Poll: Do you listen to movies or TV over headphones?

I suppose it's still a fair assumption that more people listen to music than movies with headphones, but there has to be a growing audience listening to movies, TV shows, and YouTube videos via their headphones. Thanks to the booming popularity of tablets, might the ratio of movies-to-music listening time be moving away from music? Or not?

I watch a lot of movies at home with headphones on. They present a level of detail that you can get from speakers only when you play them really loud. With headphones, I don't have to crank the volume. They're also handy when other people in my apartment are sleeping.

If you watch movies or TV shows on an
iPad, headphones are the most likely way you'd listen. Some folks probably use a single Bluetooth speaker for movie sound with
tablets, but then again, if you have a decent home theater you're more likely to listen with speakers. Do you watch movies on your computer, and if you do, do you prefer headphones or speakers? Do your headphones sound better than your computer speakers? Of course, where you watch may skew the headphone vs. speaker preference one way or another.

Please share your movie vs. music listening over headphones experiences in the Comments section.

Read More..

SkyDrive users can now share Office documents with anyone

People who need to access your shared MS Office documents via a SkyDrive link should now find the process a bit easier.

Using Microsoft's Office Web Apps or
Office 2013, you can create a URL of any document that you store online. You can then e-mail that URL to anyone who needs to view or edit your file. Previously, that process required your collaborators to sign in with a Microsoft account before they could tweak your document. Now that restriction is gone.

Users who receive the URL to your document can click on it to view the file in Office Web Apps. From there, they simply click on a link in the Web app to edit the file in the browser. The file opens in the associated Office Web App without prompting for a login account, where your collaborators can then edit and resave the document.

A Microsoft blog posted today detailed the process with help from a few screenshots.

Microsoft has been busy beefing up SkyDrive the past few months. A November update brought the ability to selectively sync folders stored under SkyDrive. Around the same time, Microsoft launched a SkyDrive app for Windows Phone 8.

In December, the company kicked off a SkyDrive app for its Xbox 360. Last month, Microsoft enhanced the ability to move your SkyDrive files via drag and drop.

Now, the new versions of Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365 offer tighter collaboration with SkyDrive.

Microsoft used today's blog post to tout a new milestone -- SkyDrive is now home to more than 1 billion Office documents. That number is also likely to increase after next week.

Come February 13, SkyDrive will be Microsoft's core online storage and syncing service. On that date, the company will pull the plug on Windows Live Mesh, which lets people synchronize files online or just among different devices.

All Mesh users will have to switch to SkyDrive or find an alternative method for backing up and syncing their files.

Read More..

Ouya chief: We'll launch a new console every year

Ouya's console will be updated each year with new and better components, the company's founder and CEO said earlier today on the sidelines of the DICE Summit.

Speaking to The Verge in an interview published today, Ouya chief Julie Uhrman said that starting next year and every year thereafter, the company will bundle the most powerful mobile processors available in its console.

"Our plan is to have a yearly refresh of Ouya where we leverage the best-performing chips and take advantage of falling component prices to create the best experience we can at the $99 price point," Uhrman told The Verge.

Ouya's console, which was opened up for preorders earlier this week and hits wide retail availability in June, is running the Tegra 3 processor. However, the Tegra 4 is right around the corner. Each year, new and better processors are made available, and the console's
Android-based gaming could do well with better chips.

That said, the console market is notorious for its lack of major annual upgrades. Console makers Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, tend to not update their products for several years. The
Wii U, for example, launched last year -- 6 years after its predecessor, the
Wii, launched.

Game consoles require such lengthy refresh cycles because of the proprietary development requirements that go into making a game for those products. Ouya, however, is based on Android, making it much easier for developers to port titles to the hardware.

For now, gamers can start preordering the Ouya console online. Kickstarter backers who helped get Ouya off the ground will get the console in March. Buyers from the Ouya Web site will get the device in April. Those who wait to buy it at retail or preorder it from a major retailer will get the device in June. The console will be available for $99.99. An extra controller will set customers back $49.99.

Read More..

Ultraslim notebook shipments poised for growth in 2013

A look at ultraslim PC shipments between 2012 and 2017.

(Credit:
NPD Display Search)

Ultraslim notebooks -- defined as x86-based PCs with screen sizes between 10 and 17 inches and thicknesses of no greater than 21mm -- are seeing shipments squeezed by display technology, a new study from NPD DisplaySearch has revealed. But that won't be enough to keep them down.

"The high-end specifications for touch on
Windows 8 PCs, and the unproven consumer demand for touch on notebooks has touch screen suppliers leery of shifting capacity from the high volume smartphone and
tablet PC markets to notebook PCs," Richard Shim, senior analyst with NPD DisplaySearch, said today in a statement.

According to NPD, touch panel suppliers are more likely to work with smartphone and tablet vendors than PC companies, due to the rapidly increasing demand for those products. The ultraslims are also feeling pressure from panel suppliers who are increasingly turning their backs on the extremely thin displays -- measuring 0.4mm or thinner -- found in those products.

