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BlackBerry PlayBook: All the official photos
BlackBerry PlayBook tablet official: See it in action
Hotmail boosts security with new identity proofs
Fallout New Vegas: New trailer!
Cambridge Audio Minx: super-versatile micro speaker system
BlackBerry tablet plans to be revealed tonight?
Apple TV gets a rival: Sony SMP-N100 media streamer
Call of Duty Black Ops: Nazi zombie level listed again
Sony Ericsson dumps Symbian for Android
Windows Phone 7 HTC Mondrian adverts surface

BlackBerry PlayBook: All the official photos

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 03:14 PM PDT

The BlackBerry PlayBook is official. We’ve shown you the first video of it in action, and now it’s time to gorge your eyes on RIM’s slice of the tablet pie. Read on, and click through our gallery.

Just like the iPad, the design of the BlackBerry PlayBook is dominated by its screen. It’s smaller than the iPad, at seven inches across, but like Apple’s trend-setter it’s a capacitive number with multi-touch.

Also evident from the BlackBerry PlayBook exterior are its twin cameras, 3MP for the front and 5MP for the back. The latter is capable of recording HD video in full 1080p HD too. RIM shows the BlackBerry PlayBook downloading apps from BlackBerry App World, and tethered to a BlackBerry smartphone to hop online (since it has no 3G abilities of its own).

Have a good gawp at the BlackBerry PlayBook photos in our gallery above, and give us your first impressions in the comments section below.

BlackBerry PlayBook tablet official: See it in action

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 02:50 PM PDT

The BlackBerry PlayBook just got official, just as we predicted. Forget the codenames, such as BlackPad or BlackTab. The PlayBook is here, and packs more surprises than a Lady Gaga sex tape. The first is the operating system RIM has squeezed inside. It’s not BlackBerry 6… it’s a completely different OS made by QNX Software, which RIM bought earlier this year.

Another surprise: the BlackBerry PlayBook has several features ready to catch Apple on the back foot. Read on, and we’ll show you the PlayBook in action, and explain how it could launch a sneak attack on the iPad.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is a seven-inch tablet. It measures 9.7mm thick and runs a full WebKit browser capable of handling HTML5. So far, so iPad… albeit a little smaller. But here’s the kicker: the BlackBerry PlayBook supports full Adobe Flash 10.1 with hardware acceleration to boot, and even runs Adobe AIR apps.

See our gallery of BlackBerry PlayBook photos

Want another slap, iPad? The BlackBerry PlayBook has two cameras, one for taking photos and HD video (at 1080p, no less), and one for video conferences. Still smarting, Apple? The PlayBook will output 1080p video through a HDMI socket and even plays back DivX and WMV files. Reports also claim RIM has mentioned the PlayBook can also output video through USB, although if we’re honest, we’re not sure what that means at present.

Inside the BlackBerry PlayBook is a 1Ghz provessor and 16GB of storage. But here’s first bit of bad news: There’s no 3G built inside the PlayBook. Instead, it’ll pair up with a BlackBerry smartphone to hop online. It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to do this, and from the look of RIM’s demo videos, it’ll also act as a jumbo screen for apps running on a paired smartphone.

The next bit of bad news? There’s currently no release date or price for the BlackBerry PlayBook. That’s right, RIM announced this thing… then forgot to lay out a timeline for it, potentially giving Apple time to regain ground. The full specs are below, as well as a video so you can see the BlackBerry PlayBook in action. Have a peep and let us know what you think in the comments section.

BlackBerry PlayBook specs

Screen: 7 inch capacitive LCD, 1024 x 600 WSVGA resolution, with multi-touch
OS: BlackBerry Tablet OS
Processor: 1 GHz dual-core
Camera: 3 MP front camera, 5 MP rear camera with 1080p HD video recording
Video codec support: H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
Audio codec support: MP3, AAC, WMA
Wireless connections: 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Wired connections: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
Dimensions: 5.1 x 7.6 x 0.4 inches (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
Weight: 0.9 lb or 400g

Hotmail boosts security with new identity proofs

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 01:59 PM PDT

Hotmail is adding new security features, that will be rolled out gradually throughout October. The key changes that are being made are extra proofs, to safeguard against hackers, and more prompts for users about the safety of what they’re doing in their Hotmail accounts.

