Posted by: Jane Douglas

This week, alongside our other Tech & Gadgets duties, we've been putting the Linksys MediaHub through its paces.

Linksys might be most familiar to you as a maker of wireless routers. What then, you might well ask, is a MediaHub?

It is a media-centric network access storage device, more or less, with an emphasis on ease of use for those without professional certification in networking.

The idea, then, is that anyone can set up the device as a 500GB (in the case of our NMH405 review unit) hub onto which music, photos, videos and other files can be loaded and then accessed from anywhere in the home via a PC or laptop.

Password-protected access can also be carried out remotely via a web browser from anywhere else in the world (the remote access service is free for the first year, with a fee being charged afterwards).

Physically, the device is unobtrusive (about 20cm by 11cm by 17cm), finished in a mix of matte and shiny black with brushed metallic-effect trim. There is a 1.8-inch LCD on the front panel, along with a basic directional pad for navigation - that is, not for browsing the files but for checking capacity, settings, etc.

The front of the hub also features a multi-format memory card reader and a USB 2.0 port, with another USB port in the back along with the gigabit Ethernet port. The top of the unit is a press-button-and-lift-away panel that reveals the two SATA hard drive bays within: one occupied with the included 500GB drive, one empty for later storage expansion.

Getting the MediaHub up and running was straightforward, requiring little more than running the installer program from the included CD. That done, transferring/accessing files was equally simple, using a combination of the Flash-based web Media Browser (which allows streaming of media files) and accessing the hub drive like any other local network location.

Adding files to the device was not as fast as we would have liked, but the provision for automated or manual back-up of your computer is appreciated. More significantly, the nice Media Browser interface puts a friendly face on network access storage.

At £300, user-friendly NAS doesn't come cheap, but for the right user the Linksys MediaHub is worth a look.

This week on Tech & Gadgets

Besides network access storage, we've mostly been thinking about:

 
The rise of in-flight mobile and WiFi use


10 mobile phone apps to change your life

 
February games review round-up

Posted by: Jane Douglas

Today Xbox Live announced an agreement with Universal Pictures to bring new movie downloads to the Xbox Live Marketplace: 30 films at first, and more over time.

Highlights of the new movie rental line-up include Hellboy II, Shaun of the Dead and The Bourne Supremacy. These join a mixed bag of older favourites (The Blues Brothers, Scarface), horror classics (Child's Play 2 and 3, Village of the Damned) and stoner flicks (How High, Cheech and Chong's Next Movie).

At the announcement, Neil Thompson, head of Xbox in the UK and Ireland, declared that the new Universal deal was merely part of the grander plan for Xbox 360 as an online multimedia entertainment hub for which the console was intended and apparently named: "360-degree entertainment that would be continuous and ongoing," in Thompson's words.

Comparing the new rentals from Universal to the videos already available from Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros, we're not looking at a massive diversification from existing Xbox Live fare (blockbusters, slashers, teen comedies) - but a new studio from which to draw ongoing content can only be a good thing.

The new films will be available immediately from 250 points (about £2) a pop for standard definition and 380 points (about £3) for HD. The videos are accessible for 24 hours after downloading and beginning playback.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

When Spectrobes came out for the DS in 2007, it was something of a sleeper hit. Make a Pokemon-style game and set it in space and you’re onto a winner, it seems.

Anyway, the sequel’s on its way this Friday (nearly five months after it was released in the States) and Disney has released an anime-inspired cartoon series to coincide with it. Here are the first two episodes – we’ll be adding another two every day for the next week on the MSN Video channel.

Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals
Webisode 1
Webisode 2

Posted by: Jane Douglas

When the long-awaited Resident Evil 5 arrives on March 13, it will be the first game in the legendary Resident Evil series to hit the Xbox 360.

Duly excited by the prospect of their first Resident Evil title, the Xbox folks have announced a limited edition red version of their console to celebrate the incoming zombie shooter.

On the same day that Resident Evil 5 launches, fans will be able to pick up* the game as part of a bundle including the crimson console with 120GB hard drive, a matching red wireless controller and a (disappointingly) black headset.

Software-wise, buyers of the special edition machine will also get an "exclusive premium" Resident Evil 5 theme and a code for downloading Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, another Capcom title.

The bright and bloody hue of this commemorative Xbox 360 won't be to everyone's taste. The classic white and black models do a better job of blending with the average home entertainment set-up, after all. But fans of faceplates might be tempted to trade up.

