Tech Digest

The Week In Tech: 10 stories you might have missed

The first in a new weekly feature rounding up some of the more intriguing, informative or plain baffling tech stories knocking about the internetweb. Casting aside all those cast-iron predictions that Apple would launch the iPhone this week, first up is News Corporation finally starting to throw its weight around in the Web 2.0 world.

Chief operating officer Peter Chernin (left) told a conference that MySpace wants to crush YouTube and, well, basically any other big Web 2.0 service. "If you look at virtually any Web 2.0 application, whether its YouTube, whether it’s Flickr, whether it’s Photobucket…almost all of them are really driven off the back of MySpace, there’s no reason why we can’t build a parallel business."

One reason why that might not be the case? If you look at virtually any Web 2.0 application, it's easier to use than MySpace. And you don't have to worry about your content getting spewed out of other parts of the Murdoch empire. Mashable's verdict on MySpace's plans: "This is such a ridiculous strategy that it’s not even worth contemplating."

This week's bear/woods story comes courtesy of Microsoft Exchange hosting firm Intermedia.NET, which released some survey findings claiming that IT staff are twice as likely to wear a heavy metal t-shirt as their non-IT colleagues, are 32% less likely than business managers to wear clean clothes every day of the week, and twice as likely to carry a Maglite and a Leatherman.

"Our large Microsoft Gold Certified team of engineers was comforted that IT people are twice as likely to wear Megadeth and similar t-shirts, and that black jeans and ponytails are still hot items," said Intermedia.NET's boss marketeer Rurik Bradbury. "However, they were distraught to find that the cellphone belt clip has gone ‘mainstream’ and lost its identification with the IT subculture."

Talking of heavy metal t-shirts, self-styled "software-Jedi" Dana Hanna starts his 'An App a Day' campaign today. He's writing 30 software applications in 30 days, and then giving them away for free. "I write tons of prototypes at home, and never end up doing anything with them," he says. "So I might as well toss them out there for the good of the world."

First up is this nifty app that turns your mouse cursor into a magnifying glass, although Dana reckons the most entertaining suggestion he's had so far is "an app to count polarbears in Norway and geotag them in Google Earth." That would be cool.

Moving on to enormous telephoto lenses, Carl Zeiss unveiled a whopper this week. It's got a focal length of over 5.5 feet, with 21x magnification. Oh, and it weighs in at a healthy 256kg. So you won't find it in a Cyber-Shot anytime soon. It's being shown at this month's Photokina show in Cologne. I'd like to see Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay try to pick a fight with a paparazzo holding this heavyweight jobby.

From the large to the small now. How about a projector the size of a sugar cube? Yes, it does mean a passing hungry horse could guzzle up your home entertainment system, but still, it's a feat of engineering. But hang on, read the story, and the ugly truth becomes apparent.

"Today’s technology allows RGB projectors with a side length of ten by seven by three centimeters to be produced. Although this is still distinctly larger than a sugar cube, it is only a quarter the size of a standard projector."

Fix! Apparently the key to getting sugarcube-sized projectors is shrinking green diode lasers. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, boozers among you shouldn't consider paying a visit to South Dakota any time soon. The state attorney general's office is testing alcohol-monitoring bracelets on convicted drunk drivers.

The 'Scram' bracelets measure "vapours from the skin" (i.e. beer sweats) and send the results for analysis. If someone could invent one that would tell me the sixth pint of cider ISN'T a good idea on Friday nights, while flashing a photo of the local gutter in warning, that'd be grand, thanks.

Talking of items of personal clothing with unexpected digital-media features... How about the Egokast, a hefty belt-buckle that doubles up as a video player. You're not supposed to watch it, mind, it's for the people around you.

“This is the first media device that you don’t watch, but everybody else does,” says inventor Shaw Kaake, who I sincerely hope was named after the popular biscuit. “Instead of staring into your BlackBerry or your PSP, you’re looking at the reactions of people to the content.”

Surely this means entire train carriages of fellow passengers staring at your crotch. Where can I get one? Moving swiftly on, news of some Princeton computer scientists who've created prototype vote-stealing software that can be installed on public voting machines. Right now, someone's reading this in a secret White House laboratory and saying "Meh, we did that weeks ago. Now when's e-voting coming in..."

Paris Hilton, it's time to dump the BlackBerry. There's a new celebrity mobile on the block, codenamed 'Black Diamond' (right), which costs $300,000. Why? Well, it runs Windows Mobile 5.0, has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, an SD memory slot and a touch-sensitive keypad. Oh, and only five units are ever being made. Far better value than a chihuahua.

And finally... We may be also-rans in Miss World, but us Brits can boast the most beautiful computer-generated woman on the planet. Doesn't that make you feel proud as punch? Her name's Prada Woman (left), and she was created by UK designer David Cathro using Photoshop, for a competition organised by 3D site 3DM3.

