Potentially ideal for checking recent text messages or emails, a breakthrough in LCD and contact lens development could result in amazing applications.
Covered by The Telegraph yesterday, a research team at the Ghent University Centre of Microsystems Technology in Belgium have developed a new type of contact lens that uses the entire surface of the lens to display letters and symbols. Prior to this point, researchers have only been able to create a LED lens that displays a single pixel. However, the technology behind this new development offers the ability to display a large range of pixel sizes as well as a significant volume of pixels on a LCD display. To show off the technology, the prototype shows a large dollar sign across the entire curved surface of the lens.
Conceptually, an image could be displayed on the lens in order to see scrolling text messages or emails that have been sent to a smartphone. Even more interesting, GPS driving directions could actually appear in the field of vision while someone is operating a vehicle.
In the medical field, these lenses could be used to limit the amount of light a person can see after they experience a form of trauma to one of their eyes. That could also be programmed to naturally allow more light into the damaged eye as the healing process progresses.
Researchers also indicated that the technology could create adaptive contact lenses that lighten or darken depending on the sunlight in the immediate area. Similar to eyeglasses that are coated with a light-transitioning material, the contact lens would provide the same function as a pair of sunglasses when outside. In addition, people could utilize the lenses to cosmetically change the color of their eyes and select different colors at any time using a mobile application.
Regarding the timeline for application development, head researcher Professor Herbert De Smet stated “Now that we have established the basic technology, we can start working towards real applications, possibly available in only a few years.” When asked about the development process by The Inquisitor, De Smet said “Normally, flexible displays using liquid crystal cells are not designed to be formed into a new shape, especially not a spherical one. By using new kinds of conductive polymers and integrating them into a smooth spherical cell, we were able to fabricate a new LCD-based contact lens display.“
Film director, producer, and game developer Chris Roberts, the man responsible for the classic Wing Commander franchise, talks with us about his next space sim, the kickstarter funded Star Citizen
Acclaimed game creator Chris Roberts pushed the space combat simulation genre forward in the early PC gaming days with the Wing Commander franchise, and then again with the games Starlancer and Freelancer. But the game maker left the industry to pursue a Hollywood career, which included his directorial debut with the Wing Commander movie, and led into the position of producer for the films The Punisher, The Jacket, and Lord of War. Now Roberts is back in the game (pun intended).
With over $6 million in Kickstarter funding for his next project Star Citizen, Roberts is developing his most ambitious space sim to date. A team of 60 to 70 people will spend the next two years creating the game on CryEngine 3, and the developer will share the experience along the way with those who have invested. Roberts talks about his return to gaming and explains why now is the perfect time for his favorite genre to return in this exclusive interview.
What made you decide to return to the games industry now?
Several things. One, the technology had moved on enough where I felt like I could do a lot of stuff that I wanted to do, that I couldn’t when I took a break ten years ago, and so that was a big factor. There’s an online connected aspect to it where you can have a whole bunch of people play and venture around in the same world, and that can be done in a pretty high fidelity now where everyone’s got broadband and that’s a big part of it. Then I felt like there was a real shift in the business itself, going away from some of the traditional publisher model, where you’re publishing one or two huge console games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, or Madden.
There seems to be an opportunity for some really interesting PC games in some genres that weren’t as well supported before, to have an opportunity to find an audience because of things like crowd funding. And there are people like Riot Games who did League of Legends or the Wargaming guys that did World of Tanks, and they weren’t Electronic Arts or Activision, and they built these great PC games that the audience has showed up for because no one was doing it before. I felt like there was an opportunity. I’m a PC gamer at heart, and I felt like there needed to be more PC games that were just for PC.
How have you seen the game industry evolve since you worked on games like Wing Commander and Freelancer?
A lot. When I first worked on Wing Commander, the top-end PC I worked on had 640K, but most people had 384K. I was doing this new thing called VGA, which had 256 colors and 320 x 200 resolution. So essentially the iPhone I have now is infinitely more powerful. It has 16 gigs, has millions of colors and all the rest of the stuff. It’s a huge change from when I was first doing it, but that’s what’s so fun about the business. It’s always something new every year, and some new challenge.
What does your Kickstarter campaign say about the space combat genre’s overlooked popularity?