What do you make of this oh-so-red Xbox 360? Would you prefer another colour? And shouldn't a Resident Evil 5 special edition model have some kind of zombie design on it?

(*Supplies apparently "very limited", pre-ordering advised. GAME is taking pre-orders for the bundle, priced at £229.99.)

Posted by: Jane Douglas

In the office, I sometimes work with a discreet pair of black sound-isolating earphones on - or in, rather.

The downside is that they are only detectable by an equally discreet, easy-to-miss black cable - with the buds themselves concealed by my hair.

What with these 'phones being tiny noise-cancelling things, my colleagues will, on occasion, become convinced that I am either stone deaf or steadfastly ignoring them. They can't see the earphones and, however loudly they try to get my attention, I stay cocooned in own my little world of sound.

But no longer. I recently ordered a pair of chunky NervePipes headphones from American firm iFrogz. They're not particularly pricey, even with international shipping, but the sound quality is reasonable (if not up to audiophile standards) with generous bass.

More significantly, these are the flashiest-looking headphones I have ever used. iFrogz recently launched a customisation service for three of their EarPollution products: two headphones, one earphones.

You can pick the colours of - or graphics on - most of the  components of the 'phones, making for some pretty psychedelic experimental designs in the Flash preview pane as I put together my own set. (If I had my way, you could upload personal graphics and pick cable colours too.)

The upshot of which is now my fellow MSN staffers are all too aware that I am, say, listening to a podcast at my desk - even if I still can't hear them. I believe you can see these gaudy orange-and-chrome-with-toxic-decal headphones from space.

Posted by: Jane Douglas

What with Mobile World Congress going on in Barcelona, we've mostly been about all the mobile handsets just unveiled this week.

Not entirely, though: we've also been playing with the Hyundai Portable Digital TV - or portable digital media player, to be precise, though it's the inbuilt DVB-T tuner that is this gizmo's key feature.

Hyundai Portable Digital TV
The TV's 4.3-inch display is crisp and clear, making it a nice slim player for watching your own video files on the go.

Then the integrated DVB-T tuner makes all the digital Freeview channels available for your viewing pleasure. When reception is good, this is a snazzy little TV-enabled PMP.

There were plenty of occasions, however, when we couldn't seem to get a decent signal on the device's spindly antenna. It's also worth noting that use of the DVB-T cuts the respectable 7.5-hour battery life (regular video mode) down to 3.5 hours.

As you'd hope, this PMP supports MP3, OGG, WMA and WAV audio formats for use as a music player, and there's an FM radio in there too. The speakers will put out a decent volume or you can plug headphones into the standard 3.5mm jack.

It comes with just 1GB of internal memory - though there is support for more via Mini SD card. The interface isn't as slick as that of, say, the Archos PMPs (on which you would be watching web TV rather than Freeview) but it costs a fraction of those players' prices too (about £150 on Firebox).

The week on T&G

 
Hottest handsets of MWC


Carnivorous domestic entertainment robots

 
We test: sound-isolating headphones


Where next for TV?

Posted by: Jane Douglas

What better way to start my day than with the poking and prodding of the host of sleek new cameras just released by Canon?

There was a slew of models being unveiled but for me the standout devices were the PowerShot D10 and the IXUS 100 IS.

The two cameras almost couldn't be more different. The D10 is Canon's first waterproof compact.

The 12-megapixel sensor might be a given, but not the (independently tested) ruggedness: it's waterproof down to 10m and will operate at temperatures down to minus 10 degrees Celsius.

While trying to describe the bulbous, chunky shape of the D10, the product manager and I agreed on "fat and grippy". It is so designed to make it easier to handle and operate underwater or with gloves on - the buttons are slightly oversized for the same reason.

The D10 is available from the end of April 2009 (£379) and comes with a blue faceplate (pictured) that can be swapped out for a variety of colours - or, as on the version I tested, an Action Man-looking camouflage pattern.

The IXUS 100 IS, on the other hand, is the skinniest camera  (18.4mm thick) in Canon's popular IXUS line to date - and of all time, in fact.

I'm told that Canon will never make a thinner camera because to do so would mean losing a direct optical path (a straight line between the lens and sensor) and hence image quality.

Besides the slender profile and general good looks, the 100 can capture 720p high-def video at 30 frames a second, and packs HDMI connectivity for hooking straight up to a TV. It'll be out in stores in the middle of next month (£299).

Both the D10 and IXUS 100 feature a new and improved 'smart' auto mode that optimises your snapshots with scene/face/motion detection, auto ISO adjustment, white balance, etc.

