June 08, 2006, 4:42 PM PDT
Presenting: Online slide show software
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

Everybody on the Net knows that Google is gunning for the heart of Microsoft's Office business, with its online word processor, Writely, and its spreadsheet, Google Spreadsheets. But Microsoft's most vulnerable application is PowerPoint, since it's used so much by business travelers (who might appreciate not having to lug their own computer around) and because easy access to online presentations could revolutionize sales.

Google isn't yet talking about its PowerPoint killer, but a few start-ups, such as Zoho, Structured Data, and ThinkFree, are testing products that show us what a presentation service will look like online.

Zoho's product, ZohoShow, is in closed alpha testing. It is, at the moment, extremely basic. You can create simple text charts and insert graphics, as well as import picture from Flickr, which is cool. There are no transition effects and none of the cool chart-building utilities you get in PowerPoint.

However, each presentation has its own Web address, which makes sharing your work with others extremely easy. In the alpha I tried, the URL isn't displayed anywhere, but it's easy to find. I imagine one of the first features to be added to ZohoShow, hopefully before it goes into public testing, will be a "send to an associate" link (with some security on the presentations as well, since that's also missing). Another feature needed is the capability for the presenter to remotely control which slides another user on the Web is seeing.

Zoho's Rahu Vegesna told me that Skype integration is also coming soon. This is a very powerful idea: From your computer, you'll be able to call a contact and talk them through an onscreen slide show.

Structured Data's service, Thumbstacks, at the moment has a very slightly more refined user experience. It's also in open alpha testing, so you can try it out if you're curious about this breed of online software. You can create simple slide shows and import images from Flickr to spice them up. But like ZohoShow, there are only a few basic templates, and you can't change a show's template once you've started work on the file. Thumbstacks does make it easier to find the URL of your presentation, and it lets you set presentations to "private." It also lets you remotely control a slideshow on up to five other viewers' displays.

The most developed of the presentation tools is ThinkFree Show. It's very much a work-alike to Microsoft Office but without some of the advanced features. It will even open PowerPoint files with fairly good fidelity. But its reliance on Java slows it down, and it too is missing the remote control function that will truly help online slide shows differentiate from traditional software.

A challenge with all these products is that while they will be great for users who can be online to make presentations, things change if you find yourself offline, with nothing but a laptop and a projector between you and your audience. Thumbstacks does let you save a presentation as an HTML file; ThinkFree saves both PowerPoint and PDF files. Zoho plans to add a complete offline version of its suite to handle the situation.

There are still too many features missing from the newest online slide show tools, ZohoShow and Thumbstacks. I hope they add features before they are launched as public betas. Unfortunately, in this software category, advanced features (animations, oddball slide formats, and so on) do matter, since many people think tweaking their presentations makes them better. At the moment, ThinkFree's offering is the closest online competitor to PowerPoint. But I'm going to keep an eye on Zoho. This company, like ThinkFree, is building a suite of solid online applications, including a spreadsheet and a word processor.

It's a bit early to tell any presenter that he or she can live without PowerPoint. ThinkFree is at the leading edge of this space, but I expect Zoho to come along quickly. Soon, many users really won't need to buy an office suite.

This post has been corrected from the original, which said Thumbstacks does not have a remote control function. It does.

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June 08, 2006, 4:26 PM PDT
MTV Urge: only two players forever?
Posted by: Jasmine France

Not really. After seeing this forum posting, I started investigating the claim that MTV's Urge music service would never let you deauthorize a portable device. If true, it would mean that if one of your devices was lost, stolen, or broken, you wouldn't be able to replace it with another to use with your Urge subscription. In other words: a major bummer. A call to my contact at MTV confirmed that Urge does indeed allow for the deauthorization of players, with the standard restriction of replacing just one player per 30 days so that you're not constantly rotating in devices. The rep stated that they were currently working on building a Device Management page under the Account Summary section, but in the meantime, users could contact customer service in order to deauthorize devices. However, when I called customer service the next morning to try to deauthorize my iRiver Clix, I was told that I could not deauthorize my player...ever. Hmmmm.

