Posts by Gareth 18

Apple TV third-generation (2012)

Lotta love for the AppleTV

I have to admit I really like it. Its cute, inconspicuous and sits neatly under the TV. Airplay makes listening to music, watching youtube, watching a film, or streaming things like radio via tunein a breeze.

The only thing I would like Apple to do is increase support for multiple accounts. My partner havs iTunes Match so his entire music and TV programme library is available to the AppleTV via the cloud. Unfortunately the AppleTV only supports 1 iTunes account at a time so if I want to watch or listen to anything that isn't synced to my iPhone then I have to have my laptop running to stream it. Its a minor bugbear though for a product that is affordable and does what I need it to do really well. Let the AppleTV support multiple accounts and it will be the cherry on the cake.

Kinect gives Skyrim fans something to shout about

Hurrah!

I shall take enormous amounts of joy from this

FUS RO DAH!

Apple pushes patents for 3D avatar authoring

Re: Hmm

Except it was published yesterday. d'oh!

Hmm

*checks date*

APRIL FOOLS!

Ten... PlayStation Vita launch games

Re: Re: prices

OK fair point, but I would argue that more people should be hitting back at publishers over the price. We just seem to happily accept that £40 is the price of a new game these days without questioning if that really is good value for money.

I don't deny that the production values of a lot of modern games are just staggering, but there comes a point that I think that all that goes out of the window when it takes me just 8 hours to complete. I don't think it is asking for much to see a game that is costing me £40 to last longer then a week. They are ultimately the titles that I will rent, wait to drop in price or pick up used.

I didn't purchase any of the 3 uncharted games for example, they were all rented off Lovefilm. I think they are a great example. They are stunning games, absolutely stunning. But over in less then a week with very little in the way of replayability.

I think the Vita is capable of delivering on really high end, quality and long games, and I would pay £40 for them. But I wouldn't pay £40 because someone, somewhere has arbitarily decided that they are worth the same as a PS3 game.

Reading that back it sounds a cold way of looking at something that I love and takes up the vast majority of my free time! But at £40 a pop its not a cheap hobby! I am forever grateful that Lovefilm makes continuing that hobby so much more affordable!

prices

I am willing to be pursuaded that £40 is a good price for a Vita game. But at that price they have to offer the same level of gameplay as I would expect from its big brother.

£40 for 6 - 8 hours of gameplay is just a rip off, regardless of how good the game may seem. If you want to charge that much you have to get closer to 15 - 20 hours to begin to make it good value for money. That is what I would expect from a PS3 game at that price. I picked up Skyrim for £35 and have easily reached more then 50 hours worth game stunning gameplay, and they want £40 for 8? No thanks.

Panasonic to take on LG with passive 3D TV

Passive wins

Been looking at a new TV recently and so have been trying to get my eyes on demos of as many screens as I can. So far it's LG all the way. I prefer passive 3D. Active glasses are heavy, they don't fit well over my own glasses and they really gave me a headache after about 30 minutes. Plus the weird flickering you can get around the screen is incredibly distracting.

No such issues with passive technology, and if there is any difference resolution wise it was impossible to pick up.

It is great news that Panasonic are now entering the passive 3D market.

Life-size Portal gun to shoot onto shelves soon

Hmmmm

One thing I have always wanted to know is...where's the trigger?

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Meh

There hasn't been a good Final Fantasy since 9. When they screwed up the fighting mechanics, ditched the world map, and made all the protagonists whiney and dull I gave up. And yes, the voice acting ruined the series.

I will happily sit and play through classic FF. It may not have the graphics of its younger cousins, but by God it had 1000 times more heart.

Nintendo cuts full-year forecast – by BILLIONS

They are frustrating

They have pretty much abandoned the hard core gamer market. Those people who made them a success to begin with. The Wii was an excellent console for the first year I owned it, then it sat gathering dust until a new Mario or Zelda game got released. Even that isn't anything new. The GameCube and N64 suffered very similar fates. They just can't seem to attract good 3rd party games. Its probably got a lot to do with them being so precious about what does and doesn't get on the consoles they make.

The Wii U just looks like a joke. I have no idea how anyone came up with that tablet controller design and thought it was a good idea. I thought the Wiimote was fantastic from thr outset, but this monstrosity doesn't look intuitive, easy to use or comfortable. to hold.

I guess we will just have to wait and see,, but the days when I spent a year frothing with excitement about their latest console are long passed :(

Microsoft to cash in chips on virtual currency

Unused points

I'm not that bothered about that part. Chances are that Microsoft will just convert them into cash and they will sit on your Live account waiting to be used much like your current points do. I doubt they will ever actually give it back to you.

