Blog Archives
Siri Inspires Technology’s Aural Evolution
Apple Siri
It’s still only a matter of weeks since iPhone 4S day but already I find myself wishing that Siri, Apple’s all-hearing personal assistant, might be magicked somehow into the majority of my other household devices and appliances as well. While Apple’s genial Genie is likely to stay locked-up inside its lamp for the time being, we’re beginning to see evidence that when rubbed the right way it has enough power to cast its voice recognition spells upon my alarm clock, television and even my motor car.
“Hello alarm clock. Wake me up at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning, please. What? A touchscreen interface? How quaint.”
“Can you record Eastenders on BBC1 for me tonight?”, “Can you record and series link Family Guy on E4 later?”, “Don’t let my kids watch anything featuring scenes of nudity. Or Jeremy Clarkson”.
“Hello new alarm clock, set my alarm for 7am please. But first, tell me a story. Go on…”
RTS finds its MoJo at the BBC as part of Update TV
Image courtesy Black Country Museums
The Royal Television Society‘s inaugural Update TV event took place on Saturday at the BBC White City in London, and of particular interest for me was what Simon Morice and David Willox had hidden in their bags for their ‘OB in your Briefcase’ session.
The day’s ambitious aim was to bring RTS members up to speed with the very latest developments in broadcast television technology and trends, and was particularly angled towards television professionals who have taken a break from the business, perhaps to bring up a family, who are now keen to jump back onboard but are mindful of how television has changed significantly even over a handful of years.
Some of the events were very practical – for example, hands-on training with the BBC’s newly approved HD camera, the Canon XF305; others were interactive – Mark Aldridge, Executive Producer at Princess Productions, workshopping new interaction and engagement ideas for an imaginary (at least, that’s what we were led to believe!) 2012 revival of The Generation Game during a session on using social media in television.
Now, as some of you reading may know, I’ve been developing a mobile journalist (or ‘MoJo’ as the discipline is known) workflow over the last few months that I’ve been using to capture some great results when reporting from events. The principle around which this branch of mobile journalism is based is that a smartphone today integrates all of the technology required to research, script, shoot, edit (even brand, dub and grade), file and distribute a story. With the addition of a few pieces of hardware (e.g., microphone, tripod) and some downloaded apps, an iPhone in the right hands becomes a viable and vital news reporting tool capable of recording quality footage and getting it online in an incredibly quick time.
OWLE Bubo Camera Mount For iPhone
I was first introduced to the OWLE Bubo iPhone HD Video rig by journalist colleague Leila Makki when we both covered an event at Bletchley Park earlier this year. Manufactured from a single chunk of anodised aluminium the Bubo lends the iPhone much needed handles and heft to help stabilise handheld shots as well as a wide-angled lens, four tripod mount points, a cold-shoe adapter and a simple external microphone. After helping to film Leila’s report that afternoon on the Bubo, I was hooked: the package that I subsequently picked up also included a Rotolight RL48-A LED ring light which handily includes its own ND, diffusion and colour correction filters. To this rig I tend to add a 3.5mm jack to XLR adapter and a professional Beyerdynamic M58 reporter’s microphone for far better quality sound, and either a tripod or monopod depending upon the job.
So I felt incredibly reassured in the ‘OB in your Briefcase’ session when Simon Morice, whose career began at the BBC in the 1970s, demonstrated an almost identical Bubo-based kit list to mine and extolled the virtues of the technology, workflow and benefits with similar rapture. He has also taken the rig on the road to produce reports and in the session played a story filed from IBC earlier this year featuring Kate Russell from BBC’s Click. His software workflow does differ somewhat from what I currently use but I’ve downloaded the Vericorder editing app to give it a try.
While chatting with Simon afterwards he was quick to point out that whilst these new technology and workflow innovations themselves are terrific enablers, the overall success of a report still stands on its content. I couldn’t agree more: the real skill of the journalist is in telling a story, through whichever medium, and Simon touched on what were some equally exciting and innovative story-telling principles and philosophies that I hope I get a chance to explore further.
Other personal highlights of the day included sessions featuring Suzie Marsh (currently series editor for Live with Gabby on Channel 5); Amy Walker, a factual producer who now runs Media Parents to promote flexible working in television; and the vastly experienced Shu Richmond who recently set up TV blog, ‘So You Want to Work in Television‘.
