Ever since Asus debuted its first Eee PC, I’ve been fascinated by this new category of mobile device, dubbed the Netbook by chip maker Intel.

The form-factor is a notebook but these devices are purposely cut-down in terms of price - the Eee PC 701 sells for under $300 - as well as size and weight, and to some extent features. While designed primarily as a way of accessing the Internet on-the-go, Netbooks don’t have any pretensions of putting the Internet in your pocket, and instead look to keep the screen size and keyboard small enough to still be extremely portable, yet large enough to be that bit more productive.

This typically translates into screen sizes between 7 and 10 inches, with keyboards that feature 95% full-size keys, albeit with a rather cramped layout. Also, don’t automatically expect a Netbook to come loaded with a Microsoft operating system, though many offer XP as an option. Instead, in order to keep the cost down, and in recognition that many applications now run in the browser, Netbooks commonly run a flavor of Linux and related open-source software. Another distinguishing feature of the majority of Netbooks is that they do away with a traditional hard drive in favor of solid state storage with less capacity - 4-8GB - again recognizing the move towards Cloud computing.

However, a couple of things about the original Eee PC stopped me from making a purchase - an 800 x 600 screen resolution and an aging and limited processor - both of which have now been addressed by more recent models from Asus itself, along with a host of competitors including MSI and Acer, all three of which run on Intel’s new and improved Atom “Diamondville” processor.

So which of the new Atom-based Netbooks did I go for?

Continue reading “I’ve jumped on the Netbook bandwagon (MSI Wind U100 / Advent 4211 review)” »

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Apple and Sony are fierce competitors, but that hasn’t stopped the PlayStation 3 playing nicely with Mac OSX computers. Thanks to some great third-party software, and Sony’s decision to add support for the UPnP AV standard, the PS3 has, in some ways, become a better solution than Apple’s own offering to the problem of streaming content - audio, video and photos - from a Mac to the TV. Here’s our quick guide to creating a Mac-supported PS3 media center.

Step One: Turning the Mac into a PS3-friendly media server

Assuming that your Mac is already on the same local network as your PlayStation 3, the first thing you’ll need to do is install a UPnP AV-compliant media server. In fact, this will need to be done for all of the Macs that you want to share media from.

Continue reading “How-to: Stream media from a Mac to PlayStation 3″ »

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Intel calls it the Mobile Internet Device (MID); Nokia calls it the Internet Tablet; Apple calls it an iPod (or the “first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform“). And that’s before we factor in so-called Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) based on Microsoft Windows or low-cost Linux alternatives. In 2008 it seems that there is no shortage of companies (beyond smart phone makers) wanting to put the “Internet in your pocket”.

Over the Christmas holidays I got to play with one such product: Nokia’s N810, the third device in the company’s relatively new Internet Tablet lineup. But before I get to my hands-on impressions of the N810, I want to make a few observations about the product category in general.

Continue reading “Hands-on: Nokia’s N810 Internet Tablet” »

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A new on-demand Internet TV service, SyncTV (see our previous coverage), aims to challenge the cable television industry by offering the a la carte model — only pay for the channels or shows you watch — that customers crave, but which the cable operators refuse to offer.

At least that’s what the San Jose-based startup says publicly.

However, after playing with the service today (currently in private Beta) and learning more about SyncTV’s technology, I suspect a target much closer to home: Apple’s iTunes, along with the many other Internet TV offerings that make it difficult, if not impossible, for consumer electronics manufactures (CEMs) to build devices — set-top boxes, Internet-connected televisions and portable media players — that can download and playback content from their service.

Continue reading “Review: SyncTV offers more hope than promise” »

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Today’s software updates for the iPhone and iPod touch are welcomed refinements from Apple. Are they earth-shattering? No. They’re incremental, carefully thought out, and point to what we can expect in the future.

One thing we can expect is that Apple isn’t going to roll out a bunch of half-assed features that users may or may not need or want. It’s frustrating — we see the potential and we all want more now — but Apple is going to make sure whatever changes are made, whatever new features are added, they will improve the product, user experience, and the platform that’s being built.

It’s a platform that competitors are no where near duplicating. By the time competing manufacturers introduce their versions of the iPhone (many of which may use Google’s open mobile operating system Android), Apple will unveil even more refinements as well as introduce iPhone 2.0.

In February, Apple has said it will release a software developer’s kit (SDK) for third-party application development. This could be scary, a free for all, but Apple developers are known for elegant software design. If they follow Apple’s lead for the iPhone (guided tour) and iPod touch (features list), there should be little reason for concern.

Until then, we have incremental, refined upgrades. last100 takes a look at these from the January ‘08 update.

Continue reading “iPhone, iPod touch updates are incremental, welcomed, and point to future” »

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Deutsche Grammophon has opened a wonderful online music store for classical music enthusiasts, the DG Web Shop, which offers quality and availability unlike any other online store, including iTunes.

Nearly 2,400 classical DG albums will be available for download in the best MP3 quality available — 320 kbps — which exceeds the download standard of 128-192 kbps and the “quality” standard of 256 kbps offered by EMI on iTunes* and at AmazonMP3 (see our review).

