A beta of Sony’s virtual environment, Home, is finally available for every Tom, Dick and Harry to download for free to their PlayStation 3.
Way back when the PS3 first hit the shelves Sony was proud to announce an upcoming feature called Home, where users can walk around, interact with friends, own a home, have house parties and meet up in game lobbies.
This all looked fantastic but it was heavily delayed until a closed beta was released a little while ago; and now this beta is available to all, albeit with many features not yet available.
After one final 12-hour delay I downloaded Home – which appears after the latest software update – and began to create my character. I wanted to get going as quick as possible so selected a default avatar, dressed him quite badly, and off I went into a brave new world.
Or so I thought.
Before I complain too much I must say that it all looks really nice, graphics are good and the background is very detailed. An example of this would be the view from your apartment, looking out over a harbour full of boats and a fancy yacht.
But it’s the gameplay that I was most looking forward to; the ability to interact with other players and be completely submersed in a virtual environment.
And to begin with it looked promising. There was a modern apartment to which I presumed I could decorate and add furniture Sims-style; and venturing outside I found many other users – all dressed the same, we’ll get to that in a minute – and several buildings to explore.
These included a cinema, shopping centre and a currently inaccessible monorail station. So I walked around, had a dance with other users to some music that was being played, watching a film trailer in the cinema and played someone at draughts.
This took about half an hour and so far I was quite impressed, but after visiting the shopping centre, I changed my mind. While there are a range of shops selling clothes, furniture, houses and other stuff, the amount of items on sale was tiny and – yes you read that right – on sale…for real money.
While 59p for some jeans in the real world may seem cheap, remember this is virtual – hence everyone is in the same default clothes - and paying 79p for each piece of furniture soon adds up when trying to fill the £3.99 house.
I would much rather see a system where items either became available over time, or by achieving goals – maybe by including more activities to complete in Home itself, or by earning virtual money from the completion of games.
Once over the fact that a tenner wasn’t going to buy me much virtual crap I looked for something else to do and – after raving like a mofo to a PSP advert, and laughing at the overwhelming majority of male characters stalk the females– Home has shown me all it currently has to offer.
I must remind you that Home is firmly in beta stage – apparent by the numerous attempts it takes to login – and much more content will be added over time. This includes a Red Bull Air Race mini game and, presumably, that monorail – wonder where it goes?
Currently, users can interact by typing messages or selecting from a list of default comments, but this list is very short so most conversations involve:
“Hello”
“Where u frm”
“I don’t have a keyboard”
Of course a microphone can be used but no one seems to be doing so – maybe the hot blonde from LA doesn’t want to let on that she’s actually a fat, balding, more-than-middle-aged bloke from Milton Keens.
Another point worth noting is that Home looks different when accessed from America, Europe and Japan accounts, although no extra content is available so it’s probably not worth the bother of learning Japanese or deciphering American slang.
So, is Home a fun way to spend an afternoon?
No, but it does have huge potential to either be a great social space, or become a terribly obvious money-making scheme for Sony.
Time will tell.
Alistair
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Karting In The Footsteps of Champions
Yesterday saw the 3rd outing for the amusingly named Koks (Kingston
Official Karting Society) and an endurance race at local track of some
bloke called Lewis Hamilton.
Official Karting Society) and an endurance race at local track of some
bloke called Lewis Hamilton.
The race format involved a half-hour qualification session, followed
by a 1 hour race with teams of 2 and a driver change after 30 minutes.
The karts we used were quicker than anything we have driven so far
this year, reaching speeds of 85mph on the main straight.
I was paired up, at random, with Aaron who has raced with the Koks for
the last 3 years; while feeling I may look crap in comparison, I was
more than happy to let his experiance earn us a decent grid position.
We qualified 8th out of 15 and I was to drive the first stint, a
little aprehensivly as most teams had opted to use their faster driver
first.
Off the line I gained two places up to 6th which I held throughout my
stint, catching the experianced Koks proved impossible although I was
able to drive away from 7th fairly easily.
I achieved my fastest lap on lap 28 and was about 2 seconds per lap
off the fastest guys, which I'm happy with.
I came in on lap 36 for our driver change which went smoothly and
Aaron went out and maintained our 6th position until the end of the
race.