"Only two panel suppliers, AUO and Innolux, are taking on the extra expense of using ultra-slim glass to offer panels in any significant volumes," Shim said.

The issue for the suppliers is that the glass in ultraslim displays is extremely fragile, requiring them to use special equipment for transportation. That special equipment drives up costs.

Still, PC vendors aren't turning their backs on the technology. In fact, NPD DisplaySearch expects 44.2 million ultraslim notebooks to ship this year, representing 21.4 percent of the entire notebook market. What's more, touchscreen penetration in notebooks could hit 13.1 percent, or 27.2 million notebooks.

Looking ahead, NPD DisplaySearch believes ultraslims will represent a larger slice of the notebook market. In 2017, for example, total shipments could hit 100 million worldwide.

Although NPD was careful to not use the "ultrabook" name in its evaluation on ultraslims, that spec falls in line with the research firm's parameters on what an ultraslim PC is. Ultrabooks, however, have been hit with a wide array of woes aside from display panel issues, including declining demand due to high prices and the increasing popularity of tablets.

Last year, IHS iSuppli was forced to cut its 2012 ultrabook shipment figures from 22 million to 10.3 million. That research firm made no indication that it believes the ultrabook market will have a dramatic turnaround in 2013.

Read More..

Hidden 'radio' buttons discovered in Apple's iOS 6.1

There's a hint that Apple has something new in the pipeline, and the company appears to have tucked it away inside the latest version of its iOS software.

Discovered last night within a freshly-jailbroken iPad, are a set of buttons and code references for "radio," a feature found in
iTunes on Macs and PCs, but not on the
iPad or iPhone. Making things more interesting is another button suggesting you can purchase from the radio feature, presumably from iTunes.

That buttons, which were spotted by 9to5Mac, hint at Apple's much-rumored radio service, a product that will let people stream music much like they do on the popular Pandora, but with deep ties to Apple's iTunes library. Rumors that Apple has been working on such a service have floated for years, but heated up last year as talks with labels advanced.

The discovery follows a high-profile jailbreak of
iOS 6.1, the system software Apple released just last week. A team of developers came up with a tool that gives users deep system level access to do things like install applications from third-party app stores, change the look and feel of iOS, and add new software features.

Read More..

BlackBerry Z10 off to 'solid start' in U.K., Canada -- analyst

BlackBerry Z10

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

The BlackBerry Z10 is off to a good start in several countries around the world, Jefferies analyst Peter Misek claims in a research note obtained by CNET.

"Our initial checks indicate that sales in the UK are off to a strong start," Misek wrote in his note to investors. "Some stores had lineups out front with widespread sell outs of the White Z10 and limited stock of the Black Z10. Also, our checks indicate that pre-orders in the UAE and Canada have had a solid start."

The U.K. seems to be BlackBerry's best market. Misek said that he has completed "initial checks," and found that Carphone Warehouse, a company that sells handsets, "is seeing widespread sellouts." U.K. carriers O2, Vodafone, Orange, and EE "are seeing robust demand," Misek said.

"We estimate sell-in to be at least several hundred thousand units," Misek wrote to investors. "To put that in perspective, the iPhone had first weekend sales of 5M+ in the U.S. The U.S. is five times larger so continued strong sales could bode very well for Blackberry."

BlackBerry announced the Z10 last week. The device runs its latest operating system,
BlackBerry 10, and comes with a full, 4.2-inch touchscreen. The handset will be available internationally first, and then come to the U.S.

Misek is also seeing strong Z10 performance elsewhere around the world. He reported that preorders in Canada are in the "tens of thousands" and could approach or exceed 100,000 units.

Still, Misek's findings are extremely preliminary and might not hint at future performance. The only way to handicap a smartphone's success is to give it some time on store shelves. For now, that's what the Z10 is lacking.

Read More..

1964 Ears custom in-ear headphones beat their competition on price

1964 Ears 1964-V6 headphones, with custom art faceplates

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

1964 Ears makes custom-molded, in-ear headphones, just like Ultimate Ears, JH Audio, and Westone, but 1964 Ears is a relative newcomer. It has to try harder than the more established brands, so 1964 Ears offers a wider array of customizable features and service options than the others. Prices start a little lower, at $350 for the 1964-D, and $650 for the top-of-the-line model I'm reviewing here today, the 1964-V6. That's significantly less expensive than the established brands' flagships.

1964 Ears can also "remold" your old universal-fit balanced-armature headphones, like a Shure or Etymotic pair, and make them into custom-molded-to-your-ears headphones for $250. 1964 Ears will also remold older custom-molded in-ear headphones, so you could buy someone's older Ultimate Ears or Westone headphones, and have them remolded to fit your ears. I don't know of another company that offers that service.

