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- Sony: first 3D VAIO laptop incoming, probably only in one size
- Sony: Qriocity coming to Europe this Autumn
- Sony: first 3D home cinema projector announced
- New iPod nano hands on photos: Dinky identity crisis
- New iPod shuffle hands on: Good to have you back, buttons
- New Apple TV hands on photos and first impressions
- New iPod shuffle: the buttons are back!
- New iPod touch hands on photos: Yes, it’s that thin
- iTunes 10 introduces Ping: the Apple social network!
- New Apple TV: tiny new streaming box goes rental only
| Sony: first 3D VAIO laptop incoming, probably only in one size Posted: 01 Sep 2010 04:13 PM PDT  Sony today announced the arrival of its first 3D VAIO laptop, in the midst of a raft of 3D announcements at IFA. The Sony VAIO 3D laptop will be arriving next spring, and will use active shutter glasses, just the like projector it announced at the same time.
As yet, this is the upcoming Sony product we’ve heard least about, but we’ll update you as soon as we get any more info. In the meantime, tell us what you want to know!  |
| Sony: Qriocity coming to Europe this Autumn Posted: 01 Sep 2010 03:46 PM PDT 
The Sony Qriocity Music Unlimited service is a cloud based digital music service, but Sony staff were tight lipped about what's powering the service. They did however, make some vague noises in the direction of the four majors, plus independent record labels, which made it sound like Sony might be powering the service itself, or at least not on the back of the almighty 7Digital. This will be out before the end of the year. Sony Qriocity Video On Demand gives you on demand access to stream movies, and once you've purchased, will give you 14 days to start watching, after which you can view the film as many times as you want in 48 hours. It will be launching in the Autumn. The plan is to link this up to Sony mobile devices in the future, and it's not being pushed as a budget service. Fujio Nishida, president of Sony Europe, said: "Sony will deliver premium digital content, starting with music and movies," and went on to say that Qriocity is a platform for “the future”, that Sony intends to build upon. To use the service, you'll need a Sony networked device, meaning a PS3, Sony Bravia or Blu Ray player. Is just another digital content service, or could it carve out a meaningful portion of the market? We want to know what you think… Related posts:
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| Sony: first 3D home cinema projector announced Posted: 01 Sep 2010 03:28 PM PDT  We got a look at the Sony 3D home cinema projector, a new high end projector called the VW90ES. It projects full 1080p HD video, and is an absolute beast of a thing, but if you're looking to shell out to turn your spare room into a home cinema, have just come into a great wad of cash, then have a drool over this.
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| New iPod nano hands on photos: Dinky identity crisis Posted: 01 Sep 2010 01:05 PM PDT  A new iPod nano got all official earlier today alongside a new iPod touch, but while the latter had us swooning in seconds, we’re really quite puzzled by the nano. Yes, it’s beautiful, but at £129 or more, who on earth is this for?
The new iPod nano is gorgeous, make no mistake. Its tiny 1.54-inch screen is sharp, the metallic shades are vibrant, and all the physical buttons are easy to press. That Apple has crammed a 30-pin connector in at the bottom is fantastic, and means it’ll play nice with all your docks and accessories still. But we’re struggling to work out who the new iPod nano is for. It’s not for gym addicts, since you’re going to struggle changing tracks with sweaty fingers on such a small screen. It’s not for video watchers, since it doesn’t play video, or record it like last year’s model. And while you could argue that it’s a fancy replacement for the shuffle, (It’s barely any bigger) the price says otherwise: it costs £129 or more, while the new iPod shuffle starts at £39. We’re not sure that the touchscreen makes things any easier either: pictures end up chopped on the square screen, and the swipe gesture to go back doesn’t seem to work all the time. About the extent of multitouch support we noticed was that you could pinch to change the orientation of photos. From our play with the device, the new iPod nano feels like it’s stuck in limbo between the shuffle and the iPod touch, and we’re not sure that’s a good place to be. Still, we’ll save a full verdict for our review, coming ASAP! What do you think of the new iPod nano? Is it just what you hoped for, or an odd design? Shout up in the comments below! Out Next Week | £from 129 | Apple Related posts:
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| New iPod shuffle hands on: Good to have you back, buttons Posted: 01 Sep 2010 12:43 PM PDT  The new iPod shuffle is a surprising climbdown from Apple. The company’s hell bent on removing buttons from the face of the planet, or at least its products, so the return of a whole set of them to the new iPod shuffle marks a massive compromise. It’s not a bad one though: think of it as combining the best of both worlds. Buttons, so you can use your own headphones without crippling it, and track controls on the regular Apple headphones, plus voiceover, for joggers. Win win, no? We’ll get you a new iPod shuffle review in full just as soon as we can. Related posts:
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| New Apple TV hands on photos and first impressions Posted: 01 Sep 2010 12:32 PM PDT  Here it is, the new Apple TV. Secretly, we’d hoped it’d be even smaller than this, but compared to its predecessor and most other media streaming set top boxes, it’s still tiny. The question is, what is there to watch?
