Stephen Chinnadorai

I’m a Google guy — like most of us, I have been using Google as my search engine for everything: Information, images, news, and maps; until now.

Microsoft’s previous MSN search was not impressive at all, and their new Live Search is nothing compared to Google. However, their Live Maps feature is quite an improvement over what Google is currently offering. 3-dimensional bird’s eye views are available on Microsoft’s map service. I actually found that, although the interface is not as smooth being web-based, it provided better images of my area than Google Earth.

I also noticed that Google has done a terrific job of “Street Mapping” major cities in the US, but not much else than central London is in street view in the UK. If Google can learn from Microsoft’s bird’s eye view, they would have the perfect service.

Although I still prefer Google’s interface, and compatibility with other browsers like Safari, Microsoft have done a decent job with their new maps feature. I’m still going to be using Google for everything, but I may check back to Live Maps for more detailed bird’s eye views.

At the time of writing this, Twitter is down. With over 1 million users registered, Twitter is the largest micro-blogging website, and one of the most popular social networks on the internet.

Created back in July 2006, Twitter was built without the idea of so many users for the service. Its infrastructure isn’t designed for this many people sending status updates every second.

For me at least, it appears Twitter goes down a lot. It may just be the fact that I’m in a different time zone to most Twitter users (GMT/UK Time); however, Twitter have created a global community, and need to keep that in mind when performing maintenance on their site.

Whether Twitter needs more processing power added to its service, or just a complete re-code of the way it processes updates - it needs to be done. Twitter: Your service is awesome, but nothing will stop you losing your powerful user base if this frequent downtime continues - please, fix it.

There are too many things I want to buy this year, I’ve tried to cut it down to only what I really want and need. This is a brief list of some of the most important things I’m hoping to purchase this year.

MacBook Pro

My aging Core Duo 2.0GHz MacBook was my first Mac, and it’s served me well for the past 2 years. When I first bought it, it had only 512Mb RAM and a 60GB hard drive. Since then, I’ve upgraded the RAM to 2GB - this made a huge difference, and I can’t imagine going back to less than 2GB; I have also upgraded the 60GB hard drive to a 160GB - which also now seems impossible to live without.

A next-generation MacBook Pro (whenever it comes out) will be what I’m getting next. As much as I love the MacBook’s classic Apple White look, the MacBook Pro is the way to go - with better general performance and graphics power.

Dell 2408WFP

Right now, I’m writing this on a tiny 13-inch MacBook screen - I need a bigger one. I decided to go with Dell’s 2408WFP, from all the positive reviews Dell displays receive, and the fact that it is slightly cheaper than Apple’s ones. 24 inches seems to be a great size for general productivity and watching movies. This screen could also double-up as one for my PS3, as it has an HDMI port with HDCP.

50mm f/1.8 (or f/1.4)

After several recommendations, I decided the 50mm prime should be my next lens. However, I’m still deciding between the 50mm f/1.8 and the more expensive f/1.4. The way I see it - the f/1.8 is great for beginners wanting to get a first experience with primes, and the f/1.4 is the one that takes slightly better pictures, and lasts a lot longer. Some are recommending getting the 1.8 first, then if I like it, get the 1.4. I’d rather by one than two, though. Maybe your comments would influence my decision on this.

iPhone 2

If the second iPhone (which is obviously coming out in June) has enough new features, or new design, and has 32GB storage, then I will seriously consider getting it. I’m happy to pay for the handset itself, but O2’s overpriced contracts are stopping me from getting an iPhone. 

Message to O2: Make a cheap (Less than £15/$30) contract for those of us who don’t make 600 minutes of calls a month, but still browse the web - your sales will go through the roof. 

That’s about all I can think of right now. I’m pretty sure some new gadget will appear that I will want later this year. Whether I will get all of these things is another blog post, this is just what I’m aiming for by the end of the year. 

Last week, I picked up a copy of one of the most anticipated games of all time: GTA IV. It’s almost impossible that you wouldn’t have heard of this game - it’s been everywhere possible in the media recently, and had its fair share of good and bad controversy. 

Graphics

As you would expect, this game is only available on the next-gen consoles: Sony’s PlayStation 3, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 - not the Nintendo Wii. With the graphics power of these consoles, some incredible quality images can be rendered. GTA IV’s graphics are a definite improvement upon San Andreas’ - but because of the map size, the graphics aren’t quite up to the standards of other games - for example, Gran Turismo 5. Overall, the graphics are more than reasonable on a High Definition screen; the game runs smoothly at a native 720p resolution, and it looks great on most screen sizes. 