Manufacturing in-ear headphones is a labor-intensive process, and 1964 Ears builds all of its headphones in Portland, Ore. The company has an excellent video that takes the mystery out of the process. Watch it and you'll see that few consumer products priced like in-ear headphones are built with this much attention to detail. Since they're made to order, many custom features are available, including different colors for the earpieces, and wood, metal, or carbon-fiber end caps. You can even supply your own artwork; my 1964-V6s have a snazzy black-and-white checkerboard pattern. 1964 Ears also offers soft plastic ear canal fittings that improve comfort over the standard hard acrylic earpieces. Replacement cables sell for $32.

1964 Ears 1964-V6 in a standard finish

(Credit:
1964 Ears)

The 1964-V6 is a "three-way" design with six balanced-armature drivers (dual bass, dual midrange, and dual treble). The headphone comes with your choice of a 50- or 64-inch detachable cable and two carrying cases. Before you buy custom-molded in-ear headphones you need to first visit a local audiologist to have "impressions" of your ear canals made, which are then used to build your headphones. Most audiologists charge from $75 to $100 to make the molds, but you can't beat custom in-ears for fit and isolation from external noise.

In terms of sound, the V6 is certainly on par with the best Ultimate Ears, Jerry Harvey, and Westone custom-molded in-ears. The tonal balance is nice and smooth, bass power and detail are excellent, and the treble is crisp. I spent a few weeks using the 1964-V6s instead of my more expensive customs, and thoroughly enjoyed them.

To gain more perspective on the sound I compared the V6 earphones with the $400 Logitech UE 900 universal-fit headphones. I like the UE 900s a lot, and they use similar balanced armature drivers to the V6 model's, but the UE 900 earphones aren't custom-molded. So the fit is less secure and they don't block outside noise as well as the V6s do. Sonically, the V6 earphones were substantially more detailed and clear. I didn't have to switch back and forth too many times; the V6s resolved details in the mixes better, so I could more clearly hear exactly how much reverb was used on each instrument in the mix. The V6 earphones had superior dynamic punch, while the UE 900s seemed more laid-back by comparison.

The 1964-V6 earphones are really good, but the latest $1,099 Jerry Harvey JH13 customs are better. Again it's a matter of clarity, and the JH13s produced a bigger and more spacious stereo image. Percussion instruments cut through better, cymbals shimmered more, bass was richer, and vocals had more body. Still, the 1964-V6 earphones weren't embarrassed by the almost-twice-as-expensive JH Audio JH13 pair. That's impressive.

Read More..

Forty years ago, the Ohm F speaker was a game-changer; it still is

The Ohm F speakers

(Credit:
Ohm)

Lincoln Walsh died a year before his radically innovative speaker technology made its commercial debut in the Ohm Acoustics F in 1972. The speaker featured an omnidirectional Walsh driver that projected a massive stereo soundstage. At the time of its introduction the $900 per pair Ohm F was hailed as one of the greatest speakers of all time by the international press. It sounded like nothing else, and the single 12-inch, truncated cone driver produced bass, midrange and treble frequencies (37Hz to 17kHz). The driver had a titanium top section, aluminum midband and paper bottom, with a single voice-coil at the top of the driver. Even today, bona-fide full-frequency drivers like that are rare. The Ohm drivers and cabinets were made in Brooklyn.

According to Ohm's President John Strohbeen, the early production Fs had "functionality issues." "They needed 300 watts to get going, and 301 to blow them up," Strohbeen said with a chuckle. Ohm couldn't repair them, so they replaced broken drivers under warranty. The engineers kept redesigning the driver to improve reliability, but it was the introduction of ferrofluid-cooled voice coils that cured the F's reliability woes.

Unlike box speakers that project sound forward, the F radiated bass, midrange and treble frequencies in a full 360-degree pattern. The sound quality was so far ahead of what was available from conventional box speakers the F remained in production for 12 years, until 1984, but by that time the price had more than quadrupled to $3,995 per pair!

The Ohm Acoustics factory is still in Brooklyn, and still offers factory upgrades on the F speakers. That's remarkable -- how many companies do you know that still service 40-year-old products -- but that's what separates high-end audio from mainstream gear. Ohm currently offers a complete line of Walsh omni-directional speakers, with prices starting at $1,400 per pair. Ohm sells factory direct, with a very generous 120-day home trial period.

Read More..

Temple Run 2 scores record as fastest-growing mobile game

Temple Run 2 for Android

(Credit:
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

Temple Run addicts have propelled its sequel into new territory.

In 13 days, Temple Run 2 has been downloaded more than 50 million times by iOS,
Android, and
Kindle users, developer Imangi Studios said yesterday, making it the fastest-growing mobile game ever.

In reaching this milestone, the action game topped the previous record holder, Angry Birds Space, which rocketed to 50 million downloads in 35 days.

Temple Run 2 places you in a jungle where you have to outrun a giant ape, leap over chasms, and swing on ropes to get past hazards. Along the way, you pick up gold coins to score points. But one wrong step, and your character meets an untimely demise.