I thought perhaps the makers hadn't really run into this issue yet, as the service has only been around for a few weeks, and most people probably haven't needed to deauthorize a player in that short time. But a few calls back and forth to my MTV contact and the customer service center yielded even more confusing results. Finally, I got one last call from MTV: deauthorization has not yet been built into the Urge service. It's something that MTV's engineers are working on while the service is in beta, but it will definitely be allowed. Interestingly enough, though, this doesn't really matter. After I got off the phone, I decided to see what would happen if I tried to sync up a third device with Urge...and it worked. Apparently, the two-device restriction is also being built in during beta. Maybe if everything works out, both systems will be put in place simultaneously. In the meantime, I have three MP3 players running smoothly with Urge--sweet.

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June 08, 2006, 12:53 PM PDT
Panasonic intros next-gen SD camcorder, new card
Posted by: Lori Grunin

Although the company hasn't indicated U.S. availability, Panasonic Japan has announced the SDR-S150, the follow-on to its SD-S100 SD-based camcorder. The SDR-S150 has almost identical specs to its predecessor--three 800,000-pixel CCDs, optical image stabilization, and a 2.8-inch LCD, for starters--but supports SD cards larger than 2GB. This announcement coincides with--you guessed it--Panasonic's 4GB SD card news. Both are slated to be available elsewhere in August.

The 4GB card is the first to bear the SDHC logo: SD High Capacity. In reality, the logo is more important for the read/write hardware, such as digital cameras; basically, it says, "FAT32 spoken here." The other aspect of the latest iteration of the SD spec also clarifies--and I use the term loosely--card performance by clumping them into groups by minimum sustained data transfer rate (MSDTR): Class 2 equals 2MB per second, Class 4 equals 4MB per second, and Class 6 equals 6MB per second.

The only possible rationale I can see for this system is to allow marketers to snow consumers with ambiguous performance claims. To wit: a card with a 3.5MB-per-second MSDTR and one with a 2MB-per-second MSDTR both become Class 2 cards, despite the fact that the former's performance is closer to that of a Class 4 card than of Class 2. Why can't they just report the actual MSDTR or translate the performance to some sort of normalized scale (along the lines of the older x ratings) if people are scared of the real rates?

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June 08, 2006, 11:48 AM PDT
Snapstream upgrades Beyond TV
Posted by: Dan Ackerman

It's been only a few months since Snapstream released the 4.2 version of its popular Beyond TV DVR software, but the company today unveiled another update, and its flagship product is now called Beyond TV 4.3.

More of an incremental upgrade than a radical change, Beyond TV 4.3 offers a handful of notable new features. Using the program's ShowSqueeze option (for backing up old shows to save disc space), you can now convert HD recordings to Windows Media and DivX formats, and save even more space by stripping out some extra subchannels from HD recordings. The DivX 6.1 video codec is also supported now, and Snapstream says using that format helps Intel dual-core CPUs encode content faster.

Hot on the heels of ATI's release this week of the new ATI Theater 650 Pro chip for TV tuners, Beyond TV 4.3 is the first DVR app to announce support for the new chip. The Theater 650 gave us the best image quality we've seen from a TV tuner, so we expect it to be popular among DVR fans.

One of the more interesting new features of Beyond TV 4.3 is called Beyond TV Buzz. While it won't improve your image quality or save hard drive space, this community service lets you see what shows are popular with other Beyond TV users. It'll show you the top 100 recorded shows from the previous week and the most popular upcoming recordings, and factor your choices into the stats, if you choose to participate. Currently on top of the list is one of the new Doctor Who episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel.

We loaded up Beyond TV 4.3 on a PC running Windows Media Center Edition. We've had some trouble in the past getting DVR software installed and set up properly, but this time it was a breeze. Our only hitch was getting Media Center to give up control of the TV tuner hardware. (Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services and right-click Media Center Receiver Service. Go to Properties and set Startup Type to Disabled.)