Proofs are the big addition to Hotmail. These are extra bits of information which you add to your Hotmail account – a mobile number or the location of a trusted PC – so that Hotmail can verify who you are if it's suspected you've been hacked.

Even better than that, the Hotmail proofs stop hackers from locking you out of your account, as they mean that to change account login details you’ll have to verify your identity using one of these proofs, with an SMS code, or logging on from your trusted PC.

The downside is that it means giving out more information, although if you are hacked, it's likely that you'll be letting go of lots more information than a phone number or your location. "We're closing the loops," said Fiona Fyfe, Hotmail product manager. "We're being quite thorough to make sure people can't mess around with your account."

What do you think about the new Hotmail security measures? Will you be adding proofs?

Fallout New Vegas: New trailer!

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 09:19 AM PDT

Fallout New Vegas is out next month, and Bethesda’s just gearing up to let everyone know. As you’d expect from the company that published arguably the very best game of 2008, it’s doing it in style: check out the all new TV ad for the post-apocalyptic RPG here.

We’ve seen a huge amount of essential, five star games already this year, but we’ve got a feeling 2010 isn’t done just yet. High on our list of games that may cause us to take a sickie to play is Fallout New Vegas, out on 22 October in the UK and Europe, which you can check out the new trailer for by popping the play button above now.

The follow up to 2008’s Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas sees the action moved to Nevada, giving developer Obsidian the chance to ramp up the camp: mutants mixing with the remnants of Vegas nightlife should make for quite an astonishing world to explore.

Halo Reach and Modern Warfare 2 are still sitting at the top of the table for multiplayer fans, but if you’re a fan of a long lasting single player adventure, Fallout New Vegas looks like it could keep you entertained for a long time to come. We’ll have a full Fallout New Vegas review for you as soon as we can, but in the meantime, enjoy the lengthy, classy TV spot right here.

Out 22 October | £39.99 | Bethesda

Cambridge Audio Minx: super-versatile micro speaker system

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 08:38 AM PDT

Cambridge Audio has unveiled its latest micro speaker system, the Minx. It's super-versatile, and can be built in just the way you want it.

The system has two satellite speaker sizes, and three sub sizes. At the most micro end of the system, there's the Min10, the smallest satellite speaker, which fits in the palm of your hand, and is a 3" cube. The Min20 is double the height.

There's three sub models, in 200W, 300W or 500W, and go up in size accordingly, with the smallest sub, the 200W X200, fitting in just an 8" cube. The systems comes in black or white.

Cambridge Audio are most excited about the tech behind it though. The Minx comes with BMR – Balanced Mode Radiator – which means the system has a much wider frequency response, and better sound dispersion (as the sound loses less as it travels), than similarly sized speaker systems.

Out November 2010 | from £350 | Richer Sounds

BlackBerry tablet plans to be revealed tonight?

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 08:04 AM PDT

Research In Motion (RIM) could be about to reveal plans for the next-generation BlackBerry OS that will power the rumoured ‘BlackPad’ tablet.

It looks as though RIM may not be launching the so-called BlackPad at the BlackBerry Developer’s Conference in San Francisco today. What it is going to do is have someone talk about the brand new operating system that will run on the BlackPad, hopefully revealing a lot more about the pad in the process. If we get to see a few glimpses of the hardware too.. well, we won’t be complaining.

Boy Genius Report has confirmed with RIM that today’s keynote session with co-SEO Mike Lazaridis will focus on the company’s plans for the next-generation tablet platform. As this is a developer conference, we are hoping for some juicy details about how the new OS will work and what kind of features it will enable on future devices.

