EU Backs Future Of Internet TV
The European Union has stumped up 14 million euro to fund research into creating a standard method of sending TV over the Internet.
The money has been granted to the P2P-Next consortium, consisting of 21 organisations including the BBC, European Broadcasting Union, Lancaster University and Pioneer Digital Design Centre, among others. An additional 5 million euro has been raised by the consortium.
The project aims to use peer-to-peer technology, based on the BitTorrent technology, to create a low-cost method of streaming programmes over the Net to set-top boxes and TVs. It will also allow fans of certain programmes to communicate with each, create forums and send each other content.
Luis RodrÃguez-Roselló, Head of Unit of Networked Media at the European Union said:
“This ambitious project is investigating new ways to deliver video using the P2P paradigm making possible to everybody to distribute videos from anywhere to any number of people anywhere in the world. It will be a live trial of the future media Internet we are envisioning. Europe can be proud of having very high quality broadcasting, content and telecommunication sectors.”
Dr. Pouwelse from Delft University of Technology and the P2P-Next scientific director, added:
“P2P technology already dominates Internet traffic and is key to our research and development mission of making near-zero cost TV broadcasting available to all Europeans. Prior experience with Tribler, our own P2P software, enables us to contribute the core technology for finding, viewing, and sharing.â€
The project will run for 4 years but there will be public trials running from next year.-Martin Lynch
Categories: Misc Tags: Internet Tv, LAN, Research And Development, Traffic, Web Stuff
Video: The World’s Coolest Keyboard In Action
Keyboards were [are?] pretty much the most boring PC peripheral until news arrived about the first OLED-based Optimus Maximus keyboard back in .
Alongside the naff name, the keyboard from inspired/mad Russian Art Lebedev has been coming longer than the end of the world but, it is now shipping. Engadget gets its mitts on one here and takes you through the very sci-fi boot-up sequence, what the main features are how you can customise all of those OLED keys to represent whatever letter, number, symbol or function you want.
Of course, the price for all of this tech gravy is steep indeed with an asking price of almost £800. Yes, insane in more ways than one. But still cool.
You can check out Art demonstrating the keyboard himself earlier this year at the CES show here.-Martin Lynch
Onyx Launches First Style Phone
UK newcomer Onyx is hoping to get in on the craze for style-conscious phones with its new Liscio device.
The lozenge-shaped GSM phone is certainly sleekly designed and shiny and, as the company claims, would be ideal for those that want some ‘Wow!’ attention and to stand out from the crowd. That’s the pitch anyhow.
It measures 90 x 35 x 17.8mm and weighs in at 60g. It comes with MP3 playback and an FM radio but don’t be expect to watch any movies on its 1.1in OLED colour display. Talk time is rated at 3 hours, playback at 11 hours and standby at 200 hours. It has 128MB of internal memory, a Micro SD card slot for taking cards up to 1GB and it supports Bluetooth v1.2.
The Liscio comes in black and is being sold without a Sim card for £130. Onyx guarantees it will work with any UK Sim.-Martin Lynch
[Onyx]
Categories: Misc Tags: Guarantees, MP3
Xbox 360 Sells 18 Million Units
Microsoft has sold 18m units of its Xbox 360 console worldwide, compared to sales of 10.5 million for the PS3.
Although it should be noted that the PS3 has been around for a year less than the 360 and is showing signs of catching up faster than expected.
The figures came from John Schappert, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of LIVE software and services, speaking at last week’s Games Developer Conference. Here’s what he had to say to Eurogamer about Xbox 360 sales, Xbox LIVE and the possibility of a Blu-ray add-on drive, now that HD DVD is dead.
Xbox 360 sales
“I think that we’ve sold 18 million, the last time I’ve checked. 18 million hardware units worldwide.â€
Xbox LIVE
“We don’t have [a projection for 2008] but here’s what I can tell you: we have 10 million LIVE members, which we hit six months ahead of schedule. We have 4 million added in the last six months. The majority are Gold [members]“.
Xbox 360 Blu-ray Drive
“What I’ll say is we have nothing to comment there. We have no plans to announce or anything like that right now. But I’d also urge you to look at the attach rate for the HD-DVD drive. It was a 3 per cent attach rate….it was a low attach rate. It wasn’t one of the high-selling accessories if you will. So again, when you’re saying ‘the obvious thing’, you also have to take into account how did the other accessory do when you look at the future.”
So, no Blu-ray add-on drive for the Xbox, eh? Considering Microsoft needs to introduce a new Xbox 360 in the coming year, don’t be surprised to see a Blu-ray drive on the inside.-Martin Lynch
Onyx Launches First Style Phone
UK newcomer Onyx is hoping to get in on the craze for style-conscious phones with its new Liscio device.