I think it was one of the most popular genres when I was making games in the 90s. It was as big as anything else. So I definitely think it’s got a pretty big core audience. I just think that none of the publishers have been focusing on it. I don’t know whether it’s because people shifted to consoles and at the beginning of the console cycle everyone is thinking consoles are for sports, racing, and platform games. At the beginning of the console cycle they weren’t thinking they were for first-person shooters. Everyone would say you can only do a first-person shooter on a PC because you need a mouse. Well, Infinity Ward came and figured it out and did a nice interface on the dual analog stick gamepads, and now everyone has first-person shooters on consoles.
Space combat sims didn’t have a Bungie, which brought Halo to Xbox, pushing that genre. I took a break from the business when consoles were coming to prominence with PS2 and Xbox and everything. I don’t see any reason why the genre isn’t as mainstream as all the other games. I mean, it’s a common fantasy. Everyone loves Star Wars – you all want to be a bad ass space fighter pilot. Us doing so well this early, two years before our game comes out, having that many people contribute that much money, is a really good sign. I think it’s a genre that should come back.
What are you applying from your earlier games like Freelancer and Wing Commander to this new endeavor?
If you take a look at Star Citizen it really is a combination of Wing Commander with Privateer with Freelancer. I’m wrapping up all the different parts of what I’ve done before, and then taking it to the next level and adding some new gameplay and features on that I haven’t done before. I’m trying to do everything that I wanted to do in Freelancer, and then also fix issues that I didn’t [do] correctly, or I wasn’t quite as happy with, and go from there.
How do you hope to evolve the spacing combat genre with this game?
The level of detail and fidelity is going to mean a lot more control for the player. In terms of customization and what players can do on their ships, or what they can do with the ship systems, it has a layer of computer control on top of it. If you don’t want to be dealing with all those details, you don’t have to. But if you really want to dig down, you can. I think that’s always a secret to a good game.
I’m really focusing on trying to figure out how I can get people to play together, whether it’s cooperative, player versus player, or any of those kinds of things. I want to try and fold that into an experience too. I want to make the part in space feel as tactile and real as possible. You can fly bigger ships, and you can walk around inside the corridor and sit in the cockpit and fly it, or run a turret while you’re flying in space. Someone else could try and take over your ship by boarding you, and you would have to fight them off. There’s a level of fidelity that hasn’t been done in this kind of game before. I think that will be an experience people will really respond to.
How open will this game experience be?
The game’s going to be incredibly open, so you’ll be able to go wherever you want. If you want to be a merchant, you can be a merchant. If you want to be an explorer, you can be explorer. If you want to be a pirate, you can be a pirate. If you want to be a bounty hunter, you can be a bounty hunter. And then inside that, if you want to have a more single-player experience you can do the Squadron 42 campaign, and there will be some other opportunities to do single-player style games.
So for me it’s trying to be a combination between multiplayer and single player in the same way – I mention Demon Souls a lot, but I really did like it and they did a nice job of primarily being a single-player game. But they had these elements that introduced multiplayer too and it was a nice hybrid. I’m looking at trying to do more stuff and push it from there, but I think it will be a world that people can venture around and have a great time in, hopefully for a long time.
While Kodak continues the bankruptcy process started during early 2012, Apple and Google join forces to snag Kodak's imaging patent library.
Reported by Bloomberg recently, smartphone competitors Apple and Google have submitted a joint bid of more than half a billion dollars for Eastman Kodak’s 1,100 imaging patents remaining in the company’s portfolio. Both Apple and Google had attempted to purchase Kodak’s patents separately, but all attempts were unsuccessful up to this point. Apple was working with Microsoft and Google as working with a variety of unnamed Android smartphone manufacturers when the original bids of $150 to $250 million were placed during Kodak’s auction. Representatives for both Apple and Google have declined to comment on the reported partnership and Kodak representatives hasn’t disclosed the total amount of the joint bid from the two companies.
After CES 2012 came to a close in early January, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to dwindling revenue from camera film sales as well as increased competition in the digital imaging space. At the time of the filing, Kodak reported approximately five billion dollars in assets and nearly seven billion dollars in total debt.
During November 2012, Kodak was able to secure $830 million in exit financing. However, access to that money was contingent on the sale of Kodak’s imaging patent portfolio for a price above $500 million. Prior to the patent auction in August, Kodak estimated the entire patent portfolio was worth between $2.2 to $2.6 billion.
