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Zune HD – Microsoft is Sexy Again

August 6th, 2009

I think the last time I saw those words in the same sentence was looking at that infamous photo of a young Bill Gates caressing a retro and probably very scared computer in the age of brown and more brown. I never thought I’d hear those words again with the imminent release of Windows 7 and Microsoft’s general history of proudly bringing ugly products to the market – the original Xbox and Internet Explorer are just two examples. On those special occasions though, the company surprises us with a beautiful product. The Xbox 360 was one example that comes to mind and now, I believe, another is the third generation of Zune, the Zune HD.

The first iteration of the iPod competitor was frankly awful. It lacked features that cheap Chinese MP3 player rip-offs excelled in, it looked ugly even compared to the slightly uglier iPods that were available back then and the interface had nothing on its competitors. It had promise though. Saying that, even the second generation of Zune didn’t quite hit the nail on the head. The thing I most remember it for is the Zune Pad – or the squircle – that was used as the main means of navigation through the product’s interface. Microsoft seems to have gone back to the drawing board, looked at what people love about other products in the personal multimedia player market and, probably just as important, what people don’t like about them. The result is the not yet released Zune HD and from preliminary reviews it is one damn sexy beast.

Zune HDThe main features of the Zune HD are its beautiful 3.3″ OLED touch screen display, unusual HD radio tuner, Wi-Fi connectivity and an internet browser that’s said to be good, even though the team behind Internet Explorer produced it. Another thing about it is that this will be the first Zune released outside of North America so it’ll be that bit easier to get your hands on it.

Firstly, along with the integrated HD radio and high-definition video playback (through an optional dock), the 3.3 inch OLED screen is something the Zune HD has that its main competitor, Apple’s iPod, currently does not. Early reviews, and especially leaked promotional photos, suggest the screen is beautiful. Secondly, unlike most players in the market, a HD radio is integrated into Microsoft’s latest entry. HD radio is very similar to DAB digital radio here in the UK and Europe. Hopefully when it is released here, the Zune HD will be modified in whatever way to allow us to receive DAB stations – a selling point very few MP3 players boast at the moment. The third important feature is that of a web browser. These days, any serious mobile entertainment device has to have the ability to surf the internet. Pre-release reviews of the web browser included with the Zune HD have yielded significant praise – especially considering the browser was born from the same team behind Internet Explorer. It apparently behaves almost exactly like the browser included with Apple’s iPod and iPhone. This can only be a good thing but with the good obviously comes the bad and at the time of review the browser on the Zune apparently did not include support for Adobe Flash. Hopefully an update somewhere along the line will bring this near essential functionality.

The Zune HD is shaping up to be a nice piece of technology and a huge improvement over previous generations. It’s not confirmed but suspected to be launched around early September this year although in which markets are anyone’s guess. Nor has pricing been confirmed but hopefully it will be priced competitively against other products. I’m going to go out on a limb and say around £190. This is one Microsoft product I can’t wait for. I won’t be one of those buying it as soon as the shop doors open, but I think I’ll be getting my hands on one if everything that’s been said is true.

Round-up of the Zune HD’s features:

  • 3.3″ OLED multi-touch touchscreen
  • pocket friendly size
  • nvidia Tegra graphics chip – challenging the iPod touch/iPhone’s gaming dominance?
  • HD radio tuner
  • Wi-Fi connectivity
  • web browser
  • equaliser
  • 720p HD output (with optional dock)

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Posted in Internet, Technology

The Perfect Website

April 18th, 2008

The Perfect Website?Natural selection and web page design aren’t two phrases I would normally utter in the same sentence but now researchers are using evolutionary algorithms to come up with the perfect web page design. The Telegraph reports that an organisation called Creative Synthesis has designed evolutionary software that takes a Wordpress theme and changes it gradually based on how a user responds to it. Through tracking software, they recorded and analysed how users interacted with the design. Any parts of the design that were not considered interesting or did not receive attention were ‘bred’ out of the design.

Evolutionary algorithms have been used before to design aeroplane wings and also art but I think this is the first time they’ve been used to design the perfect web page design. Unlike these two uses though, it requires human interaction which is both a positive and a negative.

“The mutations will always occur and while they are responsive to human attention, they are not bound by them. It is possible to develop unique mutations that may actually influence human goals (rather than the other way around).”

It would be interesting to see this technique used on sites with different functions: social networking sites, news sites etc.

