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Nokia N8: a first look

Nokia is starting to show signs of throwing off the torpor that has seriously wounded it over the past three years. By the end of this year, we'll see its new operating system, the Intel-backed MeeGo. That means the end for Symbian on the company's high-end N-Series smartphones.

But there is one Symbian phone left before Nokia bids it adieu: the N8. I have gotten my hands on it a couple of time now (but have not yet managed to kidnap for an extended period).

The N8 is a very powerful, very feature-rich phone. I say 'feature-rich', referring mainly to its technical prowess, such as its out-of-this-world 12 megapixel HD camera and its HDMI-out port. I won't go through its specs -- you can see them listed here.

The big question is whether its touchscreen motion can compete with HTC and Apple devices. It is not fair to give a definitive answer to this without having had it for an extended period. But my first impression is that Nokia has not yet cracked it. Nokia has to be confident that MeeGo will improve this dramatically. It must: otherwise Nokia faces a terminal decline in its high-end consumer phones.

"Just avoid holding it in this way." Apple's advice when your iPhone 4's reception fails

You've got to hand it to Steve Jobs. No-one has this guy's chutzpah.

It turns out that if you hold the iPhone 4 in a certain way, the 3G reception falls off.

(Left: the correct way to hold it. Right: the wrong way to hold it. Pic: Ars Technica)

In anyone's book, that's pretty crap. And, without it having been pointed out, operators would presumably have been blamed, as they always are (often justifiably).

So what is Jobs's response to this obvious drawback? "Just avoid holding it in this way."

So will Apple provide diagrams of the correct and incorrect ways to hold its mobile phone? Might help matters.

In fact, Apple knows very well about this problem. Which is why it has introduced -- for the very first time -- its own rubber case.

Still, if Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and the rest had any balls, they'd go after Apple on this. After all, Apple goes after them (and is succeeding very well).

I can see the slogans: "The new iPhone works fine. Most of the time." Or simply: "Just avoid holding it in this way." (With a picture of Jobs and the new iPhone.)

Vodafone to follow Eircom into 3 Strikes territory? If so, open the floodgates

In last Sunday's SBP, I wrote that Vodafone was in discussions with Irma to possibly introduce a 'graduated response' (or 3 Strikes) system.

A further report in today's Irish Times indicates that this will now happen.

"EMI Ireland chief executive Willie Kavanagh said “significant progress” had been made with Vodafone in relation to implementing a solution similar to that which Eircom is using to deter file-sharers," writes Ronan McGreevy in the Times article.

As I pointed out in Sunday's piece, this is is likely to herald a new wave of 3 Strikes ISP agreements.

For instance, Digiweb's chief executive, Colm Piercy, told me that defending a costly High Court action against ‘‘the might of the music industry’’ is just not a realistic option. And the same goes for every other small to medium sized ISP in the country.

Yes, UPC will fight this court case. And both 3 Ireland and O2 probably will, too.

But it may well just be a matter of time before a huge swathe of Ireland's internet customers become governed under the 3 Strikes system.

Tuesday at E3, in pictures

Here is what you would have seen walking around the E3 Expo at Los Angeles's Convention Centre today.

 

Star Wars: The Old Republic

EA has let loose its trailer for what will probably be the biggest video game launch in history. Star Wars: The Old Republic will be an online MMA game to start with. It's not out until next year.

You can tell by the way I walk

In my view, the best of Kinect's six launch titles is Dance Central, a dance-instruction game. It's fun to watch and to attempt. But there is very definitely a marked difference between what you're supposed to do and what most people end up doing. For male journalists, anyway,

When Irish journos Kinect

We all enjoyed Matt Cooper's self-confessed 'Ricky Gervais moment' last month.

And now it's the turn of Matt's colleague, Ray Foley. Who is joined by the Irish Times' Ciara O'Brien. (And you'll also see the Independent's Ronan Price looking on.)

The skillful hacks were engaging in a hands-on demo of Kinect Adventures, one of the launch games for Microsoft's new motion detecting gaming method. This is how it's done.

"Coming in 2012..."

One of the frustrating things about E3 is the length of time until demo'd games are released to the public.

To date, most of the games we've seen aren't out until October at the earliest. Many, such as EA's Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (pictured below) will only be available in November or December. And some, such as  Star Wars: The Old Republic, won't be available for almost another whole year.

So what is the point, you may ask, of showing us snippets from games that we can't play until the year is almost out?

From the industry's perspective, it is simple. They want their expensively-produced games marketed as far in advance as possible. And when I say 'expensively-produced', we're talking up to $60 million.

The best way of understanding how the games industry operates now is to relate it to its closest sibling sector, the film industry. Films are marketed months in advance. Really big films often start their sales push a year away.

It all starts with 'exclusive' development reports and 'behind-the-scenes' photo essays of the title in production. Nine times out of ten, this content is soft marketing material, completely controlled by the developer and game publishing companies. The goal is that by the time the game becomes available -- and can therefore be independently tested and rated with no control -- the 'strengths' of the game will be imprinted on the public's mind.