Gameplay

The gameplay has much improved upon the San Andreas. The vehicles handle much more realistically, almost life-like. The controls have also changed, and the PS3 now uses a layout more similar to what Xbox users had from the start. You use the R2 trigger to accelerate, which gives much more precision than just the X button - you also use L2 to brake in the same way; both of these minor changes make handling cars much easier, and give you more control over vehicle speeds. The new cover and auto-aim systems are a nice addition, although sometimes don’t work as well as they should.

Audio

In 5.1 surround sound, this game sounds incredibly realistic. You hear cars, gun shots and people from behind you, and around you as you move. The ambient noises around the city, from the people and vehicles on the street, are also very realistic.

As with all Grand Theft Auto series games, the soundtrack is a key element to the game. As you drive around the city, you can tune into a selection of radio stations, varying in genre - the best station in my opinion is Radio Broker.

Conclusion

This game lives up to the hype it’s received over the last few weeks. Rockstar have re-written this game in a brand new engine, and you can tell this game is different to the previous ones. The entire game is a phenomenally realistic experience - from just roaming around Liberty City, to participating in activities with your friends. I’m only 25% through the game, but I’m already blown away by this game.

More and more people are becoming regular users of the internet today; sending e-mails, making VOIP calls, chatting through video, watching YouTube, sharing photos, downloading music; the list is endless. Most of these activities require a lot of bandwidth, and most current infrastructures can only deliver between 8 and 16mbps. I’m on an “8mbps” plan from BT right now - but it’s more like 6mbps. 

However, not all of the world is lagging behind in internet speeds. Japan has an average of 60mbps, Korea has an average of 45mbps and Finland has an average of 25mbps. These are average speeds, not the highest speeds. The UK has less than 4mbps average, and about the same for the USA. 

There are three main options for upgrading broadband speeds:

Fiber Optic Cable

Verizon in the USA is already offering a service they call “FiOS” - but it only delivers speeds of up to 25mbps, mainly in densely populated areas. In theory, fiber optic cable can bring speeds between 50mbps and 100mbps - but it’s going to be hard to lay an entirely new infrastructure across countries.

VDSL

VDSL stands for Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line. It uses existing copper lines, with fiber optic lines to bring speeds of up to 100mbps. It’s still pretty hard to deploy, but costs a lot less than fiber.

WiMAX

WiMAX, as you may have guessed (or not), is a wide area form of Wi-Fi. You wouldn’t need a Wi-Fi router in your home, instead you would just connect to a WiMAX transmitter which is nearby. WiMAX can deliver speeds of up to 70mbps, and can travel up to 50km (31 miles).

Sources: [BBC News], [Digg]

I’m currently registered on over 25 social networks - only 5 of which I use on a regular basis: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Digg and Last.fm. New social networking websites are being created right now, to compete with the expansive number of other social networking websites currently in the cloud.

I agree with Brad Fitz and his “social graph” theory.

“The goal is not to build a social networking site or anything that’s fun for the end-user. Rather, the goal is to build the guts that allow a thousand new social applications to bloom, like Dopplr, etc. Do one thing and do it well. It will be most powerful to instead merge little isolated social graphs into one big social graph and spread it far and wide, for all to enjoy.”

Creating another Facebook is not the right thing to do - there is not a social network for everything, and there never will be. Facebook is extremely close to being that with its support for third-party applications - but still doesn’t include everything in one.

However, I have noticed that there are several new social networks appearing that have the same purpose as others. I don’t believe this is the way forward. If Twitter already exists, why make another one? There are enough photo and video sharing websites out there - you can’t beat Flickr or YouTube by just re-branding a clone of them; you have to think different; do something new and innovative.

I’m happy for there to be many social networks out there, all with a different single purpose: Twitter for status updates, Flickr for photos, Dopplr for travel, Vimeo for videos. But creating a clone of something that already exists and does the job well is not the way forward, and these sites will fail.

As an avid iPod and Mac user, the most obvious choice for buying music would be the iTunes Store - now the world’s most popular music destination online. However, I recently gave up with the iTunes Store; there are plenty of other alternatives out there offering more reasonable prices and higher bitrate tracks - with no DRM.

7Digital is the site I’m now trying. Its library is almost as comprehensive as iTunes’, but the quality of tracks is much better. I can get 320kbps DRM-free MP3s from 7Digital, for the same price as a 128kbps DRM AAC track from Apple’s iTunes Store.

There are really no advantages to buying from iTunes - the only minor one I can think of is that it’s all integrated into one piece of software. Apple don’t even let you download the song more than once - unless you contact them and plead for them to allow you to download it again. With 7Digital, and many other music stores, you can simply visit your downloads “locker” and download it again - as many times as you want - forever. 

