Right here ’ s one reason why Apple could not be producing a television with its name blazoned on it in the near term: it doesn ’ t appearance like individuals have, up until now, shown that much thinking about them yet. According to a new report out from individual specialists GfK, connected TV televisions are shifting a lot better in markets like China, Brazil and India compared with the USA, UK and other developed markets — with China commanding the highest use at 44 % and the UK and USA leading advanced markets with merely 11 % penetration.

GfK places it down to customers in the latter classification stuck in an “ analog ” frame of mind — although individuals in the latter markets are also huge users of additional methods of getting the exact same experience without forking out for a costly connected TV set.

On top of set-top boxes from pay-TV service providers, there are consoles like the Xbox, Roku, and PlayStation that additionally supply on-demand and connected services to individuals through their TELEVISION sets. And gadgets like tablets and Computers, which are more matched to interactivity, are additionally showing to be among the fastest-growing gadgets for video clip viewing. And there is of course the raising multiscreen trend, where individuals use at the very least two devices at the exact same time to provide a simultaneous lean-back/lean-forward experience.

And there is additionally the issue of rate. A wise TV can cost upwards of $ 200 or more than a more basic set, and that could not even provide you a substantially better display than a cheaper make.

The supremacy of China in the connected TELEVISION group appears on the heels of a report last week from NPD that took note that China — or those in urban centers a minimum of — watch the most online video presentation content, around the most devices, of any other local group of consumers.

Individuals don ’ t care a lot about getting their Twitter fix right on the screen. GfK found that there seems to be little demand at the second for the kinds of bells and whistles that a lot of connected Televisions are supplying. Only 28 % of participants thought interactivity made programs more fascinating. Only 25 % thought tweeting and additional commenting styles make the experience more interesting.

“ Our findings suggest that broadcasters need to integrate their social factors far more engagingly into the fabric of the program, to encourage viewers to connect, ” writes Richard Preedy, Analysis Director at GfK. This certain study considered a total of 7,000 interviews from Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, UK, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, USA, China, India and South Korea — 500 in each country except Belgium, where it collected 1,000,

On the additional hand, services that assisted individuals locate even more info on programs shifted a lot better: 33 % more viewers sought details on the shows they are viewing than usage social networks to share the experience with buddies, GfK composes.

Smart TVs go where PCs do not? It appears that wise TVs are faring a lot better in markets where COMPUTER penetration is lower: as they do with their mobiles, individuals in these markets as a result look to their Televisions to accomplish a couple of the functions that might have otherwise been accredited to the COMPUTER: 75 % of Chinese smart-TV managers used their TVs ’ complicated interactive attributes in previous month; in Western markets the ordinary number was less than half, GfK said.

That additionally seems to translate into buying objective, too: amongst USA and UK consumers, less than one-third (29 %; 26 % respectively) stated they would certainly try to find Internet-enabled TVs in the future. In China and India the numbers were respectively 64 % and 61 %.

Now additionally might be the time to strike while the iron is hot: just as Apple successfully developed an entire brand-new market for smartphones that were mainly the terrain of extremely early adopters and business individuals prior to the iPhone, it can might do the same for televisions. GfK takes note that sales of wise Televisions in the six biggest European economic situations were up by 31 % in the first half of this year.

It can be newer functions that may get users in these markets more considering brilliant Televisions: 67 % of respondents said they were interested in touch and motion control; and 43 % desire to control their Televisions with something other than a remote, such as a smartphone. Yes, these functions are currently right here and getting even more preferred all the time; the question is whether users will certainly planning to their TELEVISION sets or other gadgets to offer them longer term.

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Short version: Western Digital finally has released a new Thunderbolt external hard drive to justify the existence of the Thunderbolt port on your laptop. The My Book VelociRaptor Duo is a desktop external hard drive, which uses two 3.5-inch 1 TB VelociRaptor hard drives. These disks spin at 10,000 RPM and are a good compromise between speed and storage inside a desktop computer. Yet, using them in an external enclosure comes with a major drawback: a hefty price of $ 899.

Features:

• Two 1 TB 10,000 RPM WD VelociRaptor drives
• Two Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining
• A Thunderbolt cable in the box — a $ 50 value
• Drives can be replaced
• RAID 0 or RAID 1 options to have a 2 TB drive (RAID 0) or two 1 TB drives always in sync (RAID 1)
• Western Digital Product Page

Pros:

• It’s fast
• Daisy-chaining with Thunderbolt
• You can replace a faulty drive

Cons:

• MSRP: $ 899
• Noisier than a MacBook Pro 13″
• No USB3

Long version:

Before diving into some read/write tests, let’s talk about the external features of the VelociRaptor Duo. It is a heavy and bulky desktop hard drive that will sit on your desk in a corner and never move again.

