Tinternet Treats: 10:12:08

Wednesday, aka hump, aka the point in the week at which we stop hating the week. What have we got today then? First up, news from Gizmodo that Google now has the entire back catalogue of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines available for our perusing. Second, Skype has launched its 2.5 Beta for Windows mobile with improved stability and quality, according to Lifehacker it’s a free service when using the WiFi function on your phone. Third is a bizarre cuckoo clock-inspired loudspeaker clock featured on Engadget that actually pops out it’s loudspeaker a la Cuckoo clock style. Last, probably the best news ever for arcade fans (even better than finding an old-school SEGA GT rally with bucket seats) is that Guitar Hero is coming to an arcade near you. Enjoy your Wednesday - I am in a fairly chipper mood because I spent last night watching Indiana Jones on my mate Greg's 42 inch, 1080p Sony Bravia - nice.

Gizmodo:
Browse the PopSci and PopMech Archives On Google Books' New Magazine Search
Lifehacker:
Skype For Windows Mobile 2.5 Beta Includes Quality And Stability Improvements
Engadget:
Cuckoo clock loudspeaker kicks out the jams, you out of bed
Kotaku:
Guitar Hero Arcade Coming In February

Google comes to the video chat party…..forgets to bring nibbles

That’s right, Gmail (which I think is still in beta) has a brand new party outfit – video chat. I remember signing up for Gmail about five years ago mainly because of the huge amount of storage space it offered at the time. For a while, it was my preferred email host until I discovered the wonders of a combined .Mac email, iChat and .Mac page (now MobileMe) and I’ve hardly used. But, will this make me take a second look?

The one big thing that the Gmail version has over its competitors is that it doesn’t require any additional software, running alongside the Gmail web app. Another big plus, it works on both PC and Mac. As with iChat and Skype, users can chat via video and instant message each other at the same time….not sure why you’d do that, but hey.

MyTake – I’ve used the MSN version, Skype and iChat and I have to say, iChat wins hands-down. I haven’t seen this of course, but it’s going to have to do a lot of hard work to beat the boys from Apple. Being late to the party is not good for Team Google, especially as the verb has been taken – “shall we Skype?” Also, not everything has to be a web app – a little bit of software is good. Having said all this, how many things has Google got wrong? Check it out, I’m going to.

Scream if you want to go faster

When I was a kid, holograms were to be found on collectible cards such as the panini cards of your favourite football player and the most famous "hologram" was the bloke on the British Sci-fi sitcom, Red Dwarf. Boy, have things changed.

Yesterday, Australian telco Telstra transmitted a 3D holographic image of its chief technology officer Hugh Bradlow to a conference it was holding in Adelaide while he was in Melbourne. He/the hologram talked and interacted with the audience for about a quarter of an hour and the company said it was a demonstration of the sort of high speed transmission of huge data that was now possible.

MyTake - In my lifetime, I've seen the phone move from a little table in the hallway to the car, to your pocket. I've also seen the computer become an integral part of everyday life for not just business, but also personal use. As a British ex-pat living in Australia, it's fantastic to have the opportunity to talk to my parents who live in France and my partners parents that live in Sweden - all using iChat or Skype. The idea, that sometime soon, we could have 3D holograms of each other in our lounge rooms is phenomenal. My Dad tells me when he was young, you'd have to "book" a phone call to another country and now we are talking about holograms. Scream if you want to go faster.

SkypeStationPortable

News from Sony is that the new firmware update for the PSP will allow gamers to make a receive Skype calls from the thier PSPs. Apparently, it only works on the new slim PSP and won't work with the first generation due to hardware differences in the meemory.

To take advatage of this added function, all you need to do is get the firmware upgrade, register for Skype talk and away you go!

My Take - The Sony boys are a smart bunch, years ago they got involved in a number of disctint and separate areas of consumer technology and slowly but surely they integrate them. Building this functionality into the PSP is another step towards a unified digital offering - the way of the future I reckon