Crave Talk: Apple could set eBooks on fire
GadgetsIf there's a vowel in the month, it must be iPod rumour time. One of the better ones is that the next round of iPods will be eBook compatible. eBooks require no paper, they're just files displayed in special reader software. Because you can fit loads of them into a small bit of memory, they've been pushed as a new and more convenient way to consume your reading material on the move.
They haven't done that well. Companies like Sony have produced rather tasty custom hardware, but to a varied reception. "Aha!" chortle the critics, "The new iPod will be a great success. Take that, Sony and your expensive, limited eBook silliness! Apple will swipe your library card".
That's so wrong. If the iPod grows eBookishness and does it right, it could be the best thing to happen to Sony's eBook since rich people learned how to read. Doing it right means not trying to squeeze every penny out of the system by excluding free content -- by all means have an online bookstore, just let people load their own stuff on. It means having proper search (which paper can't do), as well as a way of bookmarking, annotating and copying text (which paper can, when upgraded with a 30p pencil). It doesn't mean having tweaks like text-to-speech, if-you-liked-that-you'll-like-this, signed copies from the author and so on. Do them if you must. It doesn't matter. Continue reading...
ViaMichelin X-950T sat nav: tracking down treasure
GadgetsYesterday, on the hottest day in British history, ViaMichelin thought it would be a good idea to invite Crave to take part in a treasure hunt that involved driving around central London in a baking hot Vauxhall Vectra with an X-950T satellite navigation system. Thank goodness for air conditioning.
We've blogged about the X-950T previously, but popped along anyway. Like all good treasure hunts, we were asked to decipher clues, navigate to specific locations and perform special tasks. Our favourite was task two, which required us to visit a London hospital and obtain a picture of a nurse. Continue reading...
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Urban tech-warrior: Gadget gear on the go
GadgetsLiving in urban environments can be stressful, especially if you like to carry all your gadgets with you. There are a few companies out there, however, who are making products specifically designed to keep you latched on to your technology like an ocean-dwelling remora attached to a shark.
If music is your thing then you can't go wrong with the wackily wonderful LINK Pack that comes with built in amp, speakers, microphone for your mobile phone and soft keys that adjust volume and even answer calls. This unique backpack is made by Skullcandy, a company that takes audio very seriously.
The LINK Pack's amp takes four AA batteries and powers two speakers that are hidden in the straps. You simply have to attach your MP3 player and mobile phone to the specially designed pockets and you're ready to annoy commuters, amuse friends or make and take calls, all through your backpack.
If you're stuck in the same train carriage as somebody listening to music over the loudspeaker system in their bag, you're likely to find the device annoying, although you may be able to persuade your fellow commuter to use the headphone socket. The LINK Pack is available for around 90 from the Skullcandy Web site. Continue reading...
Three wheels bad, two wheels good
GadgetsMost famous for his electric bathchair, the ill-fated battery powered C5 tricycle, Sir Clive Sinclair refuses to be beaten. Instead, he's come up with the A-bike, so named because when you ride it, you look like an escapee from Sesame Street. Imagine an 'A' with a saddle sprouting out of one side, handlebars on the other, and baby buggy wheels on the bottom. Now imagine going around Hyde Park Corner on one -- that's what we call moving your vowels.
The reason for this unconventional design is that the thing is designed to collapse to the size of a rather chunky umbrella, with a hinge at the top of the A and everything else telescoping in on itself. At 6Kg, it's light enough to carry like a laptop: the idea is you pootle down to the station or airport on it, pop it in its bag and forget it's there until you get to the other end. Continue reading...
Betaminds M2i Heliodisplay: Images appearing out of thin air
GadgetsEvery now and then a new technology appears that makes us sit back and exclaim "WTF?" This reaction inspired a section in our Crave Podcast, and the WTF candidate for our next recording is the amazing M2i Heliodisplay from Betaminds and IO2Technology.
It's a free-space display system that projects images or video onto thin air -- it doesn't need walls, screens or any other solid object. What's more, you can physically interact with images by 'touching' them. Just point your finger on whatever it is that's being projected and you can 'click', drag or rotate it across a two-dimensional plane.
