How to clean your DSLR and take care of it

Opening up your expensive dSLR camera to clean it may seem intimidating, but it doesn't have to be scary as long as you prepare properly and use the right tools. You open your camera to the elements every time you change the lens, and dust or grit can sidle in there to sabotage your images. That doesn't mean you should keep your camera sealed up in an antiseptic box.

Cleaning is easy enough that you can happily take your dSLR with you into all sorts of environments safe in the knowledge that you can deal with any imperfections creeping in.

That said, the sensor is the most sensitive part of your camera (obviously) so only monkey with it if you're completely happy with what you've read here. Remember, if something goes wrong you could have a hefty bill, so take it one step at a time.

The basic tools you'll need for cleaning your SLR's sensor are a rocket blower, sensor cleaning swabs and sensor cleaning solution. These are available from specialist camera shops, as well as online. We bought our kit in handy packs from cameraclean.co.uk.

For cleaning your lens you'll require lens cleaning solution and lint-free cloths. It's important to use cloths that don't shed tiny lint fibres -- this will defeat the purpose of cleaning. These are available from high-street stores, as well as specialist retailers and online. We bought a pre- packaged lens-cleaning kit from Jessops.

Take the test

First, you should establish whether your sensor actually needs cleaning. Although cleaning doesn't have to be a major operation, there's no point in tempting fate by poking around if your sensor is already pristine.

To test for dust and blemishes, set the camera to a small aperture, say around f/16-22, and take a picture of a plain white surface, such as a piece of plain white paper. Have a look at the resulting image on a computer and zoom in to hunt for tell-tale blemishes.

To make any blemishes show up clearly, adjust the levels of your images. This alters the contrast so dark bits show up even darker, making flaws easy to spot. Open your image editor's levels histogram and pull the left and right handles to the middle. This will boost the contrast and show up any imperfections.

Keep your area tidy

Changing lenses is best done in dust-free, neutral environments, where the risk of contamination is low, but this isn't always possible when snapping in the field. Cleaning, however, should always be carried out somewhere away from the elements.

Dust and clean the area you'll be working in, and avoid wearing clothes that may shed lots of fibres while you're working. Contaminating particles will be invisible to the naked eye but will show up when you start snapping, so roll up your sleeves and don't take any chances. A good lamp is also useful so you can see what you're doing.

It's also worth cleaning the outside of your dSLR before you start. Use a soft cloth to clean any oil off the surfaces of the camera and check for dust, dirt and grit in the nooks and crannies. Dampen the cloth slightly if necessary. Avoid pre-moistened wipes with chemicals in, unless they're specialist camera wipes.

Read the flipping manual

Dig out the manual -- you know, that thick book that came with the camera. Although most dSLRs operate on the same basic principles, every camera has its own way of working, and you need to know how your camera likes to be cleaned. On our battered Canon EOS 30D, the cleaning mode is easy to find.

Your dSLR will have a sensor cleaning mode. This involves locking the shutter open to gain access to the sensor. It is vitally important that you know how this works as a shutter mishap while you're finicking about inside the camera could have disastrous consequences. Go read that manual...

Lock up your mirror

Once you have read the manufacturer's cleaning instructions, turn your camera on and set it to cleaning mode. It's essential that the camera remains on -- if the power goes off, the shutter curtain will drop.

If it closes on any of your cleaning tools, the shutter curtain and mirror could be damaged, and that's not good at all. So make sure the battery is fully charged or, even better, attach your SLR to the AC adaptor.

The mirror, a clear piece of glass angled in the front of the exposed camera, will flip up out of the way. You don't need to worry about cleaning this as it doesn't affect image quality. When you put the camera into cleaning mode, the shutter curtain will also flip and the sensor is exposed -- sort of.

Ready to blow

With the mirror and shutter out of the way, the sensor is still protected. Your camera's sensor is too delicate to completely expose it to the elements, so it has a protective filter in front of it known as the Optical Low Pass Filter. When we talk about cleaning the sensor, we really mean the sensor's defensive filter.

The first thing to do is take your rocket blower and use it to gently blow dust and dirt off the surface of the sensor filter. Avoid touching the filter itself with the tip of the blower as this could damage it.