There's a blink alert but no smile detection - because, says the product manager, "you don't always want to smile in a photo."

Posted by: Nik Taylor

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) kicks off in Barcelona today, and one of the first stories to emerge is Microsoft’s rebadging of its mobile phone operating system.

Windows Mobile is no more – in its place we now have Windows Phone. It might seem an incremental change, but the point – for Microsoft at least – is to make sure everyone knows this is an OS for phones rather than other mobile devices such as netbooks. Underneath the customer-facing name change, Windows Phone is Windows Mobile 6.5.

I got to have a sneak preview of Windows Phone last Friday. Unfortunately, that didn’t include a hands-on, but I did get to see a presentation of its general look and feel. There was some pretty interesting stuff, which boils down to the following.

• An overhauled operating system, including an updated version of Internet Explorer Mobile.
• An application store called Marketplace.
• A phone syncing service called My Phone.

I thought it was noteworthy that the demo I saw was entirely for touchscreen. Windows Phone for keypad phones will exist, but for the moment Microsoft seems to be focussing on touch. Along with the new app store and improved browser, it all looks like a serious bit of gauntlet lobbing in the direction of Apple’s iPhone.

Anyway, my early impressions of Windows Phone for touch were that it looked very slick. A primary focus seems to have been ease of use, so that even simple elements such as the lock screen have been redesigned.

While the phone is locked, it now displays a string of icons for missed calls, text messages, voicemails and so on. Any new additions to these will be highlighted. To unlock the phone, you swipe your finger across the information you want to view. So, if you have a new message, you swipe your finger once across the screen and go straight to it.

Once inside, the Windows Phone interface is based entirely on hexagons, the idea being that this is a tile-able shape that matches the shape of a fingertip more closely than a square. This should make the touchscreen far more responsive and, apparently, eliminate the need for a stylus entirely.

The main screen will have a long pattern of hexagons that you can scroll down with a swipe of your finger. Those you use more often can be moved towards the top.

There’s a new browser included too – Internet Explorer Mobile 6, which supports tabs, Flash and is zoomable. The nav buttons you can see on the screenshot auto-hide, so you get a full-screen display of the page you’re on.

Finally, there are a couple of very interesting new accompanying services. Marketplace will be Microsoft’s own app store, and will launch with 19,500 apps. My Phone is a web-based feature which automatically syncs your phone online. This looks useful as it means you can have an exact copy of your phone, its contacts, calendar entries and so on, stored online. That’s very useful if you lose your phone, or switch handsets to a different manufacturer. It’s also a nice easy way to get your photos online.

Windows Phone will be released in ‘early Q4’. There was no word on Friday as to which handsets will run it, but expect announcements from the likes of Samsung, LG and HTC over the next few days at MWC.

Posted by: Jane Douglas

I've been getting on pretty well with my netbook (an Eee PC 1000H) since I picked it up just after Christmas.

Weighing 1.45kg and running for hours off a single battery charge, it's a world apart from my main laptop - a widescreen desktop replacement that weighs more than twice as much and can't seem to handle even an hour without charging.

It's no powerhouse, packing a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and 1GB RAM out of the box. But I knew what I was getting into with a netbook - a device for checking e-mails and browsing on the go, and the "basic productivity" stuff: word processing and the occasional spreadsheet.

Out of curiosity, I did install World of Warcraft. With the graphical settings down low, I was getting about 15 frames a second (much like this guy). Reasonable but far from pretty - just as you'd expect from a low-power machine without a dedicated graphics card.

Not for the purpose of playing WoW, but just to give the Eee PC a little boost, today I swapped out the 1GB RAM for a 2GB stick. (You can watch someone else breeze through the same upgrade here.) It's nice to have things running that little bit smoother - and well worth the few quid for the new RAM.

But enough about my gadget du jour. Here's some of the best of the week's T&G:

The Clymo Brief: the kid-friendly mobile

 
Celebs on Twitter


In pictures: GTA IV: The Lost and Damned

Guest post by Matt Ball

Organise a party on MySpace and feral youths will turn up and trash your home.

Organise a party on Facebook and the police will shut it down before it has even started.

Organise a party on Twitter and something else happens.

It gets big but it works.

So it was with Twestival. What was initially a small gathering of Twitter users in London turned into a global event. Twitter users in other cities decided to organise their own events. In the end about 175 cities from Amsterdam to Wichita hosted a Twestival yesterday with all the proceeds going to charity:water, an organisation that funds clean water projects in developing countries.