We spent several days trying to work out what kind of voodoo Betaminds was using to achieve this, but the technology is actually quite simple. The M2i Heliodisplay unit is essentially a large tank of water that spews a constant stream of water vapour into the air. Images are then projected onto the water vapour via an internal projector and an external mirror, but you can also use a standard external projector of your own and leave out the mirror, which makes the final effect more compelling. Check out a video of it in action here. Continue reading...
iBand: Faking trust with technology
GadgetsIt reads like a bad advert in a cheap newspaper. "Want more confidence in social situations? Memory letting you down? Use iBand to improve your networking skills."
iBand is another bright idea from the MIT Labs --Â a wristband or shirt cuff that stores information about people who have shaken hands with you and replays it when you meet them again (it remembers their particular shake). If you wear it, you won't forget another name.
Such a device sounds custom-designed for people like me. I can remember four-character hexadecimal checksums from twenty years ago -- but not the name of someone I've worked with for an appreciable part of my life. What's not to love about little voice in my ear chirping: "Michael Parsons. He's your editor. You've known him for three years. Oh, and you'd better make an excuse for that late article about seducing airline hostesses with a Nintendo DS Lite"? I should be the perfect market.
But I'm not. I hate the idea. I'll never wear one -- and I hope I never meet someone who does. It's cheating. Continue reading...
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Real Life: Make friends online with Meetup.com
GadgetsMaking new friends can be hard, particularly if you live in a big city where trying to strike up a conversation with a stranger will make people think you're a) begging, b) clinically insane or c) about to mug them. Nowadays there are hundreds of online dating sites, and I know quite a few people who've met their significant other through them, but making friends online seems a bit daunting.
When I recently relocated to New York for three months, I had to build up a new social circle from scratch. Before I arrived, I had delusions of girl's nights out like in Sex and the City, or hanging out in cool apartments and coffee shops like in Friends, but the reality is that hooking up with new friends can be hard work, even with the Internet's help.Â
I made a quick stab at using craigslist's 'strictly platonic' section, but found it time-consuming and disheartening sifting the genuine responses from the wierdos, wife-swappers and potential axe murderers. Then I came across Meetup.com and was impressed with the excellent execution of what is, essentially, a very simple concept. Basically, Meetup.com helps you meet groups of people who share your interest, whether that interest is ghost tracking, Pug dogs or a foreign language. Most groups organise a get-together at least once a month, and as there are constantly new members, you won't stand out going there on your own. Continue reading...
Crave at World Cup 2006: The tech behind the tournament
GadgetsFootball is ostensibly a game where eleven fully grown, semi-dressed men kick an inflated leather sack around a patch of grass until they collapse in an exhausted heap. It's puerile, dangerous and, some would argue, ultimately pointless. But try telling that to the millions of football fans that have gathered in Germany to witness the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
A tech nation
Crave was amongst the writhing, bouncing, singing, screaming throng, and though we were there mainly to watch the England v Sweden game, we couldn't help but notice the tournament's heavy reliance on technology. It's hardly surprising -- Germany's Chancellor refers to the country, and Bavaria in particular, as the land of laptops and lederhosen. And who could disagree? Germany is second only to the USA and UK for the number of public Wi-Fi hotspots, but as for shorts with integrated suspenders, there were plenty to be seen at the opening ceremony, but we didn't see any in Cologne. Continue reading...
The winners of our World Cup competition
GadgetsThere was a rare moment of quiet in Crave's office last Thursday as we crowded round our 42-inch plasma telly to watch England's agonising match against Trinidad and Tobago. Punctuated by frustrated shouts at England's missed opportunities, most of the match was watched in strained silence as the Caribbean minnows put up a solid fight. We can barely imagine what the atmosphere would have been like in the Nuremberg stadium, but three lucky CNET.co.uk readers were there to experience it first hand.
David Matthews from Surrey, James Roe from Derby and Toby Miller from Middlesex were flown to Germany and watched the action live in Nuremberg's Frankenstadion, after winning CNET.co.uk's World Cup competition, which was run in conjunction with Toshiba.
