Snakes on the loose

Space Invaders? Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas? Halo 2? What would you say is the world's most popular game? Could it be Snakes, the ultra-simple yet maddeningly addictive puzzler found on every early Nokia phone?

It's time has now passed thanks to current phone horsepower which almost rivals that of the PlayStation. So Nokia has given Snakes a 3D makeover and made it freely available for download or Bluetoothing between N-Gage handsets. The Finns hope to get a viral thing going whereby it gets passed from user to user as a result of word of mouth. Certainly, receiving the game over Bluetooth is a hell of a lot easier than the rigmarole involved with downloading it first to a PC and then sending it to the N-Gage.

New ink stink

Having been all but convicted of gouging us on the cost of ink, now printer makers stand accused of including a secret expiry date in its cartridges. A US woman claims in a lawsuit that HP builds in electronics which instruct the cartridges to play dead after a certain amount of time (presumably a best-before type of thing).

It would sort of make sense if HP at least had the decency to tell users they have only so long to use up their cartridges. We await the result of this case with interest.

The news ... in pictures

Don't just read the news - browse it in pictures at 10x10. The Flash-based site presents the day's events in the form of a 10x10 grid of photos.

Click on one and up pops a slick list of news headlines associated with the image (say, the Pope). We likes it a lot.

iPods slashed

As widely suspected, Apple revved the iPod line today but more pleasingly slashed prices across some of the range at the same time.

The iPod Mini's hard drive has been boosted to 6GB from 4GB and battery life upped to 18 hours, while still trimming the price by €30, thus cutting some of the wind from the sails of rivals who had trumpeted their superior storage and longevity. Interestingly, the older iPod Mini will - at least temporarily - still be sold for €210, a drop of €70.

The vastly overpriced iPod Photo, meanwhile, was lopped down to a much more reasonable €470 (from €660) for the 60GB, while a new 30GB version has emerged for €370. This was partly achieved by making the dock and cables optional, thereby effectively turning the iPod Photo into just a regular 'Pod with a colour screen (and leaving only one full-sized iPod (the 20GB) without a colour screen). Expect the latter to be upgraded next time out.

But the new iPods' cabling give a hint that Apple is moving away from FireWire, the high-speed connection it invented but which now has a serious rival in USB2. Apple no longer includes a FireWire cable to hook up the player to a Mac or PC. It's now an optional extra and pride of place in the box goes to the USB2 cord. This might be a problem if your Mac is more than a year old, before Apple started building in the faster USB2 connector as standard. Either put up with slow, old USB1 or buy the pricey €20 FireWire cable.

Secret zoom

As cameras get smaller, makers often save space by omitting a zoom lens. Sony's boffins rose to the challenge of fitting in a 3x zoom in its likeable Cybershot T33 5MP digicam by secreting the optics vertically into the body. Read the full verdict on the T33 in today's paper.

Then there's a quick look at the spring collection of new products from Canon, which brought the usual menagerie of us tech hacks to the banks of the Thames overlooking Tower Bridge. Nothing as innovative as last year's Pixma range but a couple of goodies nonetheless.

In games, Dead or Alive Ultimate resuscitates the seminal beat-em-up series with startlingly good onine play. UEFA Champions League 2004/2005 is a retread of a familiar football title and Ace Combat: Squadron Leader takes the sim out of flight sim but is more of a rental.

Photo printers - a waste of time?

A thought-provoking piece over at the oddly named Pfucata puts forward the theory that photo printers are a bit of a con - costing more than the average photo lab and offering only convenience as an advantage.

Actually that's not strictly true, the author concedes that if you buy one of the high-end models (€200 or more), you'll actually get higher quality than that found in yer average corner-shop lab. Of course, it'll cost you extra for that sharper, more vivid photo in consequence.

I tend to agree that, for most people, photo printers are expensive and over-rated. The select few who simply must have control over their prints are the ones who should check out Pfucata's printer recommendations.

Just as useful is Pfucata's explanation of the technology behind digital cameras and why more megapixels is no guarantee of snappier snaps.