Cow’s Blog | New Scientist

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Posted in Internet, Technology

Content Aware Image Resizing

November 29th, 2007

A friend sent me a link to a video (seen here) of a program by a bloke called Ariel Shamir that provides a unique and new way of resizing images, keeping their quality and important features such as faces and people’s bodies. I believe I have seen something similar very recently but it obviously wasn’t that memorable. This however just struck me as cool.

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Posted in Blogging, News, Technology

Assassin’s Creed

November 26th, 2007

Altaïr - “The Flying One”I’ll come right out with it: Assassin’s Creed has to be one of the, if not the, best video games I’ve ever played. I’m usually content with flash-based games or the occasional gracious defeat in Command & Conquer 3 but Assassin’s Creed has given me a new taste for video games and a renewed faith in the video game industry that new IP can be, and is being, successful.

You, the player, take on the persona of barkeeper Desmond Miles who in turn is kidnapped by a group of scientists. They make you enter a machine called the Animus which extracts genetic memories from your DNA. Stay with me. The premise is that your DNA holds memories of your ancestors which this machine can access. Your player, Miles, is the distant ancestor of an Assassin; Altaïr – “The Flying One”.

This machine lets you take control of Altaïr as he completes missions throughout 4 [said to be] historically accurate cities, 3 or which are highly detailed worlds in themselves. As the game unfolds, you discover that the people you are charged with assassinating are actually Templars with the goal to unite humanity. The scientists are found to searching through these genetic memories to seek the location of certain artefacts which can help them revive the Templar mission and unite humanity under one cause.

Hubbub

I knew very little about Assassin’s creed before it was released. I had followed a few articles that Digg gifted me with and a few discussions on the Xbox.com forums and was partially excited by the rumour a major theme of the game would be time travel. Although this particular rumour isn’t technically the case, the game does live up to the hubbub surrounding it pre-release; albeit that some of the hype was unfounded.

The games industry is always hungry for a new concept and new ideas but at the same time are weary of the claims that are made about them. Assassin’s Creed was no different and the eye candy and demos Ubisoft provided created high expectations of the game. The tid bits of information that Ubisoft trickled out to technology blogs and journalists certainly caught peoples’ attention and the end product didn’t fail to impress in most areas. The battle system and basic character interaction system has improved much since the last demos which many are thank full for.

History is Beautiful

You play the vast majority of the game as Altaïr in the delicately crafted cities of Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus as well as Masyaf which is the assassins’ stronghold. I play the Xbox 360 version of the game so I don’t know whether the Playstation 3 version has different textures but what I can say is that the textures and the graphics in general are just beautiful. Assassin’s CreedYou feel you’re in those towns in that time because the look and sound of the cities is immersing.

It may be because my computer is rather lacklustre in the graphics department but the graphics Assassin’s Creed provide are nice, at least from my viewpoint and considering it’s a games console and not a PC. Shadows, textures, buildings, hay, horses and character models are really detailed and look beautiful.

Creed Control

The game is very easy to play and the control system becomes second nature after you’ve played through a few memories. Engaging enemies and scaling the scenery is quite exciting and although escaping enemies becomes rather easy, it still remains rather thrilling finding a pile of hay or a rooftop hide to disappear in. You’re able to disappear into the crowd as it were in a number of ways. Firstly, you can just blend in by pressing a button but for short-term anonymity you can sit on a bench or for long term anonymity you can join a group of scholars who are dressed similarly and walk around the city unnoticed, but very very slowly.

Greatness or Guillotine?

Assassin’s Creed is a wonderfully crafted game but it’s not perfect. If the developers had spent as much time as they did on making it look as good as it does on game play and the story line, it would be one of the best console games ever. The world is huge and patience is a virtue that one must learn as quickly as possible if you’re to stay under the radar and keep to the creed.

You develop a range of weapons and skills during the course of the game which aren’t exactly put to good use except for the main kills you have to make. Silly side track missions such as ‘interrogation’ and ‘pick pocketing’ deter you from what you really want to do – Assassin’s Creedexplore the cities and be able to assassinate your targets in a number of different ways (which are limited still by the paths you can take and the weapons available to you).

I hope that rumours of it being the first in a trilogy of games is true but now it has been released, this seems less likely. This game is a great buy and the ability to complete it a number of different ways and the atmosphere the graphics and sound makes will make sure you really get into it. The mystery surrounding the characters (which I’ve probably spoiled if you bothered to read above) and their intentions is exciting to unravel and learn for yourself. I would like to see more Assassin’s Creed games and if the idea of a film becomes reality, I wish everyone involved well and good luck.

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Posted in Gaming, Technology