Samsung have finally unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Tab, their first tablet device and the first major competitior to the iPad.

Appearance wise, the Galaxy Tab is like a big Galaxy S Phone, coming in at 7inches and 380g – smaller and lighter than iPad. The device is powered by Android 2.2 and can even make phonecalls – can not wait to see someone hold this beast up to their ear.

As it is powered by Android 2.2 it can play flash videos and visit flash websites as well as being compatible with the Android Marketplace and the thousands of apps already available.

Samsung have built an eBook reader and media player for the device and video wise it can playback files encoded in DivX, XviD, MPEG4, H.263, and H.264.

There are two cameras, the front facing one is 3 MP and has a flash while the front facing 1.3 MP camera can support video calls over 3G.

Looks like a nice piece of kit, but is it just an oversized android phone? Would you carry two devices or just stick to the phone?

Tweet This Post

Another September, another iPod refresh from Apple who showed some nifty looking devices last night. The company seemed to cut an old iPod Nano in half to form a new versions of the Nano and Shuffle. The tiny Nano now has a multitouch screen, though hard to see how useful it will be as it is so incredibly small. The iPod Touch is now even thinner, and has inherited many features from the iPhone including two cameras, HD video recording and Facetime.Despite Steve Jobs announcing new models for the whole iPod range there was no update for the iPod Classic, perhaps singling the end is nigh for the device.iTunes also gets an overhaul with added social network functions called ‘Ping’ and a new logo that removes the CD icon!

The iPhone and iPad will be getting some software updates to fix bugs and the iPhone gains the ability to take HDR photos whilst the iPad gets multitasking.

The show concluded with the new dinky Apple TV that comes with no storage and allows users to rent videos or stream from a computer. In America it will also include access to Netflix, making it an attractive proposition. Hopefully in the future there will be some form of iPlayer on the device in the UK.

So, anyone else hitting eBay to grab a watchstrap for the new Nano?

Tweet This Post

Apple are expected to show off new iPod Nano’s complete with touchscreens and we may even finally find out if the company will finally get round to offer a cloud based music streaming service. Aplle should also be showing off their revamped Apple TV, though Amazon have tried to steal their thunder by announcing their own online TV service in the same week that has saw a tremendous first week for their new Kindle device.

Good to see competition between the big companies as this can only lead to bigger and better services for us lot – the consumers. Sony does face an uphill struggle due to having terrible software in the past for music management, but their revamped PlayStation Store went down well with gamers so hopefully lessons have been learned. Apple will be streaming their conference live tonight with a big catch – it is only available to view on Apple devices. Not making this up!

Tweet This Post

To celebrate the launch of Halo:Reach, Microsoft are planning a special ‘blue carpet’ event where a team of celebrities will be taking on six top players to see who are the best at Halo. However, the celebrities need a bit of a helping hand and over 800 people entered the “Searching for a leader” promotion to become team captain, training and looking after  Rio Ferdinand, Mr Hudson, Jameela Jamil, Ben Cohen and Jason Bradbury. Good luck with that. The winner was 17 year old Lewis Chapman, who is really excited as after winning he said “I’m really excited that Xbox has given me this opportunity – Halo is my biggest passion and this is a dream come true. I would like to say to my new team members, ‘Get practicing! You might be celebrities, but you better be good on the night!’ I will do everything that I can, as their leader to beat the opposing team.”

Halo:Reach is out on September 14th only on Xbox 360, expect a lot of sick days once it’s released. Anyone ever played a celebrity online?

Tweet This Post

Thank you for all your entries, but the Going Postal competition is now closed. The entries are being collected together and the winners will be contacted on Wednesday and announced on Thursday. Thanks for entering and good luck.

Tweet This Post

Amazon have finally launched the Kindle in the UK, and although it is officially out today you will be lucky to get your mitts on it as phenomenal demand has seen the device sell out till mid September. The postie dropped off one yesterday, so read one to find out what the first 24 hours of Kindle life is like.