No one has yet come up with a DVR interface that is as elegant and well-designed as Windows Media Center, but with each iteration, Beyond TV comes closer. It also offers more settings and configuration options and greater control over your recordings than Media Center. Some users will love that; others might prefer the more basic foolproof set of tools in Media Center. Before contemplating a switch, note that unlike MCE, Beyond TV handles only TV recordings, not your entire catalog of photos, videos, and music. You have to add the sister program, called BeyondMedia, to get an all-inclusive package. We'll continue to test Beyond TV 4.3 by recording, playing, and encoding content, and we'll post a full review in the coming days.

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June 08, 2006, 10:42 AM PDT
Polk Audio I-Sonic pushed back to August
Posted by: John P. Falcone

It's been more than a year since Polk Audio first unveiled the I-Sonic, its all-in-one DVD/CD/AM/FM/HD Radio/XM-ready tabletop A/V system. Originally scheduled to hit store shelves in 2005, the I-Sonic was pushed back more than once (apparently getting fully baked HD Radio chips was the sticking point), but Polk is now saying that we'll see it in August. We'll have a hands-on review of the home theater in a shoebox as soon as it ships; in the meantime, you can read our updated First Take.

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June 08, 2006, 10:08 AM PDT
Intel walks us through its next-gen Core processor architecture
Posted by: Rich Brown

You may have seen several reports around the Web over the last few weeks showing the Intel-supervised benchmark results of its new Core 2 Duo desktop processors. We sat down with Intel ourselves this morning, where we received a technology overview about the new Core architecture, the foundation of both Intel's Core 2 Duo desktop and laptop chips. We were also given the chance to conduct our own Intel-chaperoned Core 2 Duo testing on an Intel setup PC. Rather than add to the flood of dubious results, we've opted to contribute to the Core 2 Duo run-up by translating Intel's take on the benefits of its new core.

Because Core 2 Duo's performance gains are not simply caused by ramped-up clock speeds, it's a little tougher to get what the big deal is. But unless you're an engineer, chip architecture discussions are boring. This in mind, Intel is trying to simplify the Core 2 Duo story by breaking out its advances into five major components. Below you'll find Intel's terms, followed by our translations:

Wide Dynamic Execution: Instead of sending data through the pipe faster, Core 2 Duo will bite off larger chunks of data to process at once. It can also combine the identical parts of different data requests. This should translate to faster overall performance.

Advanced Digital Media Boost: Every step in the multimedia processing chain is now 128-bit. They didn't used to be. Now the CPU doesn't have to translate the non-128 bit parts, saving it work and giving you faster multimedia performance.

-Smart Memory Access: Smarter traffic cop between the chip and the memory.

Advanced Smart Cache: Cache is the place where data lives between the processor and the memory. It's broken into different levels: L1, L2, and so on for balancing the amount of data stored with the speed at which the chip can get to that data. Core 2 Duo is a dual-core chip, and while each core has its own L1 cache, they share a dynamic L2 cache. So if core 1 needs only 1MB of L2, and core 2 could benefit from 3MB, Core 2 Duo chips can adjust that distribution on the fly. Old Pentium Ds and AMD's dual-core Athlons have a fixed L2 cache per core, which means no load balancing, potentially wasting L2 cache space. Translation: better performance.

Intelligent Power Capability: Intel incorporated the power management techniques of its laptop CPUs into the multiplatform Core architecture. This means a Core 2 Duo can shut off whatever parts it's not using, reducing power consumption. So, you get not only smaller heat sinks and fans (which should make DIYers lives' easier and overclockers' potentially more exciting--see our pic), it also makes room for more micro-form-factor PCs. Apple's Mac Mini and the AOpen Mini PC are just the start.

Intel did tell us when Core 2 Duo is shipping, but it also bound us to secrecy by way of an NDA. At least the date is firm, and it's in Q3 2006. Intel also said that we'd have samples for testing soon. If you're interested in what's been published around the Web, your best bet is these non-Intel-supervised results (wherein the Core 2 Duo indeed lives up to the hype) from Anandtech and Firingsquad. Anandtech's report is especially interesting because it highlights the upcoming market realities facing Intel. With lots of older chips in the channel through the end of the year, Dell and others will likely cut prices drastically to unload old supplies. Expect tempting desktop offers this holiday shopping season, along with some difficult price vs. performance choices.

