Gadgetory

this week on the cnet tech review google takes a poke at Facebook with Google+ and Facebook fights back with video calling plus hot new headphones and speakers for your auditory needs and take control of your home computer using your iPad it's all coming up right now hi everyone I'm Hollywood and welcome to the scene at tech review where we collect our hottest videos of the week and tell you what's good and what's bad in the world of tech plus offer some unique tech wisdom in the form of the bottom line let's start with the good since the end of last week the internet has been abuzz with talk of Google's new social networking platform called simply enough Google+ now unless you're among the lucky few who have been able to score an invite you might have no idea what everyone's talking about well here's rafe needleman to help get you up to speed Rafe Needleman here with the first look of Google+ Google's Facebook killer well not really but Google+ is the search giant's latest major social networking play and it's the first product that may eventually just give other social networks including Facebook and Twitter a run for the money google has clearly learned a lot from the problems that affected earlier experiments like orchid google buzz and Google Wave the key social concept of Google+ is the circle you can create circles for the different parts of your life your work your family your friends your hobbies and it's easy to drag people into circles and then to create updates that just go to particular circles or to all of them at once and then to keep you from getting overwhelmed by all your contact social updates you can watch just what's happening in particular circles by using streams so if you're in the mood to see what's going on with your family you just check out your family stream the ease with which you can shift in and out of circles send updates to one or some or all of them is Google pluses big differentiator from both Facebook and Twitter now Facebook in particular also lets you send updates to particular groups but in plus the whole setup is around carefully directing updates to particular groups it doesn't feel like an afterthought like it does in facebook google+ also has a very strong video conferencing feature called hangout you can create a video room and then invite your friends from some or all of your circles plus displays everyone's webcam image at the bottom of the window and autumn matically shows a bigger video of whomever is talking it's a seamless and very powerful video experience we tried it here and we were up and running and having a natural conversation in moments Plus also makes it really easy to share photos it connects to picasa web albums for instant sharing or you can easily drag pictures from your computer into your stream to share with your circles and if your mobile there's a good mobile web version of plus it has some features that you don't get in the big web version like location-based check-in and the ability to see stream updates from the friends that are closest to you but it can't access the video hangout features android users also get a nap and iphone users will get the app later all is not perfect in plus land though adding people to your circles can be time-consuming and a little confusing especially if you're used to the more monolithic social systems of Facebook or Twitter it's not clear for example if you add someone to a circle if you're also added to one of theirs also integration with other Google services is so far incomplete for example if you have a lot of contacts in say google voice you might see all of those people in google+ but not the categories or the circles that you filed them under and if you send a direct message to a user from plus through the email feature and they email you back it shows up in your gmail viewer not in + + is big on privacy and data ownership though which is a big plus the whole idea of segregating your updates into circles makes it much easier in theory to control who sees what of the things you post google is also pushing pluses take out feature that lets you export all the information on plus to your own computer for use however you want facebook finally has this too but i was a very long time coming if you want to get into + hit up your friends there's big demand for people to try the service and people who are in it have been sending out a lot of invitations google is only letting those invitations go out in small batches for the time being but they should start flowing again soon it is unlikely the Google+ will unseat Facebook as the number one social network but it is a worthy additional social service if you're not already overwhelmed by having to manage your connections in facebook and twitter or linkedin and elsewhere it's really worth a try when you can get in right needle with prasina now before you all start writing in no I do not have any invites to send you but the stay tuned to seen at TV and we'll be sure to share any sign of workarounds we come across Plus tell you all the google plus tips and tricks we can come up with of course Facebook couldn't just lie down and let Google get all the attention so they scheduled a big surprise announcement for Wednesday here's Rafe again with a look at the new video calling features you will soon find inside Facebook home your hair and try to look nice facebook is doubling down on its person-to-person communication tools it starts with the way you see other online Facebook users everyone using a computer with a large or a wide screen will notice that Facebook has taken the list of who's online and moved it to a side part reinforcing the fact that Facebook is a place to connect with friends in real time not only does a sidebar make Facebook feel more alive but there's a bit more you can do with your friends who are online with you in particular video chat facebook has partnered with skype