Well, by built-in, we mean that the 22in TV's base is a PlayStation 2, giving this TV a rather strange look. It's also a little strange that Sony's choosing this point to try and eke a little more life out of its PS2 product. The only reason we can think of is that integrating a PlayStation 3 would put the price up to an unrealistic level.
As it stands, the KDL-22PX300 is available for £200 from Richer Sounds making it only a little more expensive than same-size TVs from other big manufacturers.
The KDL-22PX300 is well kitted out, too. Its 1,366x768 resolution is ideal for 720p footage, while four HDMI inputs mean you can plug in tons of other devices. There's Freeview built in, although not the newer Freeview HD.
Perhaps the best thing is the Bravia Internet TV portal is included, so you can connect the TV to your router via Ethernet and use the online services, including BBC iPlayer and LoveFilm. If you've been looking for a way to break out your old PS2 games, this TV could well be the model for you.
Experts revealed that the WikiLeaks website was crashed by method known as distributed denial of service (DDoS). The server was jammed due to the repeatedly demand web pages from the server.
However, the Der Spiegel of Germany, The New York Times, the London newspaper The Guardian and El Pais of Madrid continued to give the edited versions of the leaked documents.
Did you think that stuff used on that short promotional video was real? It isn't. It is, in fact, entirely computer-generated from start to finish.
Even I had to to do a double take on the video. Only when the fruit appeared to shatter like glass on the kitchen worktop did I realize that there was more at work here than mere photography.
Even close analysis of each frame, it is almost impossible to tell that the lemons and tomatoes that tumble past the screen are not actually the real thing.
Created by artist Alex Roman using 3dsmax, Vray, AE and edited on Premiere, this 60sec TV commercial for Silestone has been a hit after posting it on a CGI website. Truly an ultimate in CGI trickery.
Mr. Roman, who has also had a similar worldwide hit with an architecture video called The Third and Seventh, says that the new short video took two and half months to complete from concept to final editing.
Microsoft's brand-new, much-hyped Kinect for Xbox is finally out -- in all of its motion-controlled glory. Forget the Nintendo Wii. Kinect is sure to be the biggest family-fun hit of the holiday season.
When Microsoft unveiled Kinect two years ago, I wondered to myself: Could a system really abandon the joystick controller and rely on the movement of our bodies to play games? The answer is a resounding yes!
I've been testing Kinect -- or should I say, kickboxing, dancing, and rafting Kinect -- for about a week now, and I'm more than impressed. Remember how cool it was when you first used Nintendo's Wii controllers? Multiply that impression by a factor of 10 and you come close to the experience of Kinect.
Kinect isn't a new system. It's an add-on to the existing Microsoft Xbox gaming console, one which plugs into any of the systems. It uses four microphones and three video lenses to locate your body. The setup is fairly simple. Once it scans your body to identify your height and facial features, you're off and running ... or jumping.
Kinect uses microphones to recognize your voice, letting you speak commands and navigate menus. Microsoft is really proud of this feature; I am not impressed. It sounds like a great idea but it's too clunky. Even in a small room Kinect had difficulty recognizing commands such as "Xbox: Play Kinect Adventures" or "Xbox: Sign In." Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I ended up getting frustrated and often gave up, going back to using my arms in midair to navigate menu settings.
Nintendo hit a home run by including Wii Sports in the box with the Wii console. Microsoft took a page from Nintendo's playbook, including a copy of Kinect Adventures -- a series of five incredibly addictive games that are fun for the whole family.
Rally Ball is a lot like dodgeball, Reflex Ridge is an Indiana Jones-styled obstacle course, and Space Pop forces you to pop bubbles in midair. In 20,000 Leaks, you try to keep fish away from your undersea boat; in the amazing River Rush, multiple players control a white water raft through wild river rapids.
But my favorite game for Kinect is from MTV and Harmonix: Dance Central. It tracks your body's movement while you attempt to dance alongside professional dancers to some of today's hottest songs. Notice I said attempt to dance. The way I play this game can only loosely be interpreted as dancing -- let's just say I made sure the shades in my house were drawn before I started.
If you want to lose weight, Microsoft Kinect has you covered too. Your Shape includes workouts created by Men's Health and Women's Health. I've been doing cardio kickboxing, yoga, and tai chi. While you're exercising you receive feedback from a personal trainer on the screen. And because Kinect is tracking all of your movements, it'll know whether or not you're doing the exercise correctly.