The Royal Television Society are planning on running further similar events next year – if you’re interested in finding out more do take a look at the RTS website.
Find out more about mobile journalism at Glen Mulcahy’s Video Journalism Blog, frequently updated with great MoJo stories and technology.
Simon Morice runs ICM Business Video where there are some good examples of the MoJo kit in action.
Apple iOS 4.1 update promises relief to Bluetooth headset and car-kit users
Meet Mr Bluetooth. He’s a long-established personal area network wireless standard who promotes cross-platform and cross-device compatibility, famed for both his hands-free convenience and his fist-clenching fiddlyness. He’s also responsible for more annoying flashing blue lights than a Glasgow derby. In spite of that he’s a friendly sort of chap who gets on with almost everyone; that is except for Master Apple, whose friendships with Dr Wi-Fi and Prof 3G have also been rather strained of late – come to think of it, Master Apple hasn’t been getting on very well with anyone from Wireless Avenue recently.
Since the release of iPhone OS3 last summer, users of Bluetooth headsets and car-kits have complained of their functionality being stripped away: either some functions (e.g. Play/Pause) or their entire devices stop working altogether. The release of iOS4.0 earlier this summer ensured that most remaining Bluetooth functional car-kits also stopped working, much to the chagrin of many Parrot ‘Made for iPhone’ Bluetooth car-kit owners.
Thankfully, Apple’s iOS 4.1 – released today – promises to mend at least the Bluetooth relationship without recourse to a Relate councillor.
The latest Supported Bluetooth Profiles article on the Apple website boasts A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth support, the latter (re-)enabling the play/pause, next/previous track buttons in many devices. Furthermore, the iTunes library reorganisation introduced with iOS4 which put paid to many Parrot Bluetooth streaming devices is also due to be reworked.
So far, we’ve only been able to test the Sony DR-BT21G Bluetooth headphones (originally tested here) against iOS 4.1 and we’re delighted to report that full-function has once again returned to these headsets with full play/pause next/previous control. Watch the Parrot forum for an update on iOS4.1 compatibility with the Parrot MKi9200 and its associated iPhone-friendly Bluetooth streaming car kits – we’ll also be testing one over the next few days.
Getting naked with the Dell Streak
Anyone would think we’ve been taking too many tablets again here at techspot.tv. As if disinterring a 2006 Samsung Q1 tablet PC and comparing it with a sprightly 2010 Apple iPad wasn’t enough madness for one month, last week we found ourselves snatching the sexy Dell Streak from its cradle and prodding it violently with a sharp implement. Naughty techspot. First announced at CES earlier in the year and finally released to the public last Friday (4th June 2010) the new Dell Streak marks the first of Dell’s highly-anticipated forays into the ‘new’ consumer tablet market and something of a departure from their otherwise staple corporate laptop, desktop and server-focused sales. We were fortunate to pin one down for a hands-on just before O2 snaffled them up and put them up for sale on the high street. Naughty O2.
Dell Streak - even with its clothes off, there's not much to see.
So, what’s the Dell Streak tablet computer (or the DellPad as we found ourselves calling it) all about then? Well, it’s an Android-toting portable device sporting a 5-inch touchscreen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Micro SD support and 5MP camera with LED flash. A plastic case it may have, but in fact she’s a very sturdy little beast, its chaperone taking great pleasure in stabbing its Gorilla Glass screen with a pencil to demonstrate just how hardy this little slab is.
It has to be said that the screen is a thing of beauty, enough to flatter even the grainiest YouTube video: colourful, clear and scratch-proof are a winning combination. However, its biggest asset is also its biggest downfall as, frankly, 5 inches just isn’t enough. The Streak feels rather like a slightly porkier iPhone, but not at all on the same scale as the ‘Honey I Blew Up The Blower’ iPad’s 10-inch screen. With its tablet monicker, comparisons with other tablets such as the iPad are inevitable, but we feel its size alone pitches it instead more against the iPhone.
There are further similarities between the Streak and the iPhone, in particular the frustrating lack of Flash support, although this is promised as an over-the-air update later on this year. The Streak is also fully functioning phone via its SIM card, although a hands-free kit might be preferred here to avoid the tedious Dom Joly comparisons.