After reading the telemetry printout we were pleased to have
maintained consistent lap times throughout.
Next Wednesday is a test day at the same track, Rye House, for the
national Uni championship and these karts will be even faster; bring
it on!
Alistair
Thursday, 16 October 2008
New MacBook - Hands-on review
Just got back from the local Apple store at Kingston have had a play with Apple's new notebooks. As I reported yesterday I had, up until now, only been able to look at a new MacBook held like a new-born baby by the store manager. Today, however, the entire notebook display had changed, with a whole desk for each new model in various configurations and the white MacBook and Airs have been moved to a side-bench.
I spent most of my time with the 2.4GHz MacBook and only briefly tried the Pro but they are very similar in regards to appearance and the available Pro didn't have anything too meaty to test the improved graphics. Although it is worth noting that the switch from the standard 9400 to the 9600 chip means logging out and back in again...rather annoying.
So after being able to actually hold the new MacBook (MB) I can say that it feels incredible sturdy and strong thanks to the snappily named 'precision unibond aluminium enclosure'. If you pick up a plastic MB with one hand grabbing the palm-rest you can expect the plastic to bend under pressure fairly easily. But this is absolutely not the case with the aluminium model, there is no give at all and even when pressing very firmly on the case, there is no movement to report. The screen is also as stiff as that found on the Air with regards to it not warping when moved from one corner. The new manufacturing technique has also given the MB case a seamless look which I'm a huge fan of.
Like I said yesterday I was not a fan of the black screen bezel when it was first shown but after using the notebook for a few minutes I had got used to it, although the reflections on the black surround were sometimes very bad indeed; granted I was in a bright shop with lit signs behind me, in a home or office it wouldn't be as bad. The screen itself is LED back-lit and as sharp and bright as that found on the Air, a big improvement over the old MB screen - however the 'budget' plastic model still uses the old screen.
One factor that I am personally very interested in is the weight and thickness of the notebook as a more powerful machine with multiple ports would have been a nice replacement for my Air. Unfortunatly the weight does not feel to have gone down from the old MB - it has, by half a pound if Apple is to be believed but in the real world that really isn't much at all and I'm sure I would feel the extra weight of the MB over the Air in a bag after a days work. The machine does feel more compact and while the tapered edges don't quite perform the slimming magic trick as seen on the Air, they do make the laptop nice to hold.
The performance of the 2.4GHz model was good but all I really had chance to do was open many applications at once and see if there was any delay' I'm pleased to report there wasn't but 4GB of memory would be an obvious improvement over the standard option of 2GB.
The trackpad is worth a mention. I had actually half forgotten about the lack of a button and went to open Safari without really thinking and instinctively clicked where the button normally is. It wasn't until after I had clicked that I remembered there is no button and was rather surprised as the click felt identical to that of a proper button. While it is the trackpad itself that does the clicking, it's only the bottom half that actually moves, clicking half way up the 'pad is possible but fairly difficult as the travel is very short, although there would be no reason to be clicking up there anyway. As only the lower half moves it is easy to hold it down with the thumb and drag with the index finger as one would with any other trackpad. It is very easy to forget that the button is not there, which is guess is a good thing although the omission doesn't seem to yield any improvement in usability; it's just plain different. The trackpad does know which half you are clicking, just like the Mighty Mouse, so the bottom-right (or left) corner can be set to perform a right click if you so choose.
I would never have guessed that the 'pad is glass; the texture is different to that of a conventional trackpad as it is, to quote Steve Jobs: "super silky". A good side-effect I can think of is that the middle will be become smooth after a year or so of use - as if often the case when purchasing an older notebook - as the glass will not wear.
As has been well-documented, there is no Firewire support on the MB (FW800 and thus 400 available on the MBP) which does seem strange as there is clearly plenty of room for the extra port. This will annoy the hell out of some potential customers - and I can understand why - but personally I wouldn't find it a problem.
One feature (or lack thereof ) is the back-lit keyboard which is not available on the 2GHz aluminium MB, not even as a built-to-order option. I love the back-light on the Air and this seems a very strange thing to do, presumably as a way of encouraging punters to go for the 2.4GHz model.