Crave's guide to World Cup gadgets: Part Three
Gadgets"It is quite difficult to prove that someone is not really sick if they have one day off." So says manufacturing union Amicus, in an article that has come under attack for advocating sickies. "If you have a few days off which happen to be match days, your employer may well notice a pattern to your sickness which might be used as evidence that sickness is not really the issue," warns Amicus, but gives advice on what to do if caught taking a sickie. With the England game starting at 5 p.m. today, Crave predicts a peak in sickie-taking behaviour.
Although Crave is stuck at work today, we'll be rushing home early to catch the action. Unfortunately, our budget has only stretched to buying a 32-inch telly, but for those of you who are on Premiership wages, here's our guide to pimping your home for the World Cup. Continue reading...
Crave's guide to World Cup gadgets: Part Two
GadgetsIt's been a hard week. Trying to keep in touch with World Cup action at work without neglecting our gadgets has been a multi-tasking nightmare. It seems that every time we get dragged into a meeting someone scores an absolute stonker. Yes, Tim Cahill, we're looking at you. Why can't you save your net-busting equalisers for when we're sitting comfortably in front of our BBC feed?
But the biggest pain has been missing vital football action during our commute at the end of the day -- so much can happen in the hour it takes us to get home. This will clash horribly with England's must-win match against plucky minnows Trinidad & Tobago tomorrow. Luckily, there are ways to keep up with World Cup action on the go -- important for both hapless commuters and for those jammy muckers (like us!) that are heading off to Germany to watch it live. Continue reading...
Crave's guide to World Cup gadgets: Part One
GadgetsCrave is jetting off to Germany next week to watch England's match against Sweden, so excuse us if we're a little distracted with the excitement of it all. To keep ourselves busy until then, we've been fine-tuning our gadget collection to make sure we have everything we need to get the most out of the next four weeks of nail-biting action. Here are some gadgets that will help you keep an eye (or ear) on the pitch at work...
Asus Lamborghini VX1
With the BBC broadcasting all its World Cup games live on the Internet, you'll be needing a decent monitor at work to watch the action. If you're not able to persuade your tech support staff that you need a larger monitor to see all the columns in the company's financial spreadsheets, then it may be worth investing in a laptop of your own. One of the sexiest laptops currently on the market is the Asus Lamborghini VX1Â (pictured). With its 15-inch SXGA panel, which has a native resolution of 1,400x1,050 pixels, you'll be able to get a detailed view of the matches. The 2GHz dual-core Intel processor and 2GB of RAM should give you enough processing power and memory to get on with work between games. At 1,899, it's a luxury laptop, but worth splashing out just to be able to say you own a Lamborghini. Just hope that no-one asks you for a lift. Continue reading...
Win tickets to an England World Cup match
TelevisionsDepressed that you're stuck watching the World Cup from home? Your luck could be about to change, because we're running a competition, in conjunction with Toshiba, to win tickets to see England play against Trinidad and Tobago in Nuremberg on Thursday 15 June.
Toshiba will fly three lucky winners to Nuremberg for the day, where they will be treated to luxury hospitality and be able to watch the nail-biting action unfold.
TomTom GO 910: Let Sven be your guide
GadgetsThe World Cup may well be your last chance to see Sven-Gan Eriksson ordering the England team around the pitch, but you can keep the memories alive by hearing his dulcet Swedish tones in your car.
Joining the stampede of technology companies capitalising on the interest in the World Cup, sat-nav company TomTom has released a free World Cup package, which lets you download navigation instructions spoken by Sven himself. The package also has information on footie points of interest in Germany and allows you to personalise your TomTom with the England flag.
If you're rushing off to the airport in the next few days and haven't got time to set it all up for yourself, online vendor GlobalPositioningSystems.co.uk is offering the latest TomTom device -- TomTom GO 910 (pictured) -- already charged and tested, with the World Cup package pre-installed. Continue reading...
Segway on hire-purchase: only daredevils need apply
GadgetsIn Italy, it's hard to cross a road without getting run over by a speeding Vespa. Cars have to jostle for space next to the stream of brightly coloured scooters that transport a cross-section of Italian society from A to B.
Segway may have had a similar vision for it's upright electric scooters in America, but they still remain a curiosity in the land of car addicts. The Crave team has collectively had only a handful of sightings of the Segway Human Transporter, despite frequent trips across the Atlantic.
