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March 30 FeedbackSo now, the time is near, and I will face, my readers' questions. Complaints, I've had a few, but then again...
Alright so I'll mention them:
Let's start with the feedback button on the site - which currently goes to the wrong feedback folder, I found this out this month when someone from lifestyle was querying why she was being accused of being biased towards Microsoft Xbox (more on that particular complaint later).
One irate reader quite rightly pointed out that there was a mistake in my rant about mobile phones - which I had, for no excusable reason, put as mobile phone's. I could give you any number of excuses, but they would all be lies so I'll just apologise. Not good enough.
Being PS3 week brought a massive, massive response to my message boards - not only did my 'Has Sony dented the PlayStation brand' story bring an enormous discussion about which console was the best - 'Is the 360 Elite a PS3 killer' brought a massive discussion (about which console was the best) Feeling like I was on to something I put up a 'Which console is the best' thread and, guess what, it got a massive response. So coming soon - 'Is the Amiga a Sega Megadrive killer?' 'Is the Wii an Xbox killer?' and...okay, I'll be good.
The 'What do you think of T&G thread' did get some new feedback from DJs - but I think it was in the wrong thread. For the record DJs - I think the PS3 is a very nice bit of kit.
Which bring me back to Microsoft bias. In this thread which was posted before the Xbox Elite announcement but which, I think, was in response to my 'What next for the Xbox' piece' - there were some accusations that I was trying to stop people buying the PS3 with the rumour (and obviously I was in the know), that there was no such thing as an updated Xbox and that the site is biased towards Microsoft because - as you all know - MSN is published by Microsoft.
I'll deal with each of these:
The easy answer is 'I'm not.' I have Xbox advertorial and a Microsoft section on the site but this fulfils my own obligation to the company in editorial terms. MSN journalists are told (in no uncertain terms) that we are expected to be entirely unbiased in our dealings with Microsoft, and, to be fair, we are also supported by our editorial team in the event that someone from within MS does try to influence us. In specific terms, the Xbox article was not okayed by Xbox, who did not want to comment on the rumours, and my sources were not from within the Xbox team. The fact that I pretty much nailed every feature in the article should be put entirely down to my skills as a journalist (yay I guessed right!).
And my (slightly smug) answer to that is to give you a link to my gallery of the next version of the Xbox, announced this week. Actually, getting back to the bias point, it is a genuine concern that I am seen as biased because of the company I work for. I wouldn't feel at all comfortable working for a company that threatened my integrity as a journalist (and that's not an oxymoron!). Of course there are pressures, but the theory is that, if you can stand up and justify why you wrote something and your reasons were grounded in honesty, news-worthiness and user experience, then it is accepted you are doing your job. *phew* glad I got that off my chest. As ever, thanks for my feedback - and I shall be reviewing your comments again next month. Fiddling with my back endThere's been lots of fiddling with my back end over the past few days - by which, of course, I mean the technical infrastructure of the site
It's going to carry until the middle of next week, but so far, so good as far as providing a seamless user experience. But, if all the lights go out on Tech & Gadgets then you know why. March 29 Diversions aplentyA mate of mine sent me a link today to the alphabet test. My best is 5.9 seconds which pales in comparison with his spritely 3.7 - although having witnessed him play computer games in the past I am not going to rule out the 'mashing' technique until I see it in person!
It reminded me of the old Mavis Beacon-alike stuff we used to do at school. It always started, I seem to remember, with typing the letter f 30 times with spaces in between. Cue rooms full of kids hammering the two keys like they were playing Daley Thompson's decathlon in an attempt to break the record.
I reckon a major mound of BBC micros with broken F keys must be piled up in some landfill somewhere - although maybe that's the reason computers now have several F keys (f1, f2 etc)
I'm joking of course...
Another decent little visit for you is the soapbox funny virals site. You've seen them all before, but I think it's literally* impossible to watch a whale divebombing a canoeist enough times. I'm already campaigning for the seal hat video - which I can't post at the moment because I only have it in animated gif :(
*not literally
UPDATE: Si has sent his score of 3.3 (topping his 3.7) I was briefly knocked off the top in the office but redeemed myself with a 4.98. Now, does anyone know how to tell if something has been photoshopped? March 28 Xbox 360 EliteExcitingly the new version of the Xbox has been announced. The Elite - so I have done a shiny little gallery for your viewing pleasure.
It was also nice to know that my rumours piece was pretty close to the mark.
Even more excitingly - my friends from the fabulous on10.net have an exclusive video with Albert Penello of Xbox US showing off the new machine. You can watch the original here, but by the miracles of Soapbox - I have embedded it into my blog.
