Cool toys and Gadgets

Section: Video, Web, Web 2.0, Websites, Online Music/Video, Google

If you go onto YouTube today you may notice something different and although you may be a regular visitor, you could still not notice for half an hour like me.  If you don’t want me to spoil it for you (assuming you didn’t read the title of this post) run off to http://www.youtube.com and see if you can spot anything different, but for those who don’t like a challenge, who are lazy, or never go on YouTube here it is…

YouTube has finally gone widescreen. 

Yes, after months of agonizing at the squashed figures on the YouTube videos, you can now sit back and use your entire 16:9 screen which will be great for some people.  But fear not if you still have a measly 4:3 screen as YouTube will still support this ratio, although you will have black bars down the side which can still be annoying.

But it gets better: they have also upped the width of the page to 960 pixels, which will increase the quality of playback thus making YouTube a more enjoyable experience.  This will give a cleaner image and will make YouTube much more practical for viewing videos with minute details (such as baseball) as well as movies, bringing it into line with other video services.  In fact, compared to sites like Vimeo they are back in the stone ages: Vimeo have had widescreen for ages, as well as having HD since October which is probably quite a long way off for YouTube due to the effort it would take to change anything on YouTube.

“We’re expanding the width of the page to 960 pixels to better reflect the quality of the videos you create and the screens that you use to watch them.  This new, wider player is in a widescreen aspect ratio which we hope will provide you with a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience.“ - YouTube spokesman

However I do have a sneaky suspicion as to why they originally decided to do this, and I have a feeling it’s not because of home videos.  YouTube have been vying to host movies directly from the studios for quite some time, and deals with CBS and MGM mean that they are starting to show some of the archives on the website.  But if YouTube want to start showing movies, they needed to first get adequate quality (which they have now done) and with one obstacle down you can’t help but wonder how long it will be till you can watch new releases on YouTube.

Source [PCPro]

Full Story » | Written by Christian Milsom for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Audio, Computers, Desktops, Reviews, Originals, Web, Downloads, Websites, Online Music/Video, Features

I first wrote about HDtracks originally in October and I thought it was a pretty cool service.  At that time, I wasn’t able to test out their HD music. 

Recently, Gibson partnered up with HDtracks to offer their own special album in HD and I quickly jumped on the opportunity to listen to the music in HD.  Before I start talking about the quality of the music, I want to briefly go over the download and installation process.  This way if you want to purchase something off HDtracks, you will know how it works ahead of time.

Installation

Basically, you first have to make an account and then decide what music/album you are going to buy.  After that, you have to download a program, which is connected with your online account.  In addition, it makes a new folder on the desktop called My HDtracks Music and all downloaded music automatically goes there.  On your own time, you are able to download and pause the music you have opted in purchasing.  For some odd reason, once I opened the program on my desktop to begin the downloading process, it didn’t work right away and I had to close the program and then open it.  Once I did that, it worked fine.

HD Music - is it really worth it?

Music, just like videos, come in different quality standards.  Some are specially encoded to take up less space on your hard drive, meaning that such music won’t be as of high quality as music that is fully uncompressed which would take up a lot of space.  Now, when I downloaded the Gibson album, I went with MP3 format encoded in 320kbps, I figured that most people would download it this way as well.  However, you can also download it in AIFF and FLAC formats.  Once the music started playing, I could definitely hear the difference between this and my normal music.  The song seemed to have much more “life,“ if you will, as well as a lot more clarity.  It was possible to hear the individual notes and instruments during the song.

Final opinions

I love music, but all I really need are normal songs, it doesn’t have to be high quality or HD.  For me, I would spend my $2.49 on a single song or $15.98 for an album somewhere else.  That being said, if I really cared about my music and wanted the absolute best quality, I might be inclined to purchase my music from HDtracks.  If they lower their prices a bit, I could see them becoming pretty popular.

Download the Album [HDtracks]

Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Video, HDTV, Web, Web Apps, Websites, Online Music/Video

Sony announced they’ve added some new partners for their connected Bravia TVs.  These TVs, when hooked up to broadband, bring the net experience to your living room.  Sony is doing this in an extremely controlled fashion.

How controlled?  One at a time, baby.  That is right: they added CBS which uses Flash 10 for content, as does Hulu but Sony does not have a partnership with them.  You’ll have access to their partners via a special link, not a browser.  Curious?

Of course you are!  So was I.  So I asked Sony and got:

We don’t disclose software for the device.  Sony works with each content partner to provide the best user experience possible.  The CBS channel was developed exclusively for the Sony BRAVIA Internet Video service and is not in any way affiliated with other services or devices like Hulu.

