Archive for the 'Hardware' category

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30
Mar

New browsers on Windows Mobile 5+

By Damien Guard Categories: Hardware, Internet and Microsoft Tags: , , .

One of the disappointments of Windows Mobile 6 is the lack of any major improvements on the web browser (they improved the rendering a little as well as favourites/history...).

Thankfully unlike other phones you can install extra applications and these alternatives are worth consideration.

DeepFish

Straight out of Microsoft's Labs is DeepFish which renders the whole page and then lets you zoom in. Whilst the concept is similar to the iPhone the major difference appears to be that a server does the rendering for you making the web browser do little more than display these server-side rendered images.

The results are a bit hit-and-miss at the moment hence why it is still a technology preview which seems now to be full however there are alternative places to get the files and activation codes but be warned it doesn't yet support sites that require form submissions/logins.

Minimo

Minimo takes a more traditional approach to browsing and uses the core Mozilla technologies as used in Firefox to provide a very feature-reach browser that includes support for JavaScript, AJAX, RSS and tabbed-browsing.

Opera Mobile

Opera Software produce Opera 8 for Windows Mobile Smartphone as part of their suite which seems to target every hardware and software combination under the sun. This version includes tabbed browsing and the usual assortment of tricks to improve rendering on small screens.

A trial version is available which I'd recommend before parting with your cash as unlike the others this one will set you back $24 USD.

[)amien

0 Comments
23
Mar

PlayStation 3 launch disaster?

By Damien Guard Categories: Hardware Tags: , .

The 'queue' for the PS3 at HMVI've known for a little while now I wasn't going to bother with the PS3 unless some truly unique titles come up and the price subsequently drops so buying one at launch was a no-no for me but once I found out only two of my friends were getting them (and I have a lot of geeky friends) I knew Sony were in trouble.

A quick browse shows Amazon.co.uk still have some available, Play have them left, hell even my local HMV here on the tiny island of Guernsey had over 100 unallocated at lunch today and had canceled their midnight launch event - albeit for 'technical' reasons.

People on eBay have been finding their pre-order auctions not even meeting their cost price and looking at the negative feedback they are refusing to honour them now.

How could Sony have screwed this up so much? Take your pick:

  • Shafting Europeans with a 33% price increase over the Americans? ($599 vs £425 vs €599)
    599 USD = 304 GBP = 449 EUR
  • Cutting backwards compatibility when costs aren't even passed on to the consumer?

    But as we have made clear before, in the future our resources will be increasingly focused on developing new services and entertainment features exclusively for PS3, rather than on delivering PS2 backwards compatibility.

  • Forcing Europeans to buy the more expensive model - because "that's what they demand"

    Responding to retail and consumer demand, SCEE confirmed that initially only the 60GB model would be available, with the 20GB model to follow later in the year dependent on demand.

  • Forcing Blu-Ray upon consumers when they have failed with so many proprietary formats already?
  • Repeated delays?
    15 March 2005, November 2006, 23 March 2007
  • Nothing worth playing at launch?
    27 launch titles, 6 exclusive titles for sale plus Gran Turismo HD Concept free download. Gran Turismo HD Concept looks interesting ... but not £425 to play essentially a demo interesting. Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm are the top selling titles with EuroGamer scores of 6 and 8 respectively.
  • Pathetic attempt at on-line service in the face of Xbox Live!?
  • Dropping rumble in exchange for a not-as-good-as-Wii movement sensor?
  • That Sony are so full of themselves they think being expensive is something to be proud of?
    Jeff Minter, writing in his regular column for Edge, said:

    They seem absolutely certain that even when they say it's going to be considerably more expensive than existing consoles... nevertheless us eager customers will rush out in droves to buy it because it's, hey, a new PlayStation." ... "incredibly arrogant."

Of course it comes down to just one thing: Give people what they want, not what you want them to have.

I doubt Sony can stop their downward trend whilst they exude arrogance that sounds like "you'll take this and you'll like it - we're Sony".

In order to try and save face Sony performed a PR stunt by giving away 46" HD TV's to everybody who brought a PS3 at the Virgin London store. This would hopefully mean the press and sites would write about this instead of poor turnout or nothing at all - a snip at £250,000 to Sony. Check out the BBC, GameIndustry.biz or UK Resistance for coverage of the launch event.

Update

Yeah, pathetic turn-out all round with reports of media outnumbering shoppers at a couple of events, general disappointment and even big venues getting under 100 people. On-line retailers such as Amazon and Play have plenty left.
Last night 50 regional HMV stores were open for midnight launches across the country, and "at least" 1,000 units had been sold, according to Ellis.

...only 100 or so people came to the event, as opposed to the 1,500 or so who queued for a Wii, or the 3,000 who turned up for the World of Warcraft expansion pack

[)amien

6 Comments
18
Mar

PSP Open Firmware Edition

By Damien Guard Categories: Entertainment and Hardware Tags: , , , .

I mentioned in at a previous post that I had modified my PSP so I could run my old favourite Lucas Arts adventure games and even my original PS1 games.

Dark Alex is the guy behind the firmware but the whole scene/process is full of terminology and a bit complex. This are the steps that worked for me (via 2.71) and for a couple of friends (via 3.03)

This will invalidate your warranty and has the potential chance to leave your PSP useless. By following these instructions you are agreeing to take that risk and liability into your own hands - no warranty is expressed or implied, the author will not be held liable for damages, etc. Sony certainly do not authorise such modification.

You will need

  • PSP currently running firmware 3.03 or earlier
  • Memory Stick Pro Duo with some space
  • Various files linked to from this post

Also, if your firmware is above 2.71 you will need:

  • Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (original with 2.0 firmware update on it not 2.6)

My instructions below are for the earlier TA-079 hardware not the newer TA-082 so go check this guide for details of identifying which you have - they also have information on what you need to do for the TA-082 model.

Getting enabled

So check which firmware you have in the PSP's Settings > System Settings > System Information menu option - it's called System Software.

If it is 1.50 already jump to Flashing Open Edition section.

If above 1.50 but below 2.71

Make a note of your network settings, they will be lost!

  • download the 2.71 firmware
  • create the folder /PSP/GAME/UPDATE/ on your Memory Stick
  • rename the file EBOOT.PBP and move it to this folder
  • put Memory Stick in PSP and go to the Game > Memory Stick menu
  • choose the 2.71 firmware update option and follow instructions
  • download the homebrew enabler for 2.71 (I used Rev C)
  • copy the contents of the downloads MS_ROOT folder to the root of your Memory Stick
  • put Memory Stick back in PSP and use the Photo viewer to look at the HENx folder
  • your PSP should now crash with a blue/green screen
  • check the System Information menu option again - it should say HEN at the end of the System Software
  • if it does, skip to the Flash 1.50 downgrade section
  • if it does not, power off your PSP and try viewing the picture again
  • download the generic 2.71 downgrader and unpack contents of MS_ROOT to Memory Stick root folder
  • download the 1.50 firmware
  • rename the file UPDATE.PBP *then* copy to /PSP/GAME/UPDATE/ on the Memory Stick
  • put Memory Stick in PSP and go to the Game > Memory Stick menu
  • choose the x.yz firmware update option and follow instructions
  • Agree to reset the corrupt settings when it reboots
  • check the System Information menu option again - it should say 1.50!

