tech, will also feature 2.4GHz wireless, promising, the company says "lag-free racing from up to 30 feet away from the console" via a plug-in USB receiver.

Licensed officially by Nintendo, the wheel is also being released to tie in with EA's upcoming Need for Speed Undercover, currently in development by Black Box studios. Logitech says the wheel will work fine with any other upcoming force feedback racing titles too, though.

Expected to be available in the UKfrom November, the wheel should retailfor around £60.

Apple in the dock over iPhone 3G

Gareth Beavis — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:49:00 GMT

We've all read countless times about the poor 3G coverage users of the new Apple iPhone are experiencing.

Apple has promised to fix the problem soon, and many hoped the recent firmware update would have done the trick. But Arstechnica has reported one customer in Alabama, Jessica Alena Smith, has filed a complaint against Jobs' lot, hoping to help out other users of the iPhone 3G that have experienced problems with the phone's lack of 3G coverage.

Smith complained about the amount of marketing and advertising being thrown at her regarding the new device that highlighted the handset could work "twice as fast at half the price".

Poor coverage

However, Smith, like many others (including we at TechRadar) experienced poor 3G coverage in very well-covered areas, and calls dropping out far too frequently.

Smith is trying to make Apple pay damages, pre- and post-judgment interest on financial relief, and attorney's fees, on top of replacing and repairing the defective devices.

She also claims she, and countless others, have suffered financial penalties thanks to being sans mobile, which makes sense when most people have had to pay a fair whack up front to replace their handset.

Whether Apple can fix the problem in time before the more people get involved will remain to be seen.

8Tracks aims to fill Muxtape hole

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:42:00 GMT

No sooner has Muxtape, the online mixtape website, closed down, than another website has taken its place.

8Tracks is a new website where you will be able to choose music from an online library and share your collection with friends.

On the site, you are allowed to create a mixtape of up to 30 minutes, or around eight tracks (geddit?).

Even if the site doesn't have the music you want, you can upload your own MP3s to share.

Small webcaster

The way 8Tracks has got around any legal wranglings is by applying for a 'small webcasters license' so in some ways, the owners of 8Tracks won't want the site to get too big, as this could have repercussions.

The website has been created by former Live365 Director of Business Development David Porter. As Live365 is an internet radio site, Porter has got bags of experience in the music streaming sector - something he will need to make sure the site doesn't falter like Muxtape did.

Man traces lost family on MySpace

Peter Gothard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:41:00 GMT

Leon Bailey, adopted in America 24 years ago, has found his biological British family by searching MySpace.

Though he'd known her name for over 20 years, Leon had never been able to track his real mother down by conventional methods.

"One night I was just relaxing at home watching a movie and I thought to myself, why don't I look on MySpace – just maybe she might be on there," said the 26 year old, who lives in Houston.

"So I typed in her name, and hers was the first picture that popped up."

Big Hug

Leon's mother Debra Kneuman, 41, from New Hampshire, was gob-smacked to find a message from her long-lost son waiting in her inbox.

"I just want to give him a big hug, and even though he's a man and not a little boy, I just want to hold him until there's no tomorrow," said an ecstatic Mrs Kneuman.

Only a teenager when she gave birth, she'd put Leon up for adoption when he was two, placing him in the care of an American couple stationed at a nearby British airbase.

Inspired by Leon's social networking successes, Debra got searching MySpace and within minutes had found Leon's father Tony Goulbourne, who handily had photos of Leon as a toddler on his profile.

A family reunion is planned for September.

News Feature: Intel plots TV domination

Jeremy Laird — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:37:00 GMT

Intel's Eric Kim laid out a new vision for the future of the TV today at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco. It was compelling, exciting and at the same time ominous.

Intel's vision is essentially two-pronged. Unsurprisingly, Intel will be providing the hardware in the shape of its new Media Processsor CE 3100. It's a 150 million transistor system-on-a-chip design with integrated video decoder, 3D graphics core and x86 compatible CPU core derived from the Pentium M.