Always use the blower before swabbing or brushing the sensor. This is to ensure that you've removed any particles of grit, which are potentially worse than dust motes as they can scratch surfaces. A scratch in the sensor or lens could refract light and will leave a permanent ugly mark on images. Once you've blown dust off the sensor, you could also use a special brush to gently sweep the surface.

Never use compressed air on the sensor -- it will freeze on the sensor surface, possibly causing very serious damage. Always go with a mechanical blower, which will provide gentle, dry air to float those pesky dust motes away.

Swab the decks

Ensure you've bought the correct size swab for your sensor. Manufacturers will list SLRs on their Web sites. If in doubt, go for smaller sizes as you'll be able to use more than one swab to cover the whole sensor. We used Eclipse swabs and cleaning solution, and our trusty Canon EOS 30D required size 2 swabs.

Take a clean swab and squeeze two to four drops of cleaning solution on to the end. Don't saturate the swab or you'll end up with excess solution on the sensor.

Place the swab at one side of the sensor and gently wipe all the way across in one smooth motion. Try and make sure you get into the corners and cover the whole surface of the sensor.

Turn the tables

When the whole sensor has been covered, turn the swab over and bring it back the way you came. Ensure that each stroke across the surface of the sensor uses a fresh, clean side of the swab. This stops you redepositing dust on to the sensor. Once you've used both sides, throw the swab away and don't reuse it.

If the swabs are smaller than the sensor and you need more than one swipe to cover the whole surface, use a fresh swab. If there's any excess solution visible on the sensor, use a fresh swab with a couple of drops of fluid to remove it. Swabs are cheap enough to not stint.

The sensor should now be clean. Remove the swab and chuck it away, then exit cleaning mode and fit the lens back on. Repeat the test in Tip 2 to see the results. If dust is still showing up, repeat the cleaning process.

Wipe through a lens

Cleaning the sensor is important, but it isn't the only factor in image quality. The lens is just as important. Simple lens-cleaning kits are available from most camera stores as this is a much simpler operation than cleaning the sensor. Simply blow dust off the lens with your blower and clean it with lens tissues, or a soft cloth.

Remember that scratching the lens will cause problems with light refracting off the jagged surface of the scratch, so use the blower to dislodge particles first.

To clean the lens, pour some lens-cleaning fluid on to the cloth and then wipe the surface of the lens. Never drip fluid straight on to the lens. When you've cleaned the whole thing, polish off any excess fluid with a dry part of the cloth.

Keep it clean

Sensors, mirrors and internal components may be delicate, but cameras are generally well-sealed and pretty sturdy beasts. You won't have to clean your camera too often, unless you notice dirt on the outside or blemishes on your images.

It's pretty straightforward to ensure your SLR stays clean: keep it in a bag when not in use, give it a wipe every now and again, and make lens changes quick. It goes without saying that you should keep caps on lenses and the camera body whenever the lens is off, even if it's only for a few minutes.

Next time you get a pair of shoes and that little sachet of silica gel falls out, don't chuck it away. Instead, stick it in your camera bag to absorb moisture.

If, after following the above steps, you find yourself faced with a bit of dust or an imperfection you just can't shift, don't panic. Professional cleaning services are available, and although they are more expensive than the DIY route, they produce guaranteed results.

http://digitalliving.cnet.co.uk/

Oracle rejects BEA's $8.2 billion price tag

BEA Systems said Thursday it is willing to sell itself for $8.2 billion, but the price was rejected as "impossibly high" by Oracle, the only company that has publicly expressed interest in the software maker.

BEA, which is under pressure from billionaire investor Carl Icahn to find a buyer, said it was worth $21 per share, which is a 24 percent premium to the $17-per-share bid that Oracle offered on October 12.

Oracle said BEA's price represented an 80 percent premium to its shares before activist shareholders started pushing for a sale of the company, and nearly 11 times BEA's revenue from software maintenance services in the last 12 months.

"Nobody would seriously consider paying that kind of multiple for a software company with shrinking new license sales," Oracle President Charles Phillips said in a letter to BEA's board.

He said Oracle was standing by its $6.7 billion bid, which expires at 5 p.m. PDT Sunday, adding "at which time Oracle will move on and evaluate other potential acquisitions."

Shares of BEA had closed at $17.53 on the Nasdaq, down 2 cents as investors appeared to also believe that the $21 price set by the business software maker may be too optimistic. Some analysts still thought a deal was possible as BEA's software, called middleware because it helps connect business computer systems, could be added to Oracle's database programs to help it better compete with SAP.