While the partnership between Apple and Google clearly doesn’t give either company an edge regarding patent ownership, it will allow both companies to avoid spending money on litigation over the Kodak patents in the coming years. Strategically, it also halts Kodak representatives from spurring a continued bidding war between the two companies. Without a strong bargaining position, Kodak will likely be forced to take the offer in order to finalize the bankruptcy process unless a new bidder comes forth.
Not sure how many gigabytes of data you want to get? We give some basics on how much data services cost and what activities you may want to avoid unless you're on a Wi-Fi network.
So you have finally decided that you are ready to buy a new smartphone, but you aren’t sure how much data you will need on a monthly basis. We can’t help you afford data plans these days, but we can help you figure out how much data you’re likely to use per month. Picking the wrong data plan can end up costing you hundreds of dollars a year in either unused bandwidth or overages, so it pays to know how much data you will be using.
Below we have broken down the most popular ways people consume data on their phones, and provide a rough estimate on how much data you can use for each category.
Email
Email is one of the oldest and most used features on smartphones, and luckily it uses up hardly any data. If you are just sending regular old emails without any pictures, videos, or any other attachments you can basically send an endless amount of emails without using up much data. For example, if you were to send or receive a total of 5,000 emails each month, you would have a hard time breaking 100MB of data. So if you plan on sending a normal amount of emails each day, you won’t have to worry about how much data you are using per email.
There is a big difference between text emails and emails with attachments. If you were to send the same 5,000 emails each with a picture attachment you could be looking at over 2GB of data used per month. Assuming you don’t quite have the time to take and send that many pictures, you won’t have to worry too much about emailing pictures. If you can keep it to a couple of pictures a day, you should use around 100MB of data.
Web browsing
Much like emailing, Web browsing is a required feature of every smartphone. Depending on the webpages you visit it is also very economical on your data budget. Of course, every website is different, and if you visit pages with lots of multimedia features, your data numbers will be much different. If you are planning on doing some light Web browsing on your phone, then you should expect to use less than 100MB of data a month. On the other hand, if you are browsing some data-heavy sites that aren’t optimized for phones, you could find yourself using over 1GB of data. There is a big difference between the two extremes, but unless you know for sure that you are going to be surfing a lot, you shouldn’t be using more than 200MB a month.
Social Media
Browsing Twitter and Facebook is a big draw for people to get a smartphone, but just how much data can you expect to use on these social networks? Both Twitter and Facebook are pretty optimized to go easy on the data, so for general browsing you shouldn’t expect to see a big increase in your data usage. Unless you decide that you will start uploading countless pictures to either social network you can expect to use less than 100MB of data each month. Like everything else so far, this number greatly depends on just how much you use these services, for example if you decide to post 10 pictures a day to Facebook you can expect to use about 400MB of data on social networks alone.
Downloading Apps/Games/Songs
Downloading anything eats up data, so just be mindful of what you are downloading. If you download a single app, game, or song each day you can expect to see around 100MB a month in data. It is likely that you won’t be downloading something every single day, but those Angry Birds really add up. App updates are also getting more frequent and larger in size. Only download updates and apps while on Wi-Fi.
Streaming Audio
This is where the data really starts picking up. Streaming songs is very data intensive, and as a general rule you will want to try to avoid streaming music or audio podcasts while using your data service. Try to only do this while on a Wi-Fi network. If you wanted to listen to music all day every day at work you are looking at more than 6GB of data a month. If you are able to average about an hour a day then you will rack up just under 1GB of data a month.
Streaming Video
Just like with streaming audio, streaming video is very data heavy. If you wanted to watch a 30 minute TV show on Netflix every day, you can expect to consume almost 2GB of data. That number goes up to 5GB a month if you are trying to watch a movie every day. You will likely see less than a gigabyte a month if you are mindful of how much you are watching. Again, like streaming audio you should try to avoid watching video unless you are on a Wi-Fi network, unless you have a hefty data plan.
Add it all up
So now you can figure out what you want to do with your phone, and about how much data those hobbies use up. While it is always smart to give yourself a little wiggle room in case you have a randomly heavy data month, but there is no reason to pay too much every month for data you will never use. Unless you are planning on streaming audio or videos on a regular basis, most people will have a hard time passing the 2GB a month data threshold. If you are very worried about going over your data limit, and don’t think there is a plan that can provide you enough data, you can always opt for an unlimited data plan but those aren’t offered by every carrier. The biggest tip we can give you is to set your phone up to auto connect to your Wi-Fi networks at work and home. Download things in advance while on Wi-Fi and enjoy them throughout the day.