Beware, however, if you're thinking of getting one: Your existing layout may no longer work. You may need to mount your Kinect sensor bar on top of the television for best results. But for many people that's not an option, thanks to modern thin televisions that the sensor bar simply won't sit on.
My television was too thin for the sensor bar, for example. I had to put it underneath the TV, and that's a problem because Kinect requires about 6 feet of space from the television to where you're standing in order to scan your body from head to toe. I live in a New York City apartment -- it's as small as you've heard such places are -- so the backs of my legs kept hitting my couch.
I imagine this would be a problem for college kids in a dorm room, as well. My advice is to put your Kinect console in an area where you have plenty of space to move around.
But ignore those few annoyances. Kinect is a major advancement in gaming technology and one that's sure to be on millions of kids' Christmas lists this season. And adults' lists too!
In his keynote speech at Microsoft OpenDoor--the largest Microsoft technical event in Saudi Arabia--Steve Ballmer said that, "As a global technology leader, we are committed to the Middle East region. Having been here for 20 years, we believe we can play an important role to drive regional growth and development by helping governments, societies and individuals realize their full potential."
No specific Windows Phone 7 models were announced during the Microsft OpenDoor conference commence tomorrow in Jeddah.
[Yahoo!] Climbers at the top of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, will now be able to make video calls and surf the Internet on their mobile phones, a Nepalese telecom group claims.
Ncell, a subsidiary of Swedish phone giant TeliaSonera, says it has set up a high-speed third-generation (3G) phone base station at an altitude of 5,200 metres (17,000 feet) near Gorakshep village in the Everest region.
"Today we made the (world's) highest video call from Mount Everest base camp successfully," Ncell Nepal chief Pasi Koistinen told reporters in Kathmandu on Thursday.
"The coverage of the network will reach up to the peak of the Everest," he added.
Climbers who reached Everest's 8,848-metre peak previously depended on expensive and erratic satellite phone coverage and a voice-only network set up by China Mobile in 2007 on the Chinese side of the mountain.
The installation will also help tens of thousands of tourists and trekkers who visit the Everest region every year.
"This is a great milestone for mobile communications as the 3G high speed internet will bring faster, more affordable telecommunication services from the world?s tallest mountain," said Lars Nyberg, chief executive of TeliaSonera, which owns 80 percent of Ncell.
The 3G services will be fast enough to make video calls and use the Internet, said the company, which also claims the world's lowest 3G base at 1,400 metres (4,595 feet) below sea level in a mine in Europe.
A total of eight base stations, four of which will run on solar power, have been installed in the Everest region with the lowest at 2,870 metres (9,400 feet) at Lukla, where the airport for the area is situated.
Company engineers braved low temperatures and winds to set up the infrastructure.
Mountaineers hailed the launch as ambitious and helpful.
"The erratic and expensive satellite connection that many times does not work for days will be replaced with this service, making it possible for all climbers to keep in touch with their organisers and family," said Ang Tshering Sherpa, a member of the International Mountain Protection Commission.
"This will also be helpful, possibly, when there is an accident or an expedition mishap," he added
Despite the installation in Everest, telecom services cover less than one-third of the 28 million people of Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world.
TeliaSonera said it planned to invest 100 million dollars in the next year to ensure that mobile coverage increases to more than 90 percent of the Himalayan nation's population.
The 3G network on Everest puts TeliaSonera ahead of state-controlled Nepal Telecom, Indian-owned United Telecom and China Mobile.
Around 3,000 people have climbed to the Everest summit since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to conquer the peak in 1953.
[Image courtesy: Engadget]
Ncell, a subsidiary of Swedish phone giant TeliaSonera, says it has set up a high-speed third-generation (3G) phone base station at an altitude of 5,200 metres (17,000 feet) near Gorakshep village in the Everest region.
"Today we made the (world's) highest video call from Mount Everest base camp successfully," Ncell Nepal chief Pasi Koistinen told reporters in Kathmandu on Thursday.
"The coverage of the network will reach up to the peak of the Everest," he added.
Climbers who reached Everest's 8,848-metre peak previously depended on expensive and erratic satellite phone coverage and a voice-only network set up by China Mobile in 2007 on the Chinese side of the mountain.
The installation will also help tens of thousands of tourists and trekkers who visit the Everest region every year.
"This is a great milestone for mobile communications as the 3G high speed internet will bring faster, more affordable telecommunication services from the world?s tallest mountain," said Lars Nyberg, chief executive of TeliaSonera, which owns 80 percent of Ncell.
