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Bose Wave Music System III

Gordon — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:17:54 +0000

A premium CD player & radio that finds the competition tough.

By Gordon Kelly (for TrustedReviews)
Reviewed 17 May 2012

Price as reviewed £599.95

Overall 6/10

Key Features

Bose Waveguide speaker technology
CD player & DAB radio
Sleep alarm
BoseLink adds peripherals

How much do you like CDs? This may sound a strange question to ask in 2012, but when considering Bose’s high end yet deliberately retro take on the modern music system it is one that is impossible to ignore.

Bose product refreshes are rare and for that reason alone the ‘Wave Music System III’ arrives with a significant amount of buzz and media attention. Its modus operandi: a one piece system to play your CDs, the radio and wake you up in the morning… for £600. For most companies this feature/price ratio would be unworkable, but Bose has built its reputation on attracting those who want the very best and are prepared to pay for it. So does the Wave Music System III still have a place in the Android/iOS centric world of today?

Certainly Bose knows how to make an entrance. The Wave Music System III is beautifully packed and at just 369 x 219 x 106mm and 3.9Kg it is compact. Being a stickler for its own tradition (the Wave range has been around since 2004) the design hasn’t changed from its predecessor. This is both good and bad. The Wave line’s looks are iconic amongst Bose fans (if reminiscent of a blend of school projector and laser printer), but the 100 per cent plastic construction could do with the addition of more premium materials in this era of designer docks.

There is also little change at the rear with virtually identical connectivity: an FM antenna, auxiliary and headphone inputs and a BoseLink connector. The notable addition this time around is that of a DAB tuner and accompanying antenna while Bose also claims to have improved the quality of the FM/AM tuner. The proprietary BoseLink is where additional functionality is added with the ‘Wave Bluetooth’ (£130), ‘Wave Connect Kit’ (£130) and ‘Wave Multi-CD Changer’ (£300) adding Bluetooth streaming, an iPod/iPhone dock and a three CD multi-changer respectively.

This is a sample. Read the rest of the review here.

Cloud Storage Group Test

Gordon — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:34:31 +0000

Dropbox isn’t the only option anymore, but is it still the best?

Written by Gordon Kelly (for ITProPortal)
04 May, 2012

Introduction

If you didn’t know much about Cloud storage, then the media storm surrounding the launch of Google Drive would suggest you are now well aware of the concept. What you may not realise is that Google Drive arrives late into a crowded market and with many key features missing. So which Cloud storage service should you actually use?

The reigning king is Dropbox, a service whose rise we covered just last month. Dropbox has been on the market since 2008 and attained more than 50m users. Its key is both its simplicity and ubiquity with it appearing on every major operating system: computer, smartphone and tablet. Google clearly thinks it can challenge Dropbox though and it is not alone. Microsoft’s SkyDrive service offers similar functionality and was actually first on the scene launching in 2007. At the opposite end of the scale we have iCloud, Apple’s Cloud storage and backup system for Mac OS X and iOS devices which was released only in October last year.

The sector is not limited to rivals from mega corporations either. Independent company SugarSync has been around for as long as Dropbox and gained numerous fans for its comprehensive functionality. Meanwhile security specialist Trend Micro has managed to win hearts and minds honing its security expertise with potent underdog ‘SafeSync’.

Which to choose can therefore be a matter of personal requirements, but we have found some universal elements to help make your decision that little bit easier:

Capacity - as the saying goes, size matters so how much storage is available on each platform and what are the limits on individual file sizes, if any?

Functionality - what can each Cloud service do beyond being a big online hard drive?

Availability - Cloud storage and synchronisation is meant to make your files available anywhere, but is that really the case?

Privacy - upload your data to a Cloud storage service and what can be done with it? Do you even still own it?

Pricing - how much free data is offered and is it good value to upgrade to large amounts?

Read the full article at ITProPortal for the results…

Cloud Computing and the Consumer

Gordon — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:37:28 +0000

Even if consumers don’t know what cloud computing is, they’re probably using it.