Aint technology grand? Let's go through a few of the Xbox rumours and compare them with reality:
Bigger HD - Included! Well this was a given. The major weakness of the Xbox 360 was the rather paltry 20 gig HD, especially if it wants to be taken seriously as a multimedia hub. 120 Gig is nice ($180 for just the drive for originals is a little steep though!) and obviously this makes it much more of a competitor for the PS3.
HDMI - Included! Apparently the Xbox team were really doubtful about this one, with the obivous fear that you alienate early adopter xboxers (You can add the bigger HDD but can't add an HDMI port to your original) In the words of Albert Penello 'we though, what the heck, put it in' and they did. PS3 has HDMI, don't know if you can see the comparison yet!
Internal HD DVD - Rejected! Microsoft have been pretty open about the fact they DO NOT see an internal drive as worth the extra cash to the gamers it is targeting. PS3's scheduling difficulties stemmed from the internal Blu-ray drive, so maybe they have a point.
60n CPU - Rejected! I'm a little suprised by this, but MS did not include the smaller chips in their new system.
WiFi - Rejected! Bit of an opportunity missed as MS do not include the widely hyped WiFi that many expected.
Coloured Black Included! It may be cosmetic, but to be honest black > white. And the PS3...
So is Xbox Elite a PS3 killer? It's a hell of a lot cheaper ($479 which is £244, so you could probably take a complete leap at a UK price point of around £300) it's got HDMI and a decent capacity, but will early adopters be annoyed by the release and will it alienate its rabid fan base?
I'd say they've played it pretty well. With the HDD available to the normal Xbox, the only real loss is HDMI (and the black sheen of course) which should keep the majority happy. Perhaps it's the perfect middle ground between updating and overcompensating. Only time will tell. March 27 Unnecessary lightsYou won't often hear me moan about flashing things - but in the pictures below you can see the tops of our big escalator at work. In one you can make out the green arrow saying walk down here, and in the other the red stop sign - don't walk down that one.
Look at which way the stairs are going????
And I'm worried about leaving my TV on standby!
(EDIT: I should point out that the point I am making is that when you can look at the escalators 'in real life' you should be able to tell which is up and which is down without the need for coloured LEDs to tell you) LazyThe reason I have been slightly lazy about the blog in the past few days is of course to illustrate a point...
Well alright, it isn't but I am going to be putting up an article about putting the telly on standby today or tomorrow.
There's a report out saying that five percent of people are using the same password on all of their secure websites. Let's be honest, if they'd asked if people used two passwords (one for websites, one for their bank which won't let you get away with '1234') they might have seen an even scarier percentage...
Internet security is a major issue - and I'll be taking a much more in-depth look at the problems later this week. In the meantime, I have written a security article about Genuine Windows. Is your Windows genuine? Probably worth a check I'd suggest...
March 23 Sony PS3 launch 'post-amble'Well I duly turned up at Oxford Street's Virgin MegaStore on Thursday at 5pm - seven hours from launch and met some of the people who had camped out over night.
Well actually, I met ALL the people who had camped out overnight - as there were only a handful of them. In fact when I arrived, the queue in the enormous basement at Virgin was filled with approximately ten people - several of which had just turned up and were rather shocked to find themselves at the front of the queue.
Some hours later these overnight people, who were generally pretty fed up by the time I got there, were buoyed hugely by the decision to give the first 100 people a 47 inch Sony tv. Not bad for £425 with a PS3, Casino Royale and a game thrown in! I wasn't tipped off about this so I certainly didn't take advantage of the offer. A lot more people turned up after I left at 6:30ish.
Got a nice look at how pictures are not always what they seem (see my shot of them setting up the traditional queue in sleeping bags piece).
I did take a camera, just for posterity and the blog really, but it managed to break so you'll have to excuse some awful phone-camera pictures to display the scene. Luckily pro-photographers from Empics were there to get the real shots for my articles...
Today was a good, if rushed day to be a journalist. Got a brilliant interview with Matt Brown at Sony who said that Blu-ray was going to trash HD DVD, with an ace quote:
"I could be so bold to say that if it IS a Betamax/VHS scenario then we're VHS."
I'm writing a three way comparison piece on PS3, Wii and Xbox360 - with some great contributors including Mark Patterson - former ed of C&VG (now at MS) T3 editor Michael Brook, Gamespot's Guy Cocker and MSN News' Dom Brookman. March 22 PS3 launch pre-ambleI'm off to Virgin Megastores on Oxford Street later this afternoon, not as some random skive, but because I am hoping to interview a few of the poor souls who have camped overnight to get their hand on a PS3 at midnight.
Some of my questions will include
Why???? (not Wii????)
Do you know that you could have pre-ordered from virtually any other shop and picked it up?