What Ireland searches for at Google

The Google Zeitgeist is always a fascinating barometer of what the world plugs into that minimalistic white search box. For instance, check out the end-of-year round-up for an interactive timeline of what was pushing everyone's buttons in 2004.

And new just this week is Google's breakdown of what users were seeking for at google.ie in the last month. Much like Eircom's analysis of searches at eircom.net in 2004, Paris Hilton is the most sought-after woman (you perverts). Rather oddly, slain Cork boy Robert Holohan was the top query among male names.

Internet Explorer in update shock

Having left it languishing practically unaltered for nigh-on four years (an aeon in Internet time), Microsoft has suddely reversed a decision to forego any more Internet Explorer updates until 2006. Now IE7 is due for a beta release in the summer, as MS admits the creaking browser is the chief axis of security vulnerability within Windows.

IE7 promises to lock down the many holes opened up by gleeful hackers but cynics wonder whether the announcement is more in response to rival browser Firefox's rapid gains at IE6's expense. Cynics further suggest this is a typical MS stunt: promise a product and the market will avoid shifting to a rival - but the product then rarely turns up on time.

Open Gates

Bill Gates gives a revealing interview over at ABC News, making perhaps his strongest admission so far that Microsoft cocked up big-time on security - as opposed to just saying security's, like, rilly important to us, as he usually does.

"A few years ago, people were being tough on us (about security) and I think there was a lot of validity to that."

He also puts to the sword the myth that he uses an iPod, saying he loves his Creative Zen (er, why?) but can't resist bigging himself and MS up more than once, while ignoring questions about Microsoft's failures.

"My success is creating great software."

Er, yes. Modesty was never his strong point.

Finally, if you're an Xbox owner, Microsoft has identified a problem with the power cord on versions of the games console sold before January 2004. Apparently, some poor saps have endured minor burns with the old cord.

Head over to the Xbox replacement site to order a free new cable.

Napster burgled

Napster (that's the legit, record-label-friendly version - not the all-you-can-eat, totally illegal outfit from the late 90s) is betting big bucks that its music subscription service will be just the ticket to eat into Apple's massive market share with iTunes.

For $15 a month (or stg£15), Napster To Go gives US/UK users access to every single song in its one-million-strong catalogue, plus with a recent-model portable MP3 player you could take these songs on the road. Sounds terrific but the caveat is that if you stop paying the subscription, the music downloaded to your hard drive or MP3 player won't work any more.

Not everyone agrees that music subscription has a future and a report on Reuters points out that, with a little bit of software ingenuity, users can rescue songs from copy-protection hell and never worry about when their subscription lapses.

This sort of thing is already possible with established services such as iTunes (bypassing copy protection is as easy as burning songs to CD and then ripping them into MP3, at the expense of audio quality).

But the difference with Napster To Go is that you have instant access to every song, so you could download thousands in the first month of your subscription, de-fang them and keep 'em forever.

This is all academic for Irish users because, despite promises, Napster still hasn't set up shop in Ireland yet.

Free line rental for life? What's the catch?

Smart Telecom has come up with a pretty amazing offer to tempt you to sign up for its broadband service - free line rental (voice and data) for life. Sounds as if there has to be a catch.

Other than the fact Smart Telecom is not guaranteed to be around forever, I can't see one. The offer is available to only the first 100,000 (!) customers (will they even get that many - I love their optimism!). The equally good news is that Smart's broadband service is is rated at 2-megabits per second (four times faster than vanilla broadband from other operators, but sadly the upload speed is still a paltry 128kbps) - and all for only €35 a month.

If there is one catch, it's probably that Smart is so far hooked up to only a few phone exchanges (thanks, Eircom!). Choosing a few random phone numbers of friends across Dublin showed that few of them were eligible. But sure have a go yourself, your mileage may vary.

I asked an Eircom fella recently whether we'd ever get faster consumer broadband and he looked at me as if I'd propositioned him. So don't expect Eircom to start competing on that front.

MyCokeMusic screw-up means ultra-cheap tunes

While gaily giving away millions of DRM-infected tunes via tokens from Coke bottles and cans, online store MyCokeMusic doesn't appear to be paying much attention to the pricing of its woefully spotty catalogue.