However, the it’s in the overall user experience where there are the most differences to iPhone. Whilst Android has gained significant traction in the market over the last 12 months, on the DellSlab it’s a shame that Google’s operating system seemed inexplicably clunky and reluctant to perform in spite of its snappy Qualcomm core. A prime example was one of Google’s own flagship apps, Google Maps, which lacked any of the smooth tactile joy experienced on the iPhone and elsewhere. We also had a surprising amount of trouble tapping out a quick message on its keyboard, possibly due to its small size or perhaps because its intelligent keys were outsmarting us; either way, prodding away was a real chore and particularly unintuitive, certainly requiring something of a steeper learning curve than most would hope.
So, who will this device ultimately appeal to? Straight out, if you already have an iPhone or iTouch then the Dell Streak isn’t for you: apart from a couple of extra inches of screen estate and a flashier snapper there are few other compelling reasons to double-up. However, if you are stuck to a corporate contract with a Blackberry or with a boring talk ‘n’ text Nokia and are looking for a pocketable personal phone or portable media player to help while away the scrum on the Circle Line every morning then the Streak could make a great non-Apple option.
Pocketable and palmable but just not typeable.
Dell have promised in the near future to upgrade the Streak’s operating system to the latest Android version 2.2 and to include Adobe Flash support. These software improvements, together with a hardware upgrade to a 7 or 10-inch screen and increased onboard storage will certainly ask more questions of its main rivals. However, for now there’s just not quite enough ‘wow’ in the Streak to tempt those unsure of the tablet form factor into buying, or to convince those already converted away from Apple’s devices.
iTomTom? Thanks, but NoNo!
Are we there yet?
Until earlier this year a downloadable TomTom navigation app for the iPhone had long been hoisted aloft by many as tech-convergence nirvana.
The possibility of Apple’s stunningly simple, beautiful yet powerful ubiquitous mobile platform hosting the stunningly simple, beautiful yet powerful ubiquitous satnav from TomTom then came one step closer in June when Apple released their turn-by-turn navigation enabling iPhone OS 3.0 alongside TomTom’s official announcement of an imminent Apple App Store launch. However, A-Z-hating drivers had to wait until August until the app was finally made available in the UK for the seemingly reasonable sum of £59.99. And even then it wasn’t until mid-October, after another notable delay, the last piece of the jigsaw finally fell into place when TomTom starting shipping their iPhone car kits for £99.99, not including the application itself.
TomTom iPhone Dock
Please turn around when possible
In spite of the tech-fed anticipation, the reality and practicality behind the Apple/iTomTom offering is ultimately disappointing. Will I be ditching my 2005-vintage TomTom GO 500 and buying into the shiny new iTomTom range? Um, no. But why not, particularly when the official TomTom dock feature set includes clear voice instructions, its own enhanced GPS receiver, a music output, phone charging and hands free calling?
Well, for me the converged world doesn’t always make sense.
You see, like many suburbanites, I’m not the only one in the house who drives the family car. If, for example, the wife weren’t an iPhone user and, shock horror, needed to make a journey without me, she’d be utterly lost without borrowing my iPhone and its installed TomTom app. Now, as it happens she does sport an iPhone, but even then it would require us both to buy the TomTom app for our phones. That adds up to a few u-turns short of £220.00 when including the dock itself, which is roughly twice the price of a broadly equivalent TomTom ONE IQ Routes dedicated satnav unit.
iPod Touch Cul-de-sac
The most ingenious compromise I could think of would be to sacrifice my 1st generation iPod Touch (out on loan since being replaced by my iPhone). Even though the iPod Touch only features WiFi-assisted pseudo GPS, this would still be possible due to the TomTom dock including its own integrated GPS receiver. So far everything looks good, and what’s more I would get that warm glow that comes with successfully recalling a loaned piece of kit and making good use of it. It’s almost like recycling, after all.
However, that’s as far as the cunning plan goes.
Whilst TomTom have previously misleadingly stated that their dock supports 1st generation iPhone and iPod Touch models, disappointingly it’s the TomTom Car Kit application software itself that won’t work with them. Even more frustratingly, those in the know suggest that enabling older iPods and iTouches to work with the TomTom software is likely to be trivial, but TomTom have been rather coy about committing to making the changes. Under pressure from Apple perhaps?