Written by Gordon Kelly
27 April, 2012 (for ITProPortal)

‘neb·u·lous’ – adjective – cloudy or cloudlike - Dictionary.com

‘Lick’ has a lot to answer for. In 1963 Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider, ‘Lick’ to his friends, wrote a memo to his colleagues entitled ‘Members and Affiliates of the Intergalactic Computer Network’. It began apologising for his postponement of a meeting, but by the end he had laid the groundwork for a term which still baffles consumers nearly 50 years later. Lick stressed the importance in computers developing “a capability for integrated network operation… such a network as I envisage nebulously”.

The phrase ‘Cloud Computing’ was born. It probably wasn’t the best description, Licklider admitted in the same memo “as you may have detected… I am at a loss for a name”, but the analogy stuck. Today Gartner predicts the Cloud Computing Market will be worth $150 billion by 2013 and that by 2014 60 per cent of server workloads will be spent processing Cloud data. It cannot be stopped and it should not be stopped. It already dominates consumers’ lives and, as one report observed, this year’s CES (the world’s largest consumer tech event) “should have been called the Cloud Electronics Show”.

What is Cloud Computing?

So what on earth is it? The simplest definition of Cloud Computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, where the service is provided over a network (typically the Internet). Pure Cloud Computing includes web email such as Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo email; social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and ‘streaming’ Internet entertainment services like Spotify, Netflix and BBC iPlayer. A great deal of productivity software lives “in the Cloud” as well such as Google Docs and Microsoft’s Office 365. Modern file synchronisation and backup services are all ‘Cloud-based’ too including Apple iCloud, Dropbox and Microsoft SkyDrive.

It isn’t technically correct, but an easy rule of thumb is to substitute ‘Cloud’ for ‘Internet’. Yes it really isn’t all that difficult, but despite continual media hype, most consumers have no idea what Cloud Computing is or how it works. In August last year the NPD Group announced research which claimed just 22 per cent of consumers were familiar with the term, though 76 per cent of respondents reported using some type of Cloud-based service in the past 12 months.

“Whether they understand the terminology or not, consumers are actually pretty savvy in their use of cloud-based applications,” concluded Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD. “They might not always recognize they are performing activities in the cloud, yet they still rely on and use those services extensively.”

Little else matters. Henry Ford didn’t care whether customers understood the inline four-cylinder monobloc flathead engine inside the Model T and he didn’t require them to define precisely what an automobile was. Ford just wanted consumers to buy it and by doing so in their droves they created a new sector that took society to the next level. Cloud Computing is no different and the benefits to its widespread adoption are arguably even greater.

This is no tongue in cheek statement…

This is a sample. Read the full article on ITProPortal

Arcam rPAC

Gordon — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:36:42 +0000

The rPAC may have a single focus, but it is brilliant at it.

By Gordon Kelly (for TrustedReviews)
Reviewed 26 April 2012

Price as reviewed £150.00

Overall 9/10

Key Features

TI Burr-Brown PCM5102 DAC chipset
138mW headphone amplifcation
RF Suppression
Asynchronous USB
3.5mm & phono output
Independent volume control

The Arcam rPAC is a USB, bus powered DAC (digital to analogue converter) and headphone amplifier that forms part of Arcam’s new ‘R Series’ line of streaming music products – which also includes the excellent drDock. The rPAC has a very simple purpose: make listening to music from your computer better. How it achieves this is rather complex, but you wouldn’t guess that from the setup or design.

Out of the box the rPAC is perhaps the most basic looking device you will see this year. It is a 100 x 62 x 25mm rectangle with USB power and RCA sockets on one side and a 3.5mm jack on the other. On the top are plus and minus volume buttons and a discrete LED which is red when plugged in, switches to green when processing audio and flickers to acknowledge volume adjustment.

Construction and Setup
Despite this minimalism Arcam has continued the good work it started on the drDock as the rPAC is exceptionally well made. The exterior is heavy cast aluminium with a tasteful matt black finish and a damped rubber base. Much like a heavy bottomed glass, the weighty construction (it tips the scales at 300g) feels good in hand and, as the rPAC will most likely live on a desk, makes it mechanically stable and means it isn’t easily knocked over or out of place. We suggested the drDock paid homage to the design and finish of the Apple TV and this is even more apparent here.

You won’t need the instruction manual to get setup… This is a sample. Read the full review on TrustedReviews.

Arcam drDock

Gordon — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:24:03 +0000

An iPhone/iPod/iPad dock with integrated DAC and HDMI? Yes please!

