Some new user features include a 5x digital zoom, Bluetooth keyboard support, Home screen wallpapers, SMS/MMS search, playlist creation and too many others to count (well, about 95 others, I suppose).

I almost daren’t begin mentioning the developer APIs, but geotagging and calendar, photo library and camera access stick out as having potential, along with a hardware acceleration feature for math functions.

However, Steve Jobs and his boys did go into detail on the the following seven “tentpoles” of iPhone OS 4.0:

Multitasking

All the information about this feature alone could take up an entire article, so we’ll keep it brief. Multitasking is coming, and you’ll do it by tapping the Home button twice. This will bring up a dock like the one on the Home screen, but it shows all open apps.

Apple is releasing a load of multitasking-related APIs to developers that will allow them to keep battery usage to a minimum. For example, a radio app only needs to play audio in the background rather than run the full app. A game can simply freeze instantly, store itself in the background where it won’t use any CPU cycles, and then you can pick up where it left off.

There’s more tinkering that can be done with notifications, and location services can run in the background too.

Folders

Apparently in by popular demand, you can now have folders for apps. Just drop apps on top of one another on the home page and they’ll form a folder. It’ll even name itself based on the type of app in there, or you can rename. The icon changes to mini images of the apps in the folder. This is a simple concept, but it’s got that software shine Apple does so well.

Improved Mail

The unified inbox is here, with fast inbox switching to help it out. There’s also support for more than one Exchange account and viewing messages in a threaded view. Perhaps most interesting is the ability to open attachments with third party apps – the lack of this is one of my biggest gripes with the iPad currently.

iBooks

It’s iBooks for the iPhone. Not an awful lot to see here, but there is wireless syncing between this and the iBooks app for iPad (so no buying books twice, I guess).

Game Center

Well, what have we here? Xbox Live for iPhone? Yes, indeed. Lots of games already have their own system for online gaming, but it looks like Apple’s stepping in to unify them. Achievements, leaderboards, automatic matchmaking and invitations to play games via push notifications are all coming. Maybe Apple’s serious about this gaming thing after all (I’d still like some buttons though…)

Enterprise

iPhone OS 4.0 offers better data protection and encryption possibilities, multiple Exchange accounts, Exchange server 2010 support, wireless app distribution for private apps, mobile device management, and SSL VPN support.

iAds

The desktop ad environment is based on search, but that obviously isn’t appropriate for app-based phones. Apple is offering a way to serve rich ad content without users having to leave an app. Video and interactivity are all possible, and no special SDK required – it all just runs in HTML. Ads aren’t very interesting, but if it can keep developers making good, free apps then it’s a major bonus.

I have to say, I’m massively impressed with this update. It’s pretty extensive, and, yes, has its share of boring and overhyped bits, but some of the features seem perfectly calculated to keep ahead of the curve.

It’s interesting that the iPad version is due so much later, as some of these updates seem obviously geared towards bringing the iPad feature list closer to desktop functionality in some areas. Strange that the iPhone should get them first, but then it is the big brother, so maybe it’s a chance for an extended test.

Steve Jobs was asked about unsigned apps in the Q&A afterwards. His response that there’s an ‘porn store’ on Android that anyone (including kids, in his example) can use, and that that wasn’t a place Apple wanted to go probably won’t help the recent views of the company as becoming slightly puritanical. However, if his point is that Apple’s profile means they’ll get blamed for anything unsavoury/offensive seen on the fruit-branded phone, then he’s probably right. It’s just not a business view that jibes well with a lot of customers.

The bad news about the update? Not all of these features will come to the iPhone 3G , including multitasking (original flavour iPhone users seem to be completely left in the cold). 3GS owners will get pretty much the full OS 4.0 experience, but Jobs says the 3G hardware is just incapable of performing some functions, including multitasking.

Apple also beat its chest in the usual way, with slides claiming 50 million iPhones sold to date, and a cool 450,000 iPads sold over the last five days in the US. The rest of the world can still look forward a ‘late April’ release, although that’s getting close, so some specifics wouldn’t go astray.

