Spotify to slash functionality of free music service

Spotify have announced a number of changes to Spotify Free (now known as Spotify Open) which will seriously impair the service for many users. After the first 6 months users will only be able to play individual tracks a maximum of 5 times and will only be able to use the free service for a [...]

You couldn’t make it up – Japanese grid can’t solve nuke power loss due to 50/60 Hz split

Despite the West of Japan having a power surplus it can’t help the East, which is short if power thanks to the post-tsunami nuclear power problems.

Incredibly Japan is split by a 50 Hz/60 Hz incompatibility. The West based its power generation on 60 Hz American standards while the East uses ‘European’ 50 Hz. [...]

PCTV nanoStick T2 290e Freeview HD DVB-T2 tuner stick

Regular DVB-T tuner cards and tuner sticks will allow your PC to receive and record regular Freeview TV and radio programmes. Things are a bit more complicated if you want to receive Freeview HD, as it uses a new broadcast standard, DVB-T2. This is an improved version of DVB-T which can deliver 40 Mbps in [...]

Add Google.co.uk as a search provider in Internet Explorer (IE8)

Microsoft seem to have been making it harder to personalise the search engines used by the IE search box. There is a process for adding any search engine but it doesn’t seem to be as easy to find as it once was.

To add a new search provider, simply click on the link below and [...]

Has HDCP, the HDMI content protection system, been hacked?

According to a posting on Twitter by ‘Intel Global PR’, HDCP copy protection has been hacked. HDCP is used to protect data being conveyed between digital devices via HDMI cabling and was partly developed by Intel. The benefits of hacking HDCP are a little unclear as the video signal on HDMI is uncompressed and therefore [...]

Apple iPad: when? how much?

Apple have still not announced details of UK iPad pricing despite the fact that the product is due to launch this month. Apple’s website currently says the WiFi iPad will be available in ‘late March’ with the 3G product following in April.

While the lack of a 3G product price may be down to negotiations with [...]

Spotify stopped working? – how to fix the problem

Due to a foul-up by securty firm Symantec, users of Norton anti-virus products found that Spotify had mysteriously stopped working today. The reason was that the security product had falsely identified the program – Spotify.exe – as a Trojan Horse and quarantined it.

It is possible to restore the program to its rightful place but [...]

iPad or iBrick?

So, Steve Jobs of Apple announced their new tablet product today. The fact that it features on the US Apple website but not on the UK site is probably not good news for the UK’s early adopters. Rumours are June/July but I wouldn’t hold your breath. The product itself is…hmmm… interesting.

Here is the [...]

Microsoft & HP pull the rug from under Apple’s iSlate

Microsoft’s Steve Balmer demonstrated a new HP slate computer in his keynote speech at the annual CES in Las Vegas on Wednesday, neatly pre-empting Apple’s planned launch of a similar device later this month. The HP device had a 10″ screen and was claimed to support full multi-touch. Other manufacturers, incuding Archos, are reported to [...]

Apple to launch iSlate on January 26

Apple’s new ebook and web surfing tablet is due for launch on January 26. The device will not be called the iTablet or iBook as had been rumoured – neither names are available as .com domains - and the iBook name has already been used for Apple laptops. iTablet.com is registered to a company in Taiwan, while iBook.com is [...]