"Nobody is more interested in this than Oracle," said Bart Narter, an analyst with financial research and consulting firm Celent. "I think there is a lot of posturing. Maybe they'll get a little higher price. Maybe."

Representatives for BEA could not be reached for comment. The $21 price had marked the first time BEA gave a price point for negotiations with Oracle, the world's third largest software company with a market value of about $100 billion.

"Over the last several weeks, Oracle has repeatedly asked us for the price at which we would be willing to begin negotiations," BEA's board said earlier on Thursday. BEA is "prepared to authorize negotiations with third parties including Oracle at a price of $21.00 per share," it said.

Talk of a buyout for BEA began in August when Icahn said he had begun acquiring shares in the business software maker and called on its board to put the company up for sale. Chief Executive Alfred Chuang had rebuffed the billionaire activist investor, who boosted his stake to about 13 percent, making him the company's biggest shareholder.

Besides Oracle, other companies that have been touted as possible buyers of BEA include IBM, Hewlett-Packard and SAP.

An SAP spokesman said the company was not interested in buying BEA, while representatives for Hewlett-Packard and IBM declined comment. Icahn could not be reached for comment.

Jefferies & Co. analyst Katherine Egbert said earlier on Thursday another suitor may be talking to BEA behind the scenes. "For the BEA board to make the claim that they are worth $21 (per share) without any detailed supporting analysis could mean that they have another interested party," she said.

BEA said that after consulting with its investment bank, Goldman Sachs, it believes Oracle or another company would still see earnings benefit if it paid $21 per share or higher.

But Phillips said in his letter, "We believe that your counterproposal at $21 per share price is an impossibly high price for Oracle or any other potential acquirer."

www.news.com

Imagine Me Without You

High-tech restaurant without waiters

Gone are the days of slow service and surly waiters at an automated restaurant in Germany.

Diners at the newly-opened restaurant in Nuremberg can now place their order using a touch-screen computer. Their meal then arrives via an elaborate spiral rail network that descends from the second floor ktichen. While the restaurant has a futuristic concept, the food served there is traditional, and it seems to be a hit with diners.

Senators want probe of Comcast's BitTorrent 'discrimination'

Comcast's reportedly aggressive filtering of BitTorrent and other file-sharing traffic is drawing calls for a U.S. Senate hearing--and a renewed push for Net neutrality laws.

Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) on Friday sent a letter asking Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) to convene a hearing as soon as possible to investigate "the topic of service discrimination by phone and cable companies."

The request isn't new: Dorgan and Snowe both made a similar plea after reports that Verizon Wireless had initially refused to carry a reproductive rights group's text messages.

The senators suggested the incidents indicate "Congress should consider adopting targeted regulations to protect consumers and ensure a vibrant and open communications platform."

They're referring, of course, to Net neutrality rules, which Dorgan and Snowe proposed once again earlier this year after a similar effort failed to pass last year. That's the idea that broadband operators like Comcast and Verizon should not be allowed to block, impair, or discriminate against any content that crosses their pipes--or charge companies extra fees for the privilege of getting their traffic prioritized.

Many Democrats support the regulations, but Republicans have largely rejected them, claiming the market is sufficient to sort out perceived discrimination problems as they arise and that new regulations would stifle investment in new broadband services.

Verizon, for its part, ultimately allowed the reproductive rights group's messages, citing an "outdated policy" that caused the company to decline to carry the group's alert system. Comcast also denied blocking access to any Web sites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services, but it acknowledged "delaying" some Internet traffic in the interest of improving other subscribers' surfing experiences, particularly during highly congested periods.

A Democratic Commerce Committee aide told CNET News.com on Friday that Inouye had received the letter but wasn't sure when--or if--a hearing would be scheduled.

www.news.com

Accused speeder to cops: My GPS proves your radar gun is wrong

GPS-based tracking devices don't just help you figure out where you are and where you're going, they might also help you avoid a speeding ticket. Shaun Malone of California is contesting a speeding ticket in that state by arguing that his GPS-based tracking system shows that the officer's radar gun was wrong.

Malone, a 17-year-old who was clocked doing 62 MPH in a 45 MPH zone on July 4 of this year, has more than just a GPS on his side. As the AP reports, his stepfather Roger Rude is a retired sheriff, and is pushing Malone to fight the ticket. (As an aside, how awesome would it be to be Sherriff Rude?)

Ironically, Malone's parents had the GPS system installed in order to track the whereabouts and speed of their son, whom they readily admit has a lead foot. In fact, he has already been grounded for having gone over 70 MPH after the GPS was installed. Nevertheless, Malone's parents say that the data on the day in question shows that their son was not speeding in the vicinity of where the ticket was issued.

While many GPS systems don't log travel details extensively enough to be used as a defense against a moving violation, Malone's car was outfitted with a device that could do just that. According to Rude, all recorded plots on Malone's route show him to be driving under the speed limit. At the same time, Rude says, GPS-systems are clearly more reliable than radar systems, which, while good, are "not an infallible tool" and are subject to human error.

A Sonoma County traffic commissioner has to decide whether the GPS system can be accepted as a basis to challenge the ticket, but ex-sheriff Rude is prepared to push his case in court in the event of an unhappy outcome.

The debate is likely to come down to how often the GPS device calculated and reported ground speed. Petaluma police lieutenant John Edwards told the AP that since GPS is satellite-based, there's a delay involved, and that Malone may have sped up and slowed down in the window between measurements, which could be as long as 60 seconds.

GPS tracking systems like the one in Malone's car are becoming an increasingly popular way for parents to keep tabs on their kids, an outgrowth of the initial use of such devices in car fleets and trucking. Many consumer-oriented GPS navigation systems also have these capabilities, but Malone's was hardcore: the system would even e-mail his parents in the event that he drove too fast.

http://arstechnica.com

UK government: Schools shouldn't sign licensing agreements with Microsoft

Concerns over Microsoft's Office 2007 and Vista licensing terms have prompted a UK government agency to warn schools against signing licensing agreements. Becta, the UK's education technology branch, has also filed a complaint with the UK's Office of Fair Trading, alleging that Microsoft engages in anticompetitive practices in the academic software license marketplace.

Becta and Microsoft have been in talks over the issue, but they have yet to result in a solution acceptable to both parties. For the time being, Becta recommends that schools avoid Microsoft's subscription licensing program. School Agreement covers all of the PCs at a school, which means that admins don't need to keep track of the licensing status for every PC. The program also provides participating schools with all application and OS updates made available during the term of the agreement.

There are a few downsides to the School Agreement program, according to Becta. Microsoft doesn't provide sufficient clarity into the buy-out costs should a school decide to get out of the program, says Becta. The agency is also concerned that Microsoft's academic subscription setup doesn't allow schools to obtain a perpetual license—unless they make a buy-out payment. Lastly, Becta would like to see Microsoft drop its all-or-nothing licensing requirement—all PCs on campus must be a part of the program, even if they're not capable of running Vista or Office 2007.

Becta also has some more specific concerns regarding Vista and Office 2007. It believes that Vista's feature set isn't enough to justify upgrades at this point. In the case of Office 2007, Becta would like to see stronger support for the ODF format used by OpenOffice.org and better interoperability with Microsoft Works.

Schools that have already signed up for Microsoft's School Agreement are encouraged to "consider their renewal and their buyout options," according to Becta.

Microsoft, like other software vendors, likes subscription licensing models because they provide a stedy stream of revenue over a product's lifecycle instead of incremental revenues centered around major releases. Unfortunately for the software giant, the elongated release schedule for Windows—there was over five years between the releases of Windows XP and Windows Vista—have left some licensees doubting the value of Microsoft's licensing programs.

A report released last summer by Forrester Research questioned the value of Microsoft's Software Assurance subscription licensing program. It looked at the average annual cost of a SA agreement and found that it ended up costing companies significantly more money over a four-year period. Those costs increased if a new version was delayed even more.

Realizing that overly-long release cycles are not good for business, Microsoft is attemting to shorten the time between major releases. The company is targeting a 2010 release for the next version of Windows.

Microsoft has vigorously defended its licensing programs in the past, telling Ars in the case of the Forrester report that the findings were not in line with the feedback the company had received. The company was not able to offer comment on this story prior to publication, however.

http://arstechnica.com

Russian crackers throw GPU power at passwords

Russian-based cracking "password recovery" company Elcomsoft hasn't really been in the news since 2003, when Adobe helped make "Free Dmitry" the new "Free Kevin" by having one of the company's programmers, Dmitry Sklyarov, arrested for cracking its eBook Reader software. But Elcomsoft has remedied the lack of press attention this week with its announcement that it has pressed the GPU into the service of password cracking.