and you can start a person-to-person video call from within a facebook webpage you do need to install a small executable on your PC or Mac but the key point is that you don't need a client app this all works within the browser it's fast and easy to get a video call going even if in early testing we did have some audio sync problems but if you want to do video chatting with friends or relatives who aren't on skype or more technical service like Google Facebook video is just a great solution it is the easiest online video system to use and it also has the most users there are over 750 million people on Facebook there are a few issues though first there's no integration with skype even though the technology comes from a Skype deal skype users cannot connect to people on facebook and or the other way this will be added later and could make Facebook and Skype together the most important real-time communications network on the planet but it's not here yet second video conversations are person-to-person only those of you waiting to see how Facebook will trump Google's new multi-person video hangout feature in google plus keep waiting facebook video is like Google Talk the person-to-person video feature not it's cool new hangout if you want to do video with a bunch of people all at once stick to Google and third there's no mobile access for the video feature it's another feature that's on the road map but at the moment mobile buddies can't play along facebook also just added a group chat feature so you can huddle with a bunch of your friends at the same time in a real-time conversation other instant message platforms have had group chat for a while but again when you build a feature into facebook all of a sudden everyone is on it at once the group chat feature is easy to use you just click the tool icon and a person-to-person chat to add additional people and Facebook will then open up a new multi-party chat window it can get a little hard to manage multiple chat conversations and Facebook at once though and with the multi-party chat that might become an issue for heavy users these new chat features are here now and they're here for everybody facebook isn't rolling them out in dribs and drabs like that other service all facebook users with cameras that is can now do video calling and everyone can participate in the group chats for cnet I'm right new one so what's it going to be skype via Facebook or hangouts in Google+ either way it's about to get a lot tougher to avoid talking to those annoying people from high school that you never knew in the first place and now it's going to be face to face better keep the makeup handy up next we've got a couple of products for all of you music and home theater fans out there first up Justin you has a set of headphones that aren't his editor's choice distinction then Matthew miskovic offers some big speakers with big sound but a small price tag if you're a DJ shopping for a stylish new headset that performs just as well as it protects III deserves your attention I'm Justin new headphone editor for cnet.com here with the first look at the editors choice winning III tma-1 DJ headphones so it's getting harder and harder for headphones to stand out with a unique look but the tma-1 succeed where others fail by going backward and pairing the physical design down to a simple one piece look that not only looks pretty cool but also serves a protective function so you'll notice that aside from these short spring coils on the side there is no physical joints to weaken their durability the silhouette is much more subtle with a blacked-out stealthy colorway and a wide nylon headband with notched adjustable ear cups are only critique with the physical build is a lack of padding on the underside of the headband which we can imagine becoming an issue for DJ's playing music all night the earcups also follow a modular design and III gives you an extra set of ear cushions that are really easy to change out thanks to the for nubs that just snap firmly behind each cushion plate since the dual 40-millimeter drivers are protected regardless you won't have to worry about throwing the headphones into a bag while you travel DJ headphones also need specific details and III answers that demand with a detachable rubber cable it also has an extra coiled section for more freedom of movement you'll notice however that you can actually rotate the ear cups for one-sided listening but the materials themselves are so flexible that you can bend them around comfortably without worrying them breaking the tma ones are closed back headphones and their noise isolation makes them a solid choice for DJs and commuters alike some djs prefer bass heavy headphones but we actually like the tma ones for their natural wide depth of sound and oral realism in relation to the recorded tracks they do have a considerable low-end punch but it doesn't overpower the other instruments and they can also handle very loud volumes so we don't doubt their performance for djs in nightlife environment you can read all the details and check out more pictures in our full review on cnet com but that's going to do it for me I'm Justin you these are the editors choice winning III tma on DJ headphones and that sounds good too hey I'm Matthew miskovic at cnet com and this is the pioneer SP PK 21 BS this is a 5.1 speaker system and it's available direct from pioneer for four hundred dollars the two things you need to know about these speakers is that they sound incredible and as you can see they're huge there are four satellite speakers for the front and surrounds and they come in at a little over a foot tall the center channel is one of the largest we've seen that nearly 20 inches wide and it's not going to fit under your TV so you need either a separate cabinet or a shelf to put it on you also see that it has a curved bottom so it doesn't quite sit level but it doesn't really affect