It's a bittersweet week in Jetsetter as we say goodbye to one of the UK's most prolific console game developers but celebrate new shooters from New Zealand and Japan's best and brightest.
Do you hear what I hear? Do you see what I see? I’m not sure that you do, because Jetsetter’s eyes can see farther and its ears can hear deeper. Provided the source of the sights and sounds are video games, because that’s our thing. If you’re looking for a column about the world of imported cheese and the world of Central European poetry, look elsewhere. This is Jetsetter, and the wide world of video games is our only purview.
Welcome back to Jetsetter, Digital Trends readers. This weekly column is devoted to covering the video game world outside the United States, writing about sweet import games and developers abroad.
This week, we’re talking about shooters, both old, new, and from opposite sides of the world.
* GoldenEye 007 developer closes for good.
Two weeks after announcing that it laid-off two hundred employees, UK studio Eurocom is closing its doors. It planned to refocus as a mobile developer with a skeleton crew of fifty developers, but it has now entered administration and closed completely. Eurocom was never Britain’s best or brightest developer, but for almost a quarter of a century, the studio was a staple of console gaming. It made hilarious drivel like War Gods for the Nintendo 64, it made licensed trash like Lethal Weapon for the NES, but it was also the studio behind genius ports like the Dreamcast edition of Hydro Thunder and some truly wonderful platformers like The Jungle Book on Super Nintendo. More recently Eurocom was known for one making one of the Wii’s last great games, GoldenEye 007. This year’s 007 Legends, though, will be its last. A tip of the cap to all at Eurocom. We hope you all land safely on your feet.
* Sidhe brings Shatter to iPad.
New Zealand’s Sidhe broke more than a few brains when it released Shatter on PlayStation 3 in 2009. A blend of two-dimensional shooting, the arcade classic Breakout, and slick music, Shatter was a breath of fresh air in the downloadable console game world after a few years of Geometry Wars clones. Sidhe’s game made the jump to PC and Mac back in 2010, but save for some licensed games, a weird car combat title, and a smattering of Rugby League games for their home country, Sidhe’s been pretty silent. No more! Shatter is getting its first handheld release on Apple’s iPad. The studio’s co-founder announced the release on NeoGAF. Sadly, no iPhone version is forthcoming.
* Cave bringing Dodonpachi to Steam?
From New Zealand to Japan, the cradle of the 2D shooter! Developer Cave is one of a few studios keeping old style shmups alive in the modern age with Xbox 360 games like Deathsmiles. Its most famous series, Dodonpachi, actually started life back in the late ‘90s in arcades and on Sega Saturn. In recent years, Cave has mostly worked on Xbox 360, making new shooters and even weird one-offs like Kinect adventure Instant Brain, but now it’s talking about jumping to other platforms. In an interview with Siliconera about the new sequel Dodonpachi Saidaioujou, Cave’s creative lead Makoto Asada said PC fans may see legitimate releases soon. “There were some discussions about Steam and with the release of Windows 8 there may be a chance,” said Asada, “We are also considering the Windows 8 Marketplace and hopefully we can bring some of our games there like we have with the Xbox 360.” PlayStation 3 shooter obsessives hoping for a dose of Cave’s style will be put out as Asada reiterated that the studio won’t support Sony’s console any time soon. Jetsetter recommends you play Under Defeat HD as an alternative!
While the Samsung Galaxy S3 hasn’t been on the market that terribly long, that doesn’t stop the world from thinking about what’s just around the corner. Just a few months after the Galaxy S3 was released and became popular, rumors began to surface about the next-generation Galaxy S. In Samsung’s words, “the next big thing is already here coming”.
Rumors currently give the Galaxy S4 an April 2013 release date and an introduction sometime before then at CES and/or Mobile World Congress. Some agree that this seems strange for Samsung though, as generally they like to conduct their own special events for massive announcements like that of a new flagship phone.
As far as hardware is concerned, the Galaxy S4 is rumored to have a quad-core processor that is more powerful than the S3′s, a 13 MP camera, and a full HD 441 ppi display.
