Tactic 3D Series Gaming Headphones Announced: Creative
03rd, September, 2010

Get new gaming headset to ensure that you'll be able to hear your enemy sneaking up on you in games. Creative has just announced the Creative Sound Blaster Tactic 3D series that offers a 360 degree surround sound gaming experience, allowing gamers to hear sounds from the front, back, above and below. Another feature of this headphone is its customizable audio profiles.

The Tactic 3D Alpha that sports 40mm drivers, a USB audio adapter, and a detachable noise-canceling microphone. If you want larger 50mm drivers and a steel headband, you'll have to get the Tactic 3G Sigma. Both headphones will be debuting later this month.

9.2 Million Adults In The UK Never Went Online
30th, August, 2010

A massive 9.2 million UK adults have never been online according to data released by the Office of National Statistics, out of a population of around 62 million or one out of every seven Britons. The ONS figures shows some pretty interesting trends; more than one million UK citizens have used the internet for the first time over the last 12 months, although the OAPs, low income earners and those without qualifications represent an overwhelming portion of those who never used the internet.

97% of those with a degree have used the internet while 98% of those earning over £41,600 have been connected to the web at least once. More than 30 million UK adults use the internet every day with another eight million being regular internet users instead and nearly a third connecting to the internet though a mobile handset. A spokesperson for the Office for National Statistics said that "Since 2006 we have seen a significant increase in the number of people using the Internet, with the number of adults accessing the Internet every day almost doubling to just over 30 million, though the UK is some way off from being completely online."

Notably, 2.7 million people access the internet regularly though Wi-Fi hotspots commonly used at cafes, restaurants, libraries and other public places.

UK moves up to fourth in world spam league
26th, August, 2010

The UK is on its way up in the world, but unfortunately, the particular global league which we’re leaping and bounding up is the one that measures a nation’s spam output. These were the findings of anti-virus experts Symantec in the company’s just published MessageLabs Intelligence Report for August.

This found that the UK has doubled its spam levels since April, which is quite an impressive – well, unimpressive – achievement. Our country is now responsible for 4.5% of the world’s spam, which makes it the fourth most prolific spammer in the world behind the US, India and Brazil. This confirms a Sophos report from last month, which also pegged the UK as fourth and responsible for 4.6% of all spam.

In global terms, botnets are more prevalent than ever, and now account for almost all spam sent; 95% of the email inbox clogging stuff, in fact. That’s up considerably from a level of 84% in April. Rustock is the dominant botnet when it comes to the high-powered distribution of emails about cheap Rolex watches and libido pills, being responsible for 41% of all spam in the month of August. Paul Wood, MessageLabs Intelligence Senior Analyst at Symantec noted: “Overall, the total amount of spam in circulation is down slightly from the previous quarters as most botnets have reduced their number of bots.”

“One exception is Rustock which has decreased its number of bots but increased its volume, more than doubling the amount of spam sent from each bot per minute resulting in a 6 percent increase in spam emails per day.”

The average Rustock bot now fires off 192 spam emails every minute, and never once stops for a tea or smoke break.

Gaming overtakes downloading music and films says Ofcom
21st, August, 2010

Online gaming is now more popular than downloading music and films when it comes to things to do online according to a new report out by Ofcom. According to Ofcom’s recent Communications Market Report 2010 39 per cent of those surveyed played games online, which was up from 38 per cent last year.

Compare that to downloading music and films and according to the report only 38 per cent to that. Okay, so we would be the first to note that the difference is just one per cent, however with music and downloads down and online gaming up there is a positive shift in gaming perhaps spawned by our adoption of Facebook games like Farmville.

However what is most interesting, is that the console is starting to play a massive part in being a doorway to the internet and the content we consume on it. Ofcom found that nearly 10 per cent used their PS3 or Nintendo Wii to watch programmes on the iPlayer with most opt for the PS3 to access the Beeb's catch up service - something that is only likely to increase now that they've announced that they will be adding the ITV player to the PS3 soon.

In fact the UK population spends a quarter of its time on the Internet, primarily on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, according to the survey. Away from downloading and gaming, Ofcom believes we cram in 8 hours 48 minutes of media consumption into 7 hours per day.

Internet Explorer 9 beta due on September 15
16th, August, 2010

Microsoft has named the date for the first beta of its successor to Internet Explorer 8. You'll be able to download beta code for IE9 on September 15, the company said Thursday. Microsoft said that it's not releasing code to MSDN subscribers in advance, followed by everybody else.

Microsoft is planning to formally open the download gates for IE9 at an event in San Francisco called "Beauty of the Web". The beta will finally unveil the IE9 interface that's so far been missing from the preview editions of the browser released to testers. IE9 will be the most standards-compatible version of IE in Microsoft's history. Support for HTML5 has been expanded to include HTML5 video and audio elements, 2D graphics using the highly-anticipated Canvas element, and there's support for embedded fonts using Web Open Font Format (WOFF).