If above 2.71 but below 3.03

  • download the 3.03 firmware
  • create the folder /PSP/GAME/UPDATE/ on your memory stick
  • rename the file EBOOT.PBP and move it to this folder
  • put Memory Stick in PSP and go to the Game > Memory Stick menu
  • choose the 3.03 firmware update option and follow instructions
  • rename your /PSP/SAVEDATA/ folder to /PSP/SAVEBACK/ or something
  • download the homebrew enabler for 3.03
  • copy the contents of the downloads MS_ROOT folder to the root of your Memory Stick
  • put Memory Stick back in PSP and attempt to load Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
  • the game should flash the screen blue before you get to play and reboot
  • check the System Information menu option again - it should say HEN at the end of the System Software
  • if it does not, power off your PSP and try loading GTA again
  • delete the /PSP/SAVEDATA/ folder and rename /PSP/SAVEBACK/ back to /PSP/SAVEDATA/
  • download the 3.03 downgrader and unpack contents of MS_ROOT to Memory Stick root folder
  • download the 1.50 firmware
  • rename the file UPDATE.PBP *then* copy to /PSP/GAME/UPDATE/ on the Memory Stick
  • put Memory Stick in PSP and go to the Game > Memory Stick menu
  • choose the x.yz firmware update option and follow instructions
  • Agree to reset the corrupt settings when it reboots
  • check the System Information menu option again - it should say 1.50!

If above 3.03

You're out of luck for now.

Flashing Open Edition

Dark Alex's official patch requires you grab a few Sony firmware images and run a patching tool... but there is a very unofficial pre-made package available. The steps are

  • download the 3.10 OE-A Easy Installer
  • unpack it to your hard disk
  • copy the 310oeflasher and 310oeflasher% folders to /PSP/GAME/ on the Memory Stick
  • put Memory Stick in PSP and go to the Game > Memory Stick menu
  • choose the 3.10 Open Edition firmware update option and follow instructions
  • check the System Information menu option again - it should say 3.10 OE-A.

Get your old favourites on there!

Your PSP is now ready to play images of your original PS1 games (image with Alcohol 120% or similar image making software then convert with PopStation) and third-party "home-brew" software like ScummVM to play all those great point-and-click adventures you've got lying around.

In both cases just create a folder on your Memory Stick inside /PSP/GAME/ and drop the EBOOT.PBP file in that new directory. Access it from the Game > Memory Stick menu as usual!

As a bonus the battery appears to last longer playing home-brew and PS1 games - perhaps because of the lower CPU requirements or the fact the UMD isn't spinning all the time.

[)amien

0 Comments
25
Feb

PlayStation 3 - the last straw

By Damien Guard Categories: Entertainment and Hardware Tags: , , .

I was a big fan of the original PlayStation with such amazing titles as Ridge Racer, Wipeout, Tomb Raider, Parappa the Rapper, Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Gran Turismo 2.

Of course when the PlayStation 2 came out I jumped at the chance and have enjoyed some great titles too - more of the same franchise really but some great titles nether less and you can still use it to play all your PS1 games. It's a great machine although it's definitely due for replacement by now.

I've spent a fair amount of cash on those PlayStation games and hardware despite flirts with Dreamcast (yum) and Xbox 1 (which did nothing for me).

PlayStation 3 should be my logical upgrade path - all they had to do was more of the same but with better hardware and on-line support but the news this week was the final straw.

Not content with overcharging Europeans for the machine they've also decided to make the hardware a bit cheaper for them to produce by removing the hardware for backwards compatibility with the PS2 stating it's "not a priority" for them.

So what we have is a machine that's been repeatedly delayed, that developers won't be able to harness the CPU power of, that is expensive, uses proprietary media from a company that has a long list of failed media formats, that offers no compelling titles, has a poor on-line experience, has no unique features at all, is expensive and late to the party.

I know, this isn't a unique viewpoint there have been comics and even songs (thanks Lab) about how Sony are killing off their own PlayStation brand with sheer incompetence.

[)amien

3 Comments
10
Jan

Apple Macworld misfires

By Damien Guard Categories: Apple and Hardware Tags: , , , , , , .

So the Apple TV and iPhone are finally announced and visually impressive with a very refined user interface - but some of the technical specifications aren't quite there.

Apple TV

First off the Apple TV tops out at 720p high-def - what!? For less than Apple TV's $299 I can get an Xbox 360 that does video & audio streaming at 1080p. Sure the 360 is missing HDMI and the slick software but it does play state of the art 3D on-line games.