Samsung is looking to get themselves back on top in terms of displays after HTC and Sharp stole the spotlight with full HD displays. Furthermore, UBS’s Nicolas Gaudois claims that ”preparations for volume manufacturing of unbreakable plastic substrate displays continue. All in all, we could see a strong products push in the high-end in the first half, followed by other releases.”
It has also been said that Samsung is working hard on flexible displays. A combination of flexible and unbreakable displays would create a completely new generation of smartphones and tablets.
Are you looking forward to having an unbreakable/flexible display? Which one would you want to have on your phone more? Let us know in the comments below.
Apple and Google may be about to form an unlikely alliance to snap up Kodak's vast army of imaging patents, according to reports this weekend.
Bloomberg sources have claimed the companies have abandoned separate bids to acquire the 1,100 patents and have instead teamed up on a $500m (UK£311, AUD$476m) proposition.
The package of patents has been up for grabs since the iconic film and camera firm entered bankruptcy in January this year and had courted interest from Apple-led and Google-led consortiums.
If indeed Google and Apple do team up on the deal it would offer both companies insurance against future courtroom battles.
Peace process
Although bitter rivals in the smartphone and tablet industry, both sides are looking for ways out of the interminable patent wars that have dominated the headlines in the last couple of years.
Agreements such as these, among rivals, neutralise any potential legal action.
Neither Apple nor Google have so far commented on the story.
A key Apple patent which governs the use of multitouch technology on its mobile devices has been temporarily ruled invalid.
On Friday, the United States Patents & Trademarks Office (USPTO) struck down all 20 claims within the touchscreen heuristics patent '949', also known as 'the Steve Jobs patent'.
The filing, in which the late Apple founder is named as one of the inventors, covers a "touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics."
The validity of the claims will now be reexamined and any decision could have major ramifications in the ongoing patent wars.
May yet survive
Samsung was found guilty of infringing this patent by an International Trade Commission (ITC) judge back in October, while Motorola had also been accused of infringing 'the Steve Jobs patent.'
However, this temporary ruling, known as a first Office ruling, doesn't yet spell doom for one of Apple's most important mobile patents.
Florian Mueller of the excellent Foss Patents blog explains: "I have said on various occasions that first Office actions and other non-final Office actions are just preliminary.
"Many patent claims that are rejected at this stage do ultimately survive."
Looking to buy yourself or someone like you a new tablet for the holidays? We're here to help. Here are our favorite small and large tablets for the holidays.
In 2012, the tablet grew up and grew down. Nearly every smartphone and PC maker tried their hand at cracking the iPad’s iron grip on the tablet market this year, but few of them have faired well. By sheer volume, we’re beginning to see some erosion of Apple’s lead, but for the third year in a row, we still think that the iPad has the best overall ecosystem behind it. There were a lot of good tablets out this year, but this article is about the best. Right now, the best tablets for the best prices come from Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
In a bid to stay ahead of the competition, Apple updated the market-defining 9.7-inch iPad not once, but twice this year. In mid-March it released the third iPad, which looks the same, but packs a screen with more pixels than a 1080p HD television. If that wasn’t enough, those who chose to hold off on buying the third iPad were rewarded in October as Apple replaced it with the fourth-generation iPad (iPad 4), which looks the same, but packs more than twice the processing power and uses Apple’s new Lightning Connector.
Whether you choose to love or hate Apple, the iPad is still the best tablet money can buy. At $500, it’s now more expensive than most of its rivals, but that’s only because it’s won the war of attrition. Most tablets have been forced into the $200 – $400 price range because, really, if you’re going to spend $500, you might as well get an iPad.
Aside from its speedy, fluid user interface and remarkable hardware design (always a strength of Apple), the key to the iPad’s success is its app ecosystem. By requiring developers make apps specifically for the iPad, Apple has amassed more than 300,000 original apps. Android and Windows 8 tablets simply cannot compare. At the end of the day, the measure of a tablet is what you can do on it. Here, Apple wins.
Amazon and Barnes & Noble were the first companies to release $200 tablets, but Google’s the first one to release a really good $200 tablet. The Nexus 7 debuted in July and it’s been climbing the popularity charts ever since. Designed in conjunction with Asus, the Nexus 7 is the best tablet if you’re a fan of Android or hope to avoid the iPad. With the Nexus 7, Google rethought its tablet strategy from the ground up. Instead of trying to imitate computer desktop interfaces, Google has made this Android tablet look and feel identical to an Android phone. It’s just bigger.
