08/09/2012 Click

That is it from me. Now it is time for Click.

Come on, let's go and look at the latest CDs. No? How about we look

at the latest tablets in here. -- TVs. All right. You can have a

Welcome to Click. I in Spencer Kelly and welcome to Berlin. This

is the enormous exhibition centre. It is where we will spend the next

few days as we explore IFA 2012, Europe's largest technology show.

We are living and breathing tech. We have a triumphant array of

televisual displays. They are began they are clever. Also, hands-on

with Windows 8 and the flexible kit willing to bend over backwards for

us. Making notes and making notes but can you really be a genius on a

tiny screen? All that plus the latest tech news and how to be

cooler than your friends by listing to music known's ever heard off

You are really there. OK. We begin with TV's. Despite fierce

competition from tablets and phones come up the television remains the

centre of the home. TV manufacturers make sure we never

forget that fact that shows like this with these tremendous displays.

Our correspondent has been on the trail of the small screen that

keeps getting bigger and smarter and more transparent.

We are surrounded by screens, pulling our eyeballs in every

direction. Families are becoming atomised, Eija was lost in the

video game-playing, PC using, tablet watching bubbles.

Do you get parents seeing "why don't we do stuff like a family any

more like watching TV?" TV is seen as the centre of home entertainment.

Many manufacturers are concerned. Everything else means that -- are

devices and us. Smart phones and other devices can get content to

and from the TV thanks to Wi-Fi. It is what TV makers mean by smart.

Panasonic's Panasonic Viera allows you to take content to and from the

television. It is not just devices. Haier has been trying to do away

with the remote control to hand gestures and brain waves. They have

teamed up with Tobii, a Swedish outfit who are the technology --

who are specialists in eye-tracking technology.

It was developed for disabled people. It has been used in an

innovative way inside the television.

You can imagine that eye-tracking technology gets easier depending on

the size of the strain. That is the direction we are heading in. This

is the largest television in the world, the OLED TV made by LG.

These are slimmer because there is no need for a back light. Each cell

makes its own light. What we have been able to do with OLED TV is get

it to a very large size. We have a couple of 55 inch models on display.

We have got it to a realistic price point. It is still expensive, just

under $10,000. That is a far cry from, we had a 50 inch one that was

$15,000. The joke doing the rounds is that you are in trouble if you

TV is bigger than your bookshelf, culturally. Some of us will need to

buy some books, and some pretty dense books at that. These

televisions are getting bigger. They are cramming in the pixels.

Phil HD is 2.1 mega pixels. This 84 inch ultra-high definition screen

is calling itself 4K. It means 8.3 million pixels. That is not the

last word. Panasonic is exhibiting in 8K, 32.2 mega pixels.

As the televisions have got thinner, the old CRT says, we have LCD,

plasma. We have gone bigger and bigger and bigger. Really, if we

want to all bidders still, wheat to improve resolution otherwise the

pictures will look trainee -- grainy and not clear and much

sharper. You will see the first jump to 4K resolution in a few

years' time. If you want to see a 145 and screen like we have seen at

IFA today, you will lead to go to 8K resolutions. 4K is already been

used for surgical applications. You will have to wait until 2020 and

tell 8K is on the market. -- Until. Another direction and some

manufacturers are going in his were 3D TV. The adage in the glasses.

With some of them, you have to look at sweet spots while the picture

unravels. This picture is meant to work regardless of your point of

view. As an interested observer, you do get a three-dimensional

effect with the system. They also see making make two-dimensional

pictures three-dimensional. -- say they can make. We add it to the

device. Eventually, we will have phones and tablets and laptops all

using this technology. A couple of manufacturers have come

out with transparent screens. Samsung's are very impressive. One

idea is you can put it on a shop front. They are trying to do away

with energy burning back lights, using natural light instead. TV's

are getting smarter and clearer. If the idea is to make us feel

inadequate about our current That was David Reed, glued to the

screens as ever. Now, a look at this week's other big take news

stories. A slew of new smart phones has been

announced by some of the biggest players in the industry who are

keen to get the jump on Apple he will launch its new iPhone in the

next few days. Nokia showed off the linear 920 which features wireless

charging and runs a Windows 8 operating system. It has a curved

touch screen which can be used while wearing gloves. Nokia is open

to claw back the market share after Samsung over ticket as the biggest

phone maker in the world. Fenland has extended its free streaming

service to users in America. It downloads tunes and mixes to the

device. Motorola has launched its first and said since it was

acquired by giggle in May. Most notable is the RAZR M, the smallest

phone in the 4G capable line-up which boasts an edge to edge screen

in his super-thin chassis. The Droid RAZR Maxx HD can last 21

hours of phone calling or 13 hours of video viewing. It is not just

before and space that is hotting up. Amazon has sparked interest in two

new high-definition versions of its Kindle fires a. The seven-inch

version will be released in the US. The 8.9 inch version will give

Apple a run for its money. It is slashing prices and introducing a

new higher resolution version which makes it more readable and darker

conditions. Sweden turn said to be the best country in the world for

making the Web work for its citizens, beating the US and UK to

the top spot. A new index plunged by the Web Foundation, which is led

by the inventor of the Web itself, analyse 61 countries to evaluate

how useful the Web is for content, censorship and political and

economic impact. The high cost of access was the biggest barrier for

most people, according to the report. It is hoped that countries

and citizens will think again about how the Internet is operated where

they are. If you keep missing Click, iPhone and iPad users have a new

option from this week. You can watch whatever you want, even

without a connection. I player has updated its mobile app with an

option to download programmes and watch them within 30 days. You have

got one week to get to the end credits after you start watching

the for the programme deletes For the last few years, most of the

excitement at trade shows has revolved around tablets and smart

phones. But this year, the focus has shifted back towards the PC.