Is this a big publicity stunt? (yes)
I'm not against big launches, and of course I will be stood in line at mdnight with my broomstick and round spectacles for the release of the next Harry Potter book, but I do wonder about things like this. Am I being cynical? Who knows. I'll fill you in when I get back. March 21 ControversialToday I have published a piece written about the damage done to the mighty PlayStation brand by the PS3 launch.
It's not actually a criticism of the PlayStation 3 (although I have no doubt that I will be accused of bias due to the MS link) and anyone who reads that article should be able to tell that I am something of a fan of PlayStation.
What the article actually deals with is the negativity, poor handling and delays of the PS3 - as well as the pricing issue that remains at the forefront of the agenda.
I am fairly certain that I will take a hammering for the article on the message boards, some of it genuine disagreement with the points but a lot of it just from PS3 fans who think I am attacking the console and not the way in which it hit the market - as an overpriced, sub US and delayed system.
But that's what you get for saying what you think! March 20 History of PS3 and some random musings7 days of PS3 continues today with a history of the Playstation brand, including a bit about that odd few weeks where Nintendo basically turned Sony from allies to enemies.
Some things that caught my attention today: The nasty business with the schoolboy who knifed two of his 'friends' is a tragedy, but did his obsession with serial killer films really influence him?
Polar bear that would melt the hardest of hearts.
March 19 7 Days of PS3It's PS3 week, with the eagerly awaited launch on Friday (00:00) So in recognition of this we have a dedicated week of articles and a rather shiny PS3 page to show off. We are already on Day 3 of our 7 Days of PS3, so you can catch up here New beginningsIt's a whole new week, the wind is blowing, the sky is blue...no cloudy...no blue (damn wind) and we at MSN are in a whole new building.
Obviously this is a pretty exciting turn of events - with even the lime colouring failing to extinguish that first day at school feeling.
A little personal news (indulgent I know) but I got engaged at the weekend - agreeing to a lifetime of compromise over my gadgets, and not doubting that it is the right decision for even a second (now that's commitment!). I did think about trying to start a whole new marriage tradition (I buy you a ring, you buy me a television) but in the end I decided to play it traditional, emailing her Dad to check it was okay and then texting my girlfriend to pop the question. Alright, not really... March 15 Nintendo and the amazing Gunpei YokoiI just did a piece on the history of Nintendo which was fascinating to research, and I hope makes a good read.
Bizarrely, they have been around since the 19th century, but when you get into the details, you realise just how much the abilities of a couple of people can influence a company.
Nintendo were in deep trouble in the 70s after the bottom dropped out of their main market at the time - playing cards, but the invention of an extendible toy pincer arm (which you would recognise) by a man named Gunpei Yokoi, helped them stay afloat.
After being moved into the R&D department (he was originally a maintenance engineer) Yokoi went on to mentor the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto (inventor of Donkey Kong, Mario etc etc) developed the Game and Watch LCD games and, not least, the Gameboy. Amazing. March 14 Great gadgets in the moviesDid a fairly lengthy piece called 'Great gadgets in film' split into part 1 | part 2 for which I asked for suggestions from the office.
I was expecting a couple of replies, especially as I had included a list that stole some of the best ones.
Instead I got a mass of replies, some brilliant suggestions and no less than FIVE suggestions that the hoverboard from Back to the Future Part II was included.
Now, for me, the Back to the future trilogy is up there with Groundhog Day and School for Scoundrels (the Terry Thomas version) as far as classic films that don't get the credit they deserve, so of course it got in.
Some suggestions that narrowly missed out were - Orgasmatron from Barbarella/Sleeper (this site is a PG or maybe a 12 you know?!), The machine that made Kelly Le Brock in Weird Science, The Golden Gun from Man with a Golden Gun, Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet, the tripods from War of the Worlds and so on.
I did impose the rule of one entry per film or film series so Bond and Star Wars missed out. I am also sticking to my guns that Star Trek is a TV programme and will be getting entries in the Great Gadgets on TV article I'll write at a later date. March 12 Bachelor PadIn my week away I had the oportunity to visit a downright, honest to goodness bachelor pad.
Now I remember my own bachelor pad with some fondness, although it's been a few years since I left those grubby yet cheerful days behind. The oversized televison, the sky+ in your room, the broadband connection, the surround sound (*sigh*), it was, I thought at the time, pretty much bachelor heaven.
But in a little corner of Leicester, there's a bachelor pad extraordinaire, and, I stress, although I wouldn't trade in my current halcyonic existence in pre-married bliss, it did make me feel a little wistful for the days when a game of CS was more important than the vacuuming, and homebase was just a reference to where I started out in my computer game.
Picture the scene, a room so jampacked with sofas that there isn't actually much room for anything other than televisions, which is lucky because there were two of them.
"Why two?" my girlfriend asked, somewhat naively.
"One for gaming and one for watching movies," came the reply.