Win a Crave t-shirt: one week to go!
GadgetsThere's just one week to go in our Win a Crave T-shirt competition, so put your thinking cap on, dig out your typing mittens and rattle off your entry. We have ten t-shirts to give away to the people who submit the best reviews of products or programs by 12 midnight on Thursday 8 June, so it's time to share your thoughts about your favourite gear.
Available in one slimming colour (black), with a stylish white Crave logo on the front, these t-shirts aren't available for sale or rent -- the only way to get one is to win it. Write a witty and insightful review of a product from the Reviews section of the site, or a helpful and entertaining review of a program from the Downloads section, and your outpourings will automatically be passed on to our judges, who will award t-shirts to the authors of the ten best reviews. Click here for full details, and remember, your reviews must reach us by midnight on 8 June. -ML
'Office in a Bucket': an inflatable room
GadgetsHere at Crave we spend all day sitting around in gorgeous white spheres evaluating beautiful tech products. So imagine our delight to hear that we can now inflate a pure white office in our gardens at home as well, and keep up the good work on those lazy summer evenings when we're blogging away at home. The bliss. All you need is the Office in a Bucket (OIAB) -- it's like Steve Jobs has built you a garden shed.
The trusty OIAB does exactly what it says on the bucket. Simply pull the fabric out of the bucket, plug it into a power source and the fan in the base of the bucket will inflate it in about eight minutes via a terrifying umbilical membrane (see picture). There's no door system, but you can clip it shut for "added privacy", according to the OIAB's manufacturer Inflate. Continue reading...
Slingbox makes its UK debut
GadgetsThe Slingbox has arrived in the UK and has just been awarded Crave's unofficial title of 'best thing ever'. Forget the Noxon 2 Audio, this is huge.
The concept is simple: it lets you watch what's on your home television set from any Internet-connected PC anywhere in the world. You simply connect the Slingbox to your home network, and its built-in digital and analogue tuners pipe Freeview or terrestrial TV over the Internet.
You can then access the video feed via the Slingplayer software from any broadband-connected PC, controlling your TV as if you were at home.
The Slingbox is shaped a bit like a chocolate bar and is extremely easy to install. We got the whole thing up and running within ten minutes over the weekend intending to watch Big Brother Live from our holiday home in Brighton. Unfortunately the weather was pants so we stayed at home and watched Fifth Gear in the bath on a wireless laptop, thanks to Slingbox. Continue reading...
Tech firms in World Cup profiteering shocker
GadgetsWorld Cup fever is in full effect and there are literally dozens of IT companies jumping on the bandwagon to shamelessly promote their products.
We can understand World Cup-themed football games (like the recently reviewed 2006 FIFA World Cup for Xbox 360), but you could be forgiven for thinking the planet's most prestigious soccer tournament was merely a great marketing opportunity for companies to dust off old products, adorn them with football stickers and celebrity endorsement, and flog them to gullible footy-obsessed idiots.
Among the perpetrators is laptop maker Flybook, which has just released its own unofficial England World Cup song to rival that of Embrace. It's set to the soundtrack of Peaches by the Stranglers, and although we're at pains to say it, it's actually better than the official England track. But that's not hard.
Next up is the Samsung E370 Three Lions Special Edition mobile phone from T-Mobile (pictured). It's exactly the same as the ordinary E370, but comes with a few England wallpapers, a few video clips and animations, and is endorsed by Liverpool's Peter Crouch. You can tell it's utterly awesome by the look on his face. Continue reading...
Win a Crave t-shirt!
GadgetsWant to strut your stuff in an exclusive Crave t-shirt? Available in one sexy colour (black) and an assortment of great sizes (S, M, L), the Crave t-shirt has the Crave logo emblazoned on the front in white. You can't buy one, and you can't steal one, but you can win one -- simply by writing a review of a product or program.
We have ten t-shirts to give away, and they'll go to the people who submit the best user reviews in the next 30 days (that is, between Tuesday 9 May and Thursday 8 June). You can review a product from the Reviews section of the site, or a program from the Downloads section. Continue reading...
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