Qtrax goes live, disappoints!

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jan 29, 2008 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Until Saturday I was really excited about Qtrax. It all made sense, 4 music labels, 25 million songs, free music. And then it all went downhill. Reports came in that the music downloaded was going to be DRM-laden and could not be used on any other software music player or portable music players. Come Monday, the launch was delayed for quite a bit and various reports came in that none of the music labels had actually signed a deal with QTrax. Things weren’t looking so good.

But I’ve finally managed to grab my hands on a copy and to tell you the truth it’s far from impressive.

Skyfire: PC Style browsing with Flash support.

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jan 28, 2008 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Skyfire is bringing PC like browsing to the mobile devices. This means content needn’t be changed in any way for the smaller screen, nor will existing content look like shit. While the video looks promising, it’s only available as a closed beta to US customers, so I won’t be getting a chance to review it for a long time. Right now support is included for Windows Mobile devices, but a Symbian version is in the works.

But a very important part of their Privacy policy is that they will be tracking usage “anonymously” but a user’s identitiy may very well be disclosed by the website(s) they visit.

QTrax: Free LEGAL Music ?

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jan 26, 2008 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

Qtrax is a service aiming to provide free music to it’s users on ad supported model. It is is said to have the support of the Big 4 Music labels as well as many Indie bands and will thus include an impressive 25ish million tracks on launch, which is expected to be Monday. Client will be Windows only with the Mac beta client coming March 18th, or so they say.

What’s impressive is that the service will also feature content from concerts and shows as early as the next day. The application itself features a music portal, music player and a web browser (Firefox). The video shows a decent interface but doesn’t mention if the songs downloaded will be playable in other media players or transferred to PMPs. Although with all companies having dropped DRM, one would be surprised if there were any sort of restrictions with the service. In any case, Monday couldn’t come sooner, atleast for the sake of giving it a trial run.

It may not be apparent but the music industry has changed tremendously over the past year. With DRM almost extinct, the labels have shown that they are indeed willing to accept the changes in the mindset of this generation, and the launch of Qtrax is a testimonial to that.

Link : http://www.qtrax.com

Sony announces wireless transfer technology: ‘TransferJet’

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jan 22, 2008 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

This is a little old (7th Jan) but pretty interesting nonetheless. Sony has announced that has developed a new ‘close proximity wireless transfer technology’ which will allow users to transfer large data between electronic devices at a theoretical maximum speed of 560Mbps, but effective transfer rate will be at 375Mbps. The most prominent feature is the ‘Touch & Get’ wherein you touch the two products and transfer of data will begin. We won’t find out till later if it actually works that easily but one thing is for certain; the technology isn’t intended to replace Bluetooth 3.0 or Wireless USB as it operates at a range of ‘within 3cm’

Veronica Belmont’s Demo at CES 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGJtGHWjYko

The most interesting part of the story is really Sony’s continued insistence of doing things their own way by introducing and using their own standards. From BetaMax to UMD and from Memory Stick to now TransferJet, Sony has constantly kept itself at bay from the rest by not adopting Open Standards that ensure inter-compatibility.

Press Release: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200801/08-002E/index.html

Macbook Air processor mystery almost solved.

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jan 19, 2008 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Anand at anandtech.com has given an explanation of the mystery that surrounds the processor being used in the new Macbook Air notebooks. I was certain that Apple wasn’t using the smaller, faster Penryn (Santa Rosa Refresh) processors which come out this year and Anand confirms it. He goes on to tell that Apple is indeed using the existing Santa Rosa Merom processors running at Low Voltage, and here is the kicker, these aren’t the traditional LV (Low Voltage) processors provided by Intel. For those unfamiliar with Intel’s mobile processor technology, it comes in forms of Standard Mobile Processors, Low Voltage (LV) and Ultra Low Voltage (ULV). But instead Paul Otellini, CEO Intel and Jobs’ newest Lapdog has got his engineering team to produce the chips running at lower than Standard Mobile Processors in a package designed for the Penryn platform.

This is neither a good or a bad thing, but just shows Apple has managed to walk its own path here. The real concern here is of heat dispensing. Even at a lower voltage, the body of the laptop is really small and will require extensive engineering to remain cool over longer periods. Judging from Apple’s previous shortcomings, I wouldn’t really be surprised if more thighs are burnt. Gel packs anyone ?