While using the new MB I did glance over at the Air many times - I would have compared side by side but this wasn't possible - and although a very large part of me wanted to eBay the Air and go for the MB (which is £988 for the 2.4GHz model after my university discount) I simply can't ignore the super-thin profile and low weight of the Air; and that black screen surround, while attractive, is basically a mirror in certain lighting.
As the (1.6GHz) Air is my only machine and, admittedly, it does sometimes struggle when I'm having a video call on Skype, watching TV and using MS Word; but it is great to carry it around everywhere I go. The MB would cope far better performance-wise but I'm not sure about the extra size and weight. Ideal solution would be to get an iMac (£700 with discount) and keep the Air...maybe something to look into after new-year...
So anyway, to conclude; the MB and MBP are now very, very similar - in fact one guy was on a MB thinking it was the Pro - and I love the flush aluminium look. The trackpad is great, although not entirely necessary, the black screen looks good in the right light but a bit dodgy otherwise and the specs of the 2.4 model are decent. For an Air owner the extra power and ports, while keeping the design, is tempting; and for an old MB owner the new design is a vast improvement.
Alistair
I spent most of my time with the 2.4GHz MacBook and only briefly tried the Pro but they are very similar in regards to appearance and the available Pro didn't have anything too meaty to test the improved graphics. Although it is worth noting that the switch from the standard 9400 to the 9600 chip means logging out and back in again...rather annoying.
So after being able to actually hold the new MacBook (MB) I can say that it feels incredible sturdy and strong thanks to the snappily named 'precision unibond aluminium enclosure'. If you pick up a plastic MB with one hand grabbing the palm-rest you can expect the plastic to bend under pressure fairly easily. But this is absolutely not the case with the aluminium model, there is no give at all and even when pressing very firmly on the case, there is no movement to report. The screen is also as stiff as that found on the Air with regards to it not warping when moved from one corner. The new manufacturing technique has also given the MB case a seamless look which I'm a huge fan of.
Like I said yesterday I was not a fan of the black screen bezel when it was first shown but after using the notebook for a few minutes I had got used to it, although the reflections on the black surround were sometimes very bad indeed; granted I was in a bright shop with lit signs behind me, in a home or office it wouldn't be as bad. The screen itself is LED back-lit and as sharp and bright as that found on the Air, a big improvement over the old MB screen - however the 'budget' plastic model still uses the old screen.
One factor that I am personally very interested in is the weight and thickness of the notebook as a more powerful machine with multiple ports would have been a nice replacement for my Air. Unfortunatly the weight does not feel to have gone down from the old MB - it has, by half a pound if Apple is to be believed but in the real world that really isn't much at all and I'm sure I would feel the extra weight of the MB over the Air in a bag after a days work. The machine does feel more compact and while the tapered edges don't quite perform the slimming magic trick as seen on the Air, they do make the laptop nice to hold.
The performance of the 2.4GHz model was good but all I really had chance to do was open many applications at once and see if there was any delay' I'm pleased to report there wasn't but 4GB of memory would be an obvious improvement over the standard option of 2GB.
The trackpad is worth a mention. I had actually half forgotten about the lack of a button and went to open Safari without really thinking and instinctively clicked where the button normally is. It wasn't until after I had clicked that I remembered there is no button and was rather surprised as the click felt identical to that of a proper button. While it is the trackpad itself that does the clicking, it's only the bottom half that actually moves, clicking half way up the 'pad is possible but fairly difficult as the travel is very short, although there would be no reason to be clicking up there anyway. As only the lower half moves it is easy to hold it down with the thumb and drag with the index finger as one would with any other trackpad. It is very easy to forget that the button is not there, which is guess is a good thing although the omission doesn't seem to yield any improvement in usability; it's just plain different. The trackpad does know which half you are clicking, just like the Mighty Mouse, so the bottom-right (or left) corner can be set to perform a right click if you so choose.
I would never have guessed that the 'pad is glass; the texture is different to that of a conventional trackpad as it is, to quote Steve Jobs: "super silky". A good side-effect I can think of is that the middle will be become smooth after a year or so of use - as if often the case when purchasing an older notebook - as the glass will not wear.