Normally, we feel that 7-inch tablets are a little too small to get anything substantial done, but somehow the Nexus defies this rule. It can run the few tablet apps Android has very well, but also runs Android phone apps in a surprisingly adept fashion.
Though many people seeking out the Nexus will be hunting for a bargain, what you’re really getting is more of a steal. The Nexus 7 has highly competitive specs and is as fast and slick as any tablet, but costs about half the price of most of its competition. It’s a far more fluid and usable device than a Kindle Fire HD, which has a poor email client, limited app selection, and still tends to get laggy. With the Nexus 7, you have access to going on a million Android phone apps/games on the Google Play Store, including many by Amazon and B&N, like the Kindle app, AmazonMP3 app, or the Nook app. You don’t have to give up their services to get a good tablet.
After spending years reviewing tablets in every shape and size, we’re happy to report that the iPad Mini’s 7.9-inch screen is probably the best-sized tablet display to date. It’s noticeably larger than a 7-inch tablet, which gives you valuable screen real estate, but still small and light enough to hold with one hand or store in an abnormally large pocket. Best of all, because it’s basically a shrunken iPad 2, every full size iPad app works out of the box.
If you own a newer iPad, you will notice one luxury missing. The iPad Mini has a 1024 x 768 pixel screen. In 2011, this would have been an awesome resolution, but after Apple raised the bar with the Retina screen on the iPad 3, times have changed. The iPad Mini’s screen looks noticeably more pixely than you may like. This annoyance fades in time and has no real bearing on the performance of the tablet. If you really want a Retina screen, you should hold out for the iPad Mini 2.
Price is the other big issue. $330 is a lot more than the $200 it costs to buy a Nexus 7. They are both great tablets. We would edge Apple’s tablet ahead because of its app selection, screen size, and comfort, but only you know if that’s worth $130.
The Nexus 10 is not our favorite tablet on this list, but it is better than your ordinary 10-inch Android tablet. Like it did with the Nexus 7, Google has made the large tablet version of Android 4.2 feel more like a phone. It’s a lot easier to pull down notifications and get what you need to get done on the Nexus 10 than most other tablets. And did we mention the screen? Google got screen envy of the iPad 3 and 4, so it packed 2560 x 1600 pixels into the screen – even higher than Apple’s Retina. The Nexus 10′s screen looks gorgeous and it has enough processing power to punch a baby.
Like all big Android tablets, it will suffer from the Google Play Store’s lack of solid tablet apps. Things are getting better, but be prepared to run some hideous apps until all developers customize their goods to the big, pixel-dense screen. But for $400, you’re getting the fastest, prettiest 10-inch Android tablet we ever laid our eyes on.
Should the Surface RT be on this list? It depends on who you are. For those of you who want to try out the new version of Windows, the Microsoft Surface is one of the best ways to do it. It’s built well, has a nice kickstand, and we love the magnetic TypeCover attachment. The problem is Windows RT. It walks and talks like Windows 8, but can’t run any Windows 7 applications. That means you can’t install any software on it that doesn’t come from the Windows 8 Store. Want the Chrome browser, iTunes, Spotify? You’re out of luck. The Classic desktop is difficult to use with a touchscreen and feels slow. Still, Microsoft is issuing fixes pretty regularly and is committed to Windows 8′s success. If you want a new, different kind of tablet, give it a go.
BBC iPlayer viewers can now enjoy full screen playback from the comfort of the new Apple iPhone 5.
The Corporation has issued an update for its popular on-demand app, optimising the aspect radio for the elongated 4-inch Retina Display.
Viewers can now kiss goodbye to the annoying black bars at either side of the picture when catching up on Top Gear or Doctor Who on the iPhone 5.
Beyond the video player optimisation, the Beeb has also taken the opportunity to fix a few bugs and introduce a couple of extra features.
TV playback
iPhone users - like their iPad-toting comrades - can now plug the device into their TV and view video that way, which is great for those without a Smart TV.
Within the playback screen there's now a prominent 'More' button, which allows users to seek out further episodes or likeminded series.
Users can also hit the Live Channels buttons when watching live TV in order to flip between the various BBC stations.