At the same time, due to its speed and limited capacity compared to some desktop external hard drives — you can easily get a slower but comparably sized 6 TB drive for the same price — you will have to find a special use for it aside from storing backups of your computer. An entry-level NAS is another alternative that could be considered at that price.

For example, it would be a good addition to a current-generation MacBook Air limited by its 128 GB or 256 GB SSD. But SSD prices will certainly drop in the coming years.

The exterior of the VelociRaptor Duo is made entirely of plastic. It looks fine when sitting on your desk, but feels cheap when you are moving the drive around. A discreet LED indicates that the device is plugged correctly. The drive is also noisier than the MacBook Pro used to write this review, even when not reading or copying files.

It gets warm, but that’s not very important for a desktop external drive. You can change the hard drives quite easily without using a screwdriver. Even though VelociRaptor drives are standard 3.5-inch SATA drives, there is a sticker that says “Only use VelociRaptor drives.” It remains to be seen if it is a serious claim as for the European patent-protected Nespresso coffee machine or only marketing advice. Finally, a Thunderbolt cable is in the box, a $ 50 value.

Daisy-chaining multiple Thunderbolt devices is a convenient feature when using a laptop. For example, the VelociRaptor Duo is currently plugged to a MacBook Pro and a display is plugged to the VelociRaptor using a DVI to Mini DisplayPort adapter. Only one port is necessary on the laptop to use those two devices.

When it comes to performances, the VelociRaptor duo is a nice surprise. In Raid 0, we could measure 352.3 MB/s and 374.1 MB/s respectively for writing and reading large files. Yet, dealing with a lot of small files was much slower with 13.2 MB/s for random writing. That is the disadvantage of mechanical hard drives, but the VelociRaptor Duo appeared faster than the Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt. Clearly, the bottleneck is not the connectivity but the drive.

In real-world use, copying a folder from the MacBook Pro to the VelociRaptor Duo would not be relevant because of the 5,400 RPM hard drive found in that Mac. That is why we copied a 69 GB folder containing small and big files already on the VelociRaptor Duo. It took 13’02″, at an approximate speed of 89 MB/s. The same test would have been many times slower using a USB2 drive.

The VelociRaptor Duo is a particular drive filling a particular need for those that feel cramped using a small SSD as their main drive. It is expensive but makes good use of the Thunderbolt interface. Yet, it is very hard to recommend the drive because of the price. As SSD capacities will increase a lot in future laptops, a cheaper desktop external drive with Thunderbolt might be good enough. The rest of the money could be saved to buy your next laptop with a bigger SSD.

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While not quite the fastest commercially available e-bike in the world as some have suggested (as far as we can tell, that claim belongs to a DIY kit out of Taiwan by a company called Cyclone), the Specialized Turbo is still a speedy little beast. In fact, it’s fast enough to find itself on the wrong side of the law both here in the US and across most of Europe. The 250 W rear hub motor is powerful enough to get this guy up to about 28 MPH, or 8 MPH over the legal limit here in America. It’s the other features, though, that make this guy particularly interesting. The frame has integrated LED head and tail lights, regenerative breaking and the 342 Wh battery can be juiced in just two hours from an outlet. There’s even a backlit display that lets you monitor charge and assistance level, as well as standard bike computer stats like speed, distance and time. Oh, and it even supports ANT+ for wirelessly connecting with your existing accessories. The Specialized Turbo is expected to land in some European nations in May for €5,499. Check out the video after the break to see it in action.

Continue reading Specialized Turbo e-bike is too fast and furious for the western world (video)

Specialized Turbo e-bike is too fast and furious for the western world (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Inhabitat, Gizmodo  |  BikeRadar, Specialized  | Email this | Comments

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Modernization’s not for everyone — just take a look at Western Union. That 19th century institution’s finally getting its virtual act together, introducing a new digital payments platform today, dubbed WU Pay, that sadly does not involve laundering dough through the late, great ODB’s hip hop clan. No, this forward-facing system, built upon its eBillme acquisition, takes a backwards approach, eschewing direct payment options for something more circuitous. Customers that opt-in for the service at checkout from any number of partnered merchants, like Kmart or Sears, won’t have to link to their credit card accounts or even offer up any financial info. Instead, once the item is purchased, they’ll receive a bill via email that can then be paid online or at one of the company’s brick-and-mortar sites. Sound unnecessary to you? We sure agree. Now if only this innovation involved Marty McFly and Jason Alexander personally delivering those funds — that’s a service overhaul we can get behind. Check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading Western Union debuts WUPay digital platform, misses the point of convenience entirely

Western Union debuts WUPay digital platform, misses the point of convenience entirely originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Mar 2012 05:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |   | Email this | Comments

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