As has been well-documented, there is no Firewire support on the MB (FW800 and thus 400 available on the MBP) which does seem strange as there is clearly plenty of room for the extra port. This will annoy the hell out of some potential customers - and I can understand why - but personally I wouldn't find it a problem.
One feature (or lack thereof ) is the back-lit keyboard which is not available on the 2GHz aluminium MB, not even as a built-to-order option. I love the back-light on the Air and this seems a very strange thing to do, presumably as a way of encouraging punters to go for the 2.4GHz model.
While using the new MB I did glance over at the Air many times - I would have compared side by side but this wasn't possible - and although a very large part of me wanted to eBay the Air and go for the MB (which is £988 for the 2.4GHz model after my university discount) I simply can't ignore the super-thin profile and low weight of the Air; and that black screen surround, while attractive, is basically a mirror in certain lighting.
As the (1.6GHz) Air is my only machine and, admittedly, it does sometimes struggle when I'm having a video call on Skype, watching TV and using MS Word; but it is great to carry it around everywhere I go. The MB would cope far better performance-wise but I'm not sure about the extra size and weight. Ideal solution would be to get an iMac (£700 with discount) and keep the Air...maybe something to look into after new-year...
So anyway, to conclude; the MB and MBP are now very, very similar - in fact one guy was on a MB thinking it was the Pro - and I love the flush aluminium look. The trackpad is great, although not entirely necessary, the black screen looks good in the right light but a bit dodgy otherwise and the specs of the 2.4 model are decent. For an Air owner the extra power and ports, while keeping the design, is tempting; and for an old MB owner the new design is a vast improvement.
Alistair
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
New MacBook - Hands-off review
Just got in from the Apple store and while they do have the notebooks in stock, they are currently being put on the system and therefore not yet on display.
I walked in at about 10:20am, took a quick glance at the notebook benches to see the old line-up still on sale. After spending a few minutes at an iMac - thinking of buying one in the near(ish) future - I saw a group of staff gathered round the manager who had a shiny new-out-the-box MacBook in his hands. I immediately walked over to have a better look.
After first seeing the black screen yesterday I was left undecided but seeing the product in person has changed my mind and now I quite like it. What I do really like is the sturdy-looking case and the flush finish thanks to the new manufacturing technique. The aluminium and glass give it a much more 'pro' look than the slightly childish white plastic of the base-model and while I haven't yet seen the new Pro in person, I'm sure that they look very similar indeed. Despite asking I was not able to have a go, due to the system not yet being activated (we had just finished watching the Leopard intro movie).
The track pad looks to be the same size as that found on the Air, minus the button. I really wanted to try the clicking feature of the button-less 'pad but a member of staff was able to say the (glass) texture was "very usable" and the pressure needed to make a click is "just right". Personally, I'm not convinced he has actually had a go...
What struck me was the reactions of the staff when the notebook was brought onto the shop floor, they were gathered around the manager, talking loudly and grinning from ear to ear. After the MacBook was taken away one female member of staff came back to her colleagues claiming "its just amazing!" with a similar expression to that of a child who has just seen Santa Clause.
I'm unable to return today due to other commitments so I'll be back tomorrow to get a proper hands-on review of both models.
A member of staff informed me that the new cinema display and updated Air will, as expected, not be on sale until mid November.
So will I be tempted to trade in the Air for something with more power and ports, while keeping the aluminum design? Not until I've felt the weight, that's for sure.
Alistair
I walked in at about 10:20am, took a quick glance at the notebook benches to see the old line-up still on sale. After spending a few minutes at an iMac - thinking of buying one in the near(ish) future - I saw a group of staff gathered round the manager who had a shiny new-out-the-box MacBook in his hands. I immediately walked over to have a better look.
After first seeing the black screen yesterday I was left undecided but seeing the product in person has changed my mind and now I quite like it. What I do really like is the sturdy-looking case and the flush finish thanks to the new manufacturing technique. The aluminium and glass give it a much more 'pro' look than the slightly childish white plastic of the base-model and while I haven't yet seen the new Pro in person, I'm sure that they look very similar indeed. Despite asking I was not able to have a go, due to the system not yet being activated (we had just finished watching the Leopard intro movie).
The track pad looks to be the same size as that found on the Air, minus the button. I really wanted to try the clicking feature of the button-less 'pad but a member of staff was able to say the (glass) texture was "very usable" and the pressure needed to make a click is "just right". Personally, I'm not convinced he has actually had a go...