Choosing the right laptop bag is no easy feat. No one likes to second guess themselves. Here are some of the best laptop bags on the market — from backpacks to sleeves — so you can get it right the first time around.
The first purchase for absolutely any laptop owner should be protection. Whether it’s a stylish messenger bag or a backpack for around town, a briefcase for travel or a simple sleeve, keeping your computer safe is essential. We’ve rounded up some the most stylish, fashionable, and practical laptop bags on the market.
Picky about style? Timbuk2 will build a custom laptop-friendly messenger bag that you can design. Customers can personalize the bag by choosing the size of the laptop insert, the colors of every panel, and even have the option to add additional gadget storage.
Skooba’s “checkpoint-friendly” messenger bags unzip down the middle to reveal your notebook in a clear-sided pocket, eliminating the need to remove it when going through airport security.
The Discovery Messenger is built front to back for photographers (no, not the Instagram kind). Pack in a 13-inch laptop, a DSLR, two or three lenses, and whatever else you may need for your photo excursion. The camera insert is even designed to be removed for non-photo use.
Dual compartments to house both your laptop and tablet simultaneously make the CityGear Topload notable amongst the rest of the Targus lineup. It’s durable, spacious, and reasonably priced to boot.
Just the essentials, please. Case Logic’s sleeves are simple, padded, and can fit notebooks anywhere between 10 inches and 17.3 inches in size. And the prices certainly won’t break the bank.
Simple, yet practical. The Speck Tuckpack features a laptop compartment up to 15 inches, a thin front pocket, and a nice Velcro closure to secure the few belongings the sleeve will fit.
The market for vertical laptop sleeves seems scarce, but Cocoon builds one with a padded handle. The slender, neoprene sleeve provides lightweight protection and accommodates laptops up to 16 inches. Toss it in a backpack or suitcase for a bit of added protection on the move.
We’re not going to lie: the Boa Flow is a beast. Weighing in at more than four pounds, the backpack can house anything and everything you may need – including laptops between 13 inches and 17 inches – for a weekend outing. Look no further if you need a little (actually a ton of) space.
The North Face Surge is loaded with compartments, offered in seven colors, and fits most laptops up to 15 inches. Plus, it’s endorsed by the American Chiropractic Association, meaning it’s pretty comfortable.
Want some protection, but don’t want to be weighed down while on the go? Belkin’s sleek pack does the trick and ditches the bulk at the same time. It even has a removal pouch for your power supply.
What do you think of our best laptop bags list? Did we miss something? Let us know in the comments below.
The idea behind DoorBot isn’t terribly novel. Have you ever wanted to see who was at your front door without actually going to your front door? The WiFi-enabled DoorBot is effectively a wireless webcam that replaces your front doorbell, letting you see and talk to the person at the door from the comfort of your smartphone or tablet.
Because the DoorBot is battery-powered (four AA batteries for up to one year of life) and is installed with just four screws, it can be mounted nearly anywhere. The weather-resistant aluminum enclosure adds to that idea, but I suppose this runs the risk of it being stolen too. In any case, when someone presses the doorbell button (which is wrapped in an LED light ring), you get a notification in your accompanying smartphone/tablet app and you can get a live video of who’s at the door.
There’s two-way voice communication and the DoorBot app integrates with Lockitron too. So, if you want to unlock the door–assuming you have a Lockitron installed on the same door–you can do that right from the app too. Realistically, you could almost accomplish the same thing with an IP camera, except you wouldn’t get the SMS-like notification when someone hits the doorbell.
The launch of a new Nexus phone has become as traditional an event as the coming of the usual Christmas debauchery.
Google started this trend with the HTC-made Nexus One back in January of 2010, followed by the Nexus S a little under a year later, then the Galaxy Nexus and this year's extremely tempting Nexus 4.
The latest Nexus always arrives accompanied by a new version of Google's Android OS, so as well as a new lump of hardware to play with we also see a refresh of the Android code arrive, too.
It is all very exciting indeed.
So, now that Google and its hardware partners are preparing for the fifth generation Nexus for launch at the end of 2013, we can't help but start to wonder what it'll be like.
Will LG still be making it, after this year's Nexus 4 stock debacle? Or will previous rumours of Sony getting a go at making it turn out to be true? And what of Android 5.0, or Key Lime Pie as Google insists we reluctantly call it?