Temple Run 2 debuted in Apple's App store on January 17 and quickly became the top free app with more than 6 million downloads in less than 24 hours. The game then swung into Google Play and Amazon Marketplace, picking up even more adventurers.

"Temple Run has evolved into something so much bigger than us," Imangi co-founder Keith Shepherd said in a statement. "The game has performed beyond our wildest dreams, and we are thrilled that gamers and fans have embraced Temple Run 2 in such a short period of time."

Following in the footsteps of Angry Birds maker Rovio, Imangi has also parlayed the success of Temple Run into something more lucrative.

The game studio has cut deals for Temple Run clothes, digital comics, and card and board games. Last June, Imangi teamped up with Pixar to create Temple Run: Brave, which combines the action in Temple Run with characters from the Pixar film "Brave."

Read More..

iOS 6.1 wins over 22 percent of iOS users, says report

Apple's iOS 6.1 has lured in a hefty number of users, at least according to data out yesterday from Onswipe.

Released on Monday, Apple's latest OS update was downloaded by 21.8 percent of iOS users within just 36 hours. Among the iOS users tracked by Onswipe, 24 percent were iPhone owners and 21 percent
iPad owners.

Further, Onswipe data sent to CNET showed that 11.3 percent of users had already upgraded to
iOS 6.1 within the first 24 hours. Based on the stats, the latest iOS version hit a record for the quickest adoption rate.

Of course, the data doesn't include all iOS users, just those tracked by Onswipe. A developer of mobile Web sites, Onswipe tracks 13 million active iOS users, up from 10 million last month.

That's a small slice of the total number of iOS users, even those who've been running iOS 6. Unveiling iOS 6.1 on Monday, Apple marketing VP Phil Schiller said that iOS 6 reached almost 300 million iPhone, iPad, and
iPod Touch users in just five months.

But even the cross section of Onswipe users provides a good clue as to the overall adoption of iOS 6.1.

And just why has the latest update proved so popular?

Onswipe CEO Jason Baptiste offered one theory to the folks at TechChunch.

Apple introduced its over-the-air update feature with iOS 5 in October of 2011. As such, users can update their devices directly without having to go through iTunes as the middleman. Baptiste believes people have finally grown comfortable with the OTA feature and know how it works, making it easier for them to update their devices on the fly.

Read More..

BlackBerry goes glam, enlists Alicia Keys

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins greets Alicia Keys as the company's new global creative director.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

BlackBerry wants to be hip, and it's going to to Alicia Keys for help.

The Canadian smartphone maker, which previously called itself Research in Motion, today named Keys as its global creative director. The position is one BlackBerry created to help "inspire the future" of the company.

Keys said she previously was a BlackBerry power user, but she left the platform after noticing sexier phones at the gym. For awhile she had two phones, but Keys has now moved back to just a BlackBerry.

It's typical for companies to seek endorsements for their products, and some have even named celebrities to positions within the company. Intel, for example, named singer Will.i.am as its director of creative innovation. Typically, such artists show up at various company events, in ads, and just generally talk up the products.

BlackBerry today launched a new operating system and two new devices that it hopes will attract users back to its platform. The company has faced steep market share loss to Apple and
Android handset vendors, and BlackBerry 10 is viewed by many to be the company's last shot at winning over buyers.

Read More..

Nooly weather app claims to-the-minute forecast accuracy

Can weather forecasting do better than "30 percent chance of showers"? What if it could tell you the minute it will start raining?

"Nowcasting" app Nooly claims it can tell you when precipitation will start and end with an accuracy of five minutes. It can also tell you when storms will intensify.

Nooly coverage, currently limited to the U.S. and Canada, can focus on an area within 0.4 square miles of your location.

It delivers 240 million predictions every five minutes based on a custom-designed algorithm that crunches satellite and radar data from NASA and NOAA. After a year of beta testing with some 50,000 users, it's now available for free to iOS and
Android users.

"Being so hyperlocal brings with it wide range of challenges," Nooly CEO Yaron Reich said in a release. "We had to adjust our algorithm for different cities, like Seattle, which experiences shallow, constant rain, and New York, which often sees bursts of rain lasting a few minutes and impacting only a cluster of city blocks.

"San Francisco is also a tricky city, with a mostly calm climate, though the weather can change in very specific streets and neighborhoods. Hyperlocal is challenging, but obviously key."

This rather barebones app offers local forecasts in a variety of formats -- with Google maps, graphs, and tables with times in 5-minute, 15-minute, or hourly predictions for the weather, which includes temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed, and direction.

You can also search by location and add places to a favorites list. But there are no fancy graphics or video forecasts.

When I tried the app, Nooly gave me a fairly accurate picture of conditions outside, but snow flurries began more than 20 minutes before the estimated time.

Nonetheless, I was about to declare that better than The Weather Channel or AccuWeather until I noticed that Nooly got the local temperature in Montreal wrong, repeatedly listing it at minus 16 C (3 F) instead of the actual reading of minus 9 C (16 F), which I confirmed with a thermometer.