The BlackPad is rumoured to be a tablet computer roughly comparable with the Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab, but designed to be paired with a BlackBerry mobile phone rather than working as a standalone device.

Out TBC | £TBC | RIM (via BGR)

Apple TV gets a rival: Sony SMP-N100 media streamer

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 07:42 AM PDT

Apple’s media streamer, Apple TV, looks to have some serious competition in the form of the Sony SMP-N100, a network media player launched by Sony today.

The Sony SMP-N100 gives access to Bravia internet video, with Wi-fi connectivity and DLNA, which means that, just like the Apple TV, you can stream content through your Wi-fi connection around your house from the Sony SMP-N100 box. This means access to YouTube, TV catch up platforms (BBC iPlayer and Demand Five) and films. To clean up the streamed video, the Sony SMP-N100 also has what Sony calls "Content Noise Reduction", which is meant to clean up and improve the quality of streamed video.

So how does this compare to Apple TV? Well, the basic functionality of each look quite similar to the average consumer. Apple has more multimedia content, as it includes music (there’s no mention of audio content with the Sony device yet), and the fact that it hooks up and syncs with your iTunes account will be a boon for lots of us. The difference will be in the cost, and unless Sony undercuts Apple TV, which costs £100, it will have to put a big differentiating factor in there to hook customers.

Out October 2010 | Around £120 | Sony retailers

Call of Duty Black Ops: Nazi zombie level listed again

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 07:02 AM PDT

We’ve got another confirmation of the zombie levels in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Last month, Best Buy accidentally leaked the info in a listing on its site, and now, an official strategy guide on Gamestop has done the same. The Call of Duty: Black Ops Limited Edition Official Strategy Guide lists its coverage as including: “Co-Op and Nazi Zombie Coverage”. Call of Duty: Black Ops will be released on 11 November, for PC, Xbox, and PS3.

[via GameStop]

Sony Ericsson dumps Symbian for Android

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 06:41 AM PDT

Sony Ericsson has confirmed that it has no plans to develop any more phones using the Symbian OS and that it is moving to Android for future devices.

The Symbian OS isn’t having the greatest year ever. Nokia has been eyeing up the MeeGo OS as a possible replacement, at least one prominent Symbian blog has called it quits and now the other major phone manufacturer to use Symbian – Sony Ericsson – has decided enough is enough.

Sony Ericsson has had a lot of success over the years with Symbian S60 phones like the Vivaz but ,speaking to Bloomberg, Sony Ericsson spokesman Aldo Liguori said, “We have no plans for the time being to develop any new products to the Symbian Foundation standard or operating system.”

Back in July, Sony Ericsson’s ‘Chief Creation Officer’ Rikko Sakaguchi said that “We have made a significant shift to support Android.” Does this mean that the rumoured Android-powered Playstation Phone might turn out to be real?

[source: Buinessweek]

Windows Phone 7 HTC Mondrian adverts surface

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 05:32 AM PDT

Two ads for the HTC Mondrian, one of the Windows Phone 7 smartphones expected to be announced at launch have surfaced. Microsoft along with HTC, look to be playing up the benefits of live tiles on the home screen of Windows Phone 7 devices, with the slogan: “More glance and go”.

The Windows Phone 7 live tiles contain info in real time – tiles will show what’s going on in that hub. You can pin other functions, contacts, games etc, onto the main screen, and whatever is there will be updated and shown. The two US Windows Phone 7 ads take pains to point out that this means you can view content without having to go into various hubs, meaning you’re less likely to trip over waiters, or spill someone else’s coffee, apparently.

What the ads do point to though, is that due to the tight hardware specs demanded by Windows Phone 7 from the device manufacturers like HTC, when Windows Phone 7 launches, there’s a possibility that we’ll end up with a lot of devices that all look remarkably similar – compare the HTC Mondrian to the LG E900 to get the idea. Whatever happens, after today’s save the date mail out, we’ll only be waiting a fortnight.

What do you think? Drop us a line in the comments…