Please turn around when possible
Ultimately, any awkwardness in real-life application of its iPhone offerings probably isn’t TomTom’s fault at all. Who can blame them for answering a very vocal public demand in attempting to marry two of the most successful and game-changing devices of the last 5 years, and technically I’m sure it’s a triumph. However, practically for many families who share a family car, I suspect the expensive and impractical reality may mean, like us, they consider planning an alternative route after all.
iPhone OS 3.0 – First Impressions
After all of yesterday’s hype (yes, which I subscribed to as well) at around 6pm London time the iPhone OS 3.0 software was made available to legions of iPhone (and iPod Touch) users worldwide. Inevitable teething problems ensued, but on the whole the upgrade seems to have gone fairly smoothly with only minor irritations being observed on Twitter.
So, what now?
iPhone 3.0
After all of the build-up, upon installing the software I was left feeling a little disappointed. With the exception of a new ‘Voice Memos’ application, an updated ‘Messages’ icon and a new search screen, my phone looked almost exactly the same. Cut, Copy and Paste looked pretty intuitive and the syncing of ‘Notes’ between phone and Outlook (when it finally worked) is going to be most handy. But other than this, I was left wondering why I’d been getting so sweatily excited about all day, nay, for weeks before the big 3.0 push.
But, you see, with 3.0 it’s not really about the big things – it’s all of the little tweaks and additions which you don’t always notice unless you happen to stumble across them.
For example, browsing email in landscape is a dream; listening to my ever-increasing influx of podcasts gets better as I can now set the playback speed to 2x which is still pretty perfectly audible, as well as email a direct link to the podcast, instantly rewind 30 seconds and, with video, perform hi-speed scrubbing to navigate to exactly where I want. Finally, there seems to be more intelligence built in to some of the keyboard displays so that frequently used symbols (e.g. underscore when entering email addressed) are more easily available. I’m sure there are many more that I’ll only notice when I come to use or need them.
I haven’t had a tinker with the new A2DP Bluetooth profiles yet, but will attempt some pairing action with the Sony DR-BT21G Stereo Bluetooth headphones I’ve written about and tested with the iPhone in the past.
Now, I’m off to do a Google on when OS 3.1 is due out…
More to iPhone OS 3.0 than meets the eye?
I’m sat here chowing down on some lunch in a balmy London SW14 Caffe Nero waiting impatiently for Apple to release its 3.0 software to an anticipative iPhrenetic audience.
I’m disappointed, as I was at 00:03 last night when I first clicked on ‘check for update’ in iTunes; and was again at 00:30, 00:55, 08:30, 09:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30 and 13:00.
To assuage my impatience, I decided to take another look at the Apple website to see exactly what it is that I’m getting, frankly, sadly obsessed with today. What I see before me reassures me that I do have due reason to be excited, at the same time perhaps a little frustrated, and almost certainly still quite sad.
iPhone SDK
The tech-press have been quick to relay the headline news of iPhone OS 3.0: MMS, turn-by-turn navigation, internet tethering and finally a fully accessible Bluetooth profile. However, taking look below the fold on the Apple software upgrade page I see that there are lots of other things I think may become just as important to the success of this software update, if not even more so.
A simple example is finally (I think we’ll all be saying finally for many of the tweaks contained in 3.0) the ability to sync ‘Notes’ (sticky yellow ones, not Lotus-flavoured ones) between computer and phone, something we’ve been using contrived and unreliable means to achieve in the past. Voice memos (finally) arrive – frustratingly so as I’d only a couple of weeks ago bought one from the App Store, partly as a result of an Apple advert. Shake to Shuffle also looks like a nice to have.
However, it’s when you look under the covers at the iPhone 3.0 SDK page that the real feature news appears and where the creative juices start to flow. Here we see news that 3rd party apps can make use of the iPhone’s 30-pin connector cable interface for both for input (i.e. getting data/info from devices) and output (perhaps using the iPhone’s multi-touch interface to control other devices); Google Maps can now be embedded within 3rd party applications (a subtle, but oh so important update to so many “where’s my nearest xyz” apps); iPod library access from 3rd party apps is another tweak which will make a subtle but notable difference.