We definitely like the look of the new Apple TV. It’s just wide enough to house the bare minimum of ports on the back (HDMI, power and Ethernet, but WiFi is built in too), and the only sign of life on the front is a small power button. We’re also taken with the graphite colour: it’s not silver and shiny like the latest Mac Mini, and so won’t distract form what you’re watching. The UI of the new Apple TV was pleasant enough, almost like a more polished XMB. We flicked through with a remote, and had a butchers at video streamed from the web. As you’d expect, it’s all pretty smooth, but we’re pleased to report it’s incredibly quiet too. Unfortunately, the new Apple TV might not be as enticing an option in the UK on launch as it will be in the US. It’s £99 rather than $99, and there’s no Netflix support obviously, but also apparently no TV rentals either. We’ve also confirmed that Appe is sticking with its typical iOS video format for playing files off your computer: H.264 MP4/MOV, and MPEG-4, capped at 720p resolution. Yup, if you wanted to play full HD MKV files on the new Apple TV, that’s not going to happen, at least until some Have a look at the new Apple TV up close here in our photo gallery. Will you be buying one? Out September | £99 | Apple Related posts:
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| New iPod shuffle: the buttons are back! Posted: 01 Sep 2010 12:09 PM PDT 
The new iPod shuffle comes in one capacity (2GB), is still incredibly tiny and reverts back to its old square form factor. There's a clip that'll please the joggers and the return of the clickwheel could make it the iPod weapon of choice for gym-goers now the new iPod nano has been seduced by touch. The return of tactile controls hasn't killed off VoiceOver which is nestled within the new iPod shuffle allowing you to speak the song title, artist or playlist name in one of 25 languages. We'll be asking for Led Zeppelin in Spanish. Apple promises the new iPod shuffle will give you 15 hours of playback and it's still churning them out in a range of five different colours (we’re plumping for the blue). The new iPod shuffle is up for pre-order now for £39 and is shipping next week. We're hunting one down for some hands-on time right now and will have a review for you imminently. Out now | £39 | Apple Related posts:
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| New iPod touch hands on photos: Yes, it’s that thin Posted: 01 Sep 2010 12:04 PM PDT  We had a pretty good idea a new iPod touch was coming today, complete with cameras, FaceTime and a Retina Display to match the iPhone 4. But even so, checking it out in the flesh for the first time, it’s taken our breath away. Been looking over all those new Android PMPs coming out lately? Yeah, you don’t want any of them, you want this.