its sound quality the hundred watt subwoofer is actually average sized for the system and it has just a simple cube shape all the speakers have a faux wood finish which isn't quite nice as the high gloss finishes available on some competitors around back you'll find sturdy metal speaker connectors that can accept banana plug spades or bare wire now if you're willing to put up with the size of these speakers the payoff is that you get the best sound quality we've heard from a budget system like this the Pioneer has no problem getting loud without distortion and it delivers the kind of powerful sound that you just can't get on smaller systems even more impressive is that it sounds great with two channel music to which most buzzer systems can't handle when we put it head-to-head with the editors choice award winning energy take plastic system the Pioneer definitely had the edge at higher volumes although to be fair it is a much larger system so altogether if you care more about sound quality than style and you're on a budget the spp k21 BS is the hands-down best pic and an outstanding value overall but if you're looking at these speakers and you're realizing they're just too big for your room check out the smaller but still excellent energy take classic system I'm Matthew miskovic and this is the pioneer spp k21 yes so whether you're on the road or in your living room there is no excuse for listening to muddy sound there's also no excuse for listening to muddy sound that's all so auto-tuned Britney Spears but far be it for me to judge okay the time has come for a quick break but don't go too far we still have a lot more tech review right after this welcome back to the cnet tech review our weekly video digest of all things good and bad we've seen here at cnet TV continuing on in the good antuan goodwin thanks so much of the contour plus HD camera that he made it an editor's choice and now you'll see why it's also one of our favorite tools of the trade the old contour HD 1080p that we usually use to record the car tech podcast that it's unfortunate demise beneath the wheels of a moving vehicle we were rough on these things but ouch so we needed a new sports camera fortunately contour the new top-of-the-line pro supermodel that just might fit the bill I'm antuan goodwin with cnet com let's take a first look at the editors choice winning contour plus HD sports camera the contour plus doesn't look much different from the rest of contours lineup it's got the same sort of bullet camera form factor but if you look closely you'll see the differences for starters the twin laser pointers have been removed from the front to make room for an ultra wide-angle lens with 170 degree viewing angle the lens assembly now rotates 270 degrees rather than the old 180 allowing the unit to be mounted upside down if necessary as always using the contour plus as easy as powering it up and sliding the record slider forward to start recording and back when you're done video is recorded either at 1080p HD at 30 frames per second or in 720p HD at up to 60 frames per second however the plus has a few new tricks up its sleeve including a still photo mode that captures 5 megapixel pictures and 22 60 second intervals which is great for time left photography the unit also features a new microphone input and an hdmi video output that can be used to send live video to an external source beneath the raised record slider is a GPS receiver that keeps track of the latitude longitude elevation and speed of the unit while recording a feature that comes into play a little bit later there's also an internal Bluetooth antenna under that hump that allow the unit to connect to an iPhone now why would you want to connect a camera to an iPhone well the contour plus lacks a viewfinder but when you use the contour at on your iPhone the handset can show what the camera sees so you can line up your shot perfectly before you hit the record button the app will also let you adjust the settings of the camera to switch between its various recording modes and adjust exposure and microphone gain on the fly once you're done recording contour also provides its storyteller software which can be used to download the videos from the contour plus and to trim longer videos to highlight just the most awesome parts if you've recorded GPS data the storyteller software can also show you on a live google map where you were when you did your recording with speed and elevation data when you're happy with your video you can upload it to contour stories video sharing site with that map data intact or export the video for uploading to for example YouTube now your contour won't compact this elegantly we're being a bit theatrical here but it will ship with these accessories including an hdmi cable a microphone adapter cable a mini USB cable a rubber lens cap and three adhesive mounts unlike the previous contour models that we've tested the plus does not ship with a head strap or goggle mount for most of our testing though we use our trusty pen of ice suction cup mount which is actually sold separately it's five-hundred-dollar MSRP may be a bit of a turn-off for some but if you want the absolute best as far as ease of use fantastic video quality and compact size we're picking the contour plus as our editors choice out of the current crop of sports cameras I've been antuan goodwin check out the full review of the contour plus over on cnet com and there you have it a little peek behind the scenes of how some of our car tech videos get made and I wonder if that means our car tech producer Mitch can write off his iphone now too all right now as promised it is time to complete Brian coolies iCloud top five double header as we move along to the bad last week Brian brought us the top five things Apple's iCloud service gets right well now it's time to burst some bubbles and count down the ways I cloud comes up short Apple's iCloud it's