Do you want to scribble on your iPhone or iPod Touch?

Phatware Corporation have just published a press release giving the exciting information that they have developed a special text editor App designed specifically for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch MP3 players. This sophisticated technology will allow users to write directly onto their Apple smartphone or iPod screen in either portrait or landscape using their finger. The text editor will analyse and recognise all types of handwriting from print, mixed and cursive styles, and will provide a full editing suite including spell check, cut and paste etc. The Writepad will learn your writing style as you go but should you encounter any problems there is a full tutorial to help when using it.

It does take a little bit of playing with at first but you soon get the hang of it. For users with poor eyesight this is a godsend for sending quick emails, writing notes etc without the need for glasses. As you write directly on the screen in what ever handwriting style you please your messages will appear before your eyes without the need to use the keyboard – although you can mix and match should you prefer. At the moment the Writepad 1.8 Demo is a free App for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch MP3 players so it is well worth downloading and having a play. We have all tried it today in the office and think it is great. . Phatware have a range of other Apps all based around the same theme for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch MP3 players including WritePad Events, WritePad Notes and WritePad Affairs which are all currently priced at £1.79 each on the Apple iTunes App store.

OLED televisions the future? At 5k we think not!

It seems a strange time to expect the general public to fork out £5,000 on an entertainment system however in a recent report in the Independent that is precisely what is predicted. The report states that Sony will launch an OLED television by the end of the year and the writer states that insider experts believe there will be a positive stampede by the public to get their hands on the new super skinny OLED or Organic Light Emitting Diode televisions.

The contrast between more recent technology and the latest OLED screens is reputed to be phenomenal with the slightly older LCD screens providing a contrast of 30,000 to 1 and the new OLED screens providing 1,000,000 – 1 ratio. This provides colours that have a depth that has never been experienced by the more conventional televisions and blacks that are true black and not the dark grey that the previous technology could provide.

The new HD OLED’s televisions are regarded as the next generation television sets and will be the more dominant product on the market by the time that the next Olympic games is held. As the products become more available it is likely that the price will reduce, and it is hoped that the new OLED technology will stimulate the public into buying televisions again which retailers are reporting have more recently slumped in sales due to the recession.

The new Sony OLED’s are reported to be only 21” visible screen so with such a hefty price tag, it remains to be seen if the report is correct that the general public will be beating the door down on Sony to purchase. Clearly the benefits are many with enhanced visuals, rich colours and superb picture quality, and of course not forgetting the super slim ‘panel’ style screen which is likely to fit into most homes without too much of a fight, but will we all go OLED mad!

What’s super sexy, super charged and super priced? The Jaguar XFR

There are not enough complimentary words available in the English language to fully describe the beauty of the Jaguar XFR. This car looks good both inside and out, it has the head turning appeal that will make anyone driving it feel like they are a film star or that there is an invisible sign on the roof that says ‘sex god driving this’. Jaguar has been accused of staying in a bit of a design bubble and that a lot of their stable of cars has not evolved over the last 20 years, well that is certainly not the case with the Jaguar XFR. This is a car that has definitely broken out of the previous Jaguar mould and is pulsating with ‘drive me’ appeal.

The Jaguar XFR offers effortless luxurious driving and oozes class with every small detail having been considered to show the quality of the car. Details such as the embossed ‘R’ that can be found on the soft black and red leather seats and the ‘Supercharged’ which has been stamped on the air vents of the bonnet. The car growls into life when the red pulsating button is pushed to start the engine and the rotary gear selector rises gently to allow for ease of operation. Once on the road the Jaguar XFR offers a choice of driving modes using Jaguars special Drive Control feature, there is Winter mode which enables safe controlled driving in icy or snowy conditions and Dynamic mode which allows for a more confident driver to really take control of ‘the beast’ in suitable driving conditions.

The Jaguar XFR is every bit the sports car wrapped up in a sophisticated luxurious saloon body, the supercharged 5.0L V8 engine and ZF 6 speed automatic transmission offers a top speed of 155 mph and goes 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds. Don’t expect to get many miles to the gallon as around town you are only going to get about 15 mpg at best. The price tag, as you might expect hits you in the bread basket at just short of £60,000 for this object of desire, but if price is no object then buy it, drive it and enjoy it, this is a car that makes you proud to be British!