The big question is how do you judge what a point is actually worth? Depending on how many you bought initially (800, 2100, 4200 etc) it could differ as the price per point comes down the more points you buy.

I guess the cost of content post change will need to be monitored to ensure that there is no sudden increases because they calculate the cost of content as higher then the cost of the points themselves.

I think it is a good move if they do it, there are just lots of issues around how they do it.

Telly makers failing to turn punters on to smart TV

I just don't see the point

People can do all of this already, on equipment they will have whether their TV does IPTV or not. Virgin/Sky + PS3/360 cover off anything that these Smart Tvs and do, and most people are not about to get rid of them because they need them for more then just the IPTV elements.

TVs should be dumb. They should be there to provide a good picture, acceptable sound and plenty of helpful connections and that's it. Eventually manufacturers might cotton onto the fact that people don't need it.

Build a TV that has EVERYTHING I need built in and we are onto something. ie a TV that has a 360, PS3, media streamer and AppleTV so I can get rid of everything else will be a winner. As it is half heartedly replicating features which already exist and are done better just doesn't cut it.

2011's Best... E-book Readers

Kindle browser

The inbuilt browser is great so long as you are just after checking emails, facebook, twitter etc and stick to the mobile sites.

Whats best though is that it works abroad. I was staggered that I was able to surf the net when I was on holiday in Turkey this year completey free. Much better then my overpriced O2 roaming charges! Worth bearing in mind if you have one on holiday.

Amazon Kindle Fire

The biggest issue?

Lack of Google apps. You want Google Docs, Gmail, Google+, Google Voice or even the Android Market then you will be out of luck. You can't load any of these onto the device out of the box. Ok so it is Android based, and they can be hacked on pretty easily, but that isn't really the point is it? How can Amazon release an Android device and not let you load on Google apps? It just seems really short sighted.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I'm loving it

Playing on the 360 as there is no way my laptop would come close to running it and I am loving it.

I love the world, I love how I feel like just a tiny part in something much bigger. The world doesn't seem to start when I turn my 360 on and stop when I turn it off.

I love the random moments. People running up to me to hand my random objects. Happily bartering in the market one minute and then a dragon attacks the city in the next. It just feels so epic. I'm about 40 hours in and have barely touched the main storyline. I just keep getting distracted by everything going on around me.

I can easily see me clocking up hundreds of hours on it.

All 4G telcos must hit 98% coverage, Ofcom told

coverage

Look we are not a big country. In fact we are teeny tiny. There should be no excuse for not getting 3G/4G coverage across the whole country.

I was in Turkey over the Summer. I went to visit some ruins in the middle of nowhere. Literally about 2/3 hours from any sign of human life. Full 3G coverage. Lovely. Yet I can travel 15 minutes outside of London and suddenly be lucky to get WAP.

Duke Nukem Forever dev slams unfair reviews

rose tinted specs

The problem with creating a nostalgic game, is that it has to be nostalgic and at the same time appeal to a more modern audiance. That is why HL2 and the chapters that followed were so successful. They took what was great about Half Life and updated it and kept it relevant.

Forever isn't a nostalgic game made for a 21st century audiance. It's a 1990s game that has had a face lift. It isn't relevant, and it just comes across childish and a bit embarassing.

Plus it was buggy as hell, and parts of it just looked and played atrociously bad.

The Guardian iPad Edition

Really dissapointing

It isn't good. Certainly not when you compare it to The Times app. It is just an alternative way to view the website, rather then a way to read the newspaper on your iPad.

You have to scroll through articles, instead of seeing an article take up the whole screen.

Its poorly laid out

No original content that isn't available online

No crossword

I guess if you are desperate to read The Guardian website it might be a better way to view it, but I certainly wouldn't pay for it as it just doesn't really give me anything that isn't already available for free. Its certainly not a paper in app form.

Seriously, review The Times app to see what a real newspaper app should look like. Its worlds above what The Guardian offer in terms of design and content (crosswords, The Times 5 days a week, plus The Sunday Times).

Valve chief says Apple will own your living room

It wouldn't suprise me

To see Apple buy up a company like On Live. Surely that kind of streaming game content to your TV is what iCloud is designed for.

Couple the functionality of On Live, with the design of the AppleTV, and the connections with the iPhone, iPad and iPod that Apple will offer and it is easy to see how you could have a killer product on the market.

In fact it is starting to happen already. The new version of AirPlay allows for mirroring. So you can play Angry Birds on your big screen TV through your AppleTV. They just need more support for big titles, that the likes of On Live type connectivity could supply.

I don't think we will see an actual games console. Why would they bother with that when they have the bare bones already in place?