Internet Explorer 9 will also run Google's open sourced WebM video codec plus the closed and proprietary H.264 from Microsoft, Apple, and others. IE9 also features a new script engine, Chakra, that uses hardware to boost performance to within 50 milliseconds of Safari, Opera, and Chrome on SunSpider benchmarks. The title of Microsoft's event suggests the company is pushing IE9 as something for building and delivering rich graphics and internet applications using web standards and fast, hardware-accelerated rendering.

The goal is for the IE9 beta to be good enough for use by a broad range of users — or, as Microsoft web product manager Mark Quirk, told Reg reviewer Tim Anderson earlier this month "anyone who is comfortable installing and uninstalling applications." Before, Microsoft delivered two betas: one for developers and the other for developers plus everybody else. Given that the beta is in September and Microsoft released IE8 at its Mix conference in March 2009, it would seem reasonable to assume IE9 will be released at the next Mix in March 2011 — if the event goes ahead — two years after IE8. Microsoft hopes IE9's embrace of standards will help arrest IE's dropping market share of recent years. IE hovers at 60 per cent, up barely from a low earlier this year of 59.95 per cent.

The question for IE9 will be how far it can erode Firefox and stop the drift to Google's Chrome. Microsoft claims 2.5 million downloads of the IE9 platform previews since code was first delivered at Mix earlier this year.

Intel, other chip makers suffer on PC sales fears
12th, August, 2010

Shares of chipmakers Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Nvidia Corp. dropped Tuesday as analysts said demand for computers looks shaky heading into the all-important back-to-school season.

The stocks tumbled as J.P. Morgan analyst Christopher Danely warned investors that personal computer orders are "falling off a cliff." Barclays Capital's Tim Luke told clients that his latest checks reveal that third-quarter PC sales "have continued to remain subdued and Intel and AMD seasonal sales guidance may prove bold."

The comments amplified fears that PC sales, which have been buoyed by intense interest in cheap laptops, are starting to slow. One reason is tightfistedness by consumers who are worried that the economy and their job prospects will stay weak. Some semiconductor makers have reported blowout numbers — Intel, for example, booked its biggest quarterly net income in a decade in the second quarter — but in many cases their stocks have barely budged. That's because investors have been worried that forecasts for the second half of 2010 could be too optimistic, given worries about Europe's debt crisis and the strength of the U.S. economy's recovery.

Intel is the world's No. 1 maker of the "brains" of PCs. AMD is No. 2. Nvidia is a big maker of graphics chips. The stocks can rise or fall together on sweeping news about the health of the computer market.

Microsoft launches PC vs Mac site
10th, August, 2010

Microsoft has launched a new page on the Windows 7 web site which tell users what they "need to know" about the strengths of Windows-powered PCs. "PCs are designed for work and play, with features you need to get things done on the job or at school and have fun at home or on the go. From easily sharing Microsoft Office documents to watching HDTV and Blu-ray movies, PCs help you do it all," says the new page on the Windows 7 site.

The site is further split into different sections including having fun, simplicity, working hard, sharing, compatibility and choice. The page also features a twitter feed of public mentions of Windows 7 under a "What the buzz is about" heading. In entertainment Microsoft sells up the strengths of the PC platform as a gaming system and sells up Windows 7's media functionality, saying: "You can't get a Mac that ships with a Blu-ray player, TV tuner, Memory Stick reader, or built-in 3G wireless. You can with PCs running Windows 7."

Microsoft also makes an argument in the simplicity section that "Macs can take time to learn" before suggesting: "While some may say Macs are easy, the reality is that they can come with a learning curve. PCs running Windows 7 look and work more like the computers you're familiar with, so you can get up and running quickly."

UK outperformed on broadband speeds
04th, August, 2010

The UK has slipped down the global rankings for the average internet speed achieved by web users. It dropped from 23rd to 27th in a list of 201 countries, according to a report from Akamai, a digital content delivery network provider. Britons can expect to get an average speed of around 3.8 megabits per second, while those in South Korea, the highest ranked country, enjoy average speeds of around 12 megabits per second.

Hong Kong also offers lightning fast web access, with average speeds of nine megabits per second, with Japanese web users achieving speeds of 7.8 megabits per second, and those in Romania and Latvia enjoying average speeds of around 6.3 megabits per second, according to the Akamai report.

Akamai also looked at the top 100 fastest cities in the world for internet access, with Masan in South Korean topping the list, while the Swedish city of Umea was singled out as the European city with the fastest average internet connections. No British city featured anywhere in the list.

The Government has pledged to improve the speed and availability of high-speed internet services in the UK, rolling out universal broadband services, offering at least two megabits per second, by 2015.