Xbox director says company is not stressing over being the most expensive console this holiday season; "I just believe that we're going to have a better system," says Albert Penello.
The Xbox One will be $100 more than the PlayStation 4 and $200 more than the Wii U this holiday season, but Microsoft is not stressing over its stance as the most expensive console.
"It’s up to us to prove that it’s worth $100 more. I think it is," senior director of product planning and management at Xbox Albert Penello told GameSpot today at PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington.
Penello said the suite of games and services Microsoft is offering with the Xbox One is stronger than the competition.
"I think we do more. I think our games are better. I think as people start to experience Kinect and see what it can do using voice, I think that’s better," he added. "I think the ability to have an all-in-one system where you can plug in the TV, that’s better. I think we’ll have a better online service."
"I just believe that we’re going to have a better system."
Ultimately, consumers want to buy the "best thing," Penello said. The Xbox One's stance as the most premium console this holiday season won't hold it back, he argued.
"$100, when you’re talking $400 vs. $500 [shrugs shoulders]. I don’t believe it’s going to be the deal-killer," he said.
Nintendo shocked the world today by unveiling its next iteration of the 3DS line: the 2DS. That’s right, Nintendo is launching a new model of its flagship product on October 12th without any 3D support. Even more bizarre, it isn’t even in the traditional clamshell design of other DS-branded devices. While the Kyoto company has successfully raised eyebrows across the gaming industry with this announcement, this new model actually does offer some interesting benefits.
First and foremost, this is meant to serve as an entry-level gaming device. For $129.99, it will play every DS and 3DS game — exclusively in 2D. With the recent price drop of the PlayStation Vita to $199.99, and the introduction of the low-end $229 iPod Touch, Nintendo is obviously focused on keeping a substantial price cushion between itself and competitors. Considering that the 3DS has sold roughly six times the units that the Vita has, this push down-market is seemingly little more than the current leader hedging its bets to remain dominant in the face of increased competition.
In this video from our sister site IGN, it’s abundantly clear that Nintendo is pushing this model heavily towards the younger crowd. Not only is the lower price easier for parents to swallow, but the lack of 3D means that Nintendo is finally comfortable marketing towards children younger than 7. With the 3DS, Nintendo has gone out of its way to warn parents not to let their young children play in 3D-mode because it could potentially cause vision problems for immature eyes. Now that Nintendo has a model without that potential risk, parents can rest easy knowing that there is no 3D to enable.
Even with the handful of obvious benefits, this is a really strange marketing decision. The simultaneous existence of the 2DS and 3DS will undoubtedly cause some amount of brand confusion, and as we all know from the botched Wii U launch, Nintendo isn’t exactly an expert at properly clarifying its product lines to consumers. Even worse, it waters down the importance of 3D games on the platform. Now that developers know that they can’t depend on everyone having access to 3D-mode, any sort of clever 3D gameplay mechanics will be tossed right out the window going forward.
Nintendo also announced today that it plans on dropping the MSRP of the deluxe Wii U bundle to $299.99 — the current price of the basic bundle. Starting September 20th, the current 32GB SKU will drop in price, and Nintendo will launch a new 32GB bundle including the HD remake of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. There is no official word on the fate of the 8GB basic bundle, but since it sold so poorly, it seems likely that Nintendo might axe it completely.
We've seen the low-cost iPhone or the iPhone 5C a number of times in multiple colours thanks to leaked videos and images. However, not much is known about the hardware specifications of the phone except that it might feature internals similar to the iPhone 5. A new report claims to shed some light on the specifications of the low-cost iPhone.
According to SIM Only Radar, the iPhone 5C will be powered by a dual-core CPU, and will have a 4-inch screen, just like the iPhone 5, with a resolution of 640x1136 pixels. The site cites a specs sheet that it received from a tipster as the source for this information.
The sheet mentions that the iPhone 5C will have 1GB of RAM, and will come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage variants. It will sport an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.2-megapixel front facing camera camera and run iOS 7 complete with Siri which would be available in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish, as per the tipster.
The iPhone 5C will reportedly be 6 grams lighter than the iPhone 5 at 106 grams and will measure 124.2 x 58.4 x 7.6 mm. The iPhone 5 measures 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm. If the rumoured specifications are true than the phone would almost be the same size as that of the iPhone 5.
It's worth pointing out that Apple hasn't officially acknowledged the presence of a low-cost iPhone. The low-cost iPhone or iPhone 5C has leaked several times. Alleged pictures of the iPhone 5C have revealed a plastic polycarbonate body back panel in White, Blue, Red, Yellow and Green colours, a round camera lens and LED flash, lightning connector port, Apple logo and iPhone branding.
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 5S along with the iPhone 5C on September 10 at an event in San Francisco.
This morning you probably read the report that the NSA, despite its emphatic claims to the contrary, has the ability to scoop up 75% of all US internet traffic. Through various programs known as Fairview, Oakstar, Lithium, Blarney, Stormbrew, and old favorites such as XKeyscore and Prism, the US government gathers data from almost every US telecommunications company. Blarney, for example, according to former AT&T officials, sends a copy of anything interesting that crosses the AT&T network (which is huge) to the NSA.