Gaming news expected to be huge at E3 early June

The E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo takes place from June 2nd to June 4th at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, and is expected to be full of new gaming announcements and details of new games consoles. There is a huge buzz around this year’s event which is expected to be one of the best events ever and packed with much more industry news than usual.

As expected Microsoft will be exhibiting and there is much industry gossip that they will unveil their latest bit of kit ZuneX, whether the gossip is true or not we will just have to wait and see but if there is any element of truth then industry insiders are saying that it is expected to be a rival to the iPhone. Another exhibitor that is expected to unveil their latest gaming product is Konami, who also appears to be teasing gamers with hints of what is to come. There is much speculation that it will indeed be Metal Gear that is unveiled but we shall just have to wait and see.

Of course there is one noteable absence from the 2009 E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo, OnLive, the ‘cloud’ based gaming service accessed via a broadband connection. The team at OnLive do not see their product as a good fit for exhibition at E3, seeing the Expo as more of a retail orientated exhibition. OnLine may be staying away because they don’t see the need to exhibit, however some are staying away because, of all things, Swine-flu! Capcom the Japanese games developer are one such company, deciding that the threat of swine-flu is too much of a risk at the moment.

Of course those that do decide to attend the E3 Exhibition will give us all an idea of what will be the Christmas must have at the end of the year, what will we all be hunting for in the shops this year on Christmas Eve? We wonder if the current economic crisis is going to have an effect on the development of games and consoles. How are the manufacturers and developers going to entice us to buy; now we are all very much watching our purse strings? This is likely to be a great year for consumers because developers know that they are going to have to offer something so special to make us all part with our cash.

Itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny Apple iPod Shuffle

Apple have launched their new, and well rather diminutive third generation iPod Shuffle at a rather awkward time, companies and families are cost cutting to save money in what is a rather bleak economic climate, so it must therefore be a difficult job to try to add value to your products whilst still making them saleable. The general public are becoming a little more shrewd and not parting with their hard earned cash quite as freely, therefore Apple clearly had a bit of a brainwave with the development of the new iPod Shuffle.

The reason why the latest iPod Shuffle is such an interesting design concept and a likely success for Apple is that they have managed to shrink the product down to half the size of its predecessor, yet still whack the price up to £59. Adding to the genius is that the whole novelty value of the tiny, tiny iPod Shuffle which will undoubtedly make consumers want to rush out and buy one to replace their previous model.

The tiny body of the Apple iPod Shuffle doesn’t even have room for the buttons to operate the gadget so these have been added to the headphone cable. It is possible to change track, turn volume up and down, change playlist etc all from the iPod shuffle headset, although it has to be said that it is not possible to use any other headset to operate the iPod Shuffle other than another special Apple headset which uses the same technology but comes at a hefty additional price of £54. Another moot point is that Apple no longer include the mini docking USB charger for the iPod Shuffle instead there is another tiny piece of equipment a roughly 2” long USB connector that links the iPod shuffle headset to the PC for charging and synching.

The new iPod Shuffle will allow up to ten hours of playback on one single charge, will allow for synching to other playlists and will store up to 1,000 songs. There is also a clever voice over technology included in the tiny package which will tell the user what the playlist is and the song being played.

New iPhone Specs Released?

OK, first things first, rumours regarding the iPhone have never gone away ever since the first details of its touch screen beauty were released to the general public and even now rumours of the next generation of Apple’s world beating phone continue to spread. If the rumours turn out to be true, and not just a ploy to try and take some of the attention away from the newly announced Palm Tre in the USA, then it looks to be more of an all round improvement than anything else – although admittedly the improvements do look impressive.

While the phones will keep the same price tags it is said that the storage will improve from 8GB and 16GB to 16GB and 32GB respectively. The camera will be improved from 2mp to 3.2mp and video recording and editing capabilities will also be introduced. RAM will be doubled, battery life extended by 50% (perhaps they could utilise an air battery) and an OLED screen will be introduced. An FM transmitter and improved GPS will also be added to round off what looks to be an extensive list of improvements.

Of course, the emphasis in all of this is the word “if”. That is, IF the rumour sturn out to be true and IF all of these improvements really do occur then it’s all pretty good stuff. The rumours appeared on the iPhone apps site and would like us all to mark the 17th of July down in our diaries as being a date to remember so that gives us about two months of denials, more rumours, and possibly some leaked news along the way.

Air Powered Batteries – The Next Green Craze?