With NVIDIA and AMD/ATI working overtime to raise the GPU's profile as a math coprocessor for computationally intensive, data-parallel computing problems, it was inevitable that someone would make an announcement that they had succeeded in using the GPU to speed up the password-cracking process. Notice that I said "make an announcement," because I'm sure various government entities domestic and foreign have been working on this from the moment AMD made its "close-to-metal" (CTM) package available for download. The Elcomsoft guys didn't use CTM, though. They opted to go with NVIDIA's higher-level CUDA interface, a move that no doubt cut their development time significantly.

Elcomsoft's new password cracker attacks the NTLM hashing that Windows uses with a brute force method. The company claims that its GPU-powered attack speeds up the time it takes to crack a Vista password from two months to a little over three days.

Elcomsoft claims that they've filed for a US patent on this approach, but it's not clear what exactly they're attempting to patent. A search of the USPTO's patent database turned up nothing, but that could be because the patent hasn't made it into the database yet.

Ultimately, using GPUs to crack passwords is kid's stuff. The world's best password cracker is probably the Storm month, assuming that its owners are using it for this. As many as ten million networked Windows boxes—now that's parallelism.

Apple's new star, the Mac computer

For years, Apple has really been two companies: a mature, slow-growing one paired with a new, dynamic one, with the upstart driving the company's renaissance.

Apple's vibrant business was, of course, its iPod unit, and its stodgy old business the Macintosh division. Indeed, the company in January dropped "Computer" from its name.

But since the name change, something funny has happened: The Mac business has been the star, as iPod sales have started to look a bit anemic.

"Apple managed to pull the digital music player market into the mainstream and penetrated it pretty quickly," noted Tony Ursillo, an analyst with investment firm Loomis Sayles, which owns Apple's stock. "It's a maturing market at this point."

In contrast, Apple's computer business "has lots of running room" to outgrow the broader market, Ursillo added.

While the company sold a record 2.1 million computers in its most recent quarter, its sales accounted for little more than 3 percent of the worldwide PC market, based on data from industry research firm IDC, meaning there's plenty of room for it to take share from competitors.

So far, the change in the two businesses' fortunes hasn't affected Apple's overall robust financial health. The company posted record sales and earnings for its past financial year, far exceeding Wall Street's expectations. And many analysts expect the company's strong Mac sales to continue at least for the near future.

But becoming dependent for growth on its computer products could be a difficult bet in the longer term, given that the PC industry is mature, and competition over market share can be intense. And it highlights the importance of the company's iPhone effort - both as its next big growth driver and as a replacement for slowing iPod sales.

Indeed, even though the iPhone has been on store shelves less than four months, it "is already more important" than the iPod for Apple's future growth, Ursillo said.

That the iPod is no longer Apple's top growth driver would have been hard to fathom even a year ago. At that point - just five years after Apple unveiled its first iPod - its music players for the first time accounted for a larger portion of its full fiscal-year sales than its computers.

That achievement was built on years of torrid sales growth.

In contrast, the company's computer sales had grown much more modestly.

But in its fiscal year that ended last month, Apple's computer business grew 39.9 percent to $10 billion, marking a record sales year for the Mac - and a pace that was more than twice that of the overall PC market.

But just as consumers seemed to be getting excited about the Mac, their enthusiasm for the iPod seemed to ebb. Apple's iPod sales grew just 8.2 percent last fiscal year to $8.31 billion.

The Mac is faring well in part because the iPod and now the iPhone have attracted new customers to Apple's other products, analysts say. And consumers fed up with crash- and virus-prone Windows PCs have been increasingly receptive to Apple's longtime message that the Mac is an easier-to-use, more stable and safer computer.

Additionally, the move to Intel chips in the Mac has allowed the company to offer more competitive hardware - and attract consumers who need to have a computer that can run Windows-only programs.

"There's no one thing that is most important. It's a combination of all the above," said Bob O'Donnell, an analyst who covers the PC industry for IDC.