Rather than worry about whether your internet activity is being snooped on by the US government, though (spoiler: it is), I thought I would instead take a different tack and surprise you with a glass-half-full approach. If the NSA can listen in on 75% of all traffic traveling through the US, then that must surely mean that a full 25% goes unmonitored. When you’re talking about a significant chunk of the internet’s infrastructure, representing exabytes (billions of gigabytes) of traffic every month, 25% is a significantly sizable swath that’s unchecked by the US government. 25% is easily enough room for you to surf the web without the omnipresent gaze of an overreaching government. But how do you stop being part of the quietly oppressed 75% and enjoy the freedom of the other 25%?
Are you being monitored?
Unfortunately, because we’re dealing with classified information and journalistic reports that redact a lot of the more juicy information, it’s quite hard to work out which 75% of the US internet is being monitored, and which 25% is fast and loose. Let’s start by running through what we do know.
At the very least, it seems that AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have hardware in their data centers and transit hubs that mirror data, filter the data according to the NSA’s requirements, and then ferry that data to the NSA. Judging by the names mentioned in the leaked Prism slides, major US companies such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and Facebook are all under the thumb of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court, too. Between AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, the US government has a tap on most of North America’s US internet traffic. Not only do these companies act as ISPs (connecting consumers to the internet), but by virtue of being tier 1 operators they also run some of the largest backbone and backhaul links (connecting enterprises and whole data centers to the internet). AT&T and Verizon (via WorldCom and UUNET) also have extensive overseas networks, which the US government probably has access to as well.
Sprint’s US backbone map (date unknown, but probably quite recent)
Level 3′s North America internet backbone (2013)
The most notable omission from the leaks appears to be Level 3 — a US company that just so happens to be one of the biggest players in the global internet backbone business. If Level 3 hasn’t signed onto the NSA data collection programs, then that might explain the missing 25%. In reality, Level 3 is probably beholden to the same laws and FISA rulings that have forced other US companies to install the NSA’s special packet-mirroring routers. (See: The secret world of submarine cables.)
Escaping the ever-watchful eye of the US government
Which ISPs and backbone providers have escaped the US government’s digital dragnet, then? Deutsche Telekom, which is headquartered in Germany by operates a large tier 1 network in the US, is one possibility. T-Mobile (which is owned by Deutsche Telekom) has so far been unscathed by the recent spate of NSA whistleblowing, suggesting that its lawyers may have successfully navigated the various FISA rulings. NTT, a Japanese company, and Reliance, an Indian company, both have operations in the USA and may have escaped the NSA.
If I had to pick a major carrier/backbone provider that accounts for the missing 25%, it would probably be Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile. But these are just educated guesses. The other gloomy possibility, though, is that the missing 25% represents the data that the telecoms companies hold back from the NSA. According to the Wall Street Journal report, at least one telco has its lawyers only hand over “clearly foreign” streams of data. It’s entirely possible that the government has a tap on every major player in the US internet market. If that’s the case, then your only real recourse is moving to another country and using an ISP/mobile carrier that doesn’t have ties to the US (very hard, as much of the internet backbone is owned by US companies), or perhaps waiting for an ISP to make a stand and publicly announce that it will not allow the US government to spy on your internet activity. In the meantime, your best bet is probably to use encrypted connections wherever possible. You should force HTTPS with a browser add-on when you’re surfing the web or using webmail, and use encrypted tunnels (SSH) or the secure versions of services (SFTP, IMAP over SSL, etc.) whenever you venture outside your browser. If you’re really serious about your privacy, using an anonymity network like Tor or Freenet is probably a good idea, too.
NASA is preparing to launch the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD), a testbed that will use lasers to send and receive data between Earth and the Moon. This will be the first time that NASA uses lasers instead of conventional S-band radio waves to communicate with spacecraft, allowing for massive data rates of up to 600 megabits per second, while also consuming much less power and requiring much smaller antennae. Ultimately, shifting to laser-based communications will allow NASA to receive much more data from spacecraft, allowing them to be outfitted with high-res cameras and other modern sensors that generate more data than S-band links can support. Optical communications, as opposed to radio frequency (RF) communications (or simply “radio”), are desirable for three key reasons: Massive bandwidth, higher security, and lower output power requirements. All of these traits derive from the frequency of optical and radio waves. While S-band signals are in the 2-4GHz range (similar to your GSM, LTE, or WiFi link), the laser light used by the LLCD (near-infrared in this case) is measured in hundreds of terahertz. As a result, the wavelength of S-band signals is around 10cm, while near-infrared has a wavelength of just 1000nm — or about 100,000 times shorter. Not only can you cram a lot more data into into the same physical space, but there’s also terahertz (compared to megahertz in the S band) of free, unlicensed space that can be used.