what jesus uses well as with all things apple maybe it's not quite as good as the hype I'm Brian Cooley with the top five things icloud needs before it can part waters number five it works with Windows but not for you iCloud doesn't work with windows XP just Vista and 7 the problem is according to most surveys XP is still the most popular Windows version out there whoops number 4 photostream this feature promises to be complicated a thousand of your latest pictures are synced on all your devices but that can be made broader if you manually add them to albums except with advice that took the image originally which always has it and meanwhile 30 days with the photos are stored on the iCloud servers but all your photos are kept on the desktop you sync to really number three no sharing I'm an only child of this one bothers me I cloud is largely a sinking thing not a sharing service like a Dropbox that means this isn't a big hard drive in the sky and you sort of got to keep your hands off it most users will be okay with this but a lot of sophisticated users won't be good and support both number two installed applications you still need them hi welcome to the 90s I'm Brian I'll be your server tonight itunes and i work are still not cloud apps only their data made that move and apparently mobileme is losing its web interface as well that means you can't just plop yourself down in front of any browser and get your stuff Google may not be losing a ton of sleep but the number one thing we think I cloud needs or are we at least we're hoping it was going to get is streaming it's not their iCloud syncs your music on all your devices but the files all still live on your devices you're never streaming your stuff from the cloud purely the way Pandora Rhapsody Amazon Google mog and just about everybody else is doing now I get it apples in the business of selling new devices that hold stuff but this one's starting to feel a little stale thanks to cnet's josh lowensohn for his help doing this list together and make sure you check out his piece on making the from mobileme to iCloud we've got a link to that at top 5 cnet com where you'll find more episodes like this I'm Brian Cooley thanks for watching seriously there's still no streaming so if you take the time to wait for a movie to download to one device you have to wait just as long for it to transfer over to another one so much for on-demand viewing although I might just have an alternative in this week's bottom line our how-to video this week features a couple of tips to help you take control of a remote computer with your iPad let's see if Sharon Vaknin can help us with that streaming problem even though your iPad lets you tons of great stuff when you're out and about there are plenty of reasons why you might want to access your home computer instead I'm Sharon Vaknin for cnet com with an easy way to control any computer with your iPad first of all if your mom is always asking you for tech support it might just be easier to take control for computer instead to do this I'm going to use a free program called teamviewer any computer you want to control needs to have his program installed and it's compatible with mac and pc go to teamviewer.com and download the program on your computer when you open it you'll see an ID and password we'll come back to that in a second now go to your iPad and get the free app from the app store launch it and enter the ID and password from your computer hit connect and watch the magic happen you'll see a helpful screen with gesture tips for instance use one finger as your mouse pointer drive with two fingers to scroll pinch to zoom and double tap and drag to move windows so now you can show your mom or friend how to change a setting or maybe even send yourself a file from your computer but what if you want to actually stream media from your computer to your iPad remotely instead of taking up space on your iPad by storing movies on it you can stream from your desktop computer with air video go to end method calm then downloads and grab the air video server for Mac or PC open it and you'll see a window where you can add folders you want to share with your iPad it's pretty neat because you can even share itunes playlists right here now go to the remote tab and check enable access from internet also make sure automatically map port is checked make note of the pin and will be using it in a sec next head over to settings and check require password make sure you set a strong one unless you want to give hacker as a free pass to your computer finally make sure the server is turned on now head over to your iPad and download the air video app which is actually compatible with all iOS devices hit the plus button and select enter server pen enter that pin you noted from the remote tab and you'll be given instant access to videos on your computer just remember that your remote computers will need to stay on and connected to the internet for this to work and that if your iPad isn't connected to Wi-Fi while doing this you're definitely hogging your data usage as for streaming music check out my video on how to string music from the cloud on iOS devices and if you have any questions come ask me on my facebook page and visit how to cnet.com for more videos like this for cnet I'm Sharon Vaknin and i'll see you on the interwebs the bottom line this week no mom your computer isn't taunted I'd suggest that you tell someone that you're going to steal control of their computer with your iPad first and of course one downside of this tech support technique is that it's not going to help with one of our biggest problems the relative space why their computer won't connect to the internet in the first place all right folks that's our show come back next week for an all-new cnet tech review until then there are tons of videos available every day at seen on TV com see you next time and thank you for watching