The 3G services will be fast enough to make video calls and use the Internet, said the company, which also claims the world's lowest 3G base at 1,400 metres (4,595 feet) below sea level in a mine in Europe.
A total of eight base stations, four of which will run on solar power, have been installed in the Everest region with the lowest at 2,870 metres (9,400 feet) at Lukla, where the airport for the area is situated.
Company engineers braved low temperatures and winds to set up the infrastructure.
Mountaineers hailed the launch as ambitious and helpful.
"The erratic and expensive satellite connection that many times does not work for days will be replaced with this service, making it possible for all climbers to keep in touch with their organisers and family," said Ang Tshering Sherpa, a member of the International Mountain Protection Commission.
"This will also be helpful, possibly, when there is an accident or an expedition mishap," he added
Despite the installation in Everest, telecom services cover less than one-third of the 28 million people of Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world.
TeliaSonera said it planned to invest 100 million dollars in the next year to ensure that mobile coverage increases to more than 90 percent of the Himalayan nation's population.
The 3G network on Everest puts TeliaSonera ahead of state-controlled Nepal Telecom, Indian-owned United Telecom and China Mobile.
Around 3,000 people have climbed to the Everest summit since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to conquer the peak in 1953.
[Image courtesy: Engadget]
“We’re sorry to disappoint customers waiting for the white iPhone yet again, but we’ve decided to delay its release until this spring,” said Apple spokeswoman Trudy Miller.
Apple had previously stated that the white iPhone 4 would “not be available until later this year.”
WiFi Direct uses standard WiFi technology but does not need an existing WiFi network or router and instead utilizes peer-to-peer connections. Also, WiFi Direct is being designed to be as simple as setting up a Bluetooth connection without all the hoopla of connecting devices using current tethering or ad hoc networking for laptops and smartphones.
WiFi Direct also makes good use of existing WiFi devices. For example, any PC or laptop that already has standard WiFi 802.11x hardware can connect to a WiFi Direct-enabled device. That means that if you bought a WiFi Direct printer this holiday season, it could instantly connect to your PCs and other WiFi-enabled devices.
Also, since it is essentially a full WiFi connection, WiFi Direct devices can connect over a much greater range than Bluetooth and with greater data connection capacities and gets rid of the need for a device to have both Bluetooth and WiFi hardware, thus cutting down on hardware and power requirements.
As with most new technologies, there will be questions and issues that will only be answered once they are released. WiFi Direct uses WPA2 to secure the connection, which is fairly secure but not ironclad. How will WiFi Direct devices connect to each other while preventing unwanted persons or devices from connecting? After all, you probably don’t want just anyone in the airport to be able to download all the pictures from your vacation from your digital camera.
Still the possibilites for WiFi Direct devices are exciting. Will you purchase a WiFi Direct device if you had the chance?
[Mashable.Com] The launch of the new MySpace begins today; it marks not only the release of a completely overhauled design, but the start of a fundamental shift in focus for what was once the world’s preeminent social network.
MySpace will roll out a completely revamped interface to its users starting today, but the rollout won’t be complete until the end of November. And because so much has changed, we can’t possibly cover every aspect of the new website and mobile experience in a single article. Everything from the homepage to profiles to the new Topic Pages focus on transforming MySpace from a social network into a “social entertainment destination.”
The MySpace site is now focused exclusively on the 13 to 35-year-old demographic — Generation Y, in other words. Its new goal is to become “the leading entertainment destination that is socially powered by the passions of fans and curators.” This is in contrast to its old goal of being “a place for friends.” It reduces the amount of design bloat from 152 templates and 81 button styles to just seven templates and two buttons. And that’s only scratching the surface of the changes to the MySpace website, not to mention the new mobile experience that will launch next month.
MySpace will roll out a completely revamped interface to its users starting today, but the rollout won’t be complete until the end of November. And because so much has changed, we can’t possibly cover every aspect of the new website and mobile experience in a single article. Everything from the homepage to profiles to the new Topic Pages focus on transforming MySpace from a social network into a “social entertainment destination.”
The MySpace site is now focused exclusively on the 13 to 35-year-old demographic — Generation Y, in other words. Its new goal is to become “the leading entertainment destination that is socially powered by the passions of fans and curators.” This is in contrast to its old goal of being “a place for friends.” It reduces the amount of design bloat from 152 templates and 81 button styles to just seven templates and two buttons. And that’s only scratching the surface of the changes to the MySpace website, not to mention the new mobile experience that will launch next month.