Because the wavelength is smaller, the sending and receiving antennae can also be a lot smaller, allowing for smaller/lighter spacecraft and much easier reception here on Earth. By the time a conventional RF signal arrives at Earth from outer space, the beam can cover an area as wide as 100 miles, requiring very large dish antennae (such as the Deep Space Network) to pick those signals up. Receiving laser signals, which are 100,000 times shorter, requires a much smaller dish. As a corollary, due to these beams being much tighter, they’re much harder for an enemy to snoop on, thus increasing security. Transmitting data via laser also requires less power than RF.
The LLCD will be deployed upon the Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), which is scheduled for launch in September. LADEE (which could be pronounced lay-dee or lad-ee, we’re not sure) will orbit the Moon, seeking to confirm whether the mysterious glow observed by Apollo astronauts was caused by dust in the lunar atmosphere. Thanks to the LLCD, NASA will have a 20Mbps uplink to LADEE (apparently 4,800 times faster than existing S-band uplinks), and LADEE will have a 600Mbps downlink to NASA (five times faster than current state-of-the-art lunar-distance links). The mission will only last for 30 days, after which, if it’s a success, NASA will launch the long-duration Lunar Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), which will hitch a ride aboard a commercial Loral satellite. The LCRD will allow NASA to perform further testing of space laser communications, with the hope of eventually replacing RF links in future spacecraft. Moving forward, space laser communications will allow for the creation of spacecraft that are smaller, cheaper, and capable of more advanced functionality. With 600Mbps of downlink capacity, we’ll be able to outfit spacecraft with high-resolution cameras and other advanced sensors that generate vast amounts of data — and view that data in real time, rather than waiting for the data to slowly dribble over the airwaves.
Google's engineering director Chris Yerga displays the new Nexus 7 which offers a smaller form, greater resolution and cheaper price than Apple's newest tablet.
GOOGLE will fire a new weapon in the tablet war today, launching a revamped 7-inch tablet in Australian stores with a smaller form, greater resolution and cheaper price than Apple's newest tablet.
The internet giant's tablet will also beat tablet leader Apple to the punch, with rumours swirling a new iPad announcement will not come until after the company's next iPhone announcement, now anticipated on September 20.
Google's new own-brand tablet, the Nexus 7 2013, will start appearing in Australian electronics stores today, and will feature the highest screen resolution of any 7-inch tablet, at 323 pixels per inch, will shave 50g off the previous model and 18g off an Apple iPad Mini, and will come in both wi-fi and 4G models.
The new tablet, manufactured by ASUS, will range from $299 for a 16GB wi-fi model to $439 for a 32GB 4G version, making it up to $180 cheaper than an equivalent iPad Mini in Australia. Google's new tablet will cost significantly more in Australia than the United States, however, with prices between $70 and $90 more expensive.
Research firm Telsyte estimated more than 2.4 million tablets were purchased in Australia last year, a figure that will jump 50 per cent this year. Telsyte research director Foad Fadaghi said smaller tablets, with screens between 7 and 9 inches in size, would outsell 10-inch tablets by 2014.
THE girlfriend at the centre of the split between Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife may still be working side by side with her billionaire beau in the wake of the bombshell office romance that has rocked Silicon Valley.
"They moved her out from under his supervision," a source in the San Francisco Googleplex said of Internet side dish Amanda Rosenberg, 27, as her secret relationship with Brin became public.
However, a Google spokesman denied Rosenberg has been moved, noting, "The employee remains in her current position and is not transferring to another group."
The romance was bad news for their exes — Anne Wojcicki and Hugo Barra, according to the New York Post.
The Brit-bred Rosenberg, who last summer landed a job as marketing manager at Google Glass — a pet project of Brin's — will now "be even further from Sergey in the chain of command," the source said.
Brin's affair with Rosenberg was revealed Wednesday after the tech blog AllThingsD reported he had split with his wife of six years, Anne Wojcicki.
Another tech-news blog, Valleywag, outed Rosenberg as the other woman.
It's unclear how long Rosenberg and Brin had been dating on the sly, but a source said the Google co-founder and his wife were "still together when Amanda entered the picture".
Brin and Wojcicki — CEO of DNA-testing-kit firm 23andME, in which Google has invested millions — split about four months ago, an insider said.
Another source with knowledge of Brin's romance said it was "open to debate" whether Rosenberg caused the split, and noted that the Brin-Wojcicki marriage was "complicated."
Rosenberg's claim to fame was coming up with the command, "OK, Glass," to activate Google Glass, the company's head-mounted computer.
She had been dating another Googler, Hugo Barra, a top Android exec. Barra resigned this week to take a job with the Chinese phone maker Xiaomi.
His departure followed "a recent thorny personal situation related to the end of a romantic relationship he had with another Googler," AllThingsD reported.
Adding to the drama, Wojcicki's sister Susan is a senior Google exec. Brin and co-founder Larry Page started Google in Susan's garage.
A source said Brin and his wife, who have two small children, have not filed for divorce and still plan to work together on philanthropy projects. The couple has a prenup.
