Electricpig.co.uk - tech news fast!

New London bus is a gadgeteer’s dream: video
iPad rival: Amazon Kindle tablet with games imminent?
Nintendo 3DS to be joined by 3DSWare and 3DSPlay?
Lunchtime Lowdown: New MacBook official, Spotify services added and iPhone 4.0 rumours
Acer Chrome OS netbook launch denied
Amazon Kindle Android app incoming
iPhone 4.0 screen technology revealed
Humax HDR-FOX T2 Freeview HD recorder priced and dated
New MacBook official: specs and pricing
Spotify adds new services – Spotify Open and Spotify Unlimited

New London bus is a gadgeteer’s dream: video

Posted: 18 May 2010 09:24 AM PDT

London’s getting an all-new Routemaster, and while we’re not normally the sort to have our heads turned by a council taxi, Transport For London’s new runaround has snatched our attention away from almost everything else on the road. Get a good gawp at this gargantuan people-mover!

Custom designed, and with a pricetag to boot (we hear it’ll cost £7.8 million for the first five alone), the new London bus packs in the latest technology to make it lighter and more fuel efficient than any double decker before it. It’s a hybrid bus, running on diesel and electric motors to cut carbon emissions by 40%.

According to TFL, the new Routemaster bus will be 40% more efficient than existing diesel equivalents overall, as well as being quieter as they trundle around the UK’s capital.

Inside there are two staircases and three doors, but it’s the exterior design that makes us sit up and take notice. It echoes the iconic Routemaster it replaces, but with several modern touches. Take a look at the video below, and you’ll see why we’re so excited about hailing this particular mode of public transport.

Out 2011 | £TBC | TFL

iPad rival: Amazon Kindle tablet with games imminent?

Posted: 18 May 2010 06:00 AM PDT

The iPad has seriously dented the appeal of the Kindle but a recent batch of job postings suggest Amazon is on the cusp of fighting back with its own touchscreen tablet. While iPad UK launch is next Friday, it seems a next generation Amazon Kindle tablet could be just around the corner…

Amazon acquired Touchco, a small touchscreen maker, back in February, immediately sparking talk of a Kindle Touch but it seems the ebook giant may have something bigger in mind.

Lab 126, the Amazon division dedicated to developing the Kindle, recently advertised for three new recruits – a software quality assurance engineer, a software development test engineer and a buyer/planner. Those are all jobs that need doing when a product is nearly ready to launch.

The New York Times reports that Amazon is actively developing an iPad rival that will pack an LCD touchscreen and feature not only ebooks but games. It says sources within the company have told it that Amazon has been meeting games publishers to discuss titles for the new Kindle.

Steve Jobs said when he launched iBooks: "Amazon's done a great job of pioneering this functionality with the Kindle. And we're going to stand on their shoulders and go a bit further." It seems as if Amazon may return the favour with an Amazon Kindle iPad rival that attempts to battle the success of games in the iTunes App Store.

Amazon has made sure it's represented on other devices with the iPad Kindle app and today's announcement of the Android Kindle app but it's obviously not over the idea of having its own hardware. Do you think an Amazon iPad rival can catch up with Apple?

Due TBC | £TBC | Amazon (via New York Times)

Nintendo 3DS to be joined by 3DSWare and 3DSPlay?

Posted: 18 May 2010 05:00 AM PDT

The Nintendo 3DS will make its first public appearance at E3 in a few weeks time. But while we wait, Nintendo has been getting busy making some interesting Nintendo 3DS-related trademark submissions. Yesterday we saw a Nintendo 3DS widescreen, now it seems there could be some Nintendo 3D game services on the horizon too…

When the Nintendo 3DS was first announced, Nintendo was careful to let us know that it might not be the final name for its 3D-glasses-shunning portable gamer. But it seems likely that it will stick with the Nintendo 3DS name as it's just grabbed the Japanese trademark.

More intriguingly, it's also snapped up 3DSWare and 3DSPlay. While it may just be protectively picking up the names, they both sound rather like Nintendo 3DS specific versions of familiar Nintendo properties.

3DSWare suggests Nintendo could be planning a follow-up to DSiWare to deliver a 3D-only game store for its new console. Meanwhile 3DSPlay, although pretty broad, recalls the massively popular Wii Play. Could Nintendo be planning a batch of killer mini-games for the Nintendo 3DS? It doesn't sound like such a bad idea.

We're excited to see whether Nintendo can deliver on the Nintendo 3DS' 3D gaming promise. It'd be great to see a big DSiWare-style batch of casual games arriving with it.