The Dreamcast is in a box in the corner, after being outdone in the white gaming arena by the current favourite - the Xbox 360, which takes pride of place in the gaming side of the room. The television side of the room is connected to the satellite dish and is currently blaring out Starship Troopers.
Later that evening we went round to the house of a former occupant that had recently bought a house with his girlfriend.
"How," I queried, "are you finding life without all your toys?"
"It's quiet," he replied, after a brief pause. "I quite like it."
And with that he turned on his surround sound amp, flicked on his Sky box for the Champions League football, and went to retrieve a beer from his giant fridge.
March 06 Time to muse / amuseSometimes it's nice to take a step back for a day or two and think about some of the things you would like to write about, change etc etc. Been thinking a lot about the site and things that I would like to bring in to make it even better. I'm hoping we will have a best buys section for each of the reviews genres (best mobile phones / best laptops etc etc) pretty soon, and - with a bit of luck - some really good columnists that can bring other viewpoints into T&G. Spent some time playing some of the little flashgames that you can dig out on the net with nothing more than a search engine - and, quite frankly, Tetris is still able to hold my attention with the same vigour that it did back when you were peering over your mate's shoulder whilst he was playing on his new gameboy (never did get me a gameboy). Not too long ago I went to the Science Museum to the Game On exhibition (now closed). £8 bought you all you could eat in what, essentially, was the ultimate nostalgic arcade. Mario Bros on the NES, Asteroids - complete with the best sound effects ever known to man (duh duh, duh duh, WEEENAW WEENAW). Monkey Island on the PC ("I am rubber you are glue!") Sonic on a Megadrive, Space Invaders on one of those uber weird little coffee table cabinets. Apart from being absolute heaven (they advised two hours max, like that was going to happen), it put in stark relief just what is so great about gaming. The latest Tomb Raider at university held our attention for approximately 10 hours, and yet Worms kept us going for three years (and I am still smarting about the two second fuse on my banana bomb that didn't go off!). Counter Strike was still the most popular online game for many years after its debut, and now the Wii has added to the most obvious thing in the world. No matter how good the graphics are, the best games are the ones that are the most fun to play. HD is great, but if it plays like a stinker it aint gonna fly. I love consoles, I love my PC and I love it when the graphics are jaw-dropping and the sound amazing, but I love it even more that Sensible Soccer is still my favourite football game ever, that Half-Life still has the most astounding opening of any game I've ever played - and that I can still take great pleasure in having PAT as the top score on all ten slots in Asteroids. March 02 Last post...for a while because I'm off on hols for a week.
There's loads of stuff going up over the week so you probably won't notice my absence (especially as I may well blog while I am away), and you can look forward to articles like:
Basically speaking: DRM
Buyer's Guide: Mp3 and Portable Media Players
iPhone competitors
Are we making it easy for muggers
Anyway - back soon. Enjoy! Your Message Bag!One of the things I will be doing here regularly is posting some of the feedback we have got (good AND bad - I obviously only wanted to do half a job)
I asked people to post on the message board what they thought of the new tech and gadgets site - and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Admittedly, being new, I didn't have a lot to compete with, but I'm taking this as great news - so there.
dr_twiddle was pleased that the navigation of the site was easy - which was great news because deciding what went where and how to get all the information on the site was one of the hardest things to do. Loading time being quick was also nice to hear - it's fine for me from home, but it's always good to get a second opinion!
Sii had major problems with Firefox 2.0 and being able to comment on the message boards, I know this is also the case for some of you trying to comment on the blog - and it is being addressed by Redmond - mainly to prove that I don't have some anti-negative message gadget to stop you criticising me!
James1980 thought I didn't make it clear enough that CNet provided reviews / news and some of the feature content, for which I take complete blame. I'm certainly not trying to hide the fact that one of the most respected British online tech publishers are doing my reviews - I just wouldn't have the time to do the depth or reviews that they do on such a wide range of subjects.
Petrolhead, BenJay and CamberwellSue posted wholly positive comments - thanks for that!
Couple of things that I find bad at the moment and am working hard to resolve:
Some of the images on the Crave stuff are over large - but we will fix this so that you have a much nicer user experience
You cannot currently get my features as an RSS feed - this is a major issue for me, as I use the live.com page to keep track of all my sites (if you haven't already you should set one up) but I am chasing this daily and it will be fixed very soon.
March 01 Mobile Nuisance: Why music and mobiles are a match made in hellAnother piece up and running. This is my rant about people using their mobiles as ghetto blasters on public transport (grrr). Spoke to some of the people trying to campaign to stop this social problem - but there is no easy resolution as far as I can see. What next for the Xbox?My piece on the Xbox is now officially up on the site here, it deals with some of the rumours about the next incarnation of the 360 - I'm sure everyone is on tenterhooks about what Microsoft will do - especially when it's timed. |
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