Rosenberg was working in another division but put herself on the Google map when she pitched the "OK, Glass" command idea, which she has boasted took her "three seconds."
"I interviewed a week later and have been terrorizing the Glass team ever since," Rosenberg wrote in a Google+ post.
She and Brin, worth an estimated $24.5 billion, had worked side by side promoting the product to the public, even hitting New York Fashion Week together.
Rosenberg — who attended Marlborough College in England with Kate Middleton's sister, Pippa, and Princess Beatrice — was always ambitious, a former boyfriend told the Daily Mail.
Told his ex was linked to the Google tycoon, he said, "It wouldn't surprise me in the least — she's that kind of girl."
Rosenberg likes to show her sense of humor online. In one video, she recalls the humorous reactions people give her Google Glass.
And an online post, Rosenberg — who could not be reached for comment — joked about her Chinese-Jewish heritage.
"I'm part of the master race that is the Chinese Jew or Chew, if you will," she wrote, according to the Daily Mail. "Born in Hong Kong but bred in the UK. A misanthrope who's bad at maths, so I got the worst of both worlds."
If it doesn't yet suck for you, it can start at any time and quickly blaze out of control. Making things bearable again - even better than they were - can be a difficult prospect for the average user.
We're going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you use Facebook for more reasons than simply 'staying in touch.' You might play the stupid games. You spy on ex partners. You eagerly await the sudden appearance of the next hilarious YouTube opus and/or awesome article. You want to be entertained by Facebook. Of course you do - it's a great medium for that in a lot of different ways.
A few things can get in the way, though. We'll need to fix those before the merriment may continue (or start).
1. Uninteresting Updates From Uninteresting Humans
You might have a few hundred "friends." Some people will have a few thousand. Whatever the case, nobody has that many actual friends. Nobody. The problem with friending that guy you ran into at a bar who also liked drinking eight years ago is that you end up with a feed full of awful, useless, whinging, mundane bulls**t. Hell can totally be other people, especially on Facebook. Now, defriending people can start something. We don't want to do that. Instead, you can unfollow. Scroll up to the right corner of a post from someone you can't stand. A little box that was previously invisible will appear. Click it, and click 'Hide'. Then go the extra mile and click 'Change what updates you get from <insert insufferable human garbage here>.' Click 'Unfollow'. They are now gone from your feed forever. And they'll never know, either.
2. People's Dumb Babies
Some of your Facebook chums are legitimately cool. However, even cool people sometimes have babies and this can cause a horrible schism to occur in your enjoyment of them: They are now parents. Proud parents. Proud new parents who will show the world their unremarkable bore-spawn doing nothing at all at least 200 times per spare moment. You can't simply unfollow these people though, they were formerly cool and maybe show glimmers of this in between bore-spawn offensives. The solution is to a) Start using Google Chrome, and b) Install unbaby.me. The child is now kittens.
3. Everything You Like Is Boring
Most of us see the page of something we enjoy or have enjoyed only recently (like a new movie, say) and instinctively click 'Like' on it because, well, we like it. This natural reaction has the adverse effect of cluttering your feed with huge steaming piles of 'engagement' that's either redundant or grasping. Annoying, right? Apart from resisting the urge to Like everything within personal interest range, be judicious about what pages you let into your FB boudoir. Here, let us assist in this matter of grave import: news.com.au (of course), AskMen Australia (for fun), Shock Mansion (they live for the best vids on the web), and I f***ing love science (learn while you laugh).
4. It's The Little Things
It really is. Facebook's little annoyances can add up to one huge suppository that constitutes your social media experience. Endless event invites (even from complete strangers. How does that work?), insistent hassle from apps and your friends' silly startups, guilt-brokering pictures of maimed animals, and the dreaded poke. Refrain from any of this, especially poking anyone. It's weird and nobody knows how to feel about it. Furthermore, stamp out the tyranny of event invites (just say "no" or, if you're chicken, "maybe") or receive constant updates whenever somebody posts in them forever. Your mind is a terrible thing to lose and housecleaning your Facebook is essential.
5. You
The average Facebook user has over 120 friends and likes another 100 groups or pages. You're an average Facebook user. That's a lot of potential pollution you might also be putting out. The problem could be you, or you could be part of it. It's incredibly tempting to see 'What's on your mind?' and be very quick to take up the invite to talk about yourself and thus bore everyone to death with triviality, passive-aggressiveness, attention-seeking, or egotism. Self-absorption is one of the biggest problems with social media. Most people are unremarkable and don't realise it. If the internet is good for anything, it's good for escapism and/or education. Next time you go to tell the world "lovin' lunch right now lol/someone has really done it now/man I can't believe what just happened/in New York & ur not," backspace it to hell and try this instead: Share something of intense worth and interest. It could be the latest expose on Mexican drug cartels or that time Frenzal Rhomb's frontman got a tapeworm stuck in his brain. You're selflessly contributing good stuff and you look good doing it. Start that trend.
YOU know that file you deleted from your computer before your significant other had a chance to find it?