[Source: iPhone OS 4.0 finally brings multitasking and six friends]

Too much goes on at a conference of this size to recap it all, and a lot of it is pretty special interest, so we’ve picked out a few of the most interesting tidbits that emerged from the developer hive mind.

Sony’s Playstation Move

Sony finally announced the name of its motion controller as ‘Playstation Move’ at GDC, and showed off some of the games in develop. We’ve got a full article about Move here, so mosey over for more details.

Cloud gaming

OnLive and Gaikai both want to power gaming on their end and then deliver it you live over the internet. All you need is a computer/set-top box capable of showing some video. Whether these services really will be able to deliver a good gaming experience with barely any hardware use on your end remains to be seen, but the fact they’re both planned for launch this year and turned up to GDC bodes well.

Unreal Engine

Epic Games still hasn’t announced a new Gears of War game, but as the GDC crowd was shown a jungle scene with a Brumak stomping through it to show off new features of the Unreal Engine, it’s probably fair to say GoW3 is coming. Also, Epic was very pleased to show Unreal Engine 3 running on the iPhone 3GS. It wasn’t quite comparable to PC versions, but opens up possibilities for more accomplished graphics on the iPhone and iPad. Oh, and there’s a 3D version of UE3 coming too.

Virtusphere

Yes, this really is a virtual reality sphere. Virtusphere makes them for the military, but there’s obvious gaming uses here, hence the appearance at GDC. Strap on the virtual reality helmet and just walk forward to walk forward. Turn quickly to turn. Interact thanks to special equipment. Okay, this would take up a whole room of your house, and would get pretty expensive for multiplayer, but if this isn’t the ultimate gaming experience then I’ll eat my virtual reality visor. Just as long as I don’t get out of it after four years and discover that my real name is Dwayne Dibley.

Bonus rumor! Nintendo DS2?

Rpad.tv were determined to dig up info on a new Nintendo handheld at GDC so they set about doing just that. They discovered that it would have two screens again, but with barely any separation, so they could act as one if the developer was so inclined. It would have roughly the power of a GameCube thanks, possibly, to Nvidia’s Tegra chip. It will have an accelerometer, bringing it into line with the Wii and the iPhone. It might be due late this year, with an unveiling at E3 in June. Or maybe random devs told the Rpad guys this stuff just to get rid of them. Who knows?

[Source: Highlights from the Game Developer’s Conference 2010]

Very kindly, we’ve sifted through the chaff and have found you five pieces of tasty, tasty wheat. Oh, now, stop your thanks. We not heroes, but it’s nice of you to call us that anyway.

• Asus RT-N56U router

It’s always great if you can look at a new piece of technology and think “Yeah, I can imagine that on the starship Enterprise”. So the fact that Asus’ super-thin router actually looks like something the Enterprise’s crew would find on some abandoned ultra-advanced alien vessel makes it doubly cool.

It does nice things like USB hard drive and printer sharing and 3G USB dongle support and blah blah – who cares? Loads of routers do all that. But just look at it! I’m no stranger to gadget lust, but this is my first time with a router. Be gentle, sweet RT-N56U…

• Mio Moov V780

I’m not too sure about these mid-size tablet PMP things. 7“ is a little ‘in the middle’ to be obviously useful. A fair bit larger than the usual phone/touchscreen media player, but lacking the space you get at the magic 10” mark. That said, Mio have packed this little device with a slick 3D interface, maps and navigation, 720p HD video output, a digital TV receiver, WiFi, 3G mobile broadband and even a WiMax option. Interestingly, among its (copious) accessories is a carry case that adds a keyboard in case you’ve got some serious emailing to do.

• 3D all-in-one desktops

3D’s coming. Whether you like it or not, it’s looming over the horizon. In fact, it’s particularly daunting and dramatic because it’s in 3D.

