Author: Daniel Sung
Wall Street Journal pay-per-view for online content
News Corp’s the Wall Street Journal is to introduce a pay-per-view system for their online content. It’s unclear at the moment whether all their articles will be available subject to cost but what we do know is that the more specialist pieces will be more expensive.
The system is described by those inside as micro-payments but I start to wonder just how micro that becomes by the end of each year. The scheme is set to launch in the Autumn and doubtless all the traditional paper publishers will have their eyes very close to this one with probably both fingers and toes firmly crossed.
Google Chrome TV ad hits the airwaves
Google has taken, what is for them, an unprecedented marketing step by releasing a TV advert to promote one of their services. A 30-second commercial for Chrome is now airing in the States to encourage the public to use their browser which launched a year ago.
The advert was put together by a team from YouTube and is obviously designed to demonstrate the simplicity of the software with the playschool look animation. That’s all very well and good on YouTube but Google’s aim is to take market share away from IE, which currently handles over 60% of US traffic, and that could be difficult when the advert doesn’t explain what Chrome actually is.
Star Droid night sky mapping mobile app from Google
Google is launching a star gazing app for the Android platform that will allow users to identify constellations in the night sky. Star Droid will use the phone’s camera, GPS and compass to pin point exactly which celestial bodies you’re looking at and aims to educate and reignite the world’s passion with the heavens.
It’s a free download which will be launched in the coming weeks and the only practical question is over how well the phone’s viewfinder will be able to pick up the individual stars against the light pollution of Northern Europe. Of course, if you happen to live somewhere well away from the cities, you’re in luck, otherwise you might be better off sticking with Patrick Moore.
(via Telegraph)
VIDEO: Fan-power jetpack
Meet Martin Jetpack, Dutch inventor determined to produced back-strapped solo powered flight. Presumably a big fan of Thunderball. In this video we see Martin’s latest creation. This is the Ducted Fanpack and, according to the man, it can get up to speeds of 60mph and has a range of 8,000 feet before you need the in-built emergency parachute.
It’s not exactly portable and looks more like a drum kit than anything else but, well, take a look…
It doesn’t look like it goes that high which could be an issue if you don’t live in Holland or East Anglia but, should you be sufficiently stunned and not in stitches, then see if you can tap up the bank for the $100,000 you’ll need.
(via Oh Gizmo!)
Asus Eee PC T91 out in June for £449
I’m not sure who spends £449 on a netbook even if it has got a swivelling touchscreen. I’m not sure Asus knows either but presumably enough people will meet their valuation for the Eee PC T91 which we saw running Vista in Vegas at the beginning of the year.
In its favour, the 8.9″ machine does also come packed with a TV tuner and GPS and yeah, ok, it is sexy and I do want to play with one. Just wondering how quickly the novelty wears off on these finger cramping devices.
If you’re getting hot under colour and find your laptop too big, then all you have to do is wait for June 2009 which by my calculations is next month.
(via Electric Pig)
Ricoh CX1 compact camera – SHINY VIDEO REVIEW
I’ve always quite fancied the looks of the Ricoh cameras but it was the Queen of the Compacts, Zara from Shiny Shiny, who got to take a look at the £299 Ricoh CX1 and I think she quite liked it.
Yes, it may only be blessed with a 9.2-megapixel sensor but a CMOS beats a CCD hands down in the point and press department. You also get a decent optical zoom range of a wide angle 28mm to an up close 200mm. The 4fps rapid fire will certainly come in handy and the 1cm macro is a bonus too but I’d like to see some more manual control if you’re forking out 300 smackers for the privilege. Know what I mean?
Panasonic aiming for 40" OLED TV by 2010
Panasonic has decided that enough is enough and with Sony and Samsung looking to the future, it’s time to get busy living or get busy dying. To put that in a slightly clearer way, they’re going to start making OLED TVs too.
Pana’s decided, and quite rightly, that OLED is the TV of next Tuesday, so they’re teaming up with fellow Japanese company Sumitomo Chemical to design develop and manufacture a 40″ OLED by 2010, which gives them 18 months and counting to come good on their word. Good luck with that.
It’s excellent news for all fans of OLED tech out there, myself very much included, but, even if they do pull it off, I suspect it’ll still be many more years before someone makes an OLED that anyone can actually afford.
Sony Ericsson C501 – SHINY VIDEO REVIEW
It’s easy to forget about the simple things in the handset world with a constant barrage of phones vying to be the smartest of all. Instead, Shiny Shiny‘s Zara took a look at the kind of model you can get free with a very modest contract – the Sony Ericsson C501. Come to think of it, you can pick it up for just under a ton.
Sony Ericsson
Tech Digest Podcast #6
The good news is that Duncan’s feeling better this week. The bad is that he was at home at 9am this morning. So, with the power of Skype, we’ve recorded the show over the airwaves and it’s just as ace as ever.
This week we get a little Windows 7 heavy after a good start about Apple and Twitter, the all new Amazon Kindle and three new games from Activision including the eagerly awaited DJ Hero.
Around half way through we’ve got our regular software vs hardware debate. I totally nail Duncan with my sales technique and get him to part with a whole virtual $38 of his own personal wealth for the teeny, tiny Nubbin while he does so-so on the Windows 7 RC.
As usual we wrap it all up with week’s more amusing items, not least of all the video of the bloke with his home made Wolverine claws. Not to be missed.
You can download the podcast directly here, or subscribe to the RSS feed here. Also, if you use iTunes, we can now be found in Apple’s directory. Search for Tech Digest, and we’ll be there.
Send all your comments, topics that you’d like us to talk about and any requests or words of wisdom to me at d[email protected] or throw us a tweet at @techdigest
RUMOUR: Magnetometer on next iPhone
I wasn’t that excited by the idea of a compass on the iPhone until I remembered how rubbish GPS is. The idea of a magnetometer, or however they wish to market it, is actually quite cool when you think about the idea of apps that could use it, from mapping software to games that could work even better in a real life environment.
Doubtless there’ll be plenty of clever bods who come up with better uses but, for now, just appreciate the fact that these clearly market compass on/off menus have been spotted in the wild. Roll on 9th June.
(via BGR)