What if we told you that file never really disappeared?
That's right, just because you move a file to the trash doesn't mean it has actually been deleted.
And even once you empty the trash, the space inhabited by the file isn't actually emptied. When you hit "delete" that file doesn't disappear. It is simply marked as empty.
Michael from YouTube channel VSauce explains that "the file's home becomes available real estate but the file itself hasn't actually moved out. Only the pointers have gone away."
What are pointers, you ask? Pointers are a kind of data that point to places in your computer's memory where the file you are referencing can be found.
Deleting a file is the equivalent of turning to the contents page of a book and marking a chapter as empty, even though the actual chapter still exists.
Which is why you need to "overwrite" the file. Overwriting the file is the equivalent of turning it into Frankenstein's monster. You keep adding new data to it until it becomes unrecognisable.
However, overwriting doesn't always work. Some people have overwritten files more than 35 times and even then hackers and cyber criminals have been able to piece the information back together.
So the next option is shredding - physically taking apart your computer piece by piece and maybe putting it through some high powered magnet for good measure.
But much like shredded pieces of paper can actually be put back together, so too can shredded computer parts.
The video explains that cyber criminals have been able to find classified files from the US government in digital dumping grounds in Ghana.
So basically, nothing is permanently gone. And the best way to keep your data safe is to keep the hard drives of your old computers before ditching, donating or selling it, because you never know where your data can end up.
And then take to it with a hammer or some gasoline and a match.
Watch the video above for a more detailed explanation.
The 'selfie' (right) was posted online by Riccardo Arcelli. On the left the pope can be seen posing with Arcelli and his friends during their visit to the Vatican. Picture: AP/Riccardo Aguiari
POPE Francis has broken protocol once again, appearing with a puzzled look on his face in a "selfie" photo taken with a group of teenagers visiting the Vatican.
The picture appeared on the Facebook page of one of the youngsters, who used it as his profile picture, and was going viral on social media on Saturday. The picture comes in the same week that the Oxford English Dictionary included the word "selfie" to denote a self-taken photograph on a smartphone. The young believers were part of a church group from northern Italy who met with the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics on Wednesday and were seen going up to him afterwards to take their photo. "There is no marketing behind these actions. The Pope clearly likes being with people while his predecessor liked being with books," said Beppe Severgnini, columnist for the Corriere della Sera daily. The 76-year-old Pope, Latin America's first pontiff, has repeatedly broken with Vatican tradition since being elected in March, including regularly picking up the phone and calling ordinary people who write to him. The photo prompted bemused reactions on Twitter, with one user saying "Now I've seen everything" and another quipping: "It's the end of the world as we know it." One unenthused tweeter commented: "Just because Pope Francis poses for a 'selfie', doesn't make it okay!"
A bunker being eroded by the Atlantic at Cap Breton. Picture: Reuben Wu
UK photographer Rueben Wu likes to shoot abandoned places.
Wu is a musician from UK electro band, Ladytron, whose fame has allowed him access to some places of the world few of us will ever get to see.
He says that he has become attracted to the "dark and hidden things which most people have forgotten about," he tells Gizmodo.
These places include a long abandoned research base in Norway's arctic archipelago of Svalbard, observatories in Chile's Atacama Desert, a series of coastal forts built by the Nazis along western Europe and Scandinavia between 1942-1945, sea forts along the English Channel built during World War II to monitor Nazi aircraft and "sound mirrors" built to detect early radar signals.
Wu says he is interested in shooting places where "humans don't belong".
World War II Nazi surveillance sea forts built by the British. Picture: Reuben Wu
These British sea-forts were built to spy on Nazi aircraft during World War II. Picture: Reuben Wu
"I was interested primarily in settlements in remote and extreme locations, the scarcity of light over winter and the strangeness of the landscape," he told travel blog The Island Review.
Svalbard in particular is not a place of comfort, he says. "It is the only place in the world where natural burial is illegal, as the environmental conditions mean that dead bodies simply will not decompose."
"Humans don't belong there and they can't survive without huge effort," he said. "I found that I had stopped thinking about life at home and had become completely absorbed by the environment - a bizarre sensory deprivation where I became unable to judge the existence of anything apart from the shape of my travelling companion in front of me."
An abandoned building in Barentsburg, Svalbard. Picture: Reuben Wu
Grave sites in Chile's Atacama Desert. Picture: Reuben Wu
Wu's obsession with abandoned places stems from the writing of JG Ballard, Philip K Dick and the films of Andrei Tarkovsky and their stories and themes of "ruin, decay and time". "I think abandoned buildings separate themselves from their original purpose of existence by the path of time," he said. "They signify that everything will come to an end, and we only have a short time to look around before we die." Check out some of Wu's photos below, or on his Facebook, blog and professional website, and next time, before you miss the train, remember how lucky we are not to be living at the end of the world.
Some kind of abandoned machinery in Svalbard.
A UK and US nuclear climatic test chamber in Suffolk, England.
A nuclear climatic test chamber reclaimed by rabbits in Suffolk, England.