That's a big discrepancy -- a long-johns false alarm. Maybe the local version of the algorithm needs tuning.

Nooly's minimalist user interface on a Samsung Galaxy tab running Android also left a few things to be desired. I couldn't get it to display in landscape mode, menu buttons are small and hard to select, and the "home" button may not always give you the conditions at your default location. Performance was sluggish.

Still, with these kinks ironed out, Nooly could deliver on the promise of a to-the-minute forecasting service. Just don't make plans around it for now.

Read More..

Google: Here's how we handle government requests about you

Privacy is a constant concern for Internet users, and Google today detailed how it approaches government requests for user data.

That includes a new section the company today added to its Transparency Report that answers questions users may have, such as "In what situations wouldn't you tell me about a request for my information?" (The answer is: Google can't notify you if your account is closed or if the company is legally prohibited from doing so. "We sometimes fight to give users notice of a data request by seeking to lift gag orders or unseal search warrants.")

Google has a pretty fine line to walk when it comes to privacy. It collects a vast amount of data about individuals that can allow it to determine who a person is, where they're located, and what they like, among other items. That information helps Google deliver better results and services, but it also threatens anonymity online. And government agencies increasingly rely on Google for information about users.

As Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond wrote in a blog post today to mark Data Privacy Day:

"It's important for law enforcement agencies to pursue illegal activity and keep the public safe. We're a law-abiding company, and we don't want our services to be used in harmful ways. But it's just as important that laws protect you against overly broad requests for your personal information."

The blog post comes about a week after Google released its latest Transparency Report. That report revealed that the number of requests from U.S. authorities for information about users has been steadily growing. In the second half of 2012, Google received 8,438 U.S. requests for information, up 6 percent from the first half of 2012. Globally, Google received 21,389 requests, up 2 percent from the first half of the year.

Google today noted that along with the new section in its transparency report, it also will continue pushing for updating laws like the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act. In addition, it will continue its "long-standing strict process for handling these kinds of requests."

Here's a rundown of that process, according to Drummond:

• Google scrutinizes the request carefully to make sure it's legal and complies with Google's policies. To consider complying, a request typically must be made in writing, signed by an authorized official, and issued under an appropriate law.


• Google evaluates the scope of the request. If it's too broad, it may refuse to provide the information or seek to narrow the request. Drummond noted Google does this frequently.


• Google notifies users about legal demand when appropriate. Sometimes it can't, either because it's legally prohibited or because it doesn't have a user's verified contact information.


• Google requires that government agencies conducting criminal investigations use a search warrant to compel it to provide a user's search query information and private content stored in a Google account, like Gmail messages, documents, photos, and YouTube videos.

"We're proud of our approach, and we believe it's the right way to make sure governments can pursue legitimate investigations while we do our best to protect your privacy and security," Drummond said.

Read More..

DTS headphone surround-sound technology

DTS demonstrated its new Headphone:X surround processing system at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. The system is capable of reproducing up to 11 channels of surround sound over conventional stereo headphones. I didn't hear it, but a few friends at the show who heard the Headphone:X demo came away impressed with its ability to project a sound field well outside the confines of the headphones. DTS is promoting Headphone:X technology as HTiP -- Home Theater in Pocket, and claims that the system can emulate the DTS reference listening room or a professional Hollywood mixing stage.

For Headphone:X to work, the program material must be DTS-HD encoded, so Dolby-encoded films, music, TV shows, and games may not be compatible with it; we'll see.

I auditioned another headphone surround technology, from Smyth Research, in 2010. The product, the Smyth Realiser A8, worked quite well, but it sells for around $3,000. That company's founder, Stephen Smyth, developed the algorithm that was later selected by Digital Theater Systems (DTS) for the cinema audio system that premiered with Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park." According a DTS spokesman, Smyth wasn't involved with developing Headphone:X, but it is an interesting coincidence.

DTS Headphone:X processing will likely show up in AV receivers or bundled with computers and phones, or as an app. Specific details about products and availability dates aren't forthcoming from DTS.

Read More..

Oppo BDP-105: Not your average Blu-ray player

The Oppo BDP-105 Blu-ray, SACD, and DVD-Audio player

(Credit:
Oppo)

Even by Oppo's high standards the BDP-105 is an extraordinary Blu-ray player. Sure, it's loaded with up-to-the-second features -- 4K upscaling, 2D-to-3D conversion, and a high-quality USB 2.0 digital-to-analog converter -- but what really makes the Oppo special is the sound. Pop the cover and look inside and you'll see why. Most of the 17-pound component's chassis space is devoted to the audio circuitry. That's nice, but the audio advantages will be completely irrelevant if you connect the BDP-105 to your receiver with a HDMI cable (the digital-to-analog conversion would then be handled in the receiver). The 105 was designed for buyers still using older $1,000 or $2,000 receivers from the days before HDMI connectivity, that would like to hear the Blu-rays' high-resolution DTS Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD soundtracks at their best. Since the audio won't be transmitted over the HDMI cable, you would run audio cables between the 105's seven- or five-channel analog outputs and the AV receiver's analog inputs.

