Make Way For The Media Center

With the recent launch of Intel’s high-powered Viiv platform and the continued evolution of Microsoft’s Windows Media Center OS (operating system), the future looks bright for entertainment PCs, particularly because the companies are working together in this arena for the first time.

Intel appears to be taking no performance-related chances with Viiv (rhymes with “five”), which will feature dual-core, 64-bit processors that are based on the company’s Centrino platform and integrated into set-top boxes and PCs designed for the living room. The hardware will support up to 7.1-channel surround sound and high-definition video, and you can instantly turn it on and off with the touch of a button. Support also is provided for TV-like remote controls, which will be included with systems or available as a separate purchase.

As part of an agreement with The DIRECTV Group, Intel and DIRECTV will create set-top boxes to receive feeds from DIRECTV satellites and deliver the media to displays in various rooms, which marks a departure from typical entertainment PCs that require set-top boxes to be integrated with home networks. Plenty of other announcements emerged with the Viiv release, including Intel’s plans to bring Google Video to the platform, along with ESPN Motion and ESPN Full Court Online; music, photos, and personalized video content from Yahoo!; and optimized content from Comedy Central, MTV, and VH1.

At the 2006 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) convention, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates touted the successes of Windows XP Media Center Edition, explaining that the company sold 6.5 million copies in three years. That number continues to build, and Current Analysis said that 47% of all home desktop PCs sold in the United States in December were Media Center PCs. Like Intel, Microsoft is working with DIRECTV to boost the media PC experience. Users will be able to transfer DIRECTV content to Windows-based PCs and access music, video, and pictures stored on a PC using a DIRECTV set-top box.

As we edge closer to the release of Vista, Microsoft’s successor to WinXP, some analysts predict that Microsoft might opt to integrate all Media Center features directly into Vista rather than release a separate Windows edition. At CES, Gates explained that there will be at least some Media Center features in Vista to provide access to a wealth of entertainment, including music, pictures, live and recorded television, as well as on-demand content and online services. Vista also will feature CableCARD support, which lets users watch and record premium and high-definition cable programming.

STORAGE

Beyond Next-Gen Storage

If you’re getting tired of the hype surrounding Blu-ray and HD-DVD, fret no more because actual time frames are emerging for the release of the next-generation storage technologies. One of the companies leading the way is Fujifilm, which claims it will release both Blu-ray and HD-DVD media in mid-2006. But Fujifilm isn’t stopping there—the company also is working to develop new holographic storage technologies that promise multiple-terabyte optical capacities for entertainment, commercial, and consumer applications.

When compared to Blu-ray media, which can hold 25GB, and HD-DVD media, which can hold 15GB, holographic discs could transform the storage landscape far beyond even this upcoming generation. Fujifilm puts it this way: A single terabyte of holographic disc storage is roughly the same as 16 days of continuously running DVD movies, or 8,000 times more data than a human brain retains in a lifetime.

According to Fujifilm, holographic technology imprints “images” of full data pages into light-sensitive material using laser technology. Although the company didn’t provide price estimates at this time, some experts predict that in four or five years, we’ll see 1.6TB discs that will retail for about $100. Current versions in the works hold 300GB and boast 160MBps (megabytes per second) data throughput rates.

DISPLAYS

Say Hello To LCD Overflow

If you buy a CRT (cathode-ray tube) monitor this year, consider yourself in the minority. DisplayBank predicts that of the 155 million monitors/displays that will be sold in 2006, LCDs (liquid-crystal displays) will account for 125 million (80%) of them.

LCD shipments should increase by 19% this year and CRT shipments should drop by 31%, which are figures that roughly mirror those of 2005. Monitor shipments worldwide aren’t expected to grow substantially due to the continuing transition to notebook computers, with DisplayBank predicting only a 4% growth.

Meanwhile, analysts are saying that the market is about to be bombarded with LCDs, with oversupply rates reaching 9.7% in the first quarter, 13.8% in the second quarter, and 15% in the third quarter. For consumers, this should equate to hefty price reductions on LCDs, so if you’re looking to replace your CRT or upgrade your existing LCD, this year could be the right time to do it.

The LCD glut also is expected to affect the home entertainment market, where buyers of LCD televisions could enjoy similarly substantial price cuts. That global market also saw the impressive growth last year of 116% over that of 2004, reports Analysys International, who predicted that 37-inch and larger LCD televisions will become mainstream in 2007.