For me, PayPal is an extremely important feature. I don’t have a credit card, and therefore rely on PayPal for all my payments. iTunes in the UK does not support PayPal, 7Digital does.

The iTunes Store has improved since it startred. Apple now offer DRM-free AAC tracks at 256kbps - but their selection is limited, and the price is 10p extra. Obviously, iTunes is still the only place to buy music videos and TV shows that I can think of. 

The message of this blog post is: You don’t have to stick with iTunes. There are plenty of other alternatives out there - some better, some worse. I highly recommend 7Digital for those in the UK and Europe.

Of course, you don’t have to buy music; if you feel like being a pirate, head over to the dozens of BitTorrent trackers or warez sites.

[I apologize for the horribly rendered photoshop job above - it's all I could throw together in 30 seconds. Of course I'm not part of those 60% of Photoshop users who pirated it *cough*. As you can see, with my skills, it's not worth the $6oo price tag - that's my excuse.]

If you’ve been following the Apple blogs and rumor websites recently, you will have noticed a sudden surge in rumors about product launches in June. It all started with MacBook and MacBook Pro revision rumors expected to launch at the WWDC, and lead to 3G iPhone rumors in June, too. Here’s a list of everything so far:

The Mac Mini is not dead yet - it’s going to live on with more processor upgrades, and possibly a smaller case redesign.

[AppleInsider], [MacRumors], [MacScoop]

Penryn iMacs are expected to be launched, after the success of the newly-launched Penryn MacBook Pros - don’t expect a redesign, though.

[MacRumors], [9to5Mac]

MacBooks and MacBook Pros have both been recently updated, but only in terms of internal specifications -the design still remains the same. Many are expecting a complete redesign of the MacBook and MacBook Pro in June, most likely launched at the WWDC.

[MacRumors 1, 2], [AppleInsider], [Ars Technica]

Last but not least is the iPhone. Walt Mossberg recently caused a lot of speculation when, during a conversation about IPTV & Broadband, he said that “the 3G iPhone is coming in 60 days“. Well, now he’s saying quite the opposite. However, analysts still predict a 3G iPhone worldwide for June.

Out of all the rumors mentioned above, this is the most likely one - AT&T’s CEO even said it himself.

[MacRumors], [Gizmodo], [TimesOnline], [Stuff.tv]

What do you think: Will any of these products come out in June, or will Apple wait until later this year?

Flickr yesterday released video compatibility to their hugely popular photo-sharing website. Flickr has caused a lot of controversy in the blogosphere due to video - some think it’s a great idea - some think Flickr was made for photos, and always will be.

Flickr video is different to most other video-sharing websites; it limits you to 90 seconds of video on 150MBs. So obviously Flickr isn’t going after the same type of content found on YouTube - the largest video website in the world, with limits ranging from 10 minutes to unlimited (with a director account). There is also no HD video support in Flickr’s video - in fact most of the video I’ve seen looks worse quality than YouTube.

Flickr has its reasons for restricting you to 90 seconds of video. It’s not looking for music videos, or video shows - Flickr is looking for short, simple videos that will praise your photos. For example, a photoset of a vacation could include some short video clips to give the viewer more explanation.

Right now, Flickr users around the world are playing around with video. I don’t think many people have got the concept yet, and neither have I entirely. But I figure in less than a few weeks people will know exactly what to use Flickr’s new video feature for. Flickr with video is certainly not just another video-sharing site - it’s the same old Flickr community as we knew it; with the addition of short, 90-second video clips to compliment your photos.

Whatever it is you do, you need to backup your data. Until recently, there was no easy way to do this on the Mac - without having to buy third party software that backed up on a schedule. Luckily, Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) has something called Time Machine built-in. Time Machine backs up everything on your hard drive hourly, so that you can “go back in time” and recover files that you may have mistakenly deleted. This works great, but takes up a lot of space. I have Time Machine backing up my MacBook to a Western Digital My Book Studio Edition - a 500GB FireWire drive.

For Windows users, Vista offers some backup facilities, but not anywhere near as intricate as the Mac’s. However, Windows users do have a vast choice of third party applications for backups.

But most of us only backup internally, to a drive connected locally to your computer. What if your house were to burn down? Your data would go with it. Fortunately, there are some solutions out there. Online backups are becoming better all the time . Mozy is supposedly a great service for doing just that, as is a free alternative, DropBox.

But online backups have one major downside for most of us: Speed. Even with today’s fastest broadband, upload speeds vary from 256kbps to 1mbps. Until fiber optic broadband with the same up-speed as down arrives, online backups aren’t going to be efficient for files over 100mb.

I haven’t really answered the question, “What is the best backup method”. There simply isn’t one right now. I would back up as much as possible, where possible - but keep it safe.