Tesco Tech Support » Blog

Rumours, games and more

helencox — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:07:36 +0000

This week Google have been making all their key announcement at Google I/0 2013, and the tech anticipation continues next week as Microsoft is expected to make an announcement about the new Xbox console.

So if you want to follow all the latest Xbox news as it happens pop on over to our friends at CVG to follow their live blog of the event.

But what else has got people talking tech and games this week?

Gamesradar

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D review
Pokemon X and Y – 27 things you need to know

Official Xbox Magazine

Xbox 720 specs – everything we currently know about Microsoft’s new Xbox
Next gen Xbox exclusives: 10 rumoured Xbox 720 launch games

CVG

Gran Turismo 6 announced for PS3

Countdown to the next Xbox

Official PlayStation Magazine

Gran Turismo 6 hands on polyphonys

Best new indie games on PS3

T3

Best Football boots to buy in 2013

Google Glass Review

Official Nintendo Magazine

Pokemon X and Y Pokedex: New Pokemon

26 rare Pokemon consoles

You might also like to read:

The post Rumours, games and more appeared first on Tesco Tech Support.

Are you ready for a 3D phone?

helencox — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:54:54 +0000

Our smartphones are getting more and more powerful, but what we actually do with them isn’t getting much more demanding.

Are Kindle working on a 3D phone?

Some manufacturers, like Samsung, are looking at ways to channel all the excess processing power of a modern smartphone processor into features like eye-scanning and motion tracking.

Others are looking at different ways to make us want to upgrade.

Just as many firms have come up with ways to make TVs more exciting by making them capable of displaying 3D images, and Nintendo has done with its 3DS games console, so several phone makers are investing in stereoscopic displays for 3D phones.

LG has had 3D versions of its Optimus handsets on the market for a while now, able to take stereoscopic photos using two cameras on the back and display then using a ‘parallax barrier’ screen not unlike the one in the Nintendo 3DS.

The latest company rumoured to be joining the multi-dimensional fray, though, is Amazon.

After the success of its Kindle eReaders and tablets, it’s long been suspected that Amazon has been working on a Kindle phone to complete its line up.

The latest rumour is that it will have a 3D screen, designed primarily for watching 3D movies.

It’s a bold move, as 3D screens add an extra cost to the design of the phone and so far people seem to prefer more colourful and higher density over clever extras like 3D and motion tracking.

Amazon’s rarely been wrong in the past when it comes to promoting new tech though.

What do you think? Would you pay more to have a 3D capable handset if it was available?

You might also like to read:

The post Are you ready for a 3D phone? appeared first on Tesco Tech Support.

How to choose what to watch on Netflix

helencox — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:17:57 +0000

If you’re a Netflix subscriber who has trouble deciding what to watch from the vast library available, then help may finally have arrived.

This week Gizmodo posted a link to a brilliant flowchart designed by Silver Oak Casino to help you do just that: What to Watch on Netflix.

Now, although this graphical representation of what’s available in the depths of Netflix uses shows and movies available to US subscribers, it’s still fantastic.

Choose between muppets or music, 30 or 60 minute programmes, Midnight Cowboy versus The Machinist, and more.

What would really help to make things easier on Netflix however would be a Wish List or Watch Later option. You could then rack up TV shows and films that you want to watch in the future to you heart’s content.

In the meantime, enjoy…

Top tech and games news this week

helencox — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:23:33 +0000

Each week we like to bring you some of the best content from our friends around the web, and this week is no exception.

Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O, kicks off next week so we’re expecting to have a lot of exciting news on the tech front there. In the meantime, we’ve come up with a list of the 5 things that we think you should watch out for.

We’ve also had our usual mix of handy how to guides, and this week’s how to recover lost files in Windows could be very useful if you ever lost valuable data on your hard drive.

GamesRadar

GTA 5 – News, rumors, release date, and more

100 best villains in video games

Official Nintendo Magazine

11 amazing Nintendo secrets in LEGO City Undercover

Best 3DS eShop games

Official PlayStation Magazine

GTA 5 – 9 things you need to know. Info & details explained

The complete PS4 guide – the specs, controller camera, game streaming & more explained

T3

Jawbone Up review

Suunto Ambit review

CVG

GTA 5: 262 things you might have missed from the trailers

The 30 best free to play games

This week in tech and games

helencox — Sat, 04 May 2013 10:47:54 +0000

This week we brought you 25 top tips for your iPhone and iPad and some great how tos for your Android devices.

Elsewhere on the web there’s been a lot more to read about the impending release of GTA5 as well as some other great games and gear to look out for, check out the highlight below…

GamesRadar

GTA V – 13 things you absolutely need to know

Grid 2 – 10 things you need to know

T3

Best cycling gear 2013

Best watches to buy in 2013

CVG

The best Xbox 360 games of 2013

The best PC games of 2013

Official Nintendo Magazine

Pokemon X and Y: 9 questions that still need to be answered

Call Of Duty Ghosts Wii U confirmed

Official PlayStation Magazine

20 new GTA 5 screens

Batman Arkham Origins screens & mutiplayer info

You might also like to read:

The post This week in tech and games appeared first on Tesco Tech Support.

Brilliant Pinterest infographic

helencox — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:53:19 +0000

This time last year Mashable shared a fantastic infographic on Pinterest Image Optimization.