Whilst I’m here, there’s also new one update on the iPhone 3G S that has slipped under many people’s radars: Nike+ is now integrated in the phone. For many of us joggers, upgrading from iPod nano etc to iPod Touch (1st gen) or iPhone hasn’t been straightforward as the Nike+ dongle hasn’t been compatible with the newer phones. It’s the sole reason I still keep my iPod Nano in fact. However, with the latest generation of iPod Touch and now the iPhone 3G S we’ll finally be able to shed our Nanos. I’m hoping (although I doubt it will be day one) that this may too be opened up to allow 3rd party apps to make use of the Nike+ kit to make jogging even less tiresome.
Overall: good stuff Apple. Here’s hoping that the developer community have a good play with the new toys you’ve provided, thereby keeping us interested well in to our 18 or 24 month contracts. Honestly, this periodic software update nonsense is great – it makes me feel like I’ve got a new phone every few months.
iPhone 3G S iFurure (or: Oh Oh O2)
There’s been a lot of rubbish on Twitter and elsewhere about obselence-fearing Apple iPhone 3G users giving the UK’s sole iPhone provider O2 a hard time about not offering an upgrade plan from their existing less-than-a-year-old iPhone 3G to the newly-announced iPhone 3G S.
Hang on. Surely it’s the iPhone users, not O2, who’re simply being unfair and kicking up a fuss here.
iPhone 3G S - not that you'd know from the outside
The truth is, we all signed a contract for at least 18 months when we bought/upgraded to an iPhone 3G last year, so we can’t simply upgrade halfway through because a very slightly modified version of the phone comes out that we might happen to quite like the look of. That’s how fixed-term contracts work, isn’t it? I don’t know any other provider who’d let their users upgrade as soon as a new model comes out. But because it’s an Apple iPhone, O2 seem to be getting a hammering from consumers who should know better.
The real background is, I suspect, that because the upgrade from the 2G to 3G iPhone was (as I understand) subsidised by Apple on O2 in summer 2008, many iPhone fanboys are expecting the same deal now. Not O2’s fault, but Apple’s. However now O2 are getting their backsides whipped when they’re probably having to pay the full wholesale cost for the new units without subsidy from Apple.
Fact is, the hardware upgrades in the new iPhone 3G S are minor (compass, faster processor, up to 32GB, novely voice commands and Nike+ built-in): it’s the version 3.0 software that is the big story. Once that comes out, the furore will die down I’m sure.
2G iPhone (aka iPhone 3G).
After a couple of weeks of fretting over availability, a shiny new Apple iPhone 3G took pride of place in my lint-filled trouser pocket yesterday.
Upgrading from the tried and trusted iPod Touch 16GB and PalmOne Treo 750 combo, I’m already pleased at having one less device to carry around with me – and at having one more precious plug socket free when of comes to charging.
There will be things that I miss in this brave new iWorld, things that I’d begun to take for granted on my old Windows Mobile device and for which, in the absence of Microsoft’s ActiveSync software, I’ll no doubt need to find some workarounds.
Task/to do list management and synchronisation with Outlook, something which, having the memory of a sieve, I have tended to make pretty extensive use of isn’t there out of the box. There are a few alternatives in the Apple Apps Store but these don’t offer the seemless integration that I’d hope for. Similarly, having ‘notes’ synchronised between Outlook desktop and mobile was always handy.
However, the advent of the Apple Apps Store, new with version 2.0 of the iPhone software, opens a whole new world of customisation to all iPhone users. With new applications being added every day, some at cost and others free of charge, from a variety of software houses and from arcade games to productivity applications, the appeal of this device is significantly widened to cover business types to serial fraggers.
The integration of 3G/HSDPA wireless in to the phone – the feature from which the phone has taken it’s name – is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated of the updates. In real-world use, I confess to being rather unimpressed at the supposedly improved browsing experience. Network coverage, even in central London, hasn’t been brilliant and on more than one occasion I’ve found myself turning off 3G and getting improved reliability from the 2G connection instead. Needless to say, browsing and general iUse when within reach of a wireless hotspot is a dream.
All in all, my first impressions of the overall Apple iPhone offering, by which I guess I mean the iLifestyle covering hardware, software and services, is good. Regular software upgrades and tweaks mean that my interest will be maintained well in to the 18 month O2 contract too.