We’ll be honest: the new iPod touch is actually even more beautiful than the iPhone 4. Frankly, the Retina Display speaks for itself by this point (Hint: it’s genuinely gobsmacking) but Apple’s feat of slimming the touch down even further gives you the sensation that you’re simply holding a wafer of awesome. We put it down next to our iPod touch 3G, and as you can see in the photos, the new iPod touch cuts it down a ludicrous amount. The black plastic front is probably still extremely prone to smudges, but when this thing is so thin it could fall through the seams in your pocket, who’s complaining? Games Centre unfortunately wasn’t working, but we had a quick video chat over FaceTime with an Apple employee in Cupertino, and everything worked just fine: there was no discernible difference to FaceTime on the iPhone 4. We confirmed with Apple that FaceTime accounts for the new iPod touch are tied to your email address rather than a phone number, and to our delight, the microphone is built into the body itself, where previous versions have relied on a mic on Apple’s rubbish headphones. All in all, so long as you can stomach the price hikes (The 8GB model is up £40), the new iPod touch looks set to be a winner. We can’t see how any rivals coming out of IFA this week can possibly compete, but we’d love to be proved wrong. The new iPod touch is out next week, and we’ll be bringing you a full review just as soon as we can. Out Next Week | £from 189 | Apple Related posts:
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| iTunes 10 introduces Ping: the Apple social network! Posted: 01 Sep 2010 11:34 AM PDT 
We heard a social iTunes was on the way and iTunes 10 is just that. As well as some design tweaks (including a new hybrid view for looking at your music library), it bakes in a social network called Ping. Ping is built right into iTunes 10 and you'll be able to get at it from your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad (when iOS 4.2 arrives). You’ll get your own profile and an automatically generated chart based on the songs you’re digging. In iTunes 10, Ping will let you follow artists and friends to see what tunes they've been listening to and concerts they're headed to. It's bad news for Last.fm and looks like the start of an Apple assault on Spotify. Steve Jobs showed off artist pages where acts will be able to share updates and videos through iTunes 10. We got his old favourite Jack Johnson and a message from Lady Gaga. Privacy in Ping seems pretty simple with an opt out/opt in option so you'll be able to hide your listening habits in iTunes 10. That's good news if you don't want your secret JLS fandom to be revealed. While Jobs compared Ping and iTunes 10 to Twitter and Facebook we're not sure how much the development will frighten them. For Last.fm though, it could be a nail in the coffin. iTunes 10 is available to download today and we'll be grabbing it imminently to bring you a thorough rundown of its secrets. Hit the comments to let us know what you make of Ping! Out now | £free | Apple Related posts:
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| New Apple TV: tiny new streaming box goes rental only Posted: 01 Sep 2010 11:11 AM PDT 
The new Apple TV has been unveiled and like we expected Apple's just got serious about its hobby. The second coming of the Apple TV is seriously slimmed down and utterly ditches the option to buy content through it. That’s right: the new Apple TV is going rental only but it’s also cuddling up to other iOS devices like the iPad thanks to bring streaming with AirPlay which we heard about earlier… The new Apple TV comes packing built-in Wi-Fi, HDMI and Ethernet. It's also bundled with a pretty swish looking aluminum remote – this is Apple after all. But sadly the much reported arrival of iOS on the new Apple TV didn’t come to pass. The coolest feature of the new Apple TV is the AirPlay integration which will let you instantly stream photos, video or music from your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad to your new Apple TV. Jobs said you’ll be able to do that in the middle of playback. One rumour that did become reality is cheap TV shows. 99c TV rentals are headed to the US but there’s no news on content we'll be getting in the UK. In the US, ABC and Fox have jumped on board but Steve Jobs claims the other studios will "see the light". Time will tell with how that pans out. New Apple TV users in the US are also getting Netflix. You'll be able to stream content from your computer to the new Apple TV but Steve didn't delve too deeply into what formats it'll play nicely with. Steve also talked up HD on the new Apple TV but shied away from details so we may see 720p rather than full on 1080p. The new Apple TV UI has also had a major overhaul with some nifty looking new slide show options (does anyone actually do those?) and a pretty swish looking way to flick through your movie and TV show options. The new Apple TV is getting a substantial price cut in the US too. It’s dropping from $299 to $99. That makes it seriously tempting but we’ve not got the UK price yet. If it converted directly, that would be £65 but we doubt we’ll be quite that lucky. The new Apple TV be ship later this month and is available preorder from today. We'll be hunting down the new Apple TV to get hands on imminently and stay tuned for a review. Let us know what you make of the new Apple TV: has it jumped from a hobby to something you want in your house? Out TBC | £TBC | Apple Related posts:
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