By Gordon Kelly (for TrustedReviews)
Reviewed 24 April 2012

Price as reviewed £199.00

Overall 9/10

Key Features

Integrated DAC
SPDIF and Auxiliary audio outputs
Charge and sync with iTunes over USB
Video output over HDMI

The Arcam drDock is the curiously named new addition to Arcam’s iPod dock lineup. Succeeding the irDock and rDock it greatly expands upon both, adding a host of useful features. Its raison d’être is to be the quality interconnect between your iPod, iPhone or iPad and a high end AV system and/or television. To do this it features a built-in DAC as well as SPDIF, analogue and (for the first time) HDMI outputs. It will also charge your iDevice and synchronise it with iTunes over USB. This is quite the feature list but, as with its award winning speaker dock the Arcam rCube, the company has delivered in spades.

The most obvious place to start is the design. The drDock is part of a wave of new ‘R Series’ products from the company (which includes the ‘rDAC’ which we will review in a few days) and they feature a unified aluminium construction and matt black finishes. In photos the drDock looks good, but in hand the build quality is exceptional. Arcam has pulled out all the stops to give the drDock a premium feel, and it succeeds. The overall effect is a little akin to the Apple TV with clean lines and a full rubber base (rather than cheaper rubber feet) which adds solidity and a feeling of quality. The connectors are beautifully carved out too with the SPDIF and analogue connectors finished in signal-friendly gold.

The design has also been radically altered. The sunken well connector of the irDock and rDock have been removed so that iPod touch, iPhone and iPad devices can all sit comfortably. Interestingly the irDock is also surprisingly heavy (415g) which, while not usually a desirable quality in gadgets, is ideal here as an iPad can dock comfortably without feeling like it may topple over at any moment.
That’s the outside, so what about the inside? The beating heart of the drDock is Arcam’s internal Burr Brown DAC, a model used across the new R Series. The DAC takes any iDevice out of the equation by stripping the digital audio before it hits their inferior circuitry and processing it directly before sending it on to your AV system or TV. Also worth mentioning is…

This is a sample. Read the full review on TrustedReviews

The Dropbox Effect

Gordon — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:36:49 +0000

We all love Dropbox, but how did it become the default cloud-based storage solution?

The Dropbox Effect

Written by Gordon Kelly (for ITProPortal)
23 April, 2012

“Tom Cruise in Minority Report is not carrying around a thumb drive”

Dropbox co-founder, Drew Houston

Numerous reports, papers and presentations have been given in recent years to explain the rise of Dropbox, the file backup and synchronisation service which has taken the world by storm. In reality the reason for its success is simple: it realised the easiest way to access your data was not by carrying it, but by having it delivered.

For those not in the know, Dropbox is a file hosting, backup and synchronisation service. It works by giving users a single folder which automatically synchronises content added or deleted across multiple devices as well as backing up online. Edited or removed files are kept for up to 30 days online and ‘sharing’ folders can be setup between friends, family or colleagues. Dropbox offers users 2GB of storage space for free, premium subscriptions provide 50GB, 100GB or ‘Team’ accounts for companies.

Dropbox wasn’t the first company to stumble upon this formula, but it has been the breakout success story. We look at why.

The Landscape before Dropbox

Houston is right, there may not have been thumb drives in Minority Report, but when the Science Fiction film was released in 2002, the real world was overrun by them. IBM and Trek Technology were first to market in 1999 with 8MB devices and as capacity increased and size reduced the tech savvy would even boast about whose thumb drive was the best. The technology was impressive, but blinding. Users lost sight of the fact they were mere extensions of the floppy disk and actually a backwards step from the lightening fast Intranets of their schools and universities.

“I graduate and for me it’s back to the Stone Age,” argues Houston. “Where I am emailing myself stuff I’m carrying on a thumb drive. A couple of times I must have put it in the wash… and prayed I hadn’t destroyed it. But I felt like I was just always one stupid move away from disaster.”

This is a sample. Continuing reading the full article on ITProPortal

Tripleton Enigma E2 Secure Phone

Gordon — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:42:04 +0000

The world’s most secure mobile phone looks, but doesn’t come, cheap.