The first talking point is that the device comes preloaded with your name and Amazon account details, which can be a bit tricky if you are buying the device for someone as a gift. You can remotely deactivate it through the Amazon website, but on first bootup it will display your name, and not that of a loved one. If you have preordered a device, you can already buy books from the online store and they will appear as soon as you connect the Kindle to the Internet either through Wi-Fi, or if you stump up a bit more cash, 3G. A 300 page book weighs in at around 250kb so it is not a long download at all, and with over 3gb of memory you can fit a helluva lot of titles on there.

That’s the helpful information that you get once the Kindle has been dispatched, then you wait a day for the postman to drop it off. Amazon sent me a wooden spoon (don’t ask) earlier in the week in a huge cardboard box and was dreading the Kindle package. I needn’t have worried. The device comes in well packaged custom shaped box with a helpful pull tab to open safely. You are then presented with the device, protected with plastic sheets, and a guide on how to turn it on. At first I thought this guide was a piece of card that was covering the screen, but it was actually being displayed on the screen.  Yep, the device comes powered on and I was in shock at the quality of the image. It really does look like paper. It is also unbelievably thin, as the below picture shows.

I switched it on connected to Wi-Fi and got the books I had already ordered online. There is a vast selection available with decent prices for the majority of new releases and lots of free public domain titles. However some books that are a few years old seemed rather expensive, however under £3 for The Girl In The Dragon Tattoo seemed reasonable to me. You can also download sample chapters for free before committing to buy which is handy if you are a wary about a hyped up new author. The books were downloaded quickly and were available to read in the library with a quick click.

The device does not have a touch screen, but has plenty of buttons, though you will only be using a few – mainly the previous/next keys and the directional pad and enter button. Previous/next are featured on both the left and right sides of the Kindle, catering for the lefties out there and are very quiet to click so no waking your partner(s) if you happen to share a bed. The provided keyboard is adequate for searching for books in the store on the device, though you will prefer doing the shopping via computer. You can also download books straight to your computer and transfer via USB but this has a major stumbling block – finding the bloody section on the Amazon site where the books are stored. Once found, you download and drag and drop onto the device – no syncing software required, take that Apple.

Why buy an eBook reader? It saves on space in the house and in suitcases, very easy to use on crowded transport and won’t strain the eyes as much as using a reader on a phone or iPad. There are also other interesting reasons for having one. I bought the Kindle mainly for my girlfriend to use. She suffers from Kidney failure, and has to undergo Dialysis 4 hours a day, three times a week at the local hospital. During this time she has to keep her left arm very still while two needles pump away making most activities, including reading a book near impossible. We had looked at other reads before , but with this new version of the Kindle, she can easily hold it and turn pages with one hand. A genuinely fantastic use for a gadget.

24 hours in and I am very happy with my purchase. It looks fantastic, works brilliantly, has a good range and will be incredibly useful for use in hospital. The only major hurdle has been some older titles being rather expensive. If you enjoy reading, want to save space in your home and commute regularly I would recommend this immediately. It usually takes some time for me to fully enjoy and endorse a gadget, but the Kindle has blown me away and I look forward to reinvigorating my love affair with reading.

Tweet This Post

Mafia 2 is out tomorrow so why not celebrate by having a haircut. 2K Games have set up the Mafia II Pop-up Barber Shop Tour, where you can get a free shave, haircut, t-shirt and a meeting with a glamour model. From that you can probably guess who the game is being marketed to. You get your shave and haircut at the shop, then grab a leaflet from Lucie Self which can be redemmed at GAME stores for a free T-Shirt. The dates and locations are:

Basingstoke – Festival Place – 27th August
Birmingham – Bullring Rotunda Square – 28th August
Westfield – Southern Terrace - 29th August
Reading – Oracle Centre - 30th August
Newcastle – Northumberland Street – 1st September
Manchester – Trafford Centre – 2nd September

Tweet This Post

Did you know there is a DJ Expo going on in Atlantic City? Well it is sure news to me though the only place I seem to get DJ news is from the ticker on DJ Hero. However the chaps at Denon knew there was an expo, and a good thing too as they have three shiny new products for the computer DJ to salivate over. Read on for all the mixing goodness, very complicated specifications and lots of knobs.