The BDP-105 has 7.1/5.1 analog output jacks

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

Or you could forgo the receiver entirely and hook up the BDP-105 directly to a five- or seven-channel power amplifier. That approach would produce better sound quality, but would lack the connectivity, flexibility, and convenience of today's better receivers. Still, the BDP-105/power amp combo would sound better and be more powerful than most top-of-the-line receivers. The 105's connectivity options won't match any decent receiver, but its connectivity suite is a lot more extensive than most Blu-ray players. The Oppo has two HDMI inputs, so you can connect external devices such as set-top boxes and network streaming devices, three USB 2.0 ports, coaxial and optical digital inputs for satellite boxes, televisions, video-game consoles, etc., and there's a built-in headphone amplifier. The BDP-105's extensive bass management options are on par with a lot of AV receivers. The player's digital volume control is easy to use.

For my listening tests, I hooked up the BDP-105 ($1,199) with an assortment of self-powered Audioengine and Emotiva monitor speakers, and a Hsu subwoofer. With this setup I didn't need to use an AV receiver or separate power amp, but the Raconteurs' "Live at Montreux" Blu-ray was vivid and very live sounding. The system's freewheeling dynamics were really impressive, and the surround mix on King Crimson's "Red" DVD-A projected a remarkably seamless wrap-around soundstage. Each instrument was precisely focused in a near 360-degree sound environment.

The BDP-105 has full speaker setup and bass management options, just like an AV receiver.

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

Classical music on SACD was just as impressive, the front three speakers produced a three-dimensional soundstage with lots of depth, and string tone was top notch. Dramatic movies on Blu-ray and DVD sounded great. I plugged headphones into the BDP-105, but the sound wasn't special, Schiit Audio's $99 Magni headphone amp was a lot better.

The $499 Oppo BDP-103 shares most of the BDP-105's features, but lacks the upgraded digital-to-analog converters, so if you're planning on using HDMI to connect the player to your receiver, buy the 103, and save $700. You can use the 103's 7.1 analog outputs with an old high-end receiver lacking HDMI connectivity, but the 103's digital converters are a step down from the ones in the 105.

The BDP-105 is an update of the Oppo BDP-95, and the new one has lots of features the old player lacks, but the two players sound about the same. Oppo still has 95s in stock and sells them for $799.

Oppo sells direct and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and the return shipping is free.

Read More..

Ito: Think twice about immortality and the singularity

MIT Media Lab director Joichi Ito speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

(Credit:
screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Ray Kurzweil's vision of the "singularity" -- when nanobots make humans immortal and computer progress is so fast that the future becomes profoundly unknowable -- is a bad idea.

That's the perhaps surprisingly contrary opinion of Joichi Ito, who as a high-tech investor and director of the MIT Media Lab might be expected to be a natural ally. The lab, after all, aims to be at the center of today's technology revolution.

Ito, speaking today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said he believes the singularity vision puts the wrong priorities first.

"I'm on the other side of the singularity guys. I don't think immortality is a good thing," Ito said. People who think about maximizing efficiency "don't think about the ecological, social-network effects. In the future, every science invention we do should be at least neutral," and preferably positive.

"When you introduce immortality, you have to think about what does it do to the system. At the Media Lab, our design principle is not to make the world more efficient, but making the system more resilient, more robust."

Ito called for a radically restructured educational system, too.

"You're training kids to become obedient members of a mass-production society," he said. "But as there's more and more automation, you want people to be more and more creative," like kindergarten when children spend more time playing around, exploring, and teaching each other.

Tests today judge kids in a computer-free testing environment completely unrelated to what's in the real world.

Today, "you can look on the Internet, you can ask your friends," Ito said. "Cheating is actually a feature. Success as an adult is how resourceful you are at getting people to help you do things. Those are all unassessed things" in today's schools and tests.

The MIT Media Lab favors a more unstructured approach. "Our students and faculty can explore whatever they want. We just let them go," he said. "If you're not asking permission and writing proposals, the cost of innovation is very low."

Students can talk about ideas in the morning. "By the afternoon they've built a prototype," he said, especially with the increasing utility of 3D printers.

Ito had grand visions for how those printers will change manufacturing. "We're going to be manufacturing things everywhere instead of centrally. Every single person is going to become a designer," he predicted.

Technology should help people rethink what's possible with cities, he also said. With people able to page buses on demand, bus stops should be created on demand, not fixed in advance. Rentable commuter bicycles should be cheaper to use if people drop them off in high-demand areas.

"We're trying to look at the city from a software perspective and build the hardware around it," Ito said.

Read More..

Twitter unveils Vine, its six-second Instagram for video

Twitter today unveiled Vine, an app for iOS that lets anyone create and share short looping videos.