PRINTERS & PERIPHERALS

Wrap It Up & Take It With You

Keyboard manufacturers try their best to make portable keyboards truly convenient enough to use on the road, but despite their best efforts, many of these devices are still rather bulky. However, times are a-changin’ and products are adapting, leading to the first fabric keyboard that can be rolled up and stuffed in a shirt pocket.

Eleksen’s ElekTex Smart Fabric wireless keyboard weighs a mere 2.4 ounces and is made from 100% fabric that’s water-repellent and durable. The keyboard requires two AAA batteries and uses Bluetooth to connect to any Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC, smartphone, or Symbian Smartphone S60 or UIQ-based devices. Included is a smartphone/PDA (personal digital assistant) stand and embedded LCDs that show keyboard and Bluetooth connectivity status.

“Where existing key pads on many smartphones and PDAs make typing anything longer than a short message impractical and uncomfortable, we’ve designed the laptop-sized ElekTex fabric keyboard to allow consumers to easily and more comfortably type longer documents on their phones and handheld devices, making these new portable devices more usable,” says Andrew Newman, Eleksen product manager.

The standard design of the ElecTex features charcoal-gray fabric, but other fabric colors and brandable graphics also are available.

CPUs, CHIPS & CARDS

Good As Gold

Imagine opening your PC case and striking gold among all that dust and grime. Though it sounds far-fetched, the premise could become a reality in the future—if current research at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory is any indication.

Researchers there discovered that gold exhibits properties at the nanoscale level that could lead to advances in future optical chips that power computers or switches and routers in fiber networks. At the nanoscale level, which represents one-billionth of a meter (about 70,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair), materials display far different temperature, electricity, and magnetism readings than conventional materials. As such, Argonne researchers found that gold, in particular, let them control the wavelength of light emitted when electrons are stimulated—a discovery that could allow them to use gold as a light source inside of optical chips. This, in turn, would enable efficient data flow through the light.

Although the team leader, Gary Wiederrecht, stressed that the research is still in a primitive stage, the technology has the potential to lead to faster and smaller optical devices. Furthermore, the optical chips could have the ability to switch or route optical signals without performing an electronic conversion.

DIGITAL MISCELLANEA

Cruise Control Your Drivers

Updating your hardware drivers on a regular basis can help your devices run smoothly and stay compatible with Windows and other software. But scouring the Web for drivers can be a difficult task, especially if your system uses devices made by obscure manufacturers.

But TouchStone Software offers a potential solution to updating drivers with its Driver Agent service (www.driveragent.com), which scans your system and provides instant access to thousands of the most recent drivers for a one-time $29.95 membership fee. We gave the service a test drive and came away impressed with its speed and depth.

After installing an ActiveX control, you can perform a system scan with the click of a button and wait only a few moments for results. These results display as a list of all your devices, along with a pie graph that shows the percentage of “good” drivers and “bad” drivers. In the list, bad (most likely, outdated) drivers are accompanied by a disk icon that leads directly to a download page featuring the latest drivers for the device. You also can click the device listings to see all the available drivers for the devices, but these listings occasionally contain beta versions of drivers, which could cause problems if you decide to try them.

If you need a one-stop shop for device drivers, DriverScan is easy to use and thorough, but be sure to use the recommended drivers if you’re not prepared to deal with problems resulting from beta or other experimental versions.

COOL TOOLS

Monkey Around With The Web

If you’re using Firefox to develop Web pages, don’t take another step without grabbing Greasemonkey (greasemonkey.mozdev.org), a clever extension that lets you infuse DHTML (Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language) scripts into Web pages to add functionality. Even if you aren’t developing your own pages, Greasemonkey lets you alter the content and behavior of sites that aren’t even your own.

For example, if you visit a book retailer other than Amazon .com, you can create a script that will automatically display Amazon .com’s price for the same book. Or you can remove annoyances inherent with certain sites, such as video ads or mouseover pop-ups. If you have kids, you can even force sites to filter content by using such scripts as the Blockbuster Ratings Filter, which removes R-rated movies from the catalog display (or if you’re feeling adventurous, you can add a script that shuffles the movies in your queue). Not all sites can be modified, but there’s an amazing amount that can, including some biggies, including About.com, CNN, eBay, ESPN, FOXNews, Google, The New York Times, Slashdot, Weather.com, and Wikipedia.

Because Greasemonkey is highly configurable, be careful when choosing and using scripts because poorly written code can send your personal data to a third party. Experts suggest inspecting scripts before using them.