The lozenge-shaped GSM phone is certainly sleekly designed and shiny and, as the company claims, would be ideal for those that want some ‘Wow!’ attention and to stand out from the crowd. That’s the pitch anyhow.
It measures 90 x 35 x 17.8mm and weighs in at 60g. It comes with MP3 playback and an FM radio but don’t be expect to watch any movies on its 1.1in OLED colour display. Talk time is rated at 3 hours, playback at 11 hours and standby at 200 hours. It has 128MB of internal memory, a Micro SD card slot for taking cards up to 1GB and it supports Bluetooth v1.2.
The Liscio comes in black and is being sold without a Sim card for £130. Onyx guarantees it will work with any UK Sim.-Martin Lynch
[Onyx]
Categories: Misc Tags: Guarantees, MP3
SpaceStation Zaps That Cable Madness
Cable spaghetti getting you down? Then you might want to take a peek at the latest offering from Bluelounge, the creators of the cool Cableyoyo.
This is the minimalist-styled SpaceStation, an all-in-one USB hub and desktop cable management system. Ideally, you’d use this with a laptop. It sits 5mm above the desk level and cables can be fed in through any side, and hooked around pins before closing the lid.
Inside is a 4-port USB hub with connections on the side an back for hooking up printers, scanners and iPods, among other devices.
There is one USB plug coming out of the side to connect to your laptop. The makers say the SpaceStation’s low-profile makes it perfect for placing the rear of your laptop on top, thereby tilting the keyboard towards your for more ergonomic typing and helping create more airflow underneath to keep your hardware cool. It costs around £40 here.-Martin Lynch
[Uncrate]
Top 10 Most Wanted Games Of 2008: Let’s Get Ready To Rumble
As soon as anyone puts together a Top 10 list of anything, people start rolling up their sleeves as a prelude to freaking out in the Comments section.
Please bear this in mind as you check out the Top 10 Most Anticipated Games Of 2008 by Gametrailers.com. Counting from 10 to 1, here you go.
10. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
9. Ninja Gaiden 2
8. Prototype
7. Grand Theft Auto 4
6. Little Big Planet
5. Starcraft 2
4. Final Fantasy XIII
3. Fallout 3
2. Metal Gear Solid 4
1. Resident Evil 5
Personally, I’m happy to see Starcraft 2 in there and I’m really looking forward to Fallout 3 and FFXIII but, I’m surprised that Gears Of War 2 hasn’t made the list – despite having a little clip from the new teaser trailer at the start of the video report above.
Check it out and let me know if there’s anything there that should, or shouldn’t be, on that list. And please keep the settings on those flame-throwers set to minimum.-Martin Lynch
games xbox console PC PS3 PS2 nintendo
The First GPS With In-Built Breathalyser. Hic
Companies are starting to add some interesting, and odd, features to their GPS devices in order to help them stand out from the crowd.
We recently had the new Medion GoPal P4425 sat-nav device, sporting the first fingerprint reader and now we have the G400 GPS navigation system from Ndrive which sports the first breathalyser.
On the side of the device is an integrated alcohol sensor that can measure just how much alcohol is in your blood. After calibrating itself and cleaning and excluding any alcohol from the air that might be on the sensor, you just blow into the side to find out if you’re too pissed for the school run.
The Portuguese are getting this first and it costs around £150. Check out the video below to see it in action. -Martin Lynch
Loewe Connect TV Points To The Future
Loewe makes some great luxury TVs but with its new Connect TV range, it’s showing that there’s as much substance as style under the hood. They previewed these funky 1080p sets last year but now they are here.
These are super chic Freeview-ready Fill HD tellys stuffed with multimedia entertainment features, not least of which is an integrated 160GB PVR and Wi-Fi for streaming videos, music and other content from PCs and media boxes. You will pay that bit extra for the in-built PVR though. LG is also working on Wi-Fi TVs.
There’s an Ethernet port for hard-wiring your content to the TV and USB ports. After a ‘simple’ set-up procedure that establishes your networking connections and, thanks to some smart Loewe software, you can access and control all of your media via the remote, regardless of location, on the TV’s display.
The Loewe Connect TVs are available in 32in, 37in and 42in sizes and in three colours: high gloss black or white and matt chrome silver.
In a few years, every telly will offer these features as standard but for now, you have to pay for the luxury. Prices start at £1,949.-Martin Lynch
[Loewe]
Categories: Misc Tags: Ethernet, Hd, Home Cinema, Wi-Fi