The many components of the next Nexus are still up in the air, which is as good a time as any to come up with some ideas regarding what shape the phone should take when it falls into place at the end of 2013.
So here's our Nexus 5 fantasy wishlist.
The Nexus S. Nice, but largely overlooked, despite introducing a subtle curve to the display surface.
Nexus 5 Display
The Nexus 4 features a great 4.7" display, with LG's screen running on its own True HD IPS technology and outputting at 768 x 1280 resolution, minus a bit at the bottom for Android 4.2's now standard software buttons.
That's something we'd expect to change when it comes to next year's Nexus, though, as several Android hardware makers are now talking about 1080p resolution displays for future mobiles, with the rumoured Sony Yuga said to be arriving early in 2013, with a maximum HD resolution 1920 x 1080 screen.
We'd expect to see 1080p screens become the norm for high-end Android models during 2013, as the makers continue to try and out-do each other, so whoever ends up making the Nexus 5 surely has to make it operate at today's commonplace 1080p res.
Perhaps Google will also sell the things in a decent quantity next year?
Nexus 5 release date
This one's pretty easy to compute, as the Nexus range of phones operates outside the usual February Mobile World Congress reveal and spring launch cycle, instead appearing in the winter months to give Android fans something to look forward to during the dark days.
The Nexus S arrived in December, the Nexus One in January and the Galaxy Nexus and LG's Nexus 4 both launched in November, so expect the Nexus 5 to stick to that schedule and appear in time to feature on the Christmas present lists of the world's smartphone enthusiasts next year.
Nexus 5 specs
This one's harder to guesstimate, as power seems to vary depending on the whims of the maker.
Last year's Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus was only a moderately-powered model, while this year's Nexus 4, complete with its cutting-edge Qualcomm S4 Pro quad-core processor and 8MP camera, is about as high-end as you can get right now.
What we've seen emerging from LG recently is the news of the LG Optimus G2, a phone supposedly built around a 2GHz version of Qualcomm's S4 Pro chipset.
With the Nexus 4 based around the chassis of the original Optimus G, we could see the G2 appear as the Nexus 5, should Google and LG team up again for the next Nexus phone.
We should also beg Google to change its mind when it comes to locking down the physical aspects of the hardware.
We've seen plenty of Android models arrive with sealed cases, fixed batteries and no SD card support, which is putting some users off the idea of plumping for a Nexus.
The lack of SD-card expansion is becoming accepted and seems like it'll become the norm in 2013, but surely a nerd-focused phone range like the Nexus series ought to feature an SD card slot? Especially with the move to HD media and photography, which makes the Nexus 4's limited 8GB model seem rather poor.
We'd also expect the Nexus 5 to feature LTE support, something missing (officially) from the Nexus 4. Even the UK will have a decent 4G network by 2013, so it must be in the next model.
The LG Optimus G, which LG stuffed into a different case, loaded up with Android 4.2 and renamed it the Nexus 4.
Nexus 5 design
This is the one area where the Nexus range has traditionally lagged a little, with Google seemingly issuing orders to its makers not to try anything too avant garde, or to stray too far from the curved, black rectangle aesthetic when making the Nexus models.
This year's LG Nexus 4 bares quite a few visual similarities to last year's Galaxy Nexus from Samsung, with only its sparkly back to add a little excitement to the Nexus range.
We'd love it if the Nexus models could start to set a standard for design as well as software, as the vast number of boring black Android phones isn't setting anyone's loins on fire.
We're not suggesting pink snap-on after-market back covers, but something a little more thrilling would help differentiate the Nexus line from the competition.
Also, LG has come into quite a bit of stick for copying Apple's idea of sticking a glass back on the phone, with plenty of early Nexus 4 buyers claiming it's a bit on the fragile side. Perhaps a return to robust Korean plastic might be in order for the Nexus 5?
Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie?
We always expect a new Nexus phone to arrive with an equally fresh version of Android, so we might reasonably demand to find Android 5.0 arriving on 2013's Nexus handheld.
Thing is, that's nearly an entire year away, and with Android 5.0 already showing up in online benchmaking tools, we may see that version of Google's code appear sooner rather than later.
So - and this might sound a bit bonkers - we could therefore see the Nexus 5 arrive with Android 6.0 or maybe something less drastic like, say, 5.1 or 5.5.
And Google's chucking out new versions of Android so fast we could easily hit double figures by this time next year.