An atomic weapons research establishment at an early radar test site at Orford Ness.
A torch marking a Russian settlement in Barentsburg, Svalbard.
A long since abandoned ship trapped in ice
A silhouetted figured in Última Esperanza, a southern province of Chile meaning "Last Hope Province.
Samsung took screen size to a ridiculous new level with the Galaxy Note, offering us a huge 5.3-inch display that's by far the largest of any smartphone out there today.
Now that trick has been taken to the next level, by offering a 5.5-inch screen within the same footprint. The S Pen Stylus has been updated to include more than 1,000 pressure sensitivity levels, and the screen resolution is impressively boosted, too.
As with many of Samsung's Android phones, the Note II is a solid performer, and also came complete with Android Jelly Bean out of the box, along with updates to the Touchwiz overlay. The Super AMOLED HD Plus resolution, combined with a more intuitive S Pen and greater range of software, shows we writers don't always know what we're talking about: Samsung has made a success of a category most of us had written off.
Quick verdict
A great phone, as long as you're not easily embarrassed by whipping out something so comically huge in public. The power and customization may be too much for some, but for others this is the hypercharged handset they'll want to try.
4. Google Nexus 4
Google and LG have worked together to bring to market a fantastic offering, one that even Apple fans can't help but coo over when they hear the price.
The fact of the matter is that this is a handset with world class specs – yet it's at a cost you'd expect to get a budget phone for. Sure, there are a few things that could have been done better, but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives
The Nexus 4 is beautifully designed with a stunning display and rocking the latest version of Android. It has more connectivity than a telephone exchange and even excels in the simple matter of making calls. We're not fans of the lower memory allowance, and it's not got the best screen on the market, and there will be a few that see stock Android 4.2 as too stripped-down to consider it a valid phone OS choice, but that doesn't mean it's not a fantastic handset - it would have competed even without the insanely low price tag.
Quick verdict
Make no mistake – this is the best Nexus handset so far by a long shot. We love it and can't recommend it highly enough.
3. Sony Xperia Z
Sony's new handset is most definitely the most impressive the firm has launched either in its current guise or as Sony Ericsson. You can see the Sony influence throughout the handset as it oozes quality and build from the large screen, which fits close to the edges of the bezel, to the intelligent camera that allows you to snap some really premium photos without needing to fiddle about with the settings. And it's water and dust resistant too, which makes it excellent for general life business, plus it's packing a microSD card slot in an impossibly thin chassis, for which we laud the phone even higher. Add to that the Bravia Engine 2, which can upscale standard definition movies and bring your content to life, and you've got a real matchwinning phone in your hands.
Quick verdict
While it doesn't quite pack the clout of the phones from HTC and Samsung, the Xperia Z is a phone that says Sony is definitely back at the sharp end of the smartphone game. There's still (a small amount of) room for improvement, as the screen can look a bit washed out from some angles, but there's no doubt that if Sony keeps us this pace it will be vying for the top spot in no time at all - we just don't know what Sony will call it.
4. Google Nexus 4
Google and LG have worked together to bring to market a fantastic offering, one that even Apple fans can't help but coo over when they hear the price. The fact of the matter is that this is a handset with world class specs – yet it's at a cost you'd expect to get a budget phone for. Sure, there are a few things that could have been done better, but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. The Nexus 4 is beautifully designed with a stunning display and rocking the latest version of Android. It has more connectivity than a telephone exchange and even excels in the simple matter of making calls. We're not fans of the lower memory allowance, and it's not got the best screen on the market, and there will be a few that see stock Android 4.2 as too stripped-down to consider it a valid phone OS choice, but that doesn't mean it's not a fantastic handset - it would have competed even without the insanely low price tag.
Quick verdict
Make no mistake – this is the best Nexus handset so far by a long shot. We love it and can't recommend it highly enough.
Sony's new handset is most definitely the most impressive the firm has launched either in its current guise or as Sony Ericsson. You can see the Sony influence throughout the handset as it oozes quality and build from the large screen, which fits close to the edges of the bezel, to the intelligent camera that allows you to snap some really premium photos without needing to fiddle about with the settings. And it's water and dust resistant too, which makes it excellent for general life business, plus it's packing a microSD card slot in an impossibly thin chassis, for which we laud the phone even higher. Add to that the Bravia Engine 2, which can upscale standard definition movies and bring your content to life, and you've got a real matchwinning phone in your hands.
Quick verdict
While it doesn't quite pack the clout of the phones from HTC and Samsung, the Xperia Z is a phone that says Sony is definitely back at the sharp end of the smartphone game. There's still (a small amount of) room for improvement, as the screen can look a bit washed out from some angles, but there's no doubt that if Sony keeps us this pace it will be vying for the top spot in no time at all - we just don't know what Sony will call it.