Well a year’s a long time online, so an updated version has been designed by its creators Pinnable Business.

If you’re a fan of the fastest-growing social media site of the moment, or are keen to get an account and start pinning, this is a great way to digest lots of simple tips and tricks for maximising your images on Pinterest.

If you’re just getting started on Pinterest check out our feature Everything you need to know about Pinterest

You might also like to read:

The post Brilliant Pinterest infographic appeared first on Tesco Tech Support.

Gaming and tech from around the web…

helencox — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:30:06 +0000

GamesRadar

Call of Duty: Ghosts – News and Details

Battlefield 4 – Everything you need to know

Official PlayStation Magazine

First shots of GTA 5′s TV add appear on line

We look at past launch games to what PS4 has to beat.

CVG

The best Xbox 360 games of 2013

The best PC games of 2013

Official Nintendo Magazine

Best DS games

Best selling Nintendo consoles

Official Xbox Magazine

Free Xbox games – 10 downloadables you can play for nothing

Xbox 720 specs – sorting the facts from the fiction

T3

iPhone 6 release date, rumours, features and news

Samsung Galaxy S4 review

You might also like to read:

The post Gaming and tech from around the web… appeared first on Tesco Tech Support.

We can’t wait for 3D battery tech

helencox — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:06:21 +0000

However small and sexy our smartphones, tablets and ultrabooks get, there’s always one problem which you can’t escape – the more sophisticated the device is, the bigger the battery needs to be.

There have been many advances in battery technology over the last few years, and many clever changes in the way processors and screens are built in order to reduce their power use, but designing a smartphone that doesn’t need to be charged every day is still a problem.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have been developing powerful new microbatteries.

Take, for example, Samsung’s latest Galaxy S4, the company’s flagship phone which launches this week.

Inside, it has essentially two quad-core processors. One is designed to run flat-out and power the phone through demanding tasks, the other is built for low-power consumption – just enough to keep it going through basic stuff like playing music, and so on.

In a similar way, tablets and phones which used NVIDIA’s older Tegra 3 processor had a low power single-core to supplement the high-power quad-core while in standby mode.

A smartphone dream?

For every advance in power saving, however, there’s an equal and opposite advance in tech that requires more juice. Like higher resolution screens, 4G/LTE transceivers or bigger and faster video processors.

A smartphone that last all day, never mind a week, is still a dream for most of us.

That’s why there’s a lot of interest in a new technology being developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the US.

By using three-dimensional structures inside the battery to redesign the electrodes, they believe they have developed a power source which can charge 1,000 times faster than current technologies allow, and deliver 30 times more power in a similar space.

The team give the example of being able to jump start a car from a smartphone, such is the power of the new design.

“This is a whole new way to think about batteries,” lead researcher Professor William P King said. “A battery can deliver far more power than anybody ever thought. In recent decades, electronics have gotten small. The thinking parts of computers have gotten small. And the battery has lagged far behind. This is a microtechnology that could change all of that. Now the power source is as high-performance as the rest of it.”

Sounds good to to us.

Via: news.illinois.edu

You might also like to read:

The post We can’t wait for 3D battery tech appeared first on Tesco Tech Support.

The latest news from the world of tech and gaming

helencox — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:15:37 +0000

Official Nintendo Magazine

Best 3DS games

Best strategy games

Official PlayStation Magazine

10 ways PS4 could change Uncharted 4

FIFA 14: first screens show new shooting styles, close control & more

CVG

The best Xbox 360 games of 2013

The best PC games of 2013

T3

Best iPhone games ever

Apple iPhone 5S: release date, features, price and rumours

GamesRadar

Legend of Zelda 3DS

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

Official Xbox Magazine

Destiny: Bungie

Saints Row 4

You might also like to read:

The post The latest news from the world of tech and gaming appeared first on Tesco Tech Support.

Will your phone be your next console?

helencox — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 08:48:10 +0000

We’re expecting to hear more news of the next generation Xbox and PlayStation 4 at the E3 games show in June, but there’s a big question over whether or not we’ll even need dedicated set-top boxes for high definition gaming in the future.

Will new mobile graphics chip spell an end to separate consoles?

Both Sony and graphics processor manufacturer NVIDIA showed off new kit last week which suggest that tablets and phones are about to get a lot more powerful.

First off, Sony revealed that its Dual Shock controller for PlayStation will be supported by its Xperia line.

That means you’ll be able to use it to control Android games running on Sony’s phones and tablets, getting around the problem that touch controls don’t necessarily lend themselves very well to complex types of games.

It’s not known yet which Xperia devices will work with Dual Shock controllers, but it has been demoed working with the Xperia SP, which has a 720p screen and can mirror its display to an HDTV.

The Xperia SP is being positioned as an all-round entertainment device, and games will play a big part in its future. In the meantime, many Android phones already work with Bluetooth game pads, and you can find a wealth of them available online.

NVIDIA, meanwhile, has been busy working at putting its PC graphics capabilities into a mobile chip, and has shown off an impressive demo of Battlefield 3 running on a tablet. The tablet is not commercially available, but the quality of the 3D graphics and lighting is indistinguishable from a high-end console.

Couple these two demos together and there are big questions raised about the future of games consoles all round. Would you buy an Xbox 720 or PS4 if you could get the same quality from your phone?

You might also like to read:

The post Will your phone be your next console? appeared first on Tesco Tech Support.