bloggarriv » TECHNOLOGY

Google ups the ante in battle with Microsoft

Dave — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:07:21 +0000

Google Chrome Browser is here and available for download at: http://www.google.com/chrome. This is Google’s latest battleground with Microsoft who produce the almost ubiquitous Internet Explorer. Personally, I would like to see Google produce a mail client.

Home Automation Apps for iPhone

Coolgarriv — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:14:54 +0000

This is quite a big step up from the Apple Remote application, which allowed you to control your iTunes and which speakers it played through. I thought that was cool, how I would love to have this setup in my house:

Two home automation control apps for the iPhone were announced today allowing people to access and control their home automation systems while on the go. My House UI for Control 4 and Crestron Control App are very similar but bring the characteristic traits of their respective systems to the forefront.

According to the press release, My House UI for Control4 was developed by Control UI and Control4 and makes it so you can access your home system on your iPhone. All you have to do is download the app from the App Store, download some software onto the Control4 system and you’ll be good to go. There is also a dock called the Control4 Dock for iPod that lets you share your iPod’s contents with the Control4 home system.

The Crestron Control App for iPhone is a similar piece of software that’s free to download and is “fully integrated with Crestron programming software including SystemBuilder™, VT Pro-e and SIMPL™,” according to the press release. After the simple download and a few set up procedures, you can control your home and office with just a few taps on your iPhone.

Pay-as-you-go iPhone on the way

Dave — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:37:07 +0000

Apple’s iPhone 3G will soon be available to Irish consumers on a pay-as-you-go basis, with O2 Ireland confirming the plan is to be introduced here soon. “O2 in Ireland is currently working on making the iPhone 3G available to prepay customers and we hope to be in a position to give more details in the coming weeks,” a spokesman for O2 Ireland told ENN. While there is no details on when it will launch in Irish stores, in the UK O2 has announced the pay-as-you-go iPhone 3G will be rolled out on 16 September. From then, an 8GB pay-as-you-go iPhone 3G will be available for STG349.99 and the 16GB version for STG399.99.

Microsoft starts console price war in Japan

Dave — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:17:42 +0000

Prices of the Xbox360 video game are to be slashed in Japan as its makers Microsoft fight back against rivals. The cheapest of three models, Xbox 360 Arcade, will cost around €123 from next week. Nintendo’s Wii costs €150 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 model sold in Japan, which has a 40-gigabyte hard drive, is about €235. “We have set the prices with hopes more people will be able to enjoy Xbox 360,” said a Microsoft spokesman.

Microsoft will not say how many of the 20 million Xbox 360 machines sold worldwide were in Japan, but it is widely viewed to be fewer than numbers sold elsewhere. The Wii console has been popular, selling 29.6 million worldwide so far. PS3 sales have lagged at fewer than half of the Wii at 14.4 million.

twitter ditch SMS updates

Dave — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:29:44 +0000

Read the full story on blog.twitter.com. twitter have stopped sending SMS updates. Well that renders my Sandy account useless. Whats the point in setting reminders if you have to remember to logon and check your twitter/mail??

twitter, please reconsidder or least offer a premium service to continue to allow users receive their tweets

Irish DTT to start in 2009

Dave — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:40:24 +0000

Following the end of digital terrestrial television (DTT) trials by the Irish Government today, Minister for Communications, Eamon Ryan said national rollout will begin in a little over a year – August 2009. What this means is that the traditional analogue television will be slowly phased out over the course of the next four years as we approach the switch-off deadline of 2012 and will be completely replaced with digital broadcasting.

The terrestrial channels will be picked up automatically by those with cable or satellite television services but those of us who just tune in to the four channels will have to bin our rabbit-ears and buy a set-top box to receive the channels. So while RTÉ is providing this new DTT service free to air, as the current analogue service is, many will be paying for new technology to make it work. However, it is estimated the set-top box should not cost more than €100.

Cathal Goan, RTÉ’s director general, said the reason for the switchover to the new technology as it allows space for more content and for high-definition channels.

We want to ensure our viewers get the best value for money in the switch to digital television – more channels, more services and better quality pictures.

Blogged from my iTouch

Coolgarriv — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:04:33 +0000

This was sent from my iTouch, using the new WordPress App

Wordpress App is now available for iPhones and iTouch

Coolgarriv — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:04:03 +0000

Finally, there is now a WordPress App for my iTouch. THere were already nummerous blog apps to download from the Apple App store, but no wordpress. Thankfully this has now been rectified. The WordPress application for the iPhone has officially been released. Now you’ll be able to publish to WordPress powered blogs right from your iPhone/iTouch. This app will allow you to post to your blog and comes with the following spec:

Support for WP.com blogs and self-installed blogs version 2.5.1 and higher
Embedded Safari for true previews of posts
Full tag and category support
Photo support for both camera pictures as well as library photos
Support for multiple blogs
Ability to password protect a post, save as a draft, or mark the post for later review
Auto-recovery. This will recover posts which have been interrupted by phone calls

The app is at version 1.0, is a tiny 0.3MB download, and is compatible with the iPhone as well as the iPod touch. However, this application requires the iPhone 2.0 software update.

Boxer DTT wins digital tv contracts

Dave — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:30:12 +0000

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has awarded the three national digital terrestrial television contracts to the Boxer DTT consortium. Boxer includes Communicorp and BT. Two other consortia had applied for the licences - Easy TV - involving RTE and UPC - and One Vision which includes TV3, Setanta and Eircom.

The BCI said the awarding of the contracts is subject to clarifications and the successful outcome of contract negotiations, which will take place in the coming months. Applying for the licences, Boxer had said it would offer prices below €10 a month and will allow viewers to top up their channel selections ‘a la carte’. It said there will also be a ‘pay as you go’ option for its pay channels

Five fold increase in Blu-Ray sales

Dave — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:16:31 +0000

Statistics from The British Video Association suggest that sales of the Blu-ray disc format have increased 506% over the previous year, and now account for 1.2% of the total dic market - that’s around one million discs. Despite general economic pessimism, the home entertainment industry is experiencing growth, probably because it’s generally cheaper to watch movies at home than go out.

The BVA said:

The availability of DVD, Blu-ray and legal downloading means viewers now have more options when deciding how to consume their home entertainment. This increased supply of choice is one factor attributed to the growing demand