Video scaled up to 720p by the device and then scaled up to 1080p by the TV is ugly.

iPhone

Apple's iPhone is supposed to be state of the art but GSM really isn't good enough. The world is moving on to 3G and UTMS is essential in the likes of Japan and important even in the USA. Other manufacturers do it, why isn't Apple?

Secondly this is supposed to be state of the art Internet? Where the hell is instant messaging? You've got the UI with SMS but what if I want to talk to iChat, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN Messenger users? Zip.

Thirdly where is the SDK/API? Initial reports are indicating that it is a closed platform.

Hello?

Phone users seem to fall into one of two groups. People who want a voice phone with maybe a few extra features who won't be prepared to pay $499 (plus the cost of a 2 year contract) and the second are existing smartphone users who often need to install additional applications and maybe even games. No mention of J2ME, no mention of an SDK. Nada.

It's a slick product but for now is just functionally incomplete compared to what I have. Smartphone + iPod all the way.

Finally...

Jobs also thinks they are going for 1% of the massive mobile market share. Funny as ex-Apple's Kawasaki puts this goal at number 11 of his Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs.

My god who decided to let the Cingular CEO on stage to read their corporate brochure.

[)amien

6 Comments
29
Dec

Damo Awards 2006*

By Damien Guard Categories: Entertainment and Hardware Tags: .

Hardware: Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 enjoyed its second year and titles continue to impress although the count is still a little on the weak side. The addition of 1080p output was a great bonus but one many people (myself included) can't take advantage of without a HDMI cable and nobody seems entirely sure if the 360 can pump out a digital video signal (I doubt it).

On-line support is blooming although can get very expensive if you want all the extras for games you've already paid for - come on guys we put £40 down gives a few freebies!

The PlayStation 3 on the other hand is vapour ware here still in Europe and was notably absent from Japan's premier Sony Building in Tokyo. Online the only people raving about it are those that were raving about it before it came out...

Nintendo's Wii has been getting a lot of press for being fun (if tiring and occasionally dangerous to your environment) but with the console itself is effectively a reboxed GameCube which didn't impress 5 years ago and the graphics look very dated on the couple of titles I've been able to see. With rumours of a more powerful unit doing the rounds and nothing stopping anyone producing a similar controller for the 360 or PS3 can Nintendo stay a contender or will they go the way of Sega?

With consoles traditionally being loss-leaders for the first few years perhaps Nintendo would have been better off producing controllers and software for the 360 and PS3.

Game: Oblivion

People often rave about how open-ended Grand Theft Auto is but lets be honest here – it isn’t a patch on Oblivion.

Like the aforementioned title you can follow the story or run off and do what you like. The difference here is that Oblivion is truly massive and is filled with interesting people, their stories and ultimately their sub-quests.

The graphics look absolutely gorgeous and show off the Xbox 360 very well – demands on the PC side are beyond what my desktop can deliver.

Surprise: Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft took a brave step in reinventing the menu/tool bar that has been established for the last 10 years. Sure, the result isn’t a giant leap in terms of innovation but it is a joy to use and a big improvement over the older technology.

Importantly it shows a beacon of hope that there are people at Microsoft prepared to fundamentally change how people use their software for the better and not just deliver to developers (.NET, XML-HTTP).

Web site: YouTube

We were told repeatedly that this would be the year of high-definition yet despite large sales of HD ready equipment the content is still a bit thin on the ground (Sky HD, Xbox 360 and a smattering of HD titles). Sony hit another strike this year as another of their proprietary formats bombed - UMD video for the PSP - although sales of TV shows on Apple's iTunes seem to indicate there is a market for tiny distinctly non-HD video.

The real winner on the video front has to be YouTube which goes on to show that whilst content is king there's no reason you need to pay for it to be successful. Grainy, out of focus and copyright infringement seem the orders of the day but nobody cared - at least until a company worth suing brought them out (Google).