Twitter acquired Vine last fall, but anyone can use Vine regardless of whether they use Twitter. However, the service is clearly meant to be embedded anywhere, and there are plenty of examples of the videos being embedded in tweets. The service (see an example below) is being referred to by many as Twitter's "Instagram for video."

Vine videos are limited to a maximum of six seconds, and play in a continuous loop. They are shot using the Vine app. In a blog post, Vine co-founder and general manager Dom Hofmann wrote that, "Posts on Vine are about abbreviation -- the shortened form of something larger. They're little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life. They're quirky, and we think that's part of what makes them so special."

It's not clear, however, if Vine posts have a technical limitation that keeps that six seconds or shorter. Neither Twitter nor Vine immediately responded to a request for comment.

Although Twitter officially unveiled the service today, CEO Dick Costolo teased it yesterday when he posted a tweet with an embedded video. What was not clear yesterday, however, was whether Vine was going to become Twitter's own hosted video service, or if, as turned out to be the case, it would be a stand-alone service that works in conjunction with Twitter, but doesn't depend on it.

There are of course other embeddable short video services. One is Tout, a service that lets people shoot videos of up to 15 seconds, and then either embed them in tweets, Facebook posts, blogs, or elsewhere, or view them directly on the Web. But Twitter seems to have decided that Vine was a service worth buying, despite the fact that it will allow it to exist independently.

Read More..

Surface RT tablet to get update glitch fix -- in February

Hang in there, Surface RT users.

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

Microsoft is working on a fix for Windows RT users hit by application-updating problems that seemingly were introduced by the latest set of updates Microsoft pushed out for the operating system earlier this month.

As The Next Web noted late last week, some Surface RT users have not been able to access the Windows Store or Windows Update since applying the latest set of Patch Tuesday fixes, rolled out on January 8. A firmware update for Surface RT devices was also part of the batch of updates delivered at that time.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the company expects to have a fix ready by early February. Here's the official statement:

Some Windows RT customers who attempted to apply January's bulletins had issues installing updates. Specifically, impacted Windows RT devices went into connected standby mode during the download of updates from Windows Update, causing the connection to be disrupted. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and are working to correct the issue; we expect to have a fix in place in the first week of February.

The spokesperson's statement noted that the coming fix will be for all ARM-based Windows RT devices. Surface RTs comprise the significant majority of systems running the Windows RT operating system at this point.

Microsoft officials announced yesterday that the company will expand Surface RT's availability to customers in 13 Western European markets beyond the countries where it is available now. (Surface RT is already available in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the U.S.) Microsoft also plans to make available a 64GB version of the Surface RT that isn't bundled with the black Touch Cover for $599.

One final note: As part of Microsoft's Surface-related announcements yesterday, officials started using the slightly shorter (but still awful) "Surface Windows RT" and "Surface Windows 8 Pro" names to refer to the first two Microsoft-made PC/tablet hybrids. Before yesterday, the products were known officially as "Surface With Windows RT" and "Surface With
Windows 8 Pro." I'm not sure why Microsoft doesn't just call them Surface RT and
Surface Pro like most of the rest of us do. But there you have it.

This story originally appeared at ZDNet under the headline "Microsoft to deliver fix for Surface RT users hit by application-update problems.

Read More..

Video showdown set for March in Web-chat debate

After a fractious false start last year, Web standards makers will reconvene in Orlando, Florida, this March to try to settle a debate about the best video technology for browser-based chatting.

The Web-based chat standard, which holds the potential to bring Skype-like audio and video communication services to the Web, is called WebRTC. The debate about it centers on how best to compress video: the widely used industry-standard H.264 codec, or Google's royalty-free, open-source VP8 codec?

The discussion took some surprising twists and turns late last year -- including Google's last-minute action to postpone discussion because of unspecified intellectual property issues and a vote by H.264 patent holders about whether to offer that codec for free.

If this debate sounds familiar, it's because Web standards setters already hashed it in recent years when dealing with Web video. There, fans of H.264's quality and widespread support pitted against those who gnash their teeth at patent-encumbered technology erecting toll booths on an an Internet otherwise built from free-to-implement standards.

HTML5 introduced built-in video, in principle letting Web developers use it as easily as they do images and no longer requiring them to rely on a plug-in like Adobe Systems' Flash Player.

But the HTML5 video standards world couldn't agree on a codec -- the technology that defines how to encode and decode video so it can be sent over a network or stored on a disk in compressed form. Some prefer the H.264 codec, which is built into
Windows 7 and 8, OS X, iOS, and
Android, but which requires royalty payments to patent holders when shipped in products. Others prefer Google's VP8, a later arrival that Google is trying to promote as part of the WebM project.

Now we have the sequel to that debate, this time for real-time communications on the Web.

Separately from the codec issue is the RTC issue. The leading contender, backed notably by Google and Mozilla, is a standard in the making called WebRTC. Microsoft arrived later with a lower-level competing proposal called CU-RTC-Web. Burt regardless of which form of real-time video and audio chat arrives on the Web, a video codec will be necessary.