The next difficulty we’ll face when buying a new computer, then, is whether we get a 3D monitor or not. Asus and MSI both see the obvious solution to this dilemma, by incorporating 3D tech into some of their forthcoming all-in-ones. The prototypes shown off at CeBIT seem to be powered by Nvidia’s proprietary 3D Vision tech. Hopefully, future development of ATI’s 3D drivers and some clarity on Blu-ray 3D standards will come to take us out of Nvidia’s iron grip.

• Motorola HS1001 Android landline phone

This one’s pretty simple. This is a home, wireless DECT phone, with a big ol’ screen and it runs Android, so you can play media and surf the web on it. Now, an awful lot of people will have a laptop and/or iPod touch and things they can use in the house for this anyway, so why would you want all that in your non-mobile phone? Well, there’s no major reason, but look at it this way: Next time you’re getting new home phone, why wouldn’t you get this? It can play media and surf the web!

• Archos 7 Home Tablet

Okay, I said I’m not sure about 7“ tablets, but as I’ve included two, maybe I should shut up. Actually, what I’m rooting for here is the concept rather than the application. Archos make really nice PMPs. Android makes for a snappy, comprehensive touchscreen experience with apps available. The price is said to be as low as $200.

This is year is going to be all about tablets. There are hundreds predicted to come out this year. They’ll need specialist touchscreen software. Apple wants every family to have an iPad, but it really isn’t for everyone. Maybe all the rest can be tempted by a $200 Google-backed experience from a great hardware maker.

[Source: Round-up: The best of CeBIT 2010]

Available free from the iTunes store, the famous car seller’s app first greets you with a little home screen that helpfully points out what the four menu items at the bottom of the page do. You’ve got Garage, Snap, Search and Settings to choose from.

Garage is essentially a favourites page, where you store the results of previous searches so you can easily find new cars for sale. Snap lets you take photos of licence plates, which the recognition software then reads and finds the make and model of the car. The Search screen follows on from Snap, or you can go straight there, and lets you specify which car you want to look for, where you want to find it and how much you’re willing to pay. Finally, Settings lets you tweak the app, including putting a default postcode in so you can quickly search for cars near you.

I downloaded the app and immediately started stalking random cars. You’ve got to be quite careful with the photos you take. Too far away, and it won’t be sharp enough when you resize it for the character recognition box. Fail to hold the phone steady and you’ll get the blurry picture we’re all used to from the slow shutter speeds on phones, which also won’t work. And iPhone 3GS owners will need to be careful of getting the focus right.

But! Get a decent picture and you’ll soon be bringing up pictures of the car in front of you, but more useful is the listing of sellers near you. Well, ish. When I used the GPS locator, it found me sure enough, but failed to limit the radius of results properly. Reading is not zero miles from Bath, I feel confident in saying. However, if I used my default postcode instead of the GPS it all worked properly.

Despite some slight foibles, I was pretty impressed by Auto Trader’s app. It certainly beats a website and makes great use of the hardware and software available — or, at least, tries to.

[Source: Auto Trader iPhone app: Number plate recognition in your pocket]

This time it’s Engadget who’ve gained some information from a “trusted source”, and it bodes well for Courier becoming an actual physical product, as opposed to some abstract videos on the internet.

First up is the news that Courier’s guts will be based around Nvidia’s Tegra 2 platform, which will give it plenty of grunt with a suitably customised OS. There was speculation that Microsoft’s tablet might use Intel’s Atom processor and be based on Windows 7, but Mary Branscombe of Techradar noted back in the autumn that is was “more likely that a real Courier would use processors designed for smartphones and MIDs, like Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon”. This was a pretty good guess, as before Tegra 2 was announced in January, Snapdragon was the most powerful ARM processor around.

Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet first suggested that Courier would be based on Windows 7, so it’s hard to say if Foley’s source was just mistaken or if – as Matt Buchanan at Gizmodo suggests – there was actually a switch to CE from 7. In any case, it makes sense to use CE, as it already runs on ARM chips and serves well as the basis for both the Zune HD software and Windows Phone 7 Series.