Communications: HTC

HTC phones and their branded variants have been popping up all over the web and in techies hands everywhere. Reviews are generally positive although I'm finding my TyTn sluggish in a couple of areas - something I hope the latest firmware will address.

Motorola meantime has been getting bad press over it's Rokr variants.

Apple's vapourware mobile phone continues to get insane coverage despite nobody having anything but speculation and rumours to go on. Cisco/LinkSys released an iPhone to which they own the trademark so I guess iChat Mobile is an option.

Web application: Google Reader

Google finally put it's arse in gear and upgraded Google Reader to something not only usable but actually enjoyable to use. Now if only they could stream out the next 20 articles BEFORE I hit them so I don't have to wait...

Rojo on the other hand deployed a screwed update and continually failed to pick up feeds complaining they were invalid or couldn't be contacted despite other on-line tools were working just great. Bye.

With RSS becoming increasingly more popular something has to give and it's news aggregation sites such as Slashdot and Digg which often reveal to you news you read several days ago and have already commented about at the original source.

[)amien

* Yeah okay, not a proper award ceremony but a useful ploy to group otherwise unrelated content into a single post.

8 Comments
03
Nov

Reinstalling Windows XP on a 750GB monster

By Damien Guard Categories: Hardware and Microsoft Tags: .

My first ever hard-disk was a whopping 2GB when 340MB was considered high-end.  £800 meant it was a steal - an end-of-line trade-only offer...

A massive double-height 5.25" SCSI behemoth from DEC that sounded like a turbine powering up. It had a gyroscopic effect that could whip your hand off and a seek noise that resonated through the house in the early hours of the morning as another caller trawled Black Ice BBS's file library.

But it did take a while to fill up.

The 300GB that was in my home desktop shared no characteristics other than the fact it too has outlived it's usefulness.
Loaded with the majority of Windows games I've ever owned, comprehensive libraries of emulator images, checked-out source trees, MP3 library or humourus nuggets from the like of YouTube I think I might possibly miss.

Installation of the 750GB Seagate wasn't without the odd snag.  The BIOS and Windows recognised it fine but the season changed while waiting for it to format. Copying was slow too until I discovered it running in PIO mode which flooded the P4 CPU with interrupts.  Sticking it on a different SATA connector brought UDMA and speed to the table.

The data was transferred and re-organised over the course of an evening or two.  Dewey would have been proud but then came the horror.

Reinstalling Windows XP.

Windows itself actually installed just fine until Windows Activation reared it's ugly head and decided I'd been through this enough times and would have to convince Microsoft India over the phone that I'm not a software-stealing pirate.

A little sweet-talking, with a slight diversion into honesty and how yes I have multiple copies on the same physical machine, it's called VirtualPC, and I'm back on track installing the usual array of tools, options and preferences as fast as the MX1000 will whip around the screen.

I decided to break with tradition and switch Watercolor Visual Style for a QNX one and give Miranda a go instead of Trillian.

I'm such a dare-devil.

Then came the task of installing all those games and applications again... except I've been through this before many many times and I've got a trick or two up my sleve.

My games should live in c:\Games and applications in c:\Apps but they only get there once I'm sure they are independent from my Windows installation.  Until they graduate they live in c:\Program Files with the rest of the mess.

The procedure is quite simple.  If it's worth keeping:

  1. Move correct folder from c:\Program Files to new home
  2. Create shortcut on desktop to the executable
  3. Try and launch via shortcut
  4. Copy any missing files it complains about from old Windows directories to new home
  5. Copy missing config/settings from c:\Documents and Settings to new home
  6. If settings still missing reboot into old HD
  7. Fire up Regedit, find the registry keys and export to a .reg file
  8. Reboot into new HD
  9. Open .reg file in Notepad and adjust paths to new home
  10. Run registry file and save to new home for next time

If that fails then you've got to dig out the original media again but you might be able to avoid downloading and reinstalling those hefty patches all over again. 

