Ian D. Nock › Comments

Freesat's managing director Emma Scott is hoping that the first Freesat box that utilises the Project Canvas protocols will bring progressive HD downloads to the platform. - Ian D. Nock

BT Vision has announced that it has done a deal with NBC Universal International Television Distribution to bring its key US titles like Heroes and House to the UK for its on-demand service. - Ian D. Nock

Freeview HD is all set for its technical launch today, and in a burst of fortuitous timing, the Freeview service has just arrived in the 10 millionth home. - Ian D. Nock

Most netbooks aren’t blessed with the same excess horsepower as current desktops and conventional laptops. In order to keep your system running to its full potential, it’s important to select applications that are easy on resources. You don’t want to needlessly overwork that Atom processor, do you? - Ian D. Nock

Brad didn’t sound convinced that a 1366×768 pixel high-resolution display would work on a 10-inch screen, but that’s exactly what Asus promised with the Eee PC 1005HR. - Ian D. Nock

Designer netbooks are all the rage, apparently. Today’s new model is designed by Karim Rashid, and it’s all kinds of glossy, crocodile skin sexy. - Ian D. Nock

There are dozens of tips and tricks available on the web to boost the performance of Windows 7 on netbooks. It is difficult to pick the best among them, but here are some tips I found quite useful on my netbook. After trying them out, working on this new operating system became much easier and faster on my netbook. Let's explore them here. - Ian D. Nock

MSI's latest (and arguably greatest) 12.1-inch netbook just popped official earlier this month, and already it's making the rounds at various shows. - Ian D. Nock

To summarize some of the latest news, there has been a lot of development from Asus lately, and some great new Eee PCs are on the horizon. - Ian D. Nock

The General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union has given its support to Hybrid Broadband Broadcasting (HBB), describing the technology as “one of the most exciting developments in the media today”. - Ian D. Nock

Xbox 360 owners in the UK must wait "indefinitely" for the BBC iPlayer on their game consoles because Microsoft insists that only paying subscribers can have access to online extras. - Ian D. Nock

Given the current economic climate, it should come as no surprise that the only segment of the PC industry that is growing right now is that for netbooks, small and lightweight machines that typically sell to consumers for under $400. In these lean times, it's natural to wonder if low-cost netbooks would provide a viable alternative to mainstream notebook computers in small and medium businesses or perhaps even in the enterprise. - Ian D. Nock

Virgin Media has succeeded in the patent dispute brought against it by Gemstar TV Guide. The London High Court rulings call into question the ability for intellectual property rights holder Rovi to enforce its patents both in the UK and with operators around the world. - Ian D. Nock

The Kudelski Group (SIX: KUD.VX) announced that it has closed the subsequent offering period of its tender offer to acquire Class A shares of OpenTV Corp. (NASDAQ: OPTV) not already owned by Kudelski or its subsidiaries for US$1.55 per share. The subsequent offering period expired at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on Wednesday, November 25, 2009. - Ian D. Nock

Virgin Media is upgrading its technology and introducing dynamic advertising into its commercial VOD services, writes Julian Clover. - Ian D. Nock

This chart of TiVo's slipping subscriber numbers may be surprising, seeing as TiVo is the television recording device (and it's so good), but it's something we've seen coming for a while. We love you TiVo, but you're fast becoming obsolete. - Ian D. Nock

I’m on my way back to Boston,after spending 2 days at the Telco TV event in Orlando, a somewhat small–but nonetheless impressive–show focused on the IPTV space. I’m posting this online at 35,000 feet, which is one of the few places I don’t particularly mind (or at least won’t audibly complain about) paying for connectivity. - Ian D. Nock

The UK set-top box testing company, Mirifice, has made significant progress with its push into eastern Europe through a deal with Russia’s Comstar-UTS. - Ian D. Nock

The news of the marriage between Virgin Media and Tivo is great for both companies. Finally, Virgin is taking some bold steps to differentiate its service and Tivo finally has an entry into the UK market with its great technology. - Ian D. Nock

Much has been talked about Project Canvas but until now there wasn't much to actually see of what it consisted of. Still incomplete and awaiting approval, Project Canvas promises a great deal for broadcasters and viewers in terms of convenience and features, but Canvas has predictably stirred up controversy despite its open approach. - Ian D. Nock

In an effort to curtail my disastrous gadget spending habits, I’ve decided to take a look at devices I’ve purchased with the stated intent of increasing my productivity, to see if intentions and reality reflect each other at all. Today, I’m turning my critical gaze on my netbook, which I picked up just over half a year ago. - Ian D. Nock

The Asus Eee PC 1008HA is one of the thinnest and lightest 10 inch netbooks available. It measures just 1 inch thick and weighs just 2.4 pounds. The netbook is a grand departure from early Asus netbooks including the Eee PC 1000HE which was one of the largest and heaviest 10 inch netbooks around. - Ian D. Nock

"Today we got a first look at the Eee PC 1201N, which will sell for $499 with Windows 7 Premium. This 12.1-inch system looks a lot like a larger 1008HA, a design we like. It’s a sleek 1.3 inches thick, only 3.2 pounds, and sports the same dimpled trackpad as the 1008HA but the chiclet-style keyboard seen on the 1000HE." - Ian D. Nock

On a recent business trip to Seattle, I picked up my third Toshiba mini NB205. I had previously purchased one each for my two kids and I've been impressed with the battery life on these little machines. The versions my kids have include a less-than-desirable "island"-style keyboard, which I quickly realized wasn't suitable for my gorilla hands. But the version I bought at Frys near Seattle has a more traditional keyboard with larger keys that seem to address some of the issues of my kids' machines (like the curiously undersized Tab key). So I snagged one for about $350. - Ian D. Nock

Back in August when we started testing the final version of Windows 7, we noticed that several netbooks didn’t last as long on a charge with the new OS installed as with Windows XP. Microsoft claimed that Win 7 notebooks would see longer battery life than Vista, and for the two full-size systems we upgraded that rang true. The Dell XPS Studio 16 only got an extra few minutes, but the Gateway NV lasted an extra hour. Netbooks have been a different story. - Ian D. Nock

This 1945 pamphlet on the "Future of Television" is awesome. But who would have thought we'd be having the same tired discussion 65 years later? - Ian D. Nock

Boxee has signed a deal with an unnamed manufacturer to produce a set-top box compatible with its service, the company has said. The device will have its public debut (in mockup form, at least) at a December 7 meetup in NYC. Boxee says it would also reveal more details on the set-top unit at that time. - Ian D. Nock

Windows: Microsoft's SyncToy is a simple but effective tool for mirroring folders across hard drive locations, networks, or USB devices. With a 2.1 update, it's been retooled to run faster, back up configurations, and handle errors much better. - Ian D. Nock

Netbooks have had all the limelight for too long. They're great if you like restricted low-resolution screens, low-powered processing and a small amount of storage and memory – but hardware that inspires words such as 'fine' and 'adequate' is hardly exciting. - Ian D. Nock

17.00 UPDATE: Virgin Media’s next generation set-top boxes are to run a converged television and broadband platform developed for the cablenet by the US DVR specialist TiVo. The UK cablenet is following in the footsteps of US counterparts Comcast and Cox, which are currently testing the technology in a number of markets. - Ian D. Nock