The DG Web Shop is also open to countries not serviced by other online music retailers, including China, India, Latin America, South Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Pricing ranges from $1.29/euro for titles with playing times up to seven minutes, while regular-length recordings with or without “e-booklets” will sell for $10.99/euro-$11.99/euro.

Continue reading “Deutsche Grammophon opens wonderful online music store for classical enthusiasts” »

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Disclaimer: MediaGate is currently a last100 sponsor.

Pitched by the company as an AppleTV alternative, MediaGate’s MG-350HD shares much of the same media extender functionality, whereby photos, music, and videos can be streamed from a PC to a TV. In addition to streaming, when fitted with an internal hard drive, the MG-350HD can operate as a network attached storage device to house and playback all of a user’s home media.

In the looks department, the MG-350HD is no stunner, but it’s far from ugly either. Resembling the shape of a typical external hard drive with the addition of the give-away 802.11g-compatible WiFi antenna, the device has a solid and durable feel to it. The front panel features a navigation pad, media playback controls (start/stop etc.), status lights and an infrared receiver. The inclusion of physical controls adds clutter to the design and seems a little frivolous at first — until the day you misplace the supplied remote, that is. On the rear of the device are a plethora of connectivity options: including USB device/host ports, DVI out, S-Video out, digital coaxial out, component-video out, Ethernet, optical out for 5.1 audio, composite-video out, and stereo RCA audio outs. The S-Video, component and composite video options will come in handy for those without a HDTV, although, as the name suggests, the MG-350HD is geared towards a High Definition world. Unlike the AppleTV, MediaGate’s device doesn’t require a Widescreen television and can be operated in 4:3 mode.

Continue reading “Review: MediaGate’s MG-350HD (another PC to TV device)” »

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Vudu, a Silicon Valley company with big ambitions, is positioning its new set-top movie box as the ultimate in convenience. 5000 movies. 25 studios and distributors providing content. A 5-button remote. 1 couch. 0 waiting.

With Vudu, I no longer have to drive to the local Blockbuster, only to find that the movie I want to watch is not in stock. I don’t have to wait for the mailman to deliver my next film from Netflix. I don’t have to rummage through lean video-on-demand and pay-per-view offerings, only to find there’s nothing worth watching.

Which is why the thought of watching nearly any movie, when I want to watch it, is so intoxicating. Maybe, I thought, the Vudu set-top box and movie service would be so compelling that I could get rid of Netflix and Blockbuster memberships.

I had to try it. After using Vudu for just over a week, this is what I discovered.

Continue reading “Review: Vudu set-top movie box” »

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Winamp, that staple of media players, will soon turn 10! And its not letting it pass without a bang. On the 10th of October at 10:10am, Winamp 5.5 (PC-only) will be released sporting two new and potentially controversial features: support for mp3 blogs and the ability to stream your music collection over the Internet (a Beta version is available here).

Cashing in on the growing popularity of mp3 blogs, and the lack of tools to take advantage of them, Winamp’s Media Monitor can be used in conjunction with the software’s built-in browser to access any mp3s linked to on a blog page, presented as a playlist or even downloaded to your library. Winamp also includes handy links to a dozen or so music blogs to get you started.

Continue reading “Winamp goes where iTunes doesn’t dare” »

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[Ed. GadgetTrak have replied to a number of Ryan's criticisms -- see the update at the end of this post]

Lots of consumer electronics devices connect to a PC via a USB connection, such as mp3 players, flash drives, digital cameras and mobile phones, and the amount and range of information that they can carry is astounding — gigabytes of music, video, photos and documents. Some of these can contain important information, such as personal details or business secrets, while others may just be of sentimental value and of little interest to anyone else. In either case, losing one of these devices, be it from theft or misplacement, is at best a nuisance, and at worst can be a disaster.

GadgetTrak have developed a software system that can be installed onto supported USB devices, which they claim provides a means of tracking those devices, in the event that they are lost or stolen. Various membership options are offered, starting at $12.95 for one device, increasing to $45.95 for up to twenty devices.

Continue reading ““GadgetTrak” USB device tracking software” »

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A few minutes ago an email dropped into my in-box from YouTubeDesktop.com — a product that I’d never heard of before — inviting me to try out their private beta. Claiming to be “something special”, that many developers had said was “programmatically impossible”, I willingly put down my coffee and fired up Firefox.

The idea behind YouTube Desktop is to bring a desktop application experience to navigating and viewing YouTube videos through a web browser.

Continue reading “YouTubeDesktop.com - the slickest YouTube browser yet?” »

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Ryan is a UK-based IT consultant and blogs regularly on digital content.

After much frustration, I finally received my iPlayer beta log-in details late last Friday. This allowed me to access the walled area of the BBC website that contains the mythical iPlayer. So, after a week of testing, here’s what I experienced, and, finally, what I think of the iPlayer.

Continue reading “BBC iPlayer review - one week later” »

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