We in the media do our bit to help this marketing process along, by breathless reports and soft interviews with the publishing companies. We do it because we think that you, the public, like to see pictures of games in development, even if you're being fed a marketing angle. (Think of property magazines: it's the same principle.) The developers know this and imply conditions to 'exclusives'. There's no solidarity in the media as to telling big corporations to shag off, either: no-one boycotted last week's Apple conference when Gizmodo was blackballed for its earlier iPhone scoop.

The key point here is the scale that the gaming sector has now reached as an entertainment industry. Films and music are facing a massive commercial drain, thanks to filesharing. But the world of console games faces no such money leak.

So get used to longer and longer lead-in times for video games: it is the industry that publishers are moving into.

A little Lebowski interlude

As some of you might know, I'm a big Big Lebowski fan. I consider myself to something of an achiever. And I AM employed, sir.

So no trip to LA would be complete without finding a few of the film's locations. A lotta ins, a lotta outs. Yesterday, I passed the diner where Walter asserted that, uh, for your information dear, the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint. (And how his buddies died favce down in the mud in Nam do that we could all enjoy this family restaurant.)

Today, some Chinaman (Asian American is the preferred nomeclature, I realise) showed me where the Ralphs store in the film is located. Where the Dude -- or his Dudeness, Duder or El Duderino if your'e not into the whole brevity thing -- opens the milk carton in the second scene of the movie.

I went in and asked for a loyalty card (the Dude's only form of ID). They peed on my metaphorical rug, though. No loyalty card for me. I had to make do with a beverage and a Ralph's Savers' Club plastic bag.

Bummer. Sometimes you eat the bar and sometimes the bar eats you. It's some kind of eastern thing.

First impressions of Kinect

A few thoughts on Kinect, Microsoft's new wave-your-hands-and-feet-to-play-the-Xbox-game accessory.

The Kinect has undoubted novelty value. The same sense of delight that kids first had in playing with the Wii's motion controllers is replicated here. But is its motion detecting technology good enough to reach beyond those who will buy it purely for novelty value? Will it hack the stress-testing of more sophisticated games that go beyond bowling or yoga? Having had a shot at some of the basic games, it's impossible to make a conclusion on this yet.

Kinect will launch with 15 titles. Today, we saw six of them. They are: Dance Central, a dancing game from Rock Band developer Harmonix; Kinect Sports, a game that offers football, bowling, track, and more; Kinect Joy Ride, a racing game; Kinect Adventures, a game for navigating down rivers and railroad tracks while trying to hit targets; Your Shape, an exercise game; and Kinectimals, a playing-with-animals game for kids.

Business wise, this is a very big gamble for Microsoft. It is betting a lot on Kinect.

So it goes without saying that Kinect is almost certainly likely to be a loss leader for Microsoft (as Xbox 360 was for three years). But that makes sense. This is about trying to get volume sales in the market, not chasing initial profit margin. By getting volume, the biggest and best game developers become interested in creating games for the platform. If the hottest new games then make it onto the platform, more people will buy the Kinect. And the cycle wil continue.

I asked the company's vice president for Xbox in Europe, Chris Lewis whether it was going to be a loss leader. He skilfully dodged the question, twice. But he did admit that it was important to establish Kinect as a platform. And he did say that Microsoft's Xbox division would continue to be in profit over the next year.

There's no price on the Kinect yet.But it is widely believed to be targeted at around the €150 mark. It will definitely be available before Christmas in Ireland, says Chris Lewis.

Kinect: Microsoft goes after the Wii a big way

Last night, we journalists signed a non-disclosure agreement with Microsoft that stipulated we could not write about -- or name -- Project Natal’s new brand name, Kinect, until 8pm today. However, several bigs media companie sensibly ignored this stricture, writing in detail about the new product last night. Acknowledging this, Microsoft itself has now press released it. So I think it’s fair enough to briefly run through a few items that we saw at a bizarre -- though visually impressive -- display last night, featuring Cirque Du Soleil.

First, a recap on Kinect: it’s a motion-detecting gadget that allows you to play a game using hand, feet and body gestures. In other words, there’s no physical controller: the gadget sits beside the telly and follows your movements.

The demos we were shown involved car racing games, fitness games, a rafting game, a football game, a dance game and a very, very brief snippet of a Star Wars game. Whether any or all of these games are ready to go, or will eventually make it onto the shop shelves, we can’t say. But that’s what we were shown.

What's clear is that Microsoft is going after Nintendo in a very, very big way. The Wii came out of nowhere and created an entirely new market for the video games industry: families, young kids and women. Microsoft has spent a fortune setting this up.

Incidentally, we Irish journalists didn’t make the cut for the important after-launch event/party. (Although we understand that other journalists did make the cut.) Hence we all felt a tad foolish in our (required) ‘smart dress’ when we were put back on the bus.