What struck me was the reactions of the staff when the notebook was brought onto the shop floor, they were gathered around the manager, talking loudly and grinning from ear to ear. After the MacBook was taken away one female member of staff came back to her colleagues claiming "its just amazing!" with a similar expression to that of a child who has just seen Santa Clause.
I'm unable to return today due to other commitments so I'll be back tomorrow to get a proper hands-on review of both models.
A member of staff informed me that the new cinema display and updated Air will, as expected, not be on sale until mid November.
So will I be tempted to trade in the Air for something with more power and ports, while keeping the aluminum design? Not until I've felt the weight, that's for sure.
Alistair
New MacBook and MacBook Pro
So we all saw Sir Steve present the new Apple notebooks last night and confirmed that they would be in stores ASAP. I was hoping to call into my local Apple store (Kingston, London) but as of 10:35am they are still selling the 'old' notebooks with no signs of new products yet.
Bit of a disappointment as I was hoping to have a play with the new button-less trackpad...ah well, I'll ask in a minute, might have stock in later today or tomorrow...
Alistair
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Top Tech For Uni
Today I thought I would give a quick run-down of the tech I have brought with me to university. Some are a tad pricey, admittedly, but others could save you a small fortune once the grant has run out.
Apple MacBook Air £1,199 - After handing the aging MacBook over to my mother I invested in a shiny, new 1.6 GHz Air. While the RRP may seem a tad steep, I found an un-opened example on eBay for £850. The weight and size of the Air make it the ideal laptop for the university student who finds himself walking a fair amount with a bag full of books on his back. Some may find the performance inadequate but, as I’m doing English and Journalism, I won’t need to encode HD video anytime soon. The lack of ports is a problem, however, and I currently have 4 USB’s plug in via a hub, a VGA cable and audio jack crammed in the side of the Air and I could still do with more.
iPhone - free to £169 - My first generation iPhone has saved me a couple of times so far with it's brilliant Maps application. Not knowing the area (Greater London) I have got completely lost a few times now and punching a nearby road name into Maps brings up the quickest way home. Another use so far has been the wireless sync to Mobile Me - and thus my laptop - so adding a new friend’s number adds it to my laptop’s address book too.
Win TV HVR 900 - £50 - While the idea of watching TV on your computer is not that new, its something I’ve never bothered with; until coming to university. I wasn’t going to bring my TV from home, so I was faced with either buying a small TV or one of these USB sticks. The device comes with a fairly shabby portable ariel, but if you can hold it in such a way that you get all the Freeview channels then you won’t have to pay the £139 license fee - you’ll be covered by your parents’ license back home. I tried this but, sadly, I couldn’t pick up enough channels so I took the plunge and bought a cable to plug into the wall-socket and a license. Now I can watch most of the Freeview channels, have a fairly decent EPG and the ability to set stuff to record while I’m out sampling the Student Union bars.
Skype Unlimited - £22.43 per year - I’ve been using Skype for years now, with its free computer-to-computer calls and found it to be very good, despite random dis-connections and lag for time to time. While I did know about Skype's ability to call proper phones and remember clearly burning through £10 alarmingly quickly when calling a mobile, the Unlimited service is new to me. For just over £20 per year, or about £2 per month if you prefer, you can have unlimited calls to UK landlines. You can also select a landline number to go with your account, so when I call someone from Skype it appears as a London ‘020’ number on the receiver's phone. So there’s no excuse for not keeping in touch with family and friends back home.
Hanns-G 21” monitor - £150 - While I could have used the laptop’s 13" screen for everything, I felt that taking my desktop display was a must to provide extra screen-space. My set-up involves having my laptop on a stand (Griffin Elevator) to the right of the main screen; this works really well as I can watch TV on one screen and use applications on the other. The brand maybe fairly unknown but it works well enough and with a VGA and HDMI input I can have the laptop and PS3 plugged in together.