The greatest concern with the use of non-renewable energy is that once it’s gone it’s gone; hence the need for more energy from renewable sources. With the air powered battery that isn’t really a concern because the fact is that if we manage to deplete the world of its stock of air then we’re going to have much bigger problems than finding a way to power the laptop. The STAIR (St Andrews Air) battery is actually something of a hybrid as you might imagine but inventors claim it will use ten times less energy than a normal battery and weigh less too (presumably not quite as light as air).

The STAIR battery draws energy from the air around it in the shape of Oxygen whilst it is discharging the energy that it has stored or is using directly from the AC mains. In doing so, STAIR claim that a single charge of the battery will last ten times longer than normal.

Oxygen powered cells have long been a focal point for renewable energy possibilities because of the obvious abundance around us but the problem has been that the extraction of oxygen from the air takes considerably more energy than it creates. Whether this problem has been ironed out or not we aren’t entirely sure but if it has then it could mean considerably longer lasting charges and impressively decreased energy costs – although presumably the cost of the battery, at least during the infancy of the technology behind it, will more than make up for it.

Skype Is Being Used As A Business Tool After All

If you’ve ever used Skype at home then you’ll undoubtedly be aware of the many benefits that it offers users. Primarily, the cost reduction of making calls to other Skype users is incredibly impressive and although we are slightly more limited in our options here in the UK than those in the USA there are a few call plans and services that utilise the service further to optimise your call times and spends and save you yet more money on calls.

For business, the biggest worry has always been that employees would be more likely to use the Skype service for personal calls and many organisations have yet to utilise the Skype call service because they believe it to be more of an individual consumer product. However, a recent survey and analysis by the company has shown that 35% of all Skype users use the service to make business calls rather than personal calls. This means that businesses may now be more inclined to use the service to reduce their own call costs.

Another major issue for businesses has been the question of security. Theoretically, it is possible for Skype to listen in to the calls being made although Skype obviously does its best to refute that claim. While these concerns are certainly well voiced and not without their justification (it is possible, although unlikely that it occurs) the benefits to business of using Skype and other messaging services is also very real. It’s likely that this news will help bump business use of an already increasingly popular service.

YouTube Soon To Offer UK Viewers TV Shows?

Following news that the BBC iPlayer ain’t gonna be free for much longer according to the head of BBC technology, it could be additionally good news that YouTube is set to offer TV programs as part of their service. It is reported that talks are ongoing between ITV, channel 4, Sony, and Google (who own YouTube and are hardly averse to big partnerships and even bigger market shares) to discuss the possibility of adding TV shows to the service.

In all honesty, the BBC should probably be more wary of charging for their service because a number of streaming TV type sites are set to launch in the UK and as more and more of us turn our attention to watching Internet TV and Internet TV hardware continues to improve, it may completely negate the need for a TV channel such as the Beeb (a shame though that would be, stranger things have happened). Consider the impact that an Internet enabled TV with Google widgets would have if you can start to watch TV shows through YouTube – you can guarantee that ITV and Channel 4 would only be the beginning of an influx of channels wanting to take part.

Hulu and TV.com are the two video streaming sites that are readying themselves for a UK launch and while YouTube/Google peeps have not confirmed these reports, Sony has said that it is in talks with Google to offer their shows on the YouTube service.

It May Soon Cost You Extra To Use BBC iPlayer

If you’re like us and a mass of other TV watching consumers then you’ll have already enjoyed the impressive benefits that the BBC iPlayer has to offer. Like us you’ll undoubtedly be disheartened by the mere possibility that at least one exec inside the BBC believes that users should have to pay for the privilege of using the iPlayer service. Of course, if you never watch iPlayer then you’ll probably be even more miffed off at the half denial from official BBC sources that claimed they are looking into the possibility of increasing the license fee to charge users in that way.

The iPlayer has been something of a phenomenon sine its first introduction to the market. Viewers have been able to watch their favourite (and not so favourite if they’re that way inclined) BBC shows through a variety of different devices. As well as the BBC website, Virgin media and a wide selection of handheld devices have also offered iPlayer compatibility but you have to question just how popular it would remain if it were no longer a free service.

In case you were wondering who to voice your protests with, the head of technology Erik Huggers no less is the one to have stated that he “doesn’t believe in a free ride!”. The BBC did point out that Mr Huggers view is not necessarily the same as the rest of the BBC but they also confirmed that they are looking at potential ways of monetising the service which may include a separate iPlayer license or an addition to the cost of the existing license.

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