THE TECH GRAPEVINE

Rumors Making The Rounds

In a recent surprising admission from Sun Microsystems’ co-founder Bill Joy, Sun and Apple almost merged on several occasions in the past, claiming that it was a “personal disappointment” that the two companies never quite tied the knot. He said that some of the deals on the table included Sun and Apple sharing a software interface and Sun trying to convince Apple to move to the SPARC architecture.

A pending patent infringement lawsuit by patent license firm NTP against BlackBerry creator RIM (Research In Motion) has observers pondering what would happen with government users of the handheld devices if courts demand an injunction against RIM. Although government users would apparently be exempt from such a ruling, the question remains as to whether such an exemption would be technically possible. RIM told the court that “it would be extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, for the court to devise, implement, and continue to administer any injunction that would not disrupt or diminish the use of the BlackBerry devices by the mass of BlackBerry users that NTP concedes should be exempt.” According to RIM, more than 1 million BlackBerry users would require exemptions.

Could Sony’s rootkit debacle be just the tip of the iceberg? Quite possibly, especially when it appears that other companies might start owning up to such tactics before consumers discover them and blow the whistle. In fact, it was Mark Russinovich, the man who discovered the Sony rootkit, who also recently discovered similar technology in Symantec’s Norton SystemWorks. In this case, Symantec used a hidden directory to prevent users from deleting files, but the move also could allow crackers to hide malware in it. For its part, Symantec issued an update to fix the potential security problem.

Brian Krebs, blogger at The Washington Post, revealed results of some interesting research that detailed how Microsoft is taking longer than ever to release patches for known problems. Krebs writes: “Over the past three years, Microsoft has actually taken longer to issue critical fixes when researchers waited to disclose their research until after the company issued a patch. In 2003, Microsoft took an average of three months to issue patches for problems reported to them. In 2004, that time frame shot up to 134.5 days, a number that remained virtually unchanged in 2005.”

A recent update to Apple iTunes has some users worried that Apple is trying to spy on them. A new feature called MiniStore not only displays albums available from the artist of the current song that’s playing and other titles bought by other iTunes users, but it also sends information to Apple, which in turns sends targeted album advertising back to you. Apple claims it’s not saving the information.

CONVERGENT TECH: PDAs & SMARTPHONES

Bluetooth On The Rise

Although Bluetooth has seemingly advanced at a slow crawl since its hype machine began running years ago, the wireless technology finally seems poised for a breakout, and new product releases are showing hints of just that.

According to Strategy Analytics, the market for Bluetooth-enabled devices ballooned to more than 272 million units in 2005, or more than twice the number that shipped globally in 2004. In particular, Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones saw huge sales, which should continue this year, Nokia reports.

“The Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone market grew to 133 million units in 2005, and we expect it to grow to 220 million units in 2006,” says Razvan Olosu, vice president of Mobile Enhancements at Nokia.

At this year’s CES convention, Nokia announced three new Bluetooth headsets, the smallest of which weighs only 9 grams. That headset is the BH-800 ($140), which comes in coffee-black or silver-white colors, includes a removable ear loop for use in either ear, and has a strap that lets users place and remove the headset with one hand. The BH-800 supports up to six hours of talk time and 160 hours of standby time; plus, it includes power buttons, volume control, and call-answering buttons that give users the same control over calls that they’d expect with a wired phone. Voice-recognition capabilities let users make calls and redial without touching the device.

Also new is the 18-gram BH-900 ($100) headset, which features noise reduction, echo cancellation, and support for up to eight hours of talk time and 180 hours of standby time. Another new product, the 14-gram BH-200 ($55), features support for up to 5.5 hours of talk time and 150 hours of standby time.

Bluetooth also is beginning to appear in other, stranger areas, such as apparel. For example, take a look at the Audex cargo jacket ($599; www.audextech.com) with integrated Bluetooth technology from Motorola. Although it looks like your everyday winter jacket at first glance, this high-tech apparel provides a control panel on the left sleeve that lets you browse your mobile phone’s address book and call contacts using a built-in microphone in the collar. You also can scroll through and select songs in playlist mode on your iPod—all without removing the device from your pocket. The jacket even features two speakers in the hood, but provides a 3.5mm jack if you’d prefer to use your own headphones. And of course, the electronics are removable for washing ease.

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Compiled by Christian Perry
Illustrated by Lori Garris