Ally Capellino Satchel Laptop Bag - £109 - I did bring a laptop bag with me but, and I know this sounds shallow, the colours and design really annoyed me. The khaki-green and orange was pretty horrible and the velcro was embarrassingly loud in lectures - told you it was shallow. So anyway, with my student grant and loan burning a hole in my pocket, I purchased the new bag. While the cost is rather high, as soon as you hold the bag and feel the quality of the zips and straps, you know you have bought a quality product that will withstand anything university has to throw at it. The bag is fairly small but able to carry the Air and many accessories and/or books with ease.
So there we are, a quick run-down of what I have with me at university; I do have other bits and pieces such as speakers and a camera but they weren’t really worth a mention. Oh, and don’t, whatever you do, forget about insurance. I have everything covered and my phone and laptop are covered wherever I take them, even from accidental damage. At £120 per year its well worth it to make sure you are fully covered.
Alistair
Apple MacBook Air £1,199 - After handing the aging MacBook over to my mother I invested in a shiny, new 1.6 GHz Air. While the RRP may seem a tad steep, I found an un-opened example on eBay for £850. The weight and size of the Air make it the ideal laptop for the university student who finds himself walking a fair amount with a bag full of books on his back. Some may find the performance inadequate but, as I’m doing English and Journalism, I won’t need to encode HD video anytime soon. The lack of ports is a problem, however, and I currently have 4 USB’s plug in via a hub, a VGA cable and audio jack crammed in the side of the Air and I could still do with more.
iPhone - free to £169 - My first generation iPhone has saved me a couple of times so far with it's brilliant Maps application. Not knowing the area (Greater London) I have got completely lost a few times now and punching a nearby road name into Maps brings up the quickest way home. Another use so far has been the wireless sync to Mobile Me - and thus my laptop - so adding a new friend’s number adds it to my laptop’s address book too.
Win TV HVR 900 - £50 - While the idea of watching TV on your computer is not that new, its something I’ve never bothered with; until coming to university. I wasn’t going to bring my TV from home, so I was faced with either buying a small TV or one of these USB sticks. The device comes with a fairly shabby portable ariel, but if you can hold it in such a way that you get all the Freeview channels then you won’t have to pay the £139 license fee - you’ll be covered by your parents’ license back home. I tried this but, sadly, I couldn’t pick up enough channels so I took the plunge and bought a cable to plug into the wall-socket and a license. Now I can watch most of the Freeview channels, have a fairly decent EPG and the ability to set stuff to record while I’m out sampling the Student Union bars.
Skype Unlimited - £22.43 per year - I’ve been using Skype for years now, with its free computer-to-computer calls and found it to be very good, despite random dis-connections and lag for time to time. While I did know about Skype's ability to call proper phones and remember clearly burning through £10 alarmingly quickly when calling a mobile, the Unlimited service is new to me. For just over £20 per year, or about £2 per month if you prefer, you can have unlimited calls to UK landlines. You can also select a landline number to go with your account, so when I call someone from Skype it appears as a London ‘020’ number on the receiver's phone. So there’s no excuse for not keeping in touch with family and friends back home.
Hanns-G 21” monitor - £150 - While I could have used the laptop’s 13" screen for everything, I felt that taking my desktop display was a must to provide extra screen-space. My set-up involves having my laptop on a stand (Griffin Elevator) to the right of the main screen; this works really well as I can watch TV on one screen and use applications on the other. The brand maybe fairly unknown but it works well enough and with a VGA and HDMI input I can have the laptop and PS3 plugged in together.
Ally Capellino Satchel Laptop Bag - £109 - I did bring a laptop bag with me but, and I know this sounds shallow, the colours and design really annoyed me. The khaki-green and orange was pretty horrible and the velcro was embarrassingly loud in lectures - told you it was shallow. So anyway, with my student grant and loan burning a hole in my pocket, I purchased the new bag. While the cost is rather high, as soon as you hold the bag and feel the quality of the zips and straps, you know you have bought a quality product that will withstand anything university has to throw at it. The bag is fairly small but able to carry the Air and many accessories and/or books with ease.
So there we are, a quick run-down of what I have with me at university; I do have other bits and pieces such as speakers and a camera but they weren’t really worth a mention. Oh, and don’t, whatever you do, forget about insurance. I have everything covered and my phone and laptop are covered wherever I take them, even from accidental damage. At £120 per year its well worth it to make sure you are fully covered.
Alistair
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