The Kindle 2 vs. Sony Reader 700C: A video comparison

Curious to see how Amazon’s Kindle 2 e-book reader stacks up against Sony’s competing, top-of-the-line 700C Reader—especially given the recent price cut to the Kindle, which now costs $299? A new Consumer Reports video (see right) looks at some of the ways the devices compare.

Though too brief to be comprehensive, the video provides a useful snapshot of the devices’ comparative ease of use, contrasting the Kindle’s wireless downloading with the computer-based downloads of the $350 Sony.

A recent side-by-side report on the two devices highlights further differences between the two. It includes such pluses to the Sony as its decent touchscreen and night-light—the latter being a feature lacking on either the Kindle 2 or big-screen Kindle DX.

However, those past reports predate last week’s price drop for the Kindle 2, which puts it into the same price range as the older Sony Reader 505, which lists at $299. —Paul Reynolds

Tweet URLs may be tiny, but they can also be dangerous

With tweets on Twitter limited to only 140 characters, many Twitterers economize by shrinking lengthy URLs for embedded links, with help from Web sites that specialize in such shrinkage. Now, at least one such site has been hacked.

URL-shortening site Cligs last month sent more than 2 million Web addresses to an entirely different destination. Phishers are also taking advantage of the trust users have in TinyURL Web addresses by using them to mask malicious destinations.

But easy solutions are available, PC Magazine points out. You can easily decode those cryptic URLs by pasting them into—what else—a URL lengthener. One such tool: Untiny. Just cut and paste the shortened URL into the box, and you’ll get the original address. Make sure it’s legit, click, and you’re good to go.

In other Twitter news, the site announced it was suspending accounts infected with a form of the Koobface virus. The suspended sites were sending out “bogus tweets” when the user logged in. The tweets included TinyURLs that sent users to Koobface malware sites. —Donna Tapellini

More movies from Internet-connected TVs

Vizio recently announced its first Internet-enabled LCD TVs which will be able to stream content from Netflix. (Click to enlarge.)
[ Photo courtesy of: Netflix.com ]

Internet-connected TVs were somewhat of a novelty last year, when the few sets available offered mostly basic news feeds, but they’ve rapidly become big news. Several major TV brands now have sets offering access to countless thousands of movies and videos on Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, and YouTube, plus weather, stock updates, financial news, photo-sharing sites, and other content accessible through Yahoo widgets.

Sony, which already had a deal making Amazon’s 40,000-plus videos instantly available through its Internet-enabled Bravia sets, just announced that viewers will be able to access Netflix content (some 12,000 titles strong) starting this fall. A few weeks ago, Vizio announced that its first Internet-enabled sets, due out this fall, will offer content from Netflix, Amazon, Vudu, and more. Panasonic added Amazon to its list of partners a few months back. Meanwhile, LG has deals with Netflix and YouTube, among others. Samsung has a number of partners, including YouTube, but as yet hasn’t announced a deal with a major movie provider for its Internet-connected TVs. (Samsung Blu-ray players, like those from LG, can stream Netflix movies.)

We’re getting more and more of these TVs in our labs and will be testing their connectivity and other features down the road. In the meantime, if you’ve been using any of these sets and services, let us know what you think about them. —Eileen McCooey

Vizio XVT LCDs have high-end features

Vizio VF551XVT 1080p LCD TV
Click to enlarge.
[ Photo courtesy of Vizio. ]

Vizio, a company whose low prices have helped make it a top-selling brand of LCD TVs, is coming out with a new series of 1080p HDTVs offering step-up features, such as 240Hz technology and LED backlights, at prices well below those of more established brands.

In July, we’ll see the first Vizio sets (“240Hz SPS”) that combine 120Hz refresh rates with a scanning (flashing) backlight to produce a 240Hz effect—the same process used by models from LG and Toshiba.This fall, Vizio will offer its first TVs with LED backlights: 47- and 55-inch XVT-series "TruLED" models.

The company is also introducing its first VIA (Vizio Internet Apps) Internet-enabled models, which use Yahoo's widget platform to access online content from various providers, including movie services from Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, and Vudu. Also in the pipeline are two new slim-line models—in 32- and 37-inch screen sizes—that are just 2.5 inches deep.