The main thing about the Courier concepts we’re seeing is the pen-based input. The iPad’s focus has always been to get your grubby mitts all over it. Courier seems a little more measured in its approach. You use your fingers to move about between applications, but the stylus is the key interface. It can be used to write, draw or even cut out parts of web pages and photos. If the iPad is a media consumer’s device, this is a jotter’s dream. When I was at college and uni, I wrote notes over every bit of paper that made the mistake of straying onto my desk. Being able to keep all those notes in a computer, where they’re even searchable, would have been pretty hard to resist.

Going by Engadget’s stated five inches by seven inches when closed, and less than an inch thick, Courier would appear to be more or less the same size as Nintendo’s DSi XL, but with more screen space.

Of course, this is all still just wishful thinking. We’ve got a nice UI concept (that still seems like it’ll need some work before it can work in reality – the videos are slick and controlled, but there’s a lot of information missing that you’d want in real world use), some possible hardware, and even a rough size, but no definite release or even confirmation of its existence from Microsoft.

Engadget says Courier will be out later this year, but Gizmodo has apparently heard that we won’t see it in 2010. The problem we face then, is one of practicality. Microsoft’s concept looks amazing, but that just talk when you’ll be able to go into a shop and buy an iPad in a month or two. There’s no denying that the productivity possibilities offered by Courier blow the iPad out of the water in places, but look at this video:

Even before it’s released, iPad app makers are making up huge ground on Courier’s features. If Microsoft wait too long, this stunning concept is in danger of becoming ordinary.

[Source: Microsoft Courier ‘digital journal’ rumour round-up]

This obsession means we also like to look out for things that make gadgets better. A useful peripheral for our computer, maybe. A fancy tripod for our camera, perhaps. Definitely not iPod skins though – this most pointless of money spinner is the technological equivalent of buying an expensive, designer t-shirt and then taking it down to a cheap printer and replacing the pattern with an image of your distorted, manically-grinning face.

Today’s add-on is Magneat. Explained simply, this is a little magnetic button that keeps dangly things like headphones cables from iPods, MP3 players, mobile phones and the like under control. The little nub fixes to your clothes magnetically, meaning no holes in your precious Armani/face shirt, and has space for you to wrap the cord around it, before locking it in the slot on top.

In the words of the creators, the aim here is to “banish cable chaos”, which seems like an awfully strong phrase to use for a loose headphones cable, but we take their point that catching the wire on things (including your own oafish sausage fingers) is pretty annoying.

The single most obvious drawback with Magneat is that, despite its minimalist design, it’ll make you look like a bit of a tool. We’re hoping to get one to try out, but I don’t think I’d just wear it on a jumper or something (although it doesn’t look too bad on someone who’s running, but you can get away with all sorts when exercising, as you make everyone around feel guilty for their laziness). Having said that, I could definitely see myself popping one of these on the inside pocket of my coat or jacket and enjoying the smug satisfaction I would get from my newfound personal organisation.

“Magneat is the brainchild of Preggioni, an Icelandic design team with their ear to the ground …,” according to the press release. This probably explains why they keep getting their headphones caught on things. At least they’re doing something about it.

A Magneat will set you back £7.99 for standard versions, or more for special editions. You can find them here at Firebox.

[Source: Magneat wrangles your cables back to tidiness]

The 3D technology at work here uses Active Shutter glasses, rather than the polarisation techniques used for James Cameron’s Avatar and other 3D films at the cinema. The reason for this is that polarised glasses only allow you to see the image at sub-high definition quality, due to the fact that the glasses are filtering half of the image to each eye at a given time.

Systems using Active Shutter glasses are a little more complicated, but allow 3D viewing in full 1080p HD. A screen with a high refresh rate (at least double the 24-frames-per-second 2D films are shown in) displays each frame from the film twice – once from the left eye’s perspective and once from the right eye’s. The Active