She's a cross between Jennifer Lopez and the sort of secretary who appears in films pretending to be plain, until she gets to take off her glasses, swish her hair back and PURR LIKE A PUMA! She beat off competition from Poland, France, South Korea and Poland again.

Sources: Mashable, Intermedia.NET, Dana Hanna, Engadget, Physorg.com, Madisonet.com, New York Times, TechEBlog, 3DM3.com

Dead wood media day 1: PC Pro awards

Must admit we don’t normally bang on about dead wood media titles here on Tech Digest, because 1, they are complicit in the murder of millions of innocent young saplings, and 2, they pinch advertising space that should by rights be ours. Give it back now!

But we’ll make an exception for the thoroughly nice crew from PC Pro magazine who hosted a top awards event last night at the stunning Park Lane Hotel in London. We had sumptuous food, top comedy and some great hosts in PC Pro’s ever amiable king boffin Tim Danton and Sky News' super sassy anchor Ginny Buckley (love the wind tunnel hair effect btw). There was also an award or two and you can find out about them after the turn.

Technology Innovator - Google
Best Web Application - Froogle
Most Wanted Hardware - Eizo FlexScan S2110W (err, it's a very lovely monitor)
Best Online Retailer - Go on guess, it begins with A
Best ISP Broadband - Zen Internet
PDA/Smartphone - BlackBerry
Digital Camera - Canon
Projector - Sony
Notebook - Lenovo
PC Award - HP

Some of the awards were voted for by PC Pro staff, some by their readers and a few by the labs team who probably haven't seen daylight since 1995.

You'll get more info here soon.

shuffle takes Chav gadget award

Put on your Burberry scarf and switch on your iPod Shuffle. While the iPod nano may be the king of cool, Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny's panel of the UK’s top gadget experts* have voted its budget sibling the iPod shuffle this year’s ‘Must Chav Gadget.’

The shuffle is perfect for chavs. It's cheap. It’s by a cool brand, and you can let others know you have one as it is designed to be worn round your neck. As it is white it also accessorises well with those classy gold chains Chavs wear. The sad part is that the shuffle is the worst player in the Apple range – more like some dodgy back street knock-off than the excellent other iPods. The fact it has no screen so you can’t program it or choose a track – it chooses the music for you – also saves Chav brain cells for the much more important business of, ahem, ‘pimping their rides.

Runner up in Chav Gadget of the year is the ultra skinny Motorola phone the RAZR. Once the height of cool, this has now become standard fixture for every Tom Dick and Chav. Motorola has done it pink which is obviously topm of Vicky Pollard's Christmas list, maybe they should be thinking of a Burberry version.

The awards, given by top gadget websites Tech Digest, Shiny Shiny and Games Digest in conjunction with broadband/digital TV/telephony company Telewest also include gongs for most indispensable mobile phone, which was won by the Samsung SGH-D600 and the most bling gadget which went to BabyPhat’s gold-plated £20,000 case for the Sony PSP.

Gadget of the year, which was voted for by the websites’ readers, went to the Sony PSP handheld gaming console, Apple’s excellent iPod nano won the Shiny Shiny icon award while the Sky Gnome, an add-on for the company’s satellite systems that lets users listen to music and radio channels anywhere in the home, took best gadget accessory.

* The awards were voted for a by a panel of 15 that includes gadget writers from most of the UK newspapers, specialists from technology magazines and the staff of Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny. There's a full list of winners after the turn

Tech Digest Gadget of the Year (Readers’ award)
WINNER Sony PSP (The superb handheld games console trounced all before it. Only the cruellest of parents won’t be buying one for their offspring this Christmas.)
RUNNER UP Apple iPod nano

Tech Digest award for Chav Gadget
WINNER Apple iPod shuffle (Accessorises well with those lovely Chav gold chains and Burberry caps.) RUNNER UP Motorola RAZR

Tech Digest award for Most Indispensable Mobile
WINNER Samsung SGH-D600 (Great little phone that looks the part and is crammed with features.) RUNNER UP Sharp 903

Tech Digest award for Coolest Computer
WINNER Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook P7120 (Fujitsu Siemens shows how you can make a super skinny, sexy laptop and not charge the earth for it)
RUNNER UP Toshiba Qosmio G20

Tech Digest award for Best Use of Broadband
WINNER Skype (This internet phone system is great for keeping in touch)
RUNNER UP Apple’s HD movie trailers

Games Digest Game of the Year
WINNER Resident Evil 4 (It sure scared us)
RUNNER UP Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Hippy Shopper award for Greenest Gadget
WINNER Voltaic Systems Solar Backpack (A carry anywhere sun powered backpack that recharges your gadgets’ batteries.’
RUNNER UP Solio solar powered charger

Shiny Shiny award for Bling Gadget
WINNER BabyPhat PSP case (£20,000 of gold and jewel encrusted PSP case)
RUNNER UP Loewe Individual TVs

Shiny Shiny Gadget Accessory
WINNER Sky Gnome (A better buy than a digital radio for Sky satellite system owners)
RUNNER UP Philips Digital Photo Display