The Twestival organisers (all volunteers) hope to have raised a combined total of $1 million.

And not a single feral youth or policeman turned up. At least not at the London Twestival event that I attended last night. More than 700 people had bought tickets and we queued calmly in a dark alley as snow fell. It took us half an hour to get in but nobody minded.

The event had got TV and newspapers journalists in a spin. The interest was out of proportion to the event because Twestival was the next Twitter story to come along after the plane crash scoop last month (when Twitter was the first place where you could find a picture of the plane that landed on the Hudson river).

Jaz Cummins, in charge of PR for the London Twestival, told me she'd spoken to six people at one media organisation. A typical conversation was as follows: "Jaz, I don't know anything about Twestival and I don't know anything about Twitter. Tell me what I should write."

No matter. Twitter is going mainstream, fast.

But why was it the best medium to organise an event? “Twitter is instant,” says Amanda Rose, who led the organisation of Twestival. “People can see what’s happening and can create a buzz. Sites like Facebook are for social networking, Twitter is a communications tool.”

And for me that’s the point. The evening neatly illustrated what Twitter can do.

Sure, Twestival will have raised some money for a good cause. I can choose to feel good about that, though the London Twestival felt like less like a charity event than any other fundraiser I’ve ever been to. And that was a good thing. We all knew where the money we donated was going, we didn’t need lots of posters on the walls telling us about it nor were we there to feel self-righteous about doing our bit – we could have donated and just had a night in. Twestival was a gathering of people who use Twitter. People who would have enjoyed the temporary message on the fun graffiti wall: “Sucking up to @stephenfry is not cool.”

If you want to meet people you follow on Twitter, organise a mini tweet-up among yourselves. If you want to meet people who don’t follow you on Twitter organise a Twestival. Either way you’ll have fun.

Update February 18
Some news on the numbers from Twestival came out today:
A total of 202 cities around the world held Twestivals. The current total raised globally is more than $250,000 (£175,000) – and confirmation from over 80 cities is still pending.

So what would that buy? Well, the organisers say that $250,000 would fund 55 water projects in Ethiopia, Uganda and India - clean water for more than 17,000 people.

At the start of April, the first well funded by Twestival donations will be drilled in Ethiopia.

Congratulations to all involved.

Matt Ball is editor-in-chief of MSN UK. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thisismattball

Posted by Jane Douglas

Today the Academy announced the nominations for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards.

The prizes won't be handed out until March 10, but until then gamers can get involved by casting their votes for the people's choice prize of the evening: the Game of the Year award.

The shortlist for that prize goes like this:

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Fallout 3
Gears of War 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
Guitar Hero World Tour
Left 4 Dead
LittleBigPlanet
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Wii Fit
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

We'd give you good odds on Call of Duty 4 picking up the prize - as long as popular opinion hasn't changed since the Golden Joystick Awards 2008.

That's a prediction, though, not a vote - as stellar as Modern Warfare was, I've got fondest memories of Fallout 3 (probably my favourite single-player title of last year) and Left 4 Dead (my favourite multi-player).

And even though it will make for a prodigiously long blog post, here are the rest of the shortlists - from which winners will be picked by a panel of judges including Johnny Minkley of Eurogamer, Alex Wiltshire of Edge, Jason Bradbury and Rhianna Pratchett:

ACTION & ADVENTURE

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Dead Space
Fable II
Grand Theft Auto IV
Prince of Persia
Tomb Raider: Underworld

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

Assassin's Creed
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Dead Space
Gears of War 2
LittleBigPlanet
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

BEST GAME

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Fable II
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy

CASUAL

Boom Blox
Buzz! Quiz TV
Guitar Hero: World Tour
LittleBigPlanet
SingStar Vol. 2
Wii Fit

GAMEPLAY

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Grand Theft Auto IV
Left 4 Dead
Mario Kart Wii
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy

HANDHELD

Geometry Wars: Galaxies
God of War: Chains of the Olympus
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Patapon
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Soul Bubbles

MULTIPLAYER

Buzz! Quiz TV
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Gears of War 2
Left 4 Dead
Mario Kart Wii
Rock Band

ORIGINAL SCORE

Assassin's Creed
Dead Space
Fable II
Fallout 3
LittleBigPlanet
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

SPORTS

FIFA 09
Football Manager 2009
Motorstorm Pacific Rift
Pure
Race Driver: GRID
Wii Fit