Apple outs iPhone micro USB adaptor

Whats the issue?

The European Commission wants micro-usb charging, Apple now offer micro-usb charging.

I bet the 99% of iPhone owners don't care about that. Why should they? Their iPhone comes with a charger and there are a plethora of dock connectors in hi-fi's and speaker systems for them to use as well.

Lets face it, you don't buy an iPhone and then whinge about the lack of micro-usb support. One of the reasons you probably buy an iPhone is because it will connect to the same speakers your iPod does.

Why was Duke Nukem Forever s**t?

I get what your saying, and you are right. Duke is all about the crass, crude humour. However using humour that was considered acceptable 20 odd years ago won't work with a 21st century audience.

Don't lose the crude side of Duke, but update it a bit to fit a modern audience. There were numerous occasions when I was playing Forever when I just cringed a bit as they attempted to pass off some misogonistic crap off as funny and thought it was acceptable now. Its like trying to bring back Leisure Suit Larry. You can't without some big changes. That style of humour is just old fasioned.

Apple unveils 'World's First Thunderbolt Display'

power problem

The laptop is powered by the monitor, not the other way around. Power goes from the underbolt port on the monitor to your thunderbolt/mini display port on the laptop and the magsafe port to provide the power.

Have to say i really like it, and I am no Apple lover. It's smart, easy and actually useful.

Apple sues Samsung over Galaxy look-and-feel

If I were Samsung

I would say. "Fair enough. Sue us. Just don't expect us to supply you with any iPad screens any time soon."

Dell, HP badmouth Apple's iPad

iTunes

Having iOS so closely tied to iTunes makes everything just that little bit more difficult.

For example. Me and the partner are moving in together. All my films, music photos etc are stored on a lovely NAS and streamed to my TV quite happily through the PS3. Unfortunately they have an AppleTV and loads of DRM fueled videos purchased off the Apple Store.

This wouldn't be such a big deal except the AppleTV needs iTunes in order to stream. It can't stream directly from my NAS, you have to have a PC/laptop on and running iTunes to act as a go between. No big deal I guess, its just one more way that Apple's constant lock downs make everything that little bit more tedious.

HTC Incredible S Android smartphone

Great phone

It seems to have everything the Desire HD has which makes it better then the standard Desire, but in a smaller and much more manageable package.

Pity about the 80% marking, it certainly deserves at least 90% (dropping 10 off for the lack of 2.3, but even that is a bit harsh considering HTC have confirmed it will be updated in early Q2)

O2 boots up boobies blocker

Age Verification Fail

Just went to go through the whole farce of removing a block that should never have been there in the first place only to be told by the website my personal mobile was on a business account and I needed to speak to my account manager.

Went into a store. No luck. I need to speak to my non-existent account manager. Useless bunch of cretins.

iPhone 5 rumors: bigger, smaller, cloudy, keyboard-equipped

That time of year again?

When some random people make up some random shit that might sound a bit plausible and the technology blogs publish it until their keyboards are worn and broken?

I wonder how you get to be an "analyst" or an "insider"? Does it pay well?

Online sync'n'store services

Backups or additional storage?

Whilst I can see the advantage of something like drop box for backing up my data. My question is how realistic is it to use these services as a HDD replacement? I guess I am thinking that ChromeOS is just round the corner, so realisticly how prepared is the Cloud for being a replacement for a hard drive?

If I shoved all my music on it can an MP3 player connected to my laptop sync with the cloud? Is it fast enough to provide instant access to my documents? Can they provide offline modes to access some information if your net connection goes down?

I like the idea of moving to the cloud and having access to all my documents from anything and from anywhere. But so much of our consumer tech (like cameras, MP3 players etc) require locally stored documents to sync I can't see it as anything more then a handy way to backup.

Virgin unwraps three-tuner über set-top

bloop bloop bloop

It had better make the cute bloopy noises or I am senidng it back.

Multi-touch iPod nano stripped bare

Its a shame

It just seems like a massive step backwards for me. It's dad's birthday next month and he wants an iPod Nano. After the announcement I rushed out so I could ensure I got the current version because it is just a much better device. Bigger screen, video recording, video playback, OK so no touchscreen, but frankly I can't see the point in that on a device this small anyway.

What makes even less sense is for just a relatively small amount (£60) more you can go from this very basic music player to a full iPod Touch complete with HD video recording, Facetime, and the huge amount of apps on the marketplace. The new Nano just makes no sense :(

New iPod crew: 'Phoney, futuristic, retro, doomed'

downgrade?

I can't help but think that half the Nano's features have been removed but yes the price remains the same.