That is because of the imminent release of Microsoft's Windows 8.

We have asked in the past whether the desktop PC has had its day.

Even laptops are decreasing in sales. It is the tablet market that

is growing, and its touch screens gained popularity. The windows way

of doing things is starting to look a bit irrelevant. So Microsoft has

come up with the Windows eight. It will go on sale on October 26th. It

is not quite finished yet. But this is what windows it will look like.

It has got two very distinct looks. The first is the desktop look that

everyone is familiar with. The second book, which is the one

everyone is excited about is this. Every application installed on PC

has a separate touch a friendly launch button. It may take a little

while before every application works perfectly with Windows 8. The

eventual aim is for all software to look and behave slightly

differently, depending on which mode you were in. Although some

apps have a metro version, many third-party applications kick us

straight back to the desktop mode. It would be up to the makers to

make sure their software has a side that is ready for it touch friendly

experience. Expect a lot of apps after the launch of Windows eight.

But the arrival of this operating system with a split personality has

also prompted hardware makers to come up with portable devices that

can be used in either mode. For example, this is the Lenovo Yoga.

You can have it in a standard laptop mode, or if you want a

tablet, you do that. There we go. Sony's version has a screen on a

hinged stand. The Toshiba satellite laptop becomes a tablet by folding

the screen down. Meanwhile, over at Dell, this one employs a design

first used in the Inspiron range. This is Samsung's smart PC. Some

would say this is the ideal factor. None of these designs are

particularly new. But they are certainly more relevant. One of the

problems that Windows eight addresses is this idea that touch

screens are fine for consuming stuff, but not so good for making

stop. LJ Rich has been giving it a The joy of touch-screen tablets,

although sadly those lovely screens do not look quite as good when they

get obscured by an on-screen keyboard. Anyone familiar with that

creative urge knows you have got to get your ideas down as quickly as

possible. A newly announced it had what comes with a stylus that gives

you the note already. -- tablet. Sometimes you fingers just do not

practical enough to do detailed work. That is why the stylus is

pressure sensitive. It can be saved as a number of files. But there are

no applications outside Samsung's ecosystem as yet. It reminds me of

the old PDA. Samsung is also showing the Galaxy camera. On the

back it looks kind of familiar, because it is an Android operating

system. That means you can connect it. That means you can show you

pictures and download applications to play with. For example, there is

Instagram. It is not the only camera with it and wrote on the

back. -- Android. Finally, welcome to the most creative device.

Proposing on a portable tablet is not ideal. -- composing. This is my

work around. However, I found it use a separate accessory, you can

plug the whole contraption into your eye-patch. It will work with

all kinds of applications, including GarageBand. The first

keyboard has been launched that is designed to plug directly into the

iPad. There is also a socket that will

allow us to put a foot pedal in. That will allow us to sustain and

things like that. It is lovely when you are writing on the run. I have

just had an idea. You have created a masterpiece, the

next thing you need to do is find yourself an audience. Kate

Russell's first website could help you do just that.

We looked at a playlist generator for you to the last week, but if

you want to music a little more underground, this website is a

great little broadcaster for soundtracks. Just register and you

can start building a channel based on genre, tracks and the spoken

word. You can invite people to listen with you. Switch to crowned

you if you want to interact with Europe listeners. -- crowd view.

This is another great way for a fence to start building a following.

SoundCloud is where all the cool kids hang out. The free version

lets you queue up to 24 hours of tracks. You can stretch that up to

72 in a worse by pain. -- hours. There is a nice simple way to

listen to SoundCloud life. I am always happy to learn about

good accessibility tools. When one of my followers told me about a

screen reader for Twitter, I got on the case. The queue this free to

download and once installed, you load up a Twitter session. -- Cuba.

With a session running in the background, you will get audio

prompts each time a new tweed comes in. You can also operate all the

standard functions. You will definitely need to go through the

Readme file, as the shortcuts are vital. There are loads of them. The

vision impaired are more familiar with using keyboard commands. If

this lets you do everything you would expect from a Twitter tour.

If you find yourself stuck in a major city in need of a last-minute

hotel, you can find some spectacular deals with Hotel

Tonight. A free application for iPhone and Android, it offers a

discount model to bring you some stellar deals with select hotels in

the cities they cover. This is an interesting proposition, because

you are not just fed the cheapest possible price. Instead, the

website negotiates with a hand- picked selection of hotels to offer

you deals in three standard categories. The service started out

mainly in the USA, but they are expanding rapidly into the rest of

the world. Popular destinations are added every month. In the UK you

will find it deals in a London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh,

with Manchester coming later. This could be just the excuse to have

been waiting for. As always, the links up on the

website. Along with all of our antics. If you would like to get in