STRATEGY

Advance Wars: Dark Conflict
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
Ninjatown
Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
SOCOM: US Navy Seals Tactical Strike
Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise

STORY AND CHARACTER

Assassin's Creed
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Fable II
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Mass Effect

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Assassin's Creed
Fable II
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
LittleBigPlanet
Spore

USE OF AUDIO

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Dead Space
Gears of War 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
LittleBigPlanet
Super Mario Galaxy

BAFTA ONE'S TO WATCH AWARD

Boro-Toro (DarkMatter Designs)
Origamee (Blue Skies)
VegeMe (Ctrl_D)

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Just when it seems we're becoming a truly high-tech society, something happens that drags us halfway back to the dark ages.

One the one hand, we've got a network of always-on connections that mean we're always in touch, no matter where we are. Email, mobile, Twitter...you name it, it's there for us to communicate with. These days, we can even keep in touch with Stephen Fry while he's stuck in a lift.

On the other hand, our country still grinds to a halt when there's a little bit of snow. The folk at ITV are so tech-illiterate they interrupt the most important part of a football match with adverts. And some of the nation's newspapers believe Google's innovative Latitude service - which enables you to broadcast your location via your mobile phone - is going to turn us into a nation of downtrodden Orwellian saps spied on by our employers.

Still, we're doing out bit to keep the country on top of the latest tech, starting with this week's selection of features from Tech & Gadgets...

New screenshots from Resident Evil 5

Dead tech we would resurrect

Gaming record breakers

 
Great gadgets for less

 
TV goes 3D

Posted by: Jane Douglas

Microsoft has unveiled the editions in which its upcoming operating system Windows 7 will be made available, citing lessons learned from Windows Vista as influential.

There will be two main editions: Home Premium and Professional for consumers and business use respectively, the latter name harking back to the popular XP variant rather than any of the Vista versions.

Then there will be Windows 7 Starter, a "limited functionality", "low-cost OS for low-end hardware" - meaning it will serve, among other things, the booming netbook market.

News: Microsoft streamlines Windows 7 options

The all-encompassing Windows 7 Ultimate targets "a relatively small group of enthusiasts" with an aggregation of all of 7's features in one edition. Enterprise is for, well, enterprise customers. Windows 7 Home Basic, meanwhile, is intended just for emerging markets; it's designed mostly for internet access and basic productivity.

Lessons learned?
Windows Vista caught criticism from some parties for coming in so many different flavours as to make the choice confusing: users had to pick between Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate.

Not only that but the more expensive versions didn't necessarily come with everything bundled into the lighter versions, as you might expect. Home Premium included Media Center, for example, but Business didn't.

The second criticism seems to have been taken to heart: the Windows 7 "superset" model means everything that comes in the "lower" editions will be found in the "higher" ones.

As for the former? Well, not so much. There's not a dramatic culling of editions - but if marketing emphasis is given over to just Home Premium and Professional, the Windows 7 lineup could at least seem that much simpler.

News: Windows 7 versions officially announced

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Today, anyone who has questioned the usefulness of Twitter got a pretty good demonstration of what a powerful tool it can be. While transport websites have been crumbling and news stations have been struggling to keep up with the latest reports from around a frozen country, the tweets have been flying in offering instant updates from every corner of the UK. 

Tweeters have been flooding the tweet-osphere with postings including the #uksnow hashtag. This hashtag convention is used to provide a speedy way to search for tweets on a particular topic, that might otherwise be hard to find. It groups everything together. So, tapping #uksnow into Twitter Search brings up all the latest tweets on the white stuff.

Where this really comes into its own is when you get a bit more inventive. For instance, type in #uksnow train* london, and you’ll get all the snowy tweets that mention trains around london. (For those that don’t know, the * is a wildcard that means your search will find tweets that contain a word that starts with train. So you’ll get both train and trains.) Today this has proved to be one of the most reliable ways of getting instant, on-the-spot information about our frozen transport system.

Of course, tweeters quickly took the whole thing #uksnow thing a step further. By adding the first half of a postcode to each tweet, it becomes possible to search for #uksnow tweets by area. Many are now following a convention of also adding a snow rating. So tweets may look something like: #uksnow SE1 [8/10] – telling you that the snow is 8/10 in south-east London. All that info has now been collated into a snow map mashup, a map that displays and constantly updates the snow levels currently being reported by Twitter users. Impressive stuff, indeed.

How’s the snow where you are?
Upload your snowy videos
Send us your photos of the freezing weather