There's less consensus about what's happening to the company's iPod business. Some analysts argue that the company's media-player lineup was simply in need of the revamp Apple announced last month, or that all the iPhone hype has drawn consumers' focus away from the iPod.

Others chalk the slow growth up to the "law of big numbers," the idea that while the business is still growing significantly in dollar terms, the large base it's growing off of makes percentage growth more difficult.

For their part, Apple representatives say they are unconcerned with the company's slowing iPod business. They note that unit sales of iPods are still healthy - up 31 percent last year - and the product still dominates the market. And sales of the devices picked up after the recent revamp, they say.

"We are shipping the best iPod lineup ever as we head into holiday season," company Chief Financial Officer Tim Cook said on a conference call Monday.

But with the average price consumers pay for an iPod falling, the company faces the prospect of having to sell more and more iPods to bring in the same amount of money from them - at the same time that at least some analysts think Apple has saturated the market.

No one really expects iPod sales to fall off a cliff; instead, many analysts expect them to rebound this holiday season. But the best of times for the iPod may be past.

In fact, some analysts think the market for portable media players is starting to give way to that for music-playing cell phones such as Apple's very own iPhone.

"When Apple did the iPhone, it really signaled the potential end for the stand-alone iPod," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, a tech consulting firm.

www.siliconvalley.com

$100 laptop delayed by bugs

A nonprofit developing a low-cost laptop for poor children said that a production delay will cause a shortage of computers available in the United States and Canada as part of a holiday-giving program.

The $188 (£92) string-pulley-charged XO laptop was scheduled to go into production at a Chinese factory in October, but it is now slated to begin by 12 November, said Mary Lou Jepsen, chief technology officer for the One Laptop per Child Foundation.

"We had some last-minute bugs. We've resolved them," she said in a recent interview, adding that the group expected to produce 100,000 laptops this year.

An October launch would have given the group time to produce and ship tens of thousands of laptops to Peru and Uruguay, the first two countries to order the laptops.

It will now be tough to get those laptops to South America by December, in time for kids to use them over their summer holidays, and also meet orders for the foundation's Give 1 Get 1 program for people in the United States and Canada, she said.

For $400 (£195), Give 1 Get 1 provides buyers with a laptop of their own plus a second machine to a poor child overseas.

The laptop features a string-pulley to charge its battery, a keyboard that switches between languages, a digital video camera, wireless connectivity and Linux open-source operating software tailored for remote regions.

The display switches from colour to black-and-white for viewing in direct sunlight -- a feature unavailable in laptops at least 10 times more expensive.

It needs just two watts of power compared with a typical laptop's 30 to 40 watts, and does away with hard drives, relying instead on flash memory and four USB ports to add memory devices. The group is experimenting with a device that uses cows to generate power to charge its battery.

The fourth quarter is the busiest time of the year at computer plants in China, which produce the bulk of PCs from companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Apple.

Jepsen said some laptop customers in the United States and Canada would be able to get their PCs before the holidays, but they would be shipped on a first-come, first-served basis.

The foundation will accept orders on its Web site, from 12 November.

The foundation's goal has been to sell the laptops for $100 (£49).

(Reuters)

Apple TV gets ready for YouTube

Thousands of hours of user-generated video madness will soon be available through Apple TV, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced on Wednesday.

Jobs revealed the partnership with YouTube during his talk at the D: All Things Digital conference in California. Starting next month, Apple TV users will be able to select 'YouTube' as an option from the device's main menu and view thousands of the most viewed and most popular videos on the site.

Apple TV is designed to connect a widescreen television with content purchased or downloaded over the Internet by a Mac or PC. Until now, however, UK Apple TV users looking for content were mostly dependent on music videos they had purchased through the iTunes Store. (In the US it's slightly different -- users there are also able to download television programmes and movies from iTunes). There's no browser inside the interface that would let users access other Internet videos, though they could move their home videos to Apple TV.

Now, Apple has designed a hook into YouTube that will let Apple TV owners access the most popular videos that have been converted into the H.264 standard, said David Moody, vice president for Mac hardware marketing at Apple. The full catalogue of YouTube videos will be available later in the year, as YouTube converts the rest, Moody said.

Apple also announced that it will make a higher-capacity version of Apple TV available from Friday. The current Apple TV product costs £199 with a 40GB hard drive, but from 1 June a version with a 160GB hard drive will also be available, costing £269.
www.news.cnet.co.uk

Which is better: plasma or LCD?