When Log On was idly trying (very hard!) to find a song to buy thanks to a Coke ringpull, we came across a whole album of Peggy Lee (remember her, she did the sultry version of Fever?) tunes for the princely sum of €1.29. Thinking it was a mistake that would refuse to download, I gratefully grabbed 22 tracks for half the price of a cappucino - five cent each!

I'm betting that's not the only anomaly in the MyCoke vaults either. But if you're interested, the €1.29 offer is still available. Would love to link to it directly but there's a screwy URL system that won't cooperate. Just search for Peggy Lee.

Yahoo! sets! up! in! Ireland!

There'll be no office space left in Dublin at the rate the leading lights of the dot-com world are setting up in Ireland - Yahoo! has just joined its buddies Google and Amazon to become the latest to establish a European HQ on these shores.

No date's been set for start-up yet but, aside from the not-unwelcome 400 jobs promised over the next five years, it's hardly going to make a difference to the average websurfer. Unlike, say, if Amazon had set up a warehouse here when it created a European systems HQ - then we could have cheap books and no shipping charges.

The phone with no keypad

Those kerazy kooksters at Nokia often produce nutty designs without rhyme or reason. But, as you can read in this week's column, the 7280 is a space cadet which makes perfect sense.

About the size of a Mars Bar without the wrapper, the 7280 looks nothing like a moby and invokes bafflement in everyone who sees it - thanks mainly to the absence of a keypad. Check out the paper to find out why the 7280 is a sleek design classic - but for girls only.

Also reviewed is Sony Ericsson's HBH-200 Bluetooth headset which parks itself middleways between a fully wired earpiece and those wireless ones that make the wearer look like a reject from a Star Trek casting.

In games, the Sonic Mega Collection Plus is a beautiful reminder of everything that was great about the legendary spiky hedgehog. Bargain price too (try out the online version of Sonic's first adventure for a quick nostalgia fix).

Then there's Shadow of Rome, a gruesome hack'n'slash epic crossed with some feeble stealth exploration. Lastly, and leastly, we have Suikoden IV, a dull, dull, dull RPG.

Polishing Apple and Windows

A 26MB patch for Mac OS X has been posted on Apple's download servers, promising improved networking, a number of bug fixes and updated graphics drivers, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Version 10.3.8 doesn't sound crucial and it's a bit big for a dial-up connection but this will probably be the last upgrade before Apple unveils Tiger, AKA OS 10.4, sometime in the next couple of months.

Microsoft has also been beavering away plugging cracks - there's 8MB of serious bug fixes waiting for you at Windows Update. Turning on Automatic Updates (via Control Panels) is also a fine idea, though the feature didn't grab the patches quickly enough for my liking, forcing me to do a manual update.

All go at Google

Is there no part of the web that Google won't try to colonise? The G-men have so far dabbled in news aggregation, price comparison, newsgroups, blogging, webmail, desktop search, photo cataloguing, etc, etc.

The latest: maps. Though MSN and Yahoo! have had something similar for a while, dammit if these aren't the loveliest maps online. With traditional map sites, moving around involves reloading pages as fresh images are requested. Not Google Maps. Just click and drag to scroll in any direction on a 3D-style map with automatic magnification. The downside: it covers only the US, Puerto Rico and parts of Canada. It really needs a broadband connection too.

But if you're visiting the States and need directions from anywhere to anywhere else, this is a gem. (For geeks who need to know how it works - via Boing Boing)

Not to be left out, Amazon has created an unusual feature at its search site A9 with pictures of every business in its Golden-Pages style database. Apparently, to create what they call Block View, they sent a load of trucks to drive slowly up and down the streets of America with a camera pointed out the window to take pictures.

The web is also abuzz with rumours that Google's GMail is heading for a full launch after several months of a closed beta test, where you could get one of the webmail accounts only by invitation from an existing member. Gmail members have found themselves suddenly coming down with a raft of invites.

Now I've got 50 of them burning a hole in my inbox, so if anyone gets the urge for a 1GB webmail account from GMail, drop me a line: rprice at unison dot independent dot ie.