Get your freak on with Power Gig

First post from E3, the world's biggest video game expo in sunny Los Angeles.

One of the interesting aspects of this year's convention is the emphasis to be put on alternative ways of controlling games. We'll see Microsoft's wireless, motion-detecting Project Natal in full flow.

But there'll also be this tasty device: an actual, tunable six-string guitar that controls a (music-based) game. It's called Power Gig: Rise Of The SixString.

The game has signed up Eric Clapton, Kid Rock and Dave Matthews for songs that can be 'played' within the game.

Some respected commentators are touting it as the next Guitar Hero. It'll be compatible with Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Eircom's '3 strikes' letter

As the world now knows, Eircom has begun sending out its '3 Strikes' letters to customers suspected of filesharing illegally.

If you want to know what the letter looks like, this is it.

Dear ______

eircom has agreed to work with the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) to combat illegal music sharing.  We want to make you aware of this activity and assist you to use your broadband service to enjoy digital music legitimately.

Many music files are protected by copyright and while it may be acceptable for you to store them personally on your computer for personal use, it is unlawful to share those files without the copyright owner's permission.   In the terms and conditions of your broadband service, you have agreed not to use your broadband service to create, host or transmit material, which infringes among other things the copyright of another person or organisation (see www.eircom.net/termsandconditions).

IRMA on behalf of its members has notified eircom of illegal peer to peer (P2P) file sharing using eircom internet protocol (IP) addresses.  eircom records have identified one of those IP addresses as being linked to use from your eircom broadband account.  Some of the details of the notification supplied by IRMA are set out below and can be viewed online at  www.eircom.net/legalmusic.

Timestamp of report:

Track details:

IP Address:

Website or protocol used:

Copyright holder:

It is important that you know that eircom has not in any way monitored your internet connection or activity, nor have we shared any of your account or personal data with IRMA or anyone else as part of this communication.  The notification has resulted from independent monitoring conducted on behalf of IRMA.

We understand that you may be concerned on receiving this letter from eircom.  It may be that you do not know how this happened and that you yourself have not shared music files over the connection in breach of copyright.  It could be that someone else who uses your computer and internet connection might be responsible, however you as the account holder need to make sure that music files are not shared or downloaded illegally on your account. 

If you have concerns, or wish to avoid this happening again, please visit www.eircom.net/legalmusic for details of the steps you can take to ensure that your computer and internet connection are no longer used for such activity.  There are alternative services available where you can enjoy music online legitimately, including www.eircom.net/music  and http://www.itunes.com/. 

If you have been unlawfully sharing music, even if unknowingly, then we would ask you to please stop. If we receive another notification from IRMA relating to your account, we will be required to take further action and you risk having your broadband service withdrawn.

We hope that this assists you in using your broadband service to enjoy music legitimately.  We will call you to answer any questions you might have. However, if you would like to contact us in advance please LoCall 1890 253 059 or visit www.eircom.net/legalmusic.

Yours sincerely

Carlos Hernandez

Director of Customer Management and Operations

eircom Limited

Irma wants up to 10,000 such letters to be sent out weekly: Eircom is currently processing closer to about 100 a week.

Gaming is big business at E3. Will the Irish show up?

This time next week, I'll be up to my neck in wireless controllers, first-person shooters and 3D games.

That's because I'm off to the biggest video games expo in the world: E3. The conference holds added appeal for Ireland, following the announcement by uber-games developer, Electronic Arts, that it is to increase its presence in Ireland. (One of the games being worked on here will be the mega-budget Star Wars: The Old Republic.)

 (pic: TheKoalition.com)

Gaming is now big business. Major titles such as Gears Of War or Grand Theft Auto gross more than all but a handful of blockbuster movies. Even the marketing budgets for these games stretch to $20 million dollars.

The Irish gaming developer sector is small, but is growing. I hope to touch base with a few Irish firms at E3. Other than that, I'm looking forward to seeing just how extensive the gaming industry's is to 3D gaming.

I'll be blogging extensively from the conference next week. If you've any questions or notes, leave a message here or get me on Twitter (@adrianweckler).

 

Irish shops selling iPads

Really can't wait until next month for the iPad? Some Dublin shops are selling the device on order: for a whopping mark-up.

This shot was taken 30 minutes ago in FM Mobiles on Camden Street. I was quoted a few different prices for the device. But the final quote was €850 for the 32GB wi-fi only version. That's quite a markup on the £499 (€601) that the same device costs in Newry or Belfast, should you take the trouble to drive up there.

Now, although this was the quote, I would wonder. The quote was from a youngish-looking clerk: he wasn't aware that there's also a 3G version (even though it's on the sign in the window). Therefore I think he might have been erroneously quoting too high. It's very possible that the model quoted was either (a) the wifi + 3G version (£599 or €722 in Belfast) or (b) the 64GB wifi version (£599 or €722 in Belfast).

In any case, if you really want one and can't be bothered waiting, you know where to go.