Dear Sony, Samsung and every other tech company in the world: stop trying to be Apple

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Given a choice, I can’t think of any technology company that wouldn’t like to have what Apple has. A proprietary system that ties people in every step of the way: the device in their pocket, on their desk, and pretty much all the content that sits within them. (more…)

Lytro light-field camera: first look

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

The Lytro has been kicking around for a few months — we covered its launch in issue 207 of the magazine — and it picked up an award at CES last week, but the camera has yet to actually ship. However, the company had a few pre-production models to let us try out the intriguing new camera technology.

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CES: Why booth babes are bad marketing

Monday, January 16th, 2012

I spent last week in Las Vegas, which is always a bit strange for women, surrounded as you are by very pretty ladies, in very little — and often very sparkly — “clothes”. I’m speaking, of course, not of the casinos or bars, but of CES and its numerous “booth babes”.

The BBC did an excellent piece on the subject — if you haven’t seen it yet, the video is here, and it’s well worth watching — interviewing female tech journalists, marketing staff, booth babes and CES head honcho Gary Shapiro.

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3D printing: undeniably cool, but lacks a killer app

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

There’s a sense of 3D printing coming of age here at CES 2012. A section of the South Hall is devoted to 3D printing, and there are several working models on the show floor – all with a healthy, fascinated crowd gathered around them.

3D Systems Corporation is, for example, showing off its new Cube personal printer (shown in the video below). It’s mesmerising to watch as, layer by layer, a 3D object slowly emerges before your eyes: a chess piece, a bracelet or a plastic figurine. But for $1,299 (around £850), I’d want it to print something more useful than an over-sized Christmas Cracker toy.

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Will your next camera be wireless?

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

The compact camera market is fascinating: on one side it’s being savagely attacked by smartphones and their ever-improving cameras, and on the other by affordable DSLRs and hybrids.

But there’s still a place for compacts – taking snaps indoors in low light being one obvious example – and companies such as Samsung continue to deliver fresh ideas.

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Forget innovation: why Lenovo leads the way for sheer fun at CES 2012

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

The most fun I’ve had in Las Vegas? Spending ten minutes with the Lenovo IdeaCentre A720. Sounds crazy but it’s also 100% true.

I played the piano, lost a strange game involving multiplying insects (don’t ask) and then showed my considerable skill at losing by being heavily defeated at an excellent multiplayer game in the mould of Guitar Hero. Who needs dancing girls, cocktails or casinos?

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How to get email without a computer

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

Here in Vegas, CES is overflowing with computing embedded in devices of every kind — cars, home appliances, booth girls (I’m assuming, anyway) — but one stand is touting a way to cut the computer out of your life, while still receiving email.

The Presto Printing Mailbox is the antithesis of Martha Lane Fox’s digital divide plans: it’s for people who simply can’t understand — or can’t be bothered to understand — how to get email off that infernal computing box.

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Lenovo Smart Phone K800 with Intel inside: first-look review

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

I’ll get one thing out of the way immediately: this is a blisteringly fast phone. Using it reminded me of moving from Windows Vista to Windows 7: everything just snaps into place, with no judder and no hesitation.

You might ask, “so what?” And that’s a fair argument. I’ve never heard an iPhone 4 owner moan about the speed of the interface, or anyone who’s bought a recent Android phone for that matter.

But there is something psychologically satisfying about using a phone that jumps in response to commands; going back to my usual phone afterwards, things seemed to be in slow motion.

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Viva Las BIOS

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

Dell doesn’t have a stand here at CES in Las Vegas, but it does have its name up in bright lights on the Strip – although not in a good way.

A Dell Precision WorkStation 300 Series is clearly used to power one of the giant signs just along from our hotel, but instead of displaying details of Celine Dion’s Vegas Warblefest or some such nonsense, it’s currently displaying nothing but the BIOS screen.

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1 million volts, a hard drive and Dr Megavolt

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

“Just put your signature there,” said the ioSafe rep. “It’s nothing to worry about. Oh, but one thing. Whatever Dr Megavolt says, do it.”

I didn’t argue, merely noted from the indemnity document I was about to sign that it would be a very, very bad idea to place my fingers outside the Faraday cage I was stepping into.

A few minutes earlier Dr Megavolt had explained what was going to happen: a million volts would be sent through an ioSafe Thunderbolt external hard drive, which was protected by a titanium cover.

Everything would be fine, right? Well, as we were about to discover, things weren’t necessarily that straightforward.