Shiny Icon
WINNER Apple iPod nano (Astonishingly beautiful music player. Everyone wants one.)
RUNNER UP Motorola Pebl Runner up 

Shiny Shiny award for Fashion Mobile Phone
WINNER Motorola PEBL (Much cooler than the RAZR)
RUNNER UP Samsung D600

Shiny Shiny award for Most Innovative Attempt to Court the Female Market.
WINNER Matthew Williamson Intempo DAB Radio (Top designer delivers a stunning girl-friendly digital radio)
RUNNER UP Sky+ Designer Boxes

Happy 1st Birthday Shiny

• 1.5 million page impressions
• 1 million unique visitors
• Second Telewest Shiny Awards

Shiny Media celebrates its first anniversary today with the news that November is on target to be our biggest and best month so far. Across our network of 14 blogs we look set to record 1.5 million page impressions in 30 days, over 1 million of them unique visitors.
But that’s not all. In the latest Google page rankings – a measure by which higher quality sites receive a higher score, our sites have all performed exceptionally well. Shiny Shiny – the world’s leading girls’ gadget blog – is the only UK consumer electronics website to have a ranking of 7/10 for its home page. That’s higher than T3, Crave (CNet), Pocket-Lint and Stuff.
This Thursday also sees the return of the Telewest Shiny Awards in which readers and top industry journalists decide on the best and worst gadgets on the market. Thanks for all your support in making this last 12 months so exciting. And look out for new launches from the rapidly expanding Shiny Media network over the next few months.

Telewest Shiny awards: Best for use for broadband

So now you have your eight Meg broadband connection what are you going to use it for? Here are the applications that our judges like. We'll announce the best use for broadband on December 2nd.

Apple’s HD movie trailers
Napster to go
Skype
Snapfish
Wippit

Telewest Shiny Awards: Coolest Computers

So which is 2005's coolest computer. Here's our list of top models. Find out which PC our judges picked on December 2nd

Apple 15inch G4 Powerbook laptop
Asus U5
Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook P7120
Philips Media Center PC MCP9350i
Sony VGN-TX1
Toshiba Qosmio G20

Telewest Shiny Awards: Most indispensable mobile

So which mobile is the one that our judges simply won't leave home without? Find out here when we name the year's most indispensable mobile on December 2nd

Sharp 903
Motorola RAZR
Nokia N90
T-Mobile Sidekick II
Sony Ericsson W800i Walkman
Samsung SGH-D600
Nokia 6680
Sagem My-X8

Telewest Shiny Awards: Chav gadget

So what's the gadget du jour for our Burberry-clad, tracky-wearing Daniela/Goldie Looking Chain wannabees? Here's the nominations. We'll let you know which is this year's Must-Chav gadget on Friday December 2nd.

Motorola RAZR
Apple iPod shuffle
Nokia 8880
Nintendo DS
Sega iDog
Motorola / Oakley RAZRWIRE
Sony PSP

Vote for your top gadget and win a Sony Bean

Oscars Smoschars, Baftas Waftas, yep it is that time of the year when we host the one award ceremony that truly counts - the Telewest Shinys. Due to be held on December 1st in a glittering venue in London’s fabulous West End – well that's what the club owner told us to say anyway – the Shinys salute all that's cool in gadgets, design, games and much more.

This year for the first time we are giving you dear reader the chance to vote for an award. Tell us which you think is the coolest gadget of 2005 and we’ll pop your name down on a bit of paper and plonk it in a rather large hat. Come the day of the awards, December 1st, we’ll pull five names out of the hat and they will be receiving a Sony Bean music player. So check out the runners and riders and email us you top gadget here

Apple iPod nano
Canon Digital ixus i zoom
Fujifilm FinePix Z1
Motorola RAZR
Navman ICN 550
Nikon D50
Nintendo DS
Philips WACS 700
Roomba
Sky+ 160
Sony Ericsson W800i Walkman
Sony PSP

The Telewest Shinys: Tech Digest Gadget of the Year Award

Oscars Smoschars, Baftas Waftas, yep it is that time of the year when we host the one award ceremony that truly counts - the Telewest Shinys. Due to be held on December 1st in a glittering venue in London’s fabulous West End – well that's what the club owner told us to say anyway – the Shinys salute all that's cool in gadgets, design, games and much more.

This year for the first time we are giving you dear reader the chance to vote for an award. As from tomorrow you tell us which you think is the coolest gadget of 2005 and we’ll pop your name down on a bit of paper and plonk it in a rather large hat. Come the day of the awards, December 1st, we’ll pull a couple of names out of the hat and they will be receiving some rather groovy prizes. Don’t vote until we say, but here are the runners and riders

Apple iPod nano
Canon Digital ixus i zoom
Fujifilm FinePix Z1
Motorola RAZR
Navman ICN 550
Nikon D50
Nintendo DS
Philips WACS 700
Roomba
Sky+ 160
Sony Ericsson W800i Walkman
Sony PSP