Due TBC | £TBC | Nintendo (via Siliconera)

Lunchtime Lowdown: New MacBook official, Spotify services added and iPhone 4.0 rumours

Posted: 18 May 2010 04:30 AM PDT

We make it spot on halfway through the working day, so stop what you’re doing and tuck in to our feast of all the biggest, breaking gadget stories. They’re all squashed onto one plate for you right here in the lunchtime lowdown, served piping hot!

First up, some tasty stories hit in computing. That leaked new MacBook sprung up for sale on Apple’s site, complete with MacBook Pro matching speed and graphics, while we took a look at how to back up your computer wirelessly and simply using Q-waves‘ clever streaming tech. Find out more about Q-waves.

Over in mobile meanwhile, a new report detailed the screen tech behind the upcoming iPhone 4.0, and Amazon rolled out is Kindle e-reader app for rival platform Android. Want to know which are the best Google phones to get? Read our comprehensive Android guides, and find out just what you can so in 60 seconds with the speedy Android Sony Ericsson Xperia X10.

Finally, on the web, Spotify rolled out several new services, serving up cut price ad free music for members, and a way to listen if you can’t get one of those elusive invites.

Still want more news? You know where to find it: over on the homepage, pronto!

Check out our Android Invasion, starting with our first robot romance video below!

Acer Chrome OS netbook launch denied

Posted: 18 May 2010 04:00 AM PDT

Acer Chrome OS netbooks were rumoured to be headed our way at Computex in June but the company has poured cold water on the claims. That follows the earlier decision to can an Acer iPad rival. Has the very idea of a Google Chrome OS netbook lost its shine?

After a flurry of stories about an Acer Chrome OS netbook launch, Acer has put out a statement to make it clear that we shouldn't hold our breaths: "Despite recent rumours in the press regarding the launch of Chrome OS-based netbooks at Computex, Acer today confirms it has no short-term plans for such a product."

That's a big change from Acer IT president Jim Wong's bold words back in January talking up an Acer Chrome OS tablet. He said: "For Chrome, we're aggressively pursuing to become one of the first, so there's a change to the Microsoft-Intel environment…"

An Acer Chrome OS netbook could still be on the horizon but the firm's initial chatter suggested we'd see it in Q3 2010. If that were still true, we'd have expected prototypes to be popping up about now.

Asus, Acer and Lenovo were among a big batch of manufacturers who showed an interest in building a Google Chrome OS netbook, so it’s likely that we’ll still see one soon. Asus has the Android-packing Asus Eee Pad primed to hit the stage at Computex but we wouldn't be surprised to see it delivering some Chrome OS packing kit too.

Are you gagging to get your hands on a Google Chrome OS device or do you just find the prospect of yet another option desperately dull?

Due TBC | £TBC | Acer

Amazon Kindle Android app incoming

Posted: 18 May 2010 03:30 AM PDT

An Amazon Kindle Android app is on the way. Amazon has announced that it'll be extending its virtual library to Google's OS sometime this summer. And unlike owners of the iPad Kindle app and iPhone Kindle app, Android lovers will be able to buy ebooks from Amazon straight from their phone…

The Amazon Kindle Android app is currently pegged as "coming soon" but it'll come packing the features we've become familiar with in other Kindle apps including the ability to sync your bookmarks across devices, add notes and highlights and read in portrait or landscape mode.

Unlike the Kindle for iPad and Kindle for iPhone apps, the Amazon Kindle App will let you buy books from within the app itself. iPad and iPhone owners currently have to hop over to Safari to shop for titles. The Kindle for Blackberry app also has let’s you make in-app ebook purchases so the difference is down to Amazon’s clash with Apple’s iBooks app.

Other details on the Amazon Kindle Android app are pretty thin on the ground at the moment but Amazon has put up a page where you can register your interest. The good news is that the Amazon Kindle Android app will work with any handset running Android 1.6 or over.

Expanding to as many devices as possible is all part of Amazon’s strategy in the ongoing iPad Kindle battle. We’re also promised Kindle integration in the forthcoming Dell Streak tablet.

Due TBC | £free | Amazon

iPhone 4.0 screen technology revealed

Posted: 18 May 2010 03:00 AM PDT

iPhone 4.0 screen rumours were doing the rounds even before the first iPhone 4.0 leak. But now a report has gone further giving details of the firms supplying the iPhone 4.0 screen technology. And it seems the information fits rather well with all the whispers we've heard before. Read on for a closer look at the iPhone 4.0 screen rumours…

DigiTimes has detailed the parts it claims Apple is planning to pack into the new iPhone display. It says the iPhone 4.0 will use panels supplied by LG with a resolution of 960 x 640. That's the same figure previously quoted in iPhone 4.0 specs from Daring Fireball's John Gruber.