2. Samsung Galaxy S4
Hold the phone, what's happen here? Samsung may have been top dog in 2012, but this year the sultry stylings of the HTC One have proven too strong against a phone that's a slightly-better-version of its predecessor. Ok so it's only really looks that the S4 is too similar, and sadly that was one of the biggest issues most users had with the S3. It's not the biggest smartphone crime, but that coupled with some other minor niggles means it misses out on being number one.
There's a lot to love with the Samsung Galaxy S4 with its super sharp screen, powerful camera, long-lasting battery and fluid user interface - it's got everything you could ever want in a smartphone. It may be a little more costly than some of its direct rivals, but thankfully it's still cheaper than the iPhone. If only it was made out of something a little more premium...
Quick verdict
There's no doubt that this is one of the best smartphone ever made - it's clear, powerful and does everything we'd expect a flagship Samsung mobile to do. It's just a shame that the perceived 'innovation' doesn't really add anything, but make no mistake you'll love the Samsung Galaxy S4 if you decide to plump for it.
1. HTC One
Well, here's something of a shock if you're a Samsung fan – after nearly two years of dominance, the Korean brand has fallen from the top spot. It's nothing to do with the quality of the S4 – it's still an outstanding phone – but more the fact HTC has managed to bring out a smartphone that's worthy of any user's consideration with a supreme aluminium chassis, Full HD screen and simplified version of Sense 5.0 sitting on top of Android Jelly Bean. The new innovations are also pleasingly more than just marketing gimmicks; Zoe functionality allows the creation of delightful video highlight reels, and the Ultrapixel camera means you've got a much wider range of shots available thanks to being stunning in low light.
The only reason this isn't a five star phone is the slightly off-key battery, which can leak juice if you're power-creating videos or watching reams of video, but for day to day use it will be acceptable for most.
Quick Verdict
With power, poise and beauty all combined in this innovative phone, HTC has proved it can more than still cut it with the big boys when it comes to bringing out a lust-worthy flagship smartphone.
CNBC claims that Apple is launching its trade-in program today at retail stores nationwide in America, with no word on a worldwide release just yet, though its expected to eventually roll out.
Officially called the "iPhone Reuse and Recycling Program," iPhone users can trade in their older models, like an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4S for a newer iPhone 5 in-store.
We noted earlier that the old phones will be shipped to Brightstar for recycling and 9to5mac has reported the same information adding that Apple is committed to American soil - rather than sending devices overseas for sales, products will be recycled in the U.S.
Apple's fine print
Of course, a few caveats remain with the program - trade-in credit is given as a gift card but the customer must use it at that time and only for an iPhone.
Additionally, they must leave the store with a new contract with the phone activated at time of purchase.
The price you'll get for your old phone will also vary.
Since numbers in the market are constantly changing, there's no telling what amount of money you can get with your iPhone 4S, however CNBC notes that there is a clear appeal with trade-in programs as you'll typically walk away with a bargain.
Fill your Home screens with the best widgets for Android
One of the exciting and innovative things about Android has always been its use of widgets, which, to the uninitiated, are best described as little live apps that are embedded into your Home screens. You can have an animating photo frame that pulls out a selection of pics from your phone's gallery, a serious news ticker, constantly updating share prices, annoying social network status updates from people you hardly know - there's a widgetised version of pretty much any type of mobile app you can think of.
What is an Android widget?
Widgets can cause a bit of confusion among newcomers to Android, as they don't open like normal apps from your phone's big list of applications. Instead, widgets are activated by long-pressing on a space on the Home screen, then installed into the nearest available slot. There are big widgets, wide widgets, little ones that only take up one standard icon slot, and there are also some absolutely terrible spam ones that look a complete mess. So here are our top 20 Android widgets to brighten up your Android phone's workspace.
1. AudioManager
It can be a little confusing delving through Android's numerous menu screens to try to find the particular setting to adjust the ring tone volume - so have it all presented as a nice widget instead.
AudioManager is nice looking, it lets you see what volume everything's at, and pops up adjustment slide bars when pressed. You life will get 0.01 percent easier with it.
2. Quick Battery
A teeny tiny one-by-one size widget, Quick Battery isn't particularly glamorous - but it does a better and prettier job of representing your phone's battery status than anything else. Plus, when installing the widget, you can choose what you want it to link to - so pressing it can open up the power settings page or... Angry Birds. Anything.
3. Extended Controls
The standard Android power strip is a useful widget that lets you quickly turn off Wi-Fi, adjust the screen brightness and toggle GPS, Bluetooth and data syncing, but Extended Controls adds more. Loads more, from one-touch USB tethering to airplane mode and even switching your phone's vibration keyboard settings on or off. Plus it's visually customisable, too.
4. ColorNote Notepad Notes
Everyone loves the classic Post-It note style of thing, and that's what ColorNote brings to your Android Home screen. Tiny post-its, one icon square, each linked to either a text note or a simple to-do list. They look cute and you can change the colours for an extra adrenaline rush.
5. Evernote
The excellent Evernote comes with a lovely little widget. While it's not visually that impressive, it adds very convenient shortcuts to your Home screen that make using the data-syncing, scheduling app even easier to use. Instant access to notes, searches, voice memos and more. Just don't judge it by its looks.