Standards makers had agreed to a show-of-hands vote on H.264 vs VP8 in November to see if they could pick a mandatory-to-implement (MTI) codec -- in other words, the one that would be required for software to say it supported the standard. That could have been a huge boost for encouraging VP8 adoption, which has been lackluster so far.

But at the last minute -- literally -- Google asked to postpone the issue because of unspecified intellectual property rights (IPR) issues at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), one standards group involved in the real-time communications standard.

In a mailing list message, Google's Serge Lachapelle said:

Google understands that concerns have been raised within the IETF RTCWEB WG [Real-Time Communication in Web browsers Working Group] regards to VP8 IPR...

Google likes VP8
Google believes strongly that the VP8 codec is the best technical option for a mandatory to implement codec.

We therefore kindly ask to postpone this decision and hope the workgroup will take this opportunity to make progress on other vital topics.

The postponement is for the IETF's upcoming meeting in Orlando from March 10 to 15. That postponement didn't sit well with some.

"This not a 'VP8 project', VP8 stands as a possible candidate, one of a set. It seems you are having trouble putting it formally on the table. Are you sure that those troubles can be resolved in a defined interval?" said Apple's David Singer." And, unsurprisingly given Apple's fondness for H.264, he also offered veiled support for that option: "The best *technical* option is almost certainly something widely deployed, implemented, and understood."

Added Nokia's Markus Isomaki, "I agreed to the proposal to drop the discussions since I was pretty sure we would not learn much new or reach any consensus over this. However, could you elaborate a bit what lead to your request just 5 minutes before the start of the session? I mean, concerns about VP IPR status have been raised all along the way and probably will continue to be."

Google didn't respond to that message or to a CNET request for comment on the issue.

VP8 has been dogged by intellectual property issues since it emerged two and a half years go, but so far there have been no legal challenges. MPEG LA, which licenses the large pool of H.264 patents, however, said VP8 violates 12 organizations' patents without disclosing which.

Royalty-free H.264?
MPEG LA got involved in the issue, too, at the behest of t The other standards group working on WebRTC, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), doesn't like the idea of patent payments in Web standards -- in fact, it's explicitly against its policy. Shortly before the November vote at the last IETF meeting, therefore, the W3C's highest authorities in effect weighed in against H.264.

"Whatever codec the [IETF's] rtcweb Working Group might choose, we encourage the working group to work toward technologies that implementers can be confident are available on a royalty-free basis, and W3C is willing to work with the IETF in achieving this," said none other than World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee, along with W3C Chief Executive Jeff Jaffe, Philippe Le Hegaret, who leads the W3C's HTML work, and Thomas Roessler, a W3C technology leader.

The message dropped a juicy little nugget into the debate: the possibility of free H.264 use.

That might sound improbable, but MPEG LA granted free rights in perpetuity to use H.264 for Web sites that offer free streaming videos. But the W3C suggested that it might not be wise to get any hopes up for more free rights -- because it asked for those already in the earlier HTML5 video debate:

In 2011 W3C approached MPEG LA, the licensing authority for the generally-known patent pool for H.264, with a proposal for royalty-free licensing of the H.264 baseline codec, to be referenced for use by the HTML5 video tag. MPEG LA was receptive to this proposal; however, the proposal was turned down by a narrow margin within the MPEG LA membership.

Realistically, it's quite possible there will be no decision even March. And even if there is, the debate about the best codec doesn't look like it'll end anytime soon.

Because VP8 vs H.264 is only part of the codec debate. As new technologies appear, the video world is starting to move onto the next phase: H.265 vs. VP9.

Read More..

Get a 50-inch Sceptre HDTV for $399

Now that this year's Super Bowl teams have been decided (and who doesn't love a battle of brothers?), perhaps you're ready for a big new TV on which to enjoy the game.

For a limited time, and while supplies last, TigerDirect has the Sceptre X508BV-FHD 50-inch LCD HDTV for $399.99, plus around $30 for shipping. That's your after-rebate price, but, hey, some deals require a little delayed gratification.

As you might expect from the price, this is an entry-level TV. It's not especially thin, and it lacks apps and Wi-Fi and all that (though that's easily remedied with an inexpensive Roku box). It has a 60Hz refresh rate, which I'll take any day over 120-240Hz and the "soap opera effect" that lends.

Other key specs include three HDMI inputs, an 8ms response time, and, of course, 1080p resolution. Sceptre backs the unit with a one-year warranty.

As for the rebate, it's good as long as you make your purchase before Jan. 26, and it comes in the form of a prepaid Amex card. Here's the PDF.

With a TV like this, I think it's wise to look closely at user reviews. There are nearly two dozen of them at TigerDirect, with an average rating of 4.3 stars out of 5. That would be good enough for me to pull the trigger, were I in the market for a TV.

If you are, let me know if you think this is the deal to beat, or whether it's worth spending more to get a thinner design and more frills.

Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers.

Curious about what exactly The Cheapskate does and how it works? Read our FAQ.

Read More..