Reinstall into c:\Program Files and once done try running the patched version from it's new home instead.  If that one now works then just delete (not uninstall) the version from c:\Program Files :)

You can end up with a Windows machine just loaded will all your favourite games and apps without hardly any window cruft accumulating :)

It's basically the same principle behind portable applications but instead of making it totally portable on a memory stick you just make it portable between installations of Windows.

The next step is to use some of the 400GB left to store CD images the games I still play that annoying always want the CD to launch despite taking up so much space on the hard disk.  I get bored of digging out the CD from my library every time.

I can't imagine CD copy protection will make my life very easy.

[)amien

0 Comments
12
Sep

Apple’s Showtime and the disappointing iTV

By Damien Guard Categories: Apple and Hardware Tags: , , , .

Today's Apple Showtime event showed some great products, and some disappointing ones.

iPods

The tiny new iPod Shuffle G2, the fantastic looking iPod Nano G2 with the return of the iPod Mini aluminium casing and 24 hour battery life and 8GB flash option weren't to be sniffed at.

The iPod got... downloadable $4.99 games and an 80GB model. No sign of the long sought-after wide-screen touch-screen model with the virtual wheel.

iTunes

The expected downloadable movie announcement was made with movies at 640x480 - that's 4x their existing TV-show/music video size and now on-par with the resolution of PC's circa the late 80's.

Job advises us this is "near DVD" which is kinda true DVD being 720x480/576. DVD given good quality source material, careful encoding and decent equipment can look pretty fine even blown up to 120" on your wall.

What I couldn't find out thought was how they intend on fitting widescreen movies into their distinctly non-wide-screen resolution.

DVD's resolution is a little wider but more importantly it has an anamorphic mode where rather than waste pixels on the black bars the picture is stretched vertically before being encoded on the disk and then stretched horizontally on the way out of your DVD player - much the same way as widescreen movies were shot on non-widescreen film albeit with anamorphic lenses.

Jobs didn't elaborate on whether they'll have such a mode or something better...

Thanks to the complex licensing agreements between studios worldwide movies are a US exclusive so the rest of the world will have to sit and wait anyway.

iTunes 7 & Software Update

Add's support for movie & iPod G4 game downloads and the user interface may well be a taste of things to come in Leopard. Flat blue gradients where aqua bubbles previously existed (equalizer, scroll bars).

Also introduced is a couple of new ways to view your local library using high quality rendered album cover art (like FrontRow) and a sort of mixed up mode (like Windows Media Player 11).

It'll also now helpfully grab album art for albums you ripped from your own CD's and show the breakdown of the disk usage of your pod by content type (movie/art/music).

What is interesting is iTunes 7 introduces "Apple Software Update" which looks curiously like it's Mac OS X counterpart...

iTV

Towards the end of the announcement came the one last thing.... code-named iTV (I can't imagine they'll get the rights to this name in the UK where ITV is one of the big TV stations).

The announcement itself was a little unusual - it's for a new hardware product they haven't finished and won't be available for months. I can only conclude they are airing the product to help shift downloadable movies with users knowing they can play it back on the big-screen.

I'm sure neither Apple or the studios want another Sony UMD disaster.

When I heard the words "Mac Mini" and "TV" I thought this could be the answer to my home entertainment hub... alas no. Rather than extend to the mini with support for DVB-S/T/C or UHF tuners and PVR functionality they abandon the hard disk entirely... and the DVD-ROM drive to boot.

Which leaves iTV with no TV support in the traditional sense. If you want content it'll have to come from iTunes and unless Jobs and his pals add illegal DVD ripping that means buying everything again from the iTunes Store, sticking with your DVD player or buying a more capable media centre.

Would the iPod have been such a success if you couldn't link in to your existing content but had to pay for all your music again?

Very doubtful.

The final icing on the cake is that the box will set you back $299. That's exactly the same price as the Xbox 360 which will also stream media from a host computer over a network. The difference being that the 360 will play DVD's and let you play state of the art games for that price.

iTV? More like Apple Cube 2.

[)amien

4 Comments
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