Yes, it's Yahoo

The software side is provided by Yahoo's new Widget Channel platform, as we reported earlier today. Think of it as a Yahoo Widget dock for your TV and you'll get the idea.

Put the two together and you have a fusion of TV and internet that might finally work. Intel's Kim reckons it represents the breakthrough the consumer electronics industry has been waiting for. If successful it will mean Intel silicon in millions upon millions of TVs.

Unlike previous efforts such as Microsoft's Media Centre initiative, this latest drive to introduce internet capabilities doesn't attempt to fundamentally alter the TV watching experience. Instead, the focus is on enhancement.

For the end user, the upside is simple access to a wide range of Yahoo and third-party developed internet enabled Widgets including the likes of Flickr, Twitter, Blockbuster and other big, well known brands. The Widgets themselves are slick, unobtrusive and easy to use.

Key to the Widget Channel philosophy is that the widgets can be used without interfering with TV playback.

Developer opportunities

From the developer's point of view, the Yahoo Widget platform provides a stable and established environment, something that has been lacking in previous attempts to bring internet services to TV sets.

But the really momentous opportunity is for content providers and advertisers. To prove it, Intel's Kim wheeled out a number of dignitaries from leading media companies including Comcast, Sony and Disney ABC.

From an advertising perspective, the Widget Channel will enable advertisers to combine the targeted, interactive addressability of web ads with the impact, scale and reach of TV ads.

For content providers, the Widget interface will enable new ways to encourage viewer involvement – and startlingly efficient new methods for fleecing viewers of their cash.

Reality TV

A typical example would be the pseudo-reality talent shows that dominate TV schedules today. With Widget technology, the content provider can create custom Widgets, perhaps allowing viewers to sign up once and then participate for the rest of the season.

And in reality TV land, participation is often a euphemism for premium voting services. No wonder the chap from Comcast was so very excited.

Courtesy of the Intel CE 3100 processor, the platform also has technological advantages over previous set top boxes and smart TV technologies. Along with support for multiple simultaneous HD streams, the chip is capable of full-motion fast forward and rewind. It also leverages the OpenGL API to use 3D effects to enhance the display interface.

All in all, it's a much slicker and more plausible package than any we've seen before.

Devil in the details?

For now, many of the details remain unclear. Samsung happily sang the praises of the CE 3100 chip during Kim's keynote. But it's not clear how many further set top box and TV manufacturers are on board.

We also don't know what operating system underpins the project. Yahoo's Widget platform is currently restricted to Apple and Microsoft operating systems, but we've a feeling that there's a Linux distribution of some sort lurking underneath those slick Widget animations.

Moreover, it's not clear exactly who will have control over the platform. Intel and Yahoo have presented it as completely open. Yet the Widget platform is obviously Yahoo's baby. And how much control might the content providers demand?

But despite all those open questions, we remain convinced that we saw the future of TV today. And we kinda like it.

FCC wants free wireless broadband

Gareth Beavis — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:29:00 GMT

The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission wants to allocate a portion of the wireless spectrum to provide free broadband for certain customers.

"There's a social obligation in making sure everybody can participate in the next generation of broadband services because, increasingly, that's what people want," Kevin Martin said to USA Today.

The move comes after reports of the growing need for connectivity in the US as part of the day to day routine.

Out in the sticks

The problem is the more remote areas of the US, where high speed broadband is difficult to access. Around 38 per cent of rural customers are connected to broadband, compared to 60 per cent in suburban areas.

"More and more people expect and demand to have access to the Internet and new wireless technologies," Martin says. "It is important that the (FCC) try to find new ways to address" those needs.

Another problem is those households with low income, where typically only one person in four with an income of less than $20,000 (£10,000) has broadband.

The allocation would only need 25 per cent of the spectrum, leaving the rest available for premium broadband and services.

Liquid box office in meltdown

Gareth Mason — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:02:00 GMT

The company running the box office at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival has gone bust. The computer system controlling ticket sales – run by Pivotal Integration Ltd – had been plagued with problems since its introduction in June.