Vizio's new TVs use full-array LED backlights with local dimming, bucking the recent trend toward edge-lit LEDs from companies such as Samsung. Vizio executives told us that for larger-sized screens, full-array LEDs offer better brightness uniformity and viewing angle. The company also said its LED backlights can be completely turned off, which could improve black-level performance. In our tests, we’ve found that models with full-array backlights offered better black-level performance than edge-lit sets, although a halo effect may be visible at times. The company said it will likely use edge-lit LEDs in smaller screens later this year.

The Amazon Kindle DX: A video review

The new Amazon Kindle DX is a worthy addition to the Kindle family of e-book readers, as I thought when I used it briefly a few weeks ago. But having used the DX a little more (see the video at right), I've concluded that its heavier weight, higher price, and ergonomic shortcomings make the smaller Kindle 2 the better choice for most people.

But here's who might consider newest and biggest of Kindles, which began shipping on Wednesday at a price of $489 (compared with $359 for the Kindle 2). I've included some caveats:

Students. The DX's 9.7-inch screen, measured diagonally, allows more content to be shown at a time than on the Kindle 2, with its 6-inch screen. Textbook pages are among the reading fare that can most benefit from the extra real estate; charts, diagrams, and their associated explanations will be less likely to be broken among multiple pages. Amazon says it will soon have many more textbooks available for Kindle later this year.
Caveat: For now, though, you can by no means rely on getting any textbook for the device; check availability at the Kindle Store.

Newspaper and magazine readers. Amazon hopes to use the DX to sell more Kindle subscriptions to newspapers (for $5.99 to $14.99 a month) or magazines ($1.25 to $8.99 a month). And you certainly can see more of a story from these periodicals on the DX's supersized screen.
Caveat: Despite the larger size of the DX, Kindle editions of these periodicals still don't generally appear in the same layout and presentation as on paper—for example, you can't see and scan the entire front page of a newspaper as it is laid out in print.

The visually-impaired. The bigger screen of the DX makes its largest type size notably larger than the biggest type on the Kindle DX; the DX sizing is more like that found in the big-print editions of books or newspapers. You can also vary the length of each line of text, which might also help those with vision problems.

I could not find any caveats for a visually-impaired person who was considering buying a DX. However, I haven't been able to have such a reader use the device—and would love to hear comments from any who have.

A final consideration might be the relative availability of these models. A DX ordered today would ship next Wednesday, according to Amazon. The Kindle 2 is available for immediate shipment. —Paul Reynolds.

New HDMI 1.4 connection adds Internet, 3D, and 4K video

HDMI helped to clear up cable-clutter by sending digital audio and video through a single cable. The new HDMI 1.4 spec now adds Ethernet, too.

Later this year, new HDMI 1.4 connections will likely start showing up on HDTVs and Blu-ray players, and perhaps later, cable and satellite set-top boxes, and digital receivers.

The 1.4 specification offers much different capabilities than earlier versions. Perhaps the most game-changing feature is the addition of an Ethernet channel, which allows a single HDMI cable to carry Internet data (up to 100 megabits per second) along with digital audio and video. That means the growing number of TVs and Blu-ray players that connect to the Internet won't require a separate Ethernet jack.

HDMI 1.4 also supports 3D (which needs two separate 1080p video streams), and video resolutions four times greater than the best resolution offered today, 1080p. One day, home displays will be able to support the "4K (4096x2164/24Hz and 3840x2160/30Hz) resolutions" now found in many digital movie theaters.

The downside to a new HDMI spec, of course, is more confusion for consumers, as there will now be four different "versions" of HDMI 1.4 cables: standard and high speeds, both with and without the Ethernet channel. That means you'll have to read the labels carefully in order to get the cable you need and avoid paying more for one you don't.

White House Cybersecurity report: Making the Internet safe will require time and patience

Melissa Hathaway, Acting Senior Director for Cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security Councils, and leader of the team that produced the Obama administration's cybersecurity report, at the event today in which the report was unveiled. (Click to enlarge.) [Photo: Jeff Fox]

Bearing the title,"Cyberspace Poicy Review," and just 38 pages long (if you don't count the appendices), the long-awaited preview of how the federal government is going to secure cyberspace was finally released at the President's White House speech today. (I was actually handed a copy in the East Room 20 minutes before its official release time and then asked to return my copy until that time, 10:45 am EDT, arrived.)