Put a bit of colour in your pictures

In this week's column, read the comparison of two camera ranges which come in any colour but boring old silver (er, that's not quite true but work with me here).

Canon's beautiful Ixus collection gets more lovely with each iteration and the i5 is just gorgeous.

The Mju Mini models from Olympus are quirkier but equally eye-catching. Get today's paper to see which wins the shoot-out.

Also reviewed in games is (deep breath) Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly (Director's Cut). It's scary as hell but may be too slow-paced for itchy trigger fingers. Then there's MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf - short-lived and actually a bit ugly for an Xbox game, but online multiplayer is terrific. Finally, NFL Street 2 brings practically nothing new to the party.

Eircom's zeitgeist

Eircom's homepage vies with Yahoo! for the title of most popular Irish site (though not everyone agrees who's top and unquestionably it's skewed by the fact www.eircom.net is the default page in many people's browser).

But nonetheless we must set some store by the interesting breakdown of searches run at the Eircom site over the past year. Depressingly, Euro bore Chris Doran was the most searched-for Irish male, followed by that astro-crank Jonathan Cainer. Reassuringly, we reverted to type when it came to women, with Paris Hilton topping the list and the rest also drawn from pop-culture's slappers.

The hottest search term of all, according to Eircom, was Ryanair (good jaysus, how hard is it to find Ryanair.com?), though, curiously, the telecom's own stats suggest Yahoo! was more popular. Perhaps there's some subtle distinction between "search term" and "site" they aren't fully explaining.

Bill grill

Bill Gates usually gets off lightly in interviews, with few journalists ever managing to ruffle his feathers on topics such as his company's dominance and the barrage of court cases he has faced.

And while German magazine Spiegel doesn't exactly land a killer blow on Mr Microsoft, at least the interviewer holds off on the scraping-bow deference so common in such cosy chats. He also interjects a couple of pointed questions.

My favourite excerpt:

GATES: The truth is: the fewer operating systems there are within a company, the better it is from a security point of view.

SPIEGEL: I beg your pardon?

Europe gets short end of stick ... again

We had to wait longer than practically the whole world for the iPod Mini, Gran Turismo 4, Nintendo DS, etc - now Sony's PlayStation Portable European launch has been pushed back by weeks if not months.

It had been expected to debut at the same time as the US launch on March 24 but now the best Sony can promise Europe is the "second quarter" due to component shortages. Doh! Judging by reviews, the PSP is something special. We've been shortchanged once more by the delay while other markets get their supply.

Golly, this internet business is lucrative

Call me naive but who'd have thought that search is one of the most profitable businesses on the web? If pressed, eBay or Amazon would have been my best guesses for biggest earner but, whaddya know, Google is right up there, just posting a $204m bonanza for the last quarter, neck and neck with eBay's $205m for October to December, though trailing Amazon's $347m, which was thanks to an exceptional quarter due to a one-off tax break.

All this moolah for linking a few (million) ads to queries on the world's most popular search engine? No wonder Microsoft wants a piece of the action, formally launching today its own search engine, which has been in beta for some months. The results don't seem any better with version 1.0, though thanks to its links to the Encarta encyclopaedia you've a better chance of finding quick facts than from many rivals.

Surprisingly, despite, Google's apparent dominance, latest stats show it commands only a 3% lead over Yahoo! (34.7% versus 31.9% of US searches).

Flippin' heck

In this week's column, read about one of the first attempts by Nokia to get a slice of the flip-phone market. The 6260 is not entirely a success but there's a powerful phone underneath all that frippery too.

Following up on the earlier post about MyCokeMusic's new Irish music download site, the more I use it, the more annoying it gets.

It feels like more but the Coke PR folk insist that a mere 5pc of tunes can't be permanently downloaded. Just as frustrating is the restriction on some tracks whereby they can be bought only as part of an album, not individually. Harrumph. Read the paper for the full dissection of why MyCokeMusic needs to pull up its socks.

Finally, reviewed in games are Outlaw Golf 2 (wacky), Robotech: Invasion (derivative and bland) and King of Fighters for N-Gage (prone to jerky animation).