No video playback

No video recording

No games (the nano had access to a nice selection of clickwheel games from the iTunes Store)

Its just music and podcasts on a screen that is impossibly small. Not really that impressed to be honest. I'm gonna pick up the current gen before they become completely unavailable.

The AppleTV suffers from feature removal and downgrading too. No purchasing? No hard drive? Streaming only? And then the video format support is rather pathetic. MPEG3 at onlt 640x480!? Gone is its lovely selection of connectivity in exchanmge for just HDMI.

Microsoft Xbox 360 250GB

Nope

Afraid not. The 360 uses DVDs.

Oh my word.

It staggers me people still use these links with any sort of credibility. Have you actually read the articles? Really?

Can you please point me in the direction of someone who shakes their console around vigerously while they wait for their game to load?

People will strive for any excuse to denounce a piece of tech they, for some irrational reason, decide to dislike.

iPhone 4G blingmobe: Yours for £13k

How lovely

£300k on a device that won't be able to view the flash based website you bought it on.

Jobs tells iPhone users to get a grip

Classic

Engadget has probably one of the best articles I have seen in a long time

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/25/hey-apple-youre-holding-it-wrong/

iPhone 4 Day: pre-orders and pregnancy cut no ice with 02

Oh dear

What a most frightful experience. My heart bleeds for you.

My mate pre-ordered from O2, apparently he is a priority customer or something. Hw was happily sat in his garden soaking up the sun this morning. Now he has it, synced it, and is back out in the garden soaking up the sun.

The World's best World Cup Calendar (maybe)

Re:rubbish

oh delicious, sweet irony.

God of War III

Hmmmm

Its pretty obvious that you have missed the entire point of God of War, or you haven't played any of the previous games.

There is no higher purpose.

There is no desire to do good.

There is only revenge and hatred and guilt.

I agree it makes Kratos a slightly unpallatable character, but that is what makes God of War so different and special. Its good to play a character that just doesn't care and is so warped by his own guilt that he has become single visioned and doesn't give a shit about who or what gets in his way.

Its an incredible game. Its about as awesome as a game can be.

HTC Legend

Battery Life

Lets be honest here though, bad battery life isn't restricted to HTC products is it? Its a symptom on pretty much all smartphones. HTC, the iPhone, Sony Ericsson's new high end handsets all suffer from it. Is it mroe of a case that processor and functionality has lept forward far faster then battery technology has?

Now we have phones with 1Ghtz processors, graphics chips, 3G, wifi, GPS, AMOLED screens, touchscreens, and all sorts of games and applications all fighting for a piece of that juice. I think we need to either be a bit more savvy about how we use our devices to preserve battery life, or we need a replacement for Li-ion.

Orange teases with HTC Desire debut

T-Mobile...

...have announced they will offer it first from the 26th March.

Why on earth do Orange always insist on putting their lame software into everything. They are a service provider. They are there to provide me with a network and phones to go on it. I don't want anything else thanks, leave it out!

Microsoft backtracks Ballmer's Blu-per

No point

OK so I can have a 360, with a DVD player, that will have me playing a game whithin 30 seconds of popping it into my console.

Or I can have a PS3, with Blu Ray player, that will have me playing a hame in 30 minutes of popping it into the console.

Blu Ray may give you mounds of pointless storage, but at least the 360 can play games off the disc. I know what I prefer really.

Sony Ericsson's Pureness set for pre-Christmas launch

touch screen?

The Pureness doesn't have a touch screen does it? It's only input method is a standard keypad.

TomTom navigates way onto iPhone

Ooooor

You could save yourself a fortune and get CoPilot for just £25. It to has 3D and 2D, speed cameras, day and night mode, landscape and portrait. It automatically changes your route, has lane assistance and even live weather forcasts.

I am sure the TomTom app will be lovely, much prettier and probably faster. But if you want all the same functions in a cheap and cheerful edition then go for CoPilot.

Gaming exec calls for videogame price hike

WTF!?

When you can get a 360 for £120 how the hell do the justify more then half that price for a game?

These people must be living on cloud cuckoo land.

Palm restores Pré iTunes synchronisation

@Dana W

Palm are not stupid. They know the iTunes user base is emense. I use iTunes, I used it well before I got an iPhone and no doubt I will continue to use it if I ever get rid of it. Its just a nice music store that works for me. The ability to subscribe to all my podcasts through it is a dream.

If the Pre offers me what I want from a phone, and does it better then the iPhone, letting me continue to use iTunes without having to resort to another 3rd party application is just the icing on the cake really.

I think Apple are being a bit stupid really. Its not like anything they sell is DRM'd anymore, and it might tempt people who don't own an iPod/iPhone to buy music from them, increasing their revenue stream.