By Gordon Kelly (for TrustedReviews)
Reviewed 19 April 2012

Price as reviewed £1,320.00

Overall 7/10

Key Features

1024bit encrypted digital identification via 2nd Crypto SIM
Uniquely generated 256bit AES call connection
Self destructs if tampered with
5hrs talk time, 250 hrs standby
Two E2s required for encrypted calls
2.4in 320 x 240 pixel display
Triband GSM (900, 1800, 1900MHz)

There is a famous scene in The West Wing where a bemused politician’s aid is told by a military official why ashtrays on nuclear submarines cost $400. “It’s off the USS Greenville, a nuclear attack submarine and likely target for a torpedo,” he explains. “When you get hit with one, you’ve got enough problems without glass flying into the eyes of the navigator and the officer of the deck. This one’s built to break into three dull pieces. We lead a slightly different life out there and it costs a little more money.” The scene could have been written about Tripleton’s Enigma E2 secure phone…

Features
Announced late last month the Enigma E2 is no ordinary phone, in fact according to its maker it is the world’s most secure mobile phone. This is not due to an add-on or app, the E2′s security is at a base level built into the hardware and using a custom secure operating system. The result is extreme with 1024bit RSA asymmetric encryption and 256bit AES symmetric encryption with a further two-way user authentication. Unsurprisingly military, politicians and high end enterprise are the intended customers, rather than those living in fear of the latest Facebook privacy leak.

Interestingly, given all this technology, on the surface the Enigma E2 looks like a handset you might buy for an elderly relative. This is because when the E2 isn’t being uber-smart it is being extremely dumb. The specs read like a handset from a time when Nokia ruled the phone world: a 2.4in 320 x 240 pixel display, triband GSM (900, 1800, 1900MHz), a 3MP camera, microSD card slot, WAP 2.0 web browser, unified email inbox, FM radio and Bluetooth. There is MP3 and MPEG4 audio and video playback, but we can’t see much of the latter being done on such a small screen.

Design
The build quality is also nothing to write home about. The E2 is 100 per cent plastic with four different finishes and the faux-metal side band is a bit tacky. Furthermore the video and camera buttons on the side are small and the microSD card slot cover feels particularly flimsy. The screen is also very dull by modern handset standards and the low screen resolution feels jarring in 2012. At 94.5g and 115 x 50 x 14.7mm the E2 isn’t particularly light or compact either.

Furthermore encrypted calls take their toll on the battery life with it lasting for only up to five hours of talk time, though standby is healthier at up to 250 hours. At least it charges over microUSB, though like the microSD card slot it has a similarly flimsy cover. As you might have guessed by these covers, the E2 isn’t ruggedised to withstand additional impacts or to be water resistant. Of course in theory none of this matters because, like the $400 ashtray, the value is in how it performs…

This is a sample, read the full review at TrustedReviews

Logitech Mini Boombox

Gordon — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 02:16:12 +0000

A price-busting portable speaker with tonnes of functionality, but there’s a but…

By Gordon Kelly (for TrustedReviews)
Reviewed 14 April 2012

Price as reviewed £60.00

Overall 7/10

Key Features

2x 3W speakers
Bluetooth with A2DP wireless streaming
Wireless speakerphone
Integrated, rechargeable battery
Mini USB charge port
3.5mm auxiliary jack

Logitech has broken new ground recently impressing us all with its first premium speaker dock, the UE Air. Now the company is back on more familiar ground with the Mini Boombox, a small, portable speaker designed to make the best of the impending (possibly?) British summer.

Design
The Logitech Mini Boombox looks nothing like its showy premium big brother, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The curved rectangular design is akin to a river-worn stone and its smooth edges feel comfortable in hand. At just 219g it is only a little heavier than a big screened smartphone and slightly bigger than a tin of hardboiled sweets. In short, Logitech has aced the portability part.

It hasn’t done too badly in terms of durability either. A choice of red, white and black finishes are available and these differential sections are made from rubber to resist bumps, scuffs and drops. The rubber feet on the bottom of the Mini Boombox provide similar protection with the only weak spot being the piano black top, which reveals touch sensitive controls when the speaker is switched on.

Notably the top is only connected to the rest of the speaker at the front in order to create a vent for the bass, but this does make it feel weak in hand so hope any impacts take place elsewhere.

