Hands on with the new Google Maps

Friday, May 17th, 2013

I’m still waiting for my Glass headset… but for now Google has at least given me a new version of Google Maps for the web. Here’s what it looks like:

The first change you’ll notice is that the map now fills your window. The map itself looks subtly different too: there’s a new cleaner design, with a paler palette, more white space (well, light grey) and – if I’m not mistaken – Google’s Roboto font now used for labelling.

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Nokia Lumia 925 review: first look

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

Nokia has a new flagship Windows phone 8 handset in the shape of the Nokia Lumia 925, and it looks like a big step forward. The Lumia 925, which was launched in London, hot on the heels of the US launch of the 928 earlier this week, is far slimmer at 8.5mm and lighter than its predecessor, the Lumia 920, and eschews that phone’s bulbous rear in favour of a sharper, sleeker, more modern look.

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GoPro camera strapped to a remote-control helicopter: the ultimate boy’s toy

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

So how did I come to strap a GoPro camera to a remote control helicopter? (Play video in full screen and select 1080p option for best quality.)

At the recent National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas, I was walking down an aisle between two large stands, and felt my hair being gently rustled by a powerful draft from above. Looking up, I saw a quad helicopter sitting a few feet above my head. It was perfectly stable, and under the control of someone off in the distance. It gently, and oh so accurately moved down the hallway, turned right and came to a landing.

Now remote control helicopters are not new. And ones that talk to your iPhone or iPad aren’t new either. Indeed, I bought the AR.Drone when it first shipped. It gave me two live camera feeds back to my iPad, and the facility to record the video. The only problem was that it was rubbish.

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How we produce the PC Pro podcast

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

A few people have asked me, over the years, about the processes and equipment we use to record and produce our podcast. If you’re curious, here’s how it happens.

Every Wednesday, we go into the recording studio at around noon. Prior to this, we’ll have agreed on the news stories we plan to discuss, and who’s going to introduce which topic; but within this basic framework the conversation is allowed to flow quite freely.

The discussion is recorded “as live” using four Shure SM58 microphones connected to an M-Audio Fast Track Ultra interface. I record and edit in PreSonus Studio One: arguably it’s overkill for this job, but it’s the DAW I use at home, so using it here as well makes life easy for me.

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3D printers: five things I’ve learnt

Friday, April 19th, 2013

 
This week, I’ve been playing with a 3D printer. The Afinia H-Series – also known as the Up! Plus – arrived on Monday, and I’ve been fiddling with it more or less non-stop since then. There will be a full dissection of the technology in a future issue of PC Pro, but here are some of my initial impressions from my first few days of tinkering.
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The rotten side of Bletchley Park: a photo story

Friday, April 12th, 2013

Britain’s computing heritage is literally rotting away. One of the most famous buildings at Bletchley Park — or what should be famous, at least — is Hut 6, where much of the key work on the Enigma took place during the war, and the subject of the first British book to really discuss what happened at Britain’s code-breaking centre.

Now, if you’ve ever been to Bletchley Park, it may sound extreme to describe it as rotting. Back in 2008, its supporters called for funding help, saying the estate “was in a terrible state of disrepair”, and under threat of being lost entirely. Donations and funding poured in, and visiting the place now is a wonderful experience.

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Home working vs the office: the final word

Sunday, March 10th, 2013

MIT’s Bill Aulet kicked off his SXSW session – 1 Coffee Pot, Many Disciplines: Why Space Matters – with a simple question: who agrees with Marissa Mayer when she demands that all Yahoo staff must work in the company office?

The yeses went first. I kind of agreed, but not enough to put up my hand. Then went the nos. I was closer to no than yes, so I put up my hand. But it took the rest of the talk to make me realise quite why I was so hazy on the matter.

Let me quote you the most pertinent paragraph from the leaked Yahoo memo:

“To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo, and that starts with physically being together.”

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Five things I thought I’d hate about the Kindle

Monday, March 4th, 2013

I bought a Kindle yesterday. A mere ten months after admitting (in issue 213 of PC Pro) that the concept had won me over, I’ve finally taken the plunge.

I realise I’m somewhat behind the times on this one. The hardware itself is now in its fifth generation. I very much doubt I can tell you anything about how it works that you don’t already know. In fact, my decision to invest was encouraged by several helpful PC Pro readers on Twitter sharing their own positive experiences of  the device.

All the same, I was braced for some compromises. There were several things about the Kindle I had long expected to hate.

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Europe’s best broadband by 2015? Maybe – but what next?

Monday, March 4th, 2013

The UK government keeps talking about having the best broadband in Europe by 2015, but that target – poorly defined and unlikely to stand up to scrutiny as it is – shouldn’t be the end point. Other countries are already looking way beyond the next few years, while the UK looks likely to fall over panting even if it reaches its finishing line.

The government has made much fuss about the £530 million it’s pumped into projects run by Broadband Delivery UK – with all the work so far handed to BT in a bid to meet goals of 90% of the population having access to 25Mbits/sec, with a minimum 2Mbits/sec for those left behind.

It’s better than nothing, but there’s nothing else on the agenda. Once that money’s been spent by BT, there’s not much left in the pot — a few scattered rural funds, and some money for fibre in the UK’s major cities. Even in the unlikely event that the UK really does have the best broadband in the continent by 2015, it’s likely to be a briefly held title.

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Nokia Lumia 720 review: first look

Monday, February 25th, 2013

Nokia’s has announced two new Windows Phone 8 smartphones at MWC 2013, but of the pair it was the more upmarket Lumia 720 that caught our attention the most when we got some hands-on time with it at the Nokia stand.

It’s still aimed at the budget-conscious crowd, with a price that comes in at a similar level to the excellent Nexus 4, and yet still boasts high-end features. The first thing we noticed when we picked it up was how slim and light it is: it’s only 9mm thick and weighs a mere 128g. That’s not much heavier than the iPhone 5, which has a significantly smaller screen, and it’s a far cry from the massive bulk of the flagship Lumia 920.

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