If it’s right, that means iPhone 4.0 will have double the resolution of the iPhone 3GS and outstrip Android rivals like the Nexus One (800 x 400) and the HTC Legend (320 x 480). The report also claims the new iPhone will incorporate fringe-field switching (FFS) to improve viewing angles and visibility in bright sunlight.

Apple has already confirmed that iBooks are headed for iPhone 4.0 and the rumoured screen tech could make it a seriously compelling option for reading ebooks as well as allowing for improved video. The iPhone 4.0 screen is also said to be 33% thinner in order to free up space for a bigger battery.

The report repeats claims that iPhone 4.0 will pack the iPad-powering Apple A4 processor but with one crucial difference. While the A4 was spotted in teardowns of the prototype revealed in the recent iPhone 4.0 leak from Vietnam, that phone was only packing 256MB of RAM like the iPhone 3GS and iPad. The new report claims iPhone 4.0 will have 512MB.

We're only a few weeks away from WWDC when Apple should unveil iPhone 4.0. What do you make of the proposed specs for the new iPhone and what features are you still hoping for?

Due TBC | £TBC | Apple (via DigiTimes)

Humax HDR-FOX T2 Freeview HD recorder priced and dated

Posted: 18 May 2010 02:30 AM PDT

The Humax HDR-FOX T2 Freeview HD recorder’s been on our radar since it was first announced way back in December of last year, but now the set top box peddler has finally seen fit to fully spec it out, with a price and launch date to boot.

Humax’s first Freeview HD tuner, the HD-FOX T2, went on sale earlier this year, and come July, it’s following it up with its first PVR for the new free to air HD service, the Humax HDR-FOX T2. It’s due out in July for around £349, with a 500GB hard drive, capable of storing 125 hours of HD video at one time.

Read our Humax HD-FOX T2 review now

As expected, the Humax HDR-FOX T2 will also play back photos, music (MP3s) and video (Formats still TBC) from a USB port, and connect to your home network to for content sharing with PCs through an ethernet cable.

We’re not sure what’s taken Humax so long to get the Humax HDR-FOX T2 to market when Panasonic’s already shipping a vastly more feature packed Freeview HD+ box and Blu-ray recorder, the Panasonic DMR BW880. We’ll be chasing one down for a review as soon as possible, but in the meantime, if you want to watch the World Cup in HD without a subscription, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Out July | £349 | Humax

New MacBook official: specs and pricing

Posted: 18 May 2010 01:47 AM PDT

The new MacBook that leaked out over the weekend has quietly popped up on Apple’s site, without so much as an Apple Store Down sticker to give us advance warning. As expected, it’s packing a faster CPU and better battery life, and comes in at a price well under the similarly specced MacBook Pro.

Head on over to the UK Apple site and you can see the new MacBook 13 inch plastic unibody laptop is up for sale, packing a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo chip (Up from 2.26GHz), 2GB of DDR3 RAM and a 250GB hard drive.

The new MacBook also ups the GPU, with an Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics card, and a big claimed battery life boost, from seven hours to ten away from the mains.

Read our MacBook Pro review now

The new MacBook specs are in fact almost identical to the bottom end 13-inch MacBook Pro, which only betters it with 4GB of RAM and an SD card slot, for an extra £150. That’s not a bad deal for the new MacBook, though the Pro’s overhead does cover that beautiful aluminium unibody look too, admittedly.

The new MacBook is on sale now, priced at £849, and ships within 24 hours.

Out Now | £849 | Apple

Spotify adds new services – Spotify Open and Spotify Unlimited

Posted: 18 May 2010 01:30 AM PDT

Spotify has announced two new ways to access the streaming service – Spotify Open and Spotify Unlimited. Spotify Unlimited offers a cheaper package for ad-free listening while Spotify Open will give you access to ad-supported tunes without an invite. That’s great news but could it mean the Spotify Free service is on the way out?

The confusingly named Spotify Unlimited package gives you access to the whole Spotify catalogue for £4.99 per month but only via your computer. To use mobile streaming – including the recently tarted up Spotify iPhone app – you'll still need to stump up £9.99 a month for Spotify Premium.

If you've so far failed to snag a Spotify invite, Spotify Open will give you 20 hours a month of ad-supported listening. Spotify says the current Spotify Free package will stay: "New users [will] still be able to sign up to the current Free service by obtaining one of the many millions of invites currently available."

Spotify Open is a welcome addition but we expect those Spotify invite eBay auctions will keep doing brisk business. You'll soon chew through a monthly limit of 20 hours.

While Spotify has been quick to assure us that Spotify Free is here to stay, the arrival of Spotify Open has to put a question mark over its future. Spotify’s big challenge is persuading people to subscribe and reducing the amount of free streaming could be one way to do that.

Let us know what you think of Spotify's latest plans and what you've made of the social features that it added with the last Spotify update.

Out now | from £free | Spotify