The Denon DN-MC6000 introduces a new product category as an integrated, full blown mixer and ‘dual deck’ MIDI Controller. The Mixer / MIDI Controller combines a 4-channel / 8-source standalone digital mixer – featuring real time channel matrix operation – USB MIDI control and 2 x stereo in / 2 x stereo out USB audio interface. It comes bundled with Native Instruments TRAKTOR LE and coonects with Mac OSX and Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 operating systems. Using the ‘dual layer’ function, each side of the DN-MC6000 can control two decks (for a total of four) in TRAKTOR Pro, with visual deck colour change.

The mixer features 3-band Channel EQ with high-mid-low kills, on-board EFX, and a new control surface layout. This includes a newly designed high resolution 105-mm touch sensitive jog wheel, smooth 100-mm long 14-bit high resolution pitch slider, 45-mm channel and cross faders, eight (4 + 4) hot cue/sampler buttons with dual bank selector key, Auto Loop button with Beat Jump (loop cut), Manual Loop In/Out buttons, large size Cue & PLAY buttons, select and parameter controls for the on-board EFX, multiple GUI controls – Mixer, Video, Scratch, Sampler, REC, etc., file browse navigation keys and ring illuminated rotary encoder file selector knob, and Denon’s legacy Pitch Bend keys with Vinyl and Pitch Bend Jog modes.

Inputs include two phono lines, one XLR Mic/quarter-inch and one quarter-inch mic jack, and two phono AUX inputs. Outputs include balanced master XLR, unbalanced master phono, quarter-inch booth/send out, phono record out, and stereo headphone out. Also featured is a USB Audio in/out selectable routing switch. The DN-MC6000 can be rackmounted and is supplied with 19″ rackmount kit. It comes out in November for around £579.

Also on show was the Denon DN-X600, a highly spec’d 2-channel performance mixer, optimised for both traditional vinyl techniques and the latest digital media and computer DJ systems, that offers levels of technology and performance comparable with Denon’s flagship 4-channel models.

Best in class signal path components, controls, processing and control features include many derived directly from Denon’s flagship DN-X1700 and DN-X1600 mixers. Ensuring the highest quality audio performance, the DN-X600’s internal sound card is a 4 x stereo in / 4 x stereo out 24-bit / 96kHz USB 2.0 Audio Interface, while the mixer’s audio output is via a whopping 32-bit DAC.

32-bit Floating Point DSP provides the mixer with powerful signal processing capabilities. 3-band channel EQ includes full kill on each band. On-board EFX include Delay, Echo, Flanger, Filter, Reverb, Loop, Beat Scratch and BeatBreaker, and the dedicated EFX section features ON/OFF, Dry-Wet mix and independent send assignment (Ch/Mic/Master). A powerful two-way EFX Parameter Filter, including Cross Over Frequency and Isolator (low pass filter/high pass filter) is included, as is a send/return control, for use with external effects.

The cross fader is a 45-mm High Performance Flex Fader with tension adjustment and a unique 32-point contour adjustment (and Innofader-Pro compatibility). Channel faders are 45-mm custom Alps-type; also with contour adjustment.

The unit’s control surface is fully MIDI-mappable, including knobs, keys and buttons, and the DN-X600 can work with all current operating systems, including Mac OSX 10.6.4 and 32/64-bit Windows systems; a low-latency 32/64-bit ASIO driver is included for PC use. The unit can operate with DVS direct mode for DJ applications using platter control signal operation. USB send/return routing is included for use with DJ software DSP effects such as TRAKTOR, and USB MIDI Clock In BPM Detection can be used with TRAKTOR, Torq, Ableton, Cubase and more. The mixer’s firmware is upgradeable over USB.