While I haven't had time to read through the report in its entirety, here are some key points from it that the President stressed in his speech:

• The status quo is no longer acceptable. The US must signal to the world that it is serious about addressing the challenge of cyber security.
• "Ad hoc responses will not do." (That's a direct quote from Obama's speech). The President said the country cannot continue to react to cyber crime on a piecemeal, incident-by-incident basis; it must become proactive, organized, and partner with other nations.
• There will be accountability. The President promised that milestones and "performance" metrics will be used to ensure that goals are met.
• Although public/private partnerships will be pursued, there will be no monitoring of private sector networks or Internet traffic. There will be a strong commitment to privacy and civil liberties.

Obama cybersecurity speech: More than just a new cyber-czar

When President Obama speaks on cybersecurity Friday morning at 10:55 (Eastern time), he’ll be doing a lot more than just announcing who will be the new “cybersecurity czar” and where they will fit into the White House hierarchy. (He may not actually announce who the czar is for a few days, according to the Wall Street Journal.)

He’ll be setting the stage for a new era in America’s cyber-defense, which has been woefully inadequate for many years. According to my White House contact, simultaneous with the speech, the White House will release electronically the report and plan that resulted from the Obama administration’s 60-day audit of US cybersecurity.

That report should provide the strategy, if not all the details, about how the cyber-czar, and the federal government itself, intend to meet the challenge.

For example, it should provide more information about how the government plans to partner with private industry in securing the nation’s infrastructure, an alliance essential to any effort to thwart hostile foreign governments, terrorists, and cybercriminals. The report may, or may not, also address the consumer privacy concerns raised by such a public-private alliance.

Those concerns are sure to be a hot topic most of next week, at this year’s biggest privacy and security conference, CFP2009, which will be covered on this blog by my colleague, Senior Editor Donna Tapellini. Are you concerned about online privacy? Let us know and  be sure to follow her coverage here next week.

Obama’s new cybersecurity czar: Savior or more of the same?

We don't yet know his or her name, but it seems pretty likely, from press reports that before the week is out, President Obama will name a cybesecurity czar to oversee U.S. cybersecurity policy. As I blogged last week, the release of a long-awaited strategic plan is also imminent.

I’ve just been contacted by the White House press office about the “roll out” of their new strategy, so I expect to have firmer facts, not just media rumors, to make sense of when the news finally does break.

Some of the maneuverings being written about in the press now may sound like inside-the-beltway dealing to most consumers, and it probably is some of that, but it is still of profound importance to our national security and the online security of all consumers. How this all plays out may well determine whether some tech-savvy terrorist is someday able to play havoc with, say, our power grid, and whether you and your family will continue to walk on eggshells and lock down your computer just to be able to web surf, shop online, and exchange e-mail.

The new cybersecurity chief, and the policies which follow his or her appointment, will determine whether dithering and political infighting will continue to allow cybercriminals and terrorists to have virtually free reign online, at all Americans’ expense, or whether this country’s considerable power to defend itself will finally be unleashed.

Do you think that a new strategy will be more effective that what has passed for cyber-defense for the past 8 years? What measures do you think government and industry need to take to protect both our national infrastructure and the American consumer?

I’d like to hear your views. —Jeff Fox

Save the U.S. Global Positioning System – with a global tax?

An image of the Global Positioning System III satellite built by Lockheed Martin. [Image: Lockheed Martin]

A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report warns the constellation of space-based GPS satellites—the heart and soul of the Global Positioning System—could be in danger of failing. The U.S. Air Force, which is responsible for GPS operations and maintenance, “has struggled to successfully build [new] GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals,” says the GAO report. Among its conclusions, the GAO warns:

"...as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to. Such a gap in capability could have wide-ranging impacts on all GPS users, though there are measures the Air Force and others can take..."

Only 24 of the 31 GPS satellites are needed to fulfill commercial (civilian) and military navigation needs. But could seven satellites failing before the Air Force can launch new, improved GPS satellites? And given the $1.5 billion cost of the GPS III satellite launch program, Nicholas Thompson over at Wired has an intriguing proposition: Tax GPS to Save GPS.

Sound off: What do you think? Would some sort of global GPS tax be helpful? (Consider that anyone in the world can freely use GPS, a system developed, funded and maintained solely by the U.S. government—and U.S. taxpayers.)

Or would it be harmful? Feel free to use the comment section below! —Paul Eng