Controls and connectivity
What of these controls? Play, pause, skip (hold to scan) and volume make predictable appearances and are responsive to the touch, but worthy of note is the dual function Bluetooth/Call key. Calls first – the Mini Boombox has a built in mic that allows it to be used as a speakerphone, the call button used to answer/end calls. This is a sample, continue reading the full article at TrustedReviews

Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5

Gordon — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 02:19:06 +0000

Siri reignited interest in speech recognition, now the company behind Siri has released its…

By Gordon Kelly (for TrustedReviews)
Reviewed 11 April 2012

Price as reviewed £120.00

Overall 9/10

Key Features

Over 99 per cent potential accuracy
Five minute initial setup
Dictate wirelessly using an iPad or iPhone
Post straight to Facebook & Twitter
Compose emails & search Google Maps
Transcribe audio files

There is something undoubtedly cool about typing without using your hands. The problem is, what seems like such an elegant solution is often more trouble than it’s worth. Speech recognition software has been around for years, but lengthy voice training and hit and miss accuracy have scared many of us away from trying it again. That is a shame, because today it is a whole new ballgame.

Introduction
Nuance has been around since 1992 in various forms. Its technology powers Siri, the party trick behind the iPhone 4S, and it has been the dominant force in the voice recognition market virtually ever since. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 is the company’s latest attempt to teach us that speaking to our computers is not a waste of time. It succeeds.

Features
As a “.5″ release you would think NaturallySpeaking is more about evolution than revolution, but happily that is not the case. Version 11.5 brings a host of new features including smartphone integration, support for social media, a raft of new commands, welcome refinements to the UI and further improvements to the accuracy and speed of the speech recognition engine. Arguably the most exciting of these is smartphone integration because it has the potential to revolutionise the way people use the software.

To coincide with 11.5 Nuance launched ‘Dragon Microphone’, an iOS app that uses the microphone on an iPhone or iPad to replace the need for a dedicated mic or headset. Furthermore the app connects to your computer wirelessly using a Wi-Fi network, meaning you can dictate while walking around the house or simply enjoy not being physically tethered to your computer.Setup is easy… This is a sample, continue reading the full article at TrustedReviews

[The Guardian] My Big Break in Journalism

Gordon — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 02:11:35 +0000

A rare deviation. This article is not written by me, rather I am a part of it giving career advice to aspiring journalists for an article in the Guardian.

My Big Break in Journalism: Writers Reveal their Routes into the Media

What does it take to get a journalism career started? A handful of high profile reporters tell Jack Oughton how they got their foot in the door, and offer advice for budding journalists

Jack Oughton (find him on Twitter)
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 April 2012 10.43 BST

Keen to find out what the journalists and writers that I look up to did to get to where they are today, I devised a mini career questionnaire and sent a few tweets and emails to get some answers. I asked: what’s the one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring journalists? What was the most important thing you did for your career? And, what is good journalism to you? Here are some highlights from what they had to say.

[Cut to my section. I don't have rights to republish in its entirety.]

Gordon Kelly is a writer and journalist specialising in technology, music and film. He works freelance as a features writer for TrustedReviews, the BBC and Wired, produces internal magazines for a number of major companies and teaches courses in media relations

“Remember the 5 Ws [who, what, where, when, why]. It is basic, but how you order information is fundamental to better writing. If I’m allowed a second: don’t be afraid to say you don’t understand. Journalists spend their time talking to specialists. Better to ask a question at the time than feel foolish in print later on.

At my first job my editor made me write nothing but NIBs (news in brief) for the first week. NIBs could be no shorter than 23 words and no longer than 27 words. The lesson was crucial: quickly identify what is and isn’t important and work out what is the heart of the story. Now being able to see the hook of a story, feature or editorial is arguably my biggest strength. To this day if I’m struggling with something I try to summarise it in 23 to 27 words.

[Good journalism is] stories that engage. Different industries and different titles will have a huge influence on what and how you can write, but from these boundaries I think it is important to convey to the reader: ‘this is why you should care’. From cats stuck in trees to front page news, if you don’t care about what you write, why should anyone else?”

Read the entire article here with further advice from the likes of Guardian Technology Editor Charles Arthur, renowned freelance journalist Elizabeth Pears, BGR executive editor Zach Epstein, Tom Warren - Senior News Editor at The Verge and founder of WinRumors, Guardian Money editor Hilary Osborne and Dan Raywood, online news editor for SC Magazine.