Your next television will probably be big and flat. But the industry is divided on which technology you'll choose to improve your view of the world.

Flat-screen televisions are taking over the world, according to executives speaking in San Diego at the DisplaySearch US FPD Conference on Wednesday. Old CRT televisions are quickly becoming obsolete as high-definition LCD and plasma televisions turn heads with high-definition images.

Plasma TVs dominate the market for flat-panel televisions larger than 40 inches, while LCD televisions reign among smaller sets. The line is starting to blur, however, as LCD TVs grow larger and reduce the cost advantage of plasma displays.

LCD televisions are making inroads because the cost of manufacturing LCD screens larger than 30 inches has fallen, said Tim Alessi, director of product development and advertising for LG Electronics. LG, as the world's leading LCD company through its joint venture with Philips, and the second-largest plasma TV company behind Panasonic, is in a unique position to evaluate the competing technologies, he said.

Potential customers who are thinking about purchasing a large television will note the quality of moving images on a plasma screen as well as the wider viewing angle, said Yoshi Yamada, chief executive officer of Panasonic North America. High-definition plasma displays also tend to cost half as much as comparably sized HD LCD displays.

However, LCD panels are lighter, and the cost advantages could disappear in the coming years as technology improves, as it did in the market for LCD monitors and laptop screens.

Plasma should continue to be the choice for sets that are larger than 45 inches or so, while LCD TVs are quickly replacing CRT sets smaller than around 35 inches, Alessi said. The battle lines have been drawn in that middle ground, which coincidentally is expected to be the average TV size toward the end of the decade.

(www.news.cnet.co.uk)

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About LCD TV

LCD TVs are hot. But do you know anything about the technology behind the screen? Later this year we will see the first of 100HZ LCD TVs along with a dramatic improvement in performance.

LCD monitors and TVs are the fastest-growing display technology in the world. Here's everything you need to know about how they work and how they're made.

Available in all shapes, sizes, and resolutions, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are everywhere these days — from the screen on your notebook computer and the big-screen HDTV in your family room to the airline information screens at the airport and electronic menus at your local fast food joint. In fact, it seems like everyone and their brother is either manufacturing or selling LCD TVs, which are the most popular LCD product category for consumers.

Some of the brands you probably immediately recognize like Samsung, LG, and Sharp. Others you may have heard of include Westinghouse, Vizio, Polaroid, and Syntax Olevia. Then there are the companies, such as Chi Mei Optoelectronics and AU Optronics, you might not know at all. Yet all of these names are important in the world of LCD displays — from manufacturing to retailing.

Long time coming
LCD technology isn't new. In fact, the first discoveries of liquid-crystal birefringence — the ability to split beams of light into two polarized planes — were made in the 1880s in Austria. In the 1950s and 1960s, RCA Corp. performed detailed research into liquid crystals, investigating the possibility that they could be the basis of a new lightweight, low-power display technology.

In the 1970s, after RCA discontinued its efforts, Japanese companies, spearheaded by Sharp and Casio, took the lead in commercializing LCDs, including monochrome calculators and watches. Color LCD screens made their debut in the 1980s, followed by overhead projection panels and notebook computers in the early 1990s, and small, low-resolution televisions.

For years, the largest LCD TVs and monitors couldn't exceed 30 inches without manufacturing sleight-of-hand, such as precision stitching of smaller panels to achieve larger sizes. The real breakthroughs came about the turn of the 21st century when the first one-piece, 40-inch diagonal LCD panels were introduced.

Today, single-cut LCD panels with diagonal sizes of 108 inches have been shown, and 1080p LCD HDTVs as large as 52 inches are available at retail for less than $4,000. To put things in perspective, Sharp's 28-inch LCD monitor from 1999 — a breakthrough product at the time — was priced at $15,000!

In recent years, prices have dropped so fast on LCD HDTV products that it's causing major headaches for well-known brands. What's behind this downward price pressure? Lots and lots of manufacturing capacity, particularly in Taiwan and China. In less than a decade, LCDs have gone from an expensive niche technology to ubiquitous. Many analysts even predict they'll kill off the venerable cathode-ray tube (CRT) in the near future.

(www.smarthouse.com.au)