Sales to many of the Fringe's 2,000 odd events (some very odd indeed) were suspended following crashes in the electronic system known as the Liquid Box Office. One organiser claimed that the computer failure, caused by its inability to deal with customer demand, almost led to the 'commercial death' of the Fringe. The results of an independent inquiry will be published in November.

Glasgow kiss

The Fringe Festival ends August 25 but its director, Jon Morgan, claimed that despite Glasgow-based Pivotal going into administration there would be: "no impact on ticketing services during the last week of the Fringe".

Pivotal won a contract with Glasgow city council in 2006, but the rival Scottish city is not thought to be under suspicion for any involvement in the fiasco, though it has been asked not to leave the country during the investigation.

eBay changes attract fixed-price sellers

Peter Gothard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:57:00 GMT

Auction site eBay has announced a revision of its listing fees, the most major of which is increasing the listing time of 'Buy It Now' items from 10 days to 30 days, and also introducing a flat rate listing fee of 40p for any item for sale, regardless of its price.

Meanwhile, eBay Shop owners can now enjoy insertion fees as low as 1p, and the Gallery listing for adding pictures of items is now free, where before it cost 15p.

Though sellers get more for their money when listing fixed-price items, final value fees on successful sales are increasing accordingly in some categories of goods.

Only pay if successful

In a statement on eBay.com, President of Marketplace Operations Lorrie Norrington said:

"We are shifting the majority of our costs for most categories to the back end (final value fees), which you only pay if you're successful in selling an item. In extremely competitive e-commerce categories such as Consumer Electronics, Cameras and Computers, we're decreasing final value fees.

"This means we're giving you an even bigger incentive to list these types of items on eBay."

The company has denied that it's moving away from auctions, however, saying instead that the changes will offer sellers more control over the business they do.

"We now have a more tailored offering to fit every size of seller, from a mum cashing in on old baby clothes, to an at-home entrepreuner, to a retailer," eBay's Clare Gilmartin told Metro news.

"Buyers increasingly want the convenience of shopping for great value items at a fixed price."

Nokia Tube WILL be here by Christmas

Gareth Beavis — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:27:00 GMT

The end of the wait for the Nokia tube may be in sight, which will be a massive relief for everyone getting slightly bored of wondering when (or if) it will ever land.

Nokia's India marketing director Devinder Kishore confirmed to The Economic Times the Finns will be bringing the handset to the market, though didn't elaborate on whether it will be called the Tube or the Xpress 5800.

"We have been working on the Series 60 platform for touch screen user interface and a mobile device is expected to be launched by the year-end," she told reporters.

Where's my boat?

Many feel Nokia might have missed the boat on this one, as nearly all other manufacturers have either got a full touchscreen device or two, or have one in the works, such as the BlackBerry Thunder.

However, with Nokia's development budget and power so large compared to the competition, as well as a long heritage for building useable mobile phones, it has to be expected this device will at least raise some eyebrows when launched.

Yahoo and Intel reveal 'widget channel'

Marc Chacksfield — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:23:00 GMT

Yahoo has teamed up with Intel to bring "Cinematic Internet" to your living room.

Essentially, the companies are setting up a channel where you will be able to view web-based 'widgets' on your TV screen.

The widgets are set to include things like weather reports, feeds from Flickr and local news headlines.

They will be integrated into your TV viewing via a set-top box powered by Intel.

Interactive and seamless

Speaking about the new launch Eric Kim, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's digital home group said: "This is no longer just a passive experience unless the viewer wants it that way.

"Intel and Yahoo are proposing a way where the TV and internet are as interactive, and seamless, as possible."

Also included in the service, which has yet to get an official release date, will be a widget gallery, so users will be able to personalise their screens with the information they want to view.

So, if you're not content with your Sky Red button, the constant tickertape rolling of 24-hour news sites, then Yahoo's Cinematic Internet will be for you.

Yahoo's widget channel was announced at this year's Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco. Stay tuned for more news from the show, as TechRadar is attending and will be covering the news as it happens.