Intel actually had another big revelation for us today. At the end of the Core presentation, one of the Intel-men called up Windows Task Manager's performance tab and, bam, four processing gauges danced before us. Or actually they were flatlined, since the alleged quad-core chip in the PC before us, code-named Kentsfield, was running only PowerPoint. We weren't able to verify it for ourselves, but given AMD's Socket 4x4 announcement last week, we're not surprised that Intel was eager to respond with its own multicore tech.

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June 08, 2006, 8:35 AM PDT
Cingular and RIM announce BlackBerry 7130c
Posted by: Bonnie Cha

Today, Cingular and RIM unveiled the new BlackBerry 7130c, along with a new service for accessing Internet e-mail. The BlackBerry 7130c is very much like the rest of the 7100 series, offering a cell phone-like form factor, a SureType QWERTY keyboard, and 64MB of flash memory and 16MB of SDRAM. Other goodies include an Intel processor, integrated EDGE capabilities, Bluetooth, and a sharp 240x260, 65,000-color screen. In addition, Cingular introduced the new BlackBerry Personal Plan, which will be available starting June 12 and gives you "direct and easy access" to your Internet e-mail accounts. It also includes unlimited e-mail and Web browsing for $29.99 per month with a qualified voice plan. The quad-band 7130c is priced at $199.99 with a two-year contract and will be in stores and online starting June 12. We expect to get our hands on one next week, so check back then for a full review.

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June 08, 2006, 8:31 AM PDT
Apple iTunes Music Store: 30 million videos sold
Posted by: James Kim

Apple and CBS announced today the availability of new prime-time shows available for download from the iTunes Music Store, which has sold an impressive 30 million videos to date. New shows include: Survivor, Numb3rs, and NCIS, as well as top-rated CSI programs: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY. That brings iTunes to more than 100 TV shows. Now where are the full-length movies?

Source: Reuters

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June 08, 2006, 7:48 AM PDT
Skyhook says: Who needs GPS?
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

Many companies are trying to position themselves as leaders in the geolocation field this week, which makes sense since the sure-to-be-fascinating Where 2.0 conference kicks off next week. My favorite pitch from these companies so far is from Skyhook Wireless, which makes a geolocation system that uses Wi-Fi, not GPS satellites.

Here's how it works: Every Wi-Fi access point (every Internet device, in fact) has a unique, fixed-in-hardware machine identifier, which is transmitted whenever it is on. If you have a database of these AP identifiers and their physical locations, you can use the Wi-Fi radio in your laptop or PDA to triangulate against that data. It's solely a metropolitan solution, since lonely interstates tend not to be populated by access points. But there are big advantages to Wi-Fi over GPS. For one thing, more people have Wi-Fi radios than GPS receivers. Also, Wi-Fi works indoors, where GPS often fails.

Keeping the database of what's where up-to-date is the trick. Skyhook employs a fleet of 200 full-time people who have the job of "wardriving" up and down city streets in cars equipped with GPS receivers and Wi-Fi scanners, mapping the location of hot spots and access points. CEO Ted Morgan told me Skyhook has mapped 8 million access points in the top 100 metro areas.

What's this mean to you? Skyhook has a consumer application, Loki. It's a toolbar add-on for Firefox or Internet Explorer that will pinpoint your physical location on a Google map and, if you want, also connect you to other "geotagged" databases of restaurants, photos, people, and so on. This data will also enable location-focused online advertisements, which might be more relevant than current ads. It might also creep you out to get an advertisement that knows where you are.

Here in San Francisco, Loki nailed my location both at my home and the CNET office. In contrast, Microsoft's Location Finder (part of Windows Live Local) got my house right, but missed the CNET office location entirely, placing me in a residential neighborhood.

At Where 2.0, the company will release its APIs so that even more developers can tap in to the geolocation data the system can gather. Many of the services I've covered recently would benefit from having location data. Etsy could automatically display artisans close to you; SwapTree could coordinate trades with people nearby; and TurnHere could select videos shot close to where you are. Community sites and social networks are also going to eat this up.

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