The I/O complement comprises two phono inputs, two line level inputs and two AUX inputs, mic input, effects send/return, stereo output, USB send/return, booth out, and balanced XLR master out. Out in October for around £495.

Finally there is the Denon DN-SC2000, a more affordable, professionally spec’d and constructed MIDI controller for Native Instruments TRAKTOR Pro, providing a portable control solution for laptop DJs. A dual layer system, the DN-SC2000 provides simultaneous switchable control of both TRAKTOR decks, with visual deck colour change. Connecting to Mac or Windows PC via a single USB2.0 interface (from which the unit is also powered), advanced features include MIDI mapable capability, auto loop function, a wide range of EFX, rugged pitch slider, pitch lock, automatic beat sync, durable rubber button controls and more.

The solid steel constructed unit incorporates Denon’s new high resolution 105-mm touch sensitive jog wheel, smooth 100-mm long 14-bit resolution pitch slider, Pitch Lock function, file browse navigation buttons and ring illuminated rotary encoder file selector knob, large size Cue & PLAY buttons, eight (4 + 4) hot cue/sampler buttons with dual bank selector key, Auto Loop button with Beat Jump and Manual Loop In/Out buttons, EFX Unit 1 and 2 layer and on/off buttons with colour change LEDs, EFX parameter encoders, Denon’s legacy Pitch Bend key, a SYNC button for beat matching between decks, and a powerful Shift key, assignable to various dual button operations. Out October for around £179.

Tweet This Post

It has been scientifically proven (well, probably has) that everyone loves post, competitions and Andrew Sachs so putting all three together should be a truly special occasion – and nothing can be more special that a competition with three copies of Going Postal on DVD up for grabs.

Going Postal, based on the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel  and starring Richard Coyle, David Suchet, Andrew Sachs and Charles Dance, is coming to DVD on August 23rd and we have three chances for you to win yourself one of the shiny discs.

1. Send an email to richard@epicwinmedia.com with the answer to this question

Who plays Lipwig in Going Postal? (Hint: Check out our preview)

2. Or leave a comment below about what you love or hate about the Post Office.

3. Or send a tweet to @goingpostaldvd with ‘Going Postal’ in it.

Competition closes on Monday 30th August. Entrants must be UK residents aged 12 or over. Winners will be drawn at random from correct emails, tweets and stories. Good luck!

Going Postal is available on DVD and Blu-ray from 23rd August. Released by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Tweet This Post

Deadly Premonition is coming to Europe! The game is the marmite of the survival horror world with lovers and haters attacking each other with venom across internet messages. You play as Special Agent Francis York Morgan as he investigates the brutal murder of a young woman in a small sleepy town where nobody goes outside when it rains. The game attracted a cult following in the USA thanks to its inappropriate soundtrack, barmy characters and hilarious cutscenes. Playing the game seems to be a bit of a chore though with poor combat and baffling design choices. The game was region locked putting a stop on imports to Europe but Rising Star Games have stepped in to bring the title to these fair shores this Autumn on Xbox 360 for a RRP of £24.99, so not too much money to take a risk on.

“Having seen how Deadly Premonition split reviewers’ opinions in America, gamers are itching to get their hands on it to judge it for themselves,” says Martin Defries, managing director, Rising Star Games. “We have high hopes for what can only be described as the most distinctive survival horror game that has ever been released – it’s going to be interesting to see how the game is received over here. It’s a cult classic in the making.”

He is right about reviewers having split opinions, with Destructoid giving the game a perfect 10 and IGN giving a 2.0. See what the fuss is about this Autumn and join in the fun of FK in my coffee, delicious turkey sandwiches and the fantastic instrumental track ‘Life Is Beautiful‘.

Tweet This Post