6. HTC Bookmarks
One for all the HTC owners out there. Its bookmarks widget is an excellent way to put one of your empty Home screens to use, with it giving you a full-size, scrolling list of bookmarks right there in front of your fingers. It's so useful, it's easier to quit the browser and select a link from here than navigate HTC's own in-browser bookmark system.
The latest mobile trend – cellphone upgrades every six to 12 months – is not only bad for the environment; it's also nutty
Nobody needs a new phone every six to 12 months, argues Guardian Sustainable Business editor-at-large Marc Gunther.
Can you remember life without a cellphone? In the late 1990s, only one in five Americans had one. Today, there are 102 active mobile phones or connected tablets for every 100 Americans, according to CTIA, The Wireless Association.
This is a problem for the cellphone industry. Now that the industry has sold a phone or tablet to just about everyone in the US, the challenge is to sell more of them, more often, by persuading people to get rid of the perfectly good ones they now possess and upgrade to the new new thing.
It's a classic example of consumerism run amok. Surely you've seen the marketing, which has exploded in recent months on TV and online.
"Two years is too long to wait for a new phone!" says T-Mobile, which recently introducing a replacement program called Jump! "Upgrade to the phone you want twice every 12 months, not once every two years."
"Technology doesn't wait. Neither should you," advises AT&T. Its new offering, called Next, "can get you a new device every year with no down payment, no upgrade fee, no finance fee and no activation fee".
Not to be outdone, Verizon Edge lets customers in good standing upgrade every six months.
This is not merely unsustainable. It's nutty. Really, do we need another cell phone every six or 12 months? To ask the question is to answer it.
This is not just about cellphones, of course. It's an issue for any company that seeks growth. For some consumer-products companies, the solution has been to speed up the cycle of buy it, use it, throw it away and replace it. Fast fashion has become so cheap it isn't worth bringing back to the store if it doesn't fit. The appliance repair shop and the TV repairman – familiar figures in the 1950s and 1960s – are all but extinct. The phrase "durable goods" is nearly an oxymoron.
Nor is this a new problem. For decades, companies have been trying to figure out how get consumers to buy more than they need. Back in 1955, economist Victor Lebow wrote in the Journal of Retailing:
Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions – and our ego satisfactions – in consumption. The measure of social status, of social acceptance, of prestige, is now to be found in our consumptive patterns. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing pace.
And that was written in 1955!
It will come as no surprise that T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon all proclaim their commitment to "sustainability". AT&T, for example, recently said it would encourage its customers to "skip the bag" when buying from its stores and would donate 10 cents to The Nature Conservancy for each bag its customers choose to forego. The company said: "As we work to make our own operations at AT&T more sustainable, we also want to empower our customers to live more sustainably." OK, but there's nothing sustainable about accelerating the upgrade cycle for cellphones.
Consider this: the EPA estimates that approximately 152m mobile devices were discarded – while just 17.4m were recycled – in 2010, the most recent year for which data is available. Back then, the standard wait for a cellphone upgrade was two years. More frequent upgrades mean more energy and materials will be needed to make new phones – and more waste will be generated.
The wireless industry's business model – under which carriers subsidize new devices in exchange for long-term service contracts – encourages rapid turnover, given that few consumers directly pay the $649 to $849 retail price for an iPhone 5 or $638 for an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S IV. If it were easier to unlock and trade phones, a more robust secondary market for used phones would ensure that fewer devices would sit unused in drawers or, worse, end up in landfills.
So what, if anything, is to be done? Can companies be expected to address this problem? Or is it up to consumers? I sought guidance from Barbara Kyle of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition and Dave Gardner, who produced and directed a film called GrowthBusters.
Kyle told me the key is more sustainable product design so that cellphones can more easily be repaired, reused and recycled, as well a more aggressive effort by companies to recapture and recycle old ones. As it happens, she said, design appears to be moving in the wrong direction – thinner phones are harder to open and repair, and tend to be held together with glue, not screws, making them more difficult to disassemble.
Nor does the industry do all it can to promote recycling. Imagine, Kyle said, if after selling a customer a new phone, all the wireless carriers sent text messages afterward offering discounts on the monthly bill and a free, downloadable mailing label to return the old one. All the carriers now offer trade-in programs in their stories, but recycling rates remain surprisingly low – roughly 10%. Sprint, for now, seems to be generating the most trade-ins, a topic to which I'll return in a future column.
Gardner agrees that companies need to think differently about design. "The next great thing might be very well be a product that can be upgraded with firmware, instead of throwing a bunch of electronics away and starting over," he told me. But he says that consumer attitudes could change, too, so that people might again value the idea of durability.
Maybe, he said, someone should start a website where people can post photos of their TV sets, microwaves or cell phones and brag about how old they are. Maybe people who are unemployed or underemployed could be trained to repair things. And maybe, he said, "the next brilliant innovative brand or product will be the one that figures out a way to make obsolescence obsolete."