Current partners include Slacker, Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Dailymotion, CBS; Yahoo!, Men.Style.com, Sports Illustrated, blip.tv, CondeNet’s Style.com, Epicurious, Wired.com, Concierge.com channels, Sony Pictures’ Crackle, and more.  Big brands are getting into this.

This raises some serious questions in my head.  Questions like:

• Could a Hulu partnership be in the works?
 
• Who else might be included in this partnership
• Could Sony be charting a new course forward by cutting out local affiliates and bringing content straight from there studios to their TVs?
• Would it mean big trouble for the likes of cable companies?  Would Sony care?

If you’ve got any answers, let’s talk about them in the comments.

Source [ecoustics]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Web, Websites, Online Music/Video, Google

YouTube has always been the scourge of those of us who like to watch really good looking video.  Not just the quality of the content, but the actual video quality.  It first started out with high quality videos that were a pretty big step up from the normal quality.  Now, the site is taking the quality up in two ways.  First with video and also with sound.

Possibly the biggest improvement to those who care most about the poor video quality is the availability of HD video.  To be more precise, 720p HD video.  It might not look much different than the high quality in the standard YouTube video screen, but put it in fullscreen and there is a definite improvement.  It looks just about as good as the 720p trailers from Apple. 

This isn’t available for all videos, but you can add “&fmt=22” to the end of any video URL to see if it has HD video.  Elephant’s Dream, The Helium Project and Where Is Matt all have HD video, though unfortunately, the official Monty Python channel’s black knight scene does not.

The second improvement is one to please audiophiles: Surround Stereo!  A lot of the sound on YouTube is painful to audiophiles and this should help a bit for at least the few videos that have the high quality stereo.  This should help a bit for all those people who use YouTube to preview songs of artists they might want to buy (possibly from the handy links below the video). 

Chances are it won’t make a bit of different to most users, but to those who will care, it is a huge step forward.  YouTube is finally becoming the video hub for everyone, and not just those who can deal with bad video and audio quality.

Read [Wired]

Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Computers, Networking, Security, Software / Applications, Gaming, Miscellaneous, Peripherals, Web, Downloads, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Web Browsers, Websites, Online Music/Video

You don’t even have to be illegally sharing your files to have the gaming firms after you apparently.  Just ask Gill and Ken Murdoch. 

They’re senior citizens who don’t even play computer games and had never even heard the term “peer-to-peer” until they got a letter in the mail telling them they were being accused of sharing the game Race07 by makers Atari.  Their case was eventually dropped, but there are still hundreds of people this is happening to according to a Which? Computing magazine investigation.

We’ve all heard it time and time again.  The arguments over piracy and how big of a problem it is.  Apparently, copyright owners are sick and tired of it and are ready to play hard ball. 

With six million people estimated to illegally share files every year, it’s an issue for them.  They are cracking down even if it means going after the senior citizens, I guess.  They’ve begun watching the more popular P2P networks like BitTorrent, Gnutella and eDonkey.  Some of the game companies have appointed law firms in the ready to prosecute file-sharers. 

Many people think they are safe if they just download or share a couple files.  Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.  In a case in August, the games firm Topware Interactive won over £16,000 from Isabella Barwinka from London.  Her crime?  She shared a copy of Dream Pinball 3D. 

The companies are using anti-piracy firms like Logistep.  These firms find people pirating using their IP address.  Using this number, they are able to apply for a court order which mandates internet service providers to hand over information about the user.  Problems can arise with this whole theory when a user’s IP is “stolen.”

For example, someone can piggyback onto another person’s unsecured wireless network.  Prosecutors tried to argue that all users are required legally to secure their network, but Michael Coyle, an intellectual property solicitor with law firm Lawdit, disagrees.  “There is no section of the Copyright Act which makes you secure your network although it is commonsense to do so,” he said.

Then you have the firms that encourage file sharing and make no bones to hide it.  Pirate Bay is just such a firm.  They readily admit to randomly inserting IP addresses into the list of people downloading files.  (Some of these IP addresses belonging to people who probably have never played a game in their life and wouldn’t know how to share a file if you paid them.) They do this just to waste the time of the investigators checking and searching users.

It’s expected that the music industry is going to be following in the footsteps of the gaming industry.  The crackdown has only just begun, and it isn’t going to be pretty. 

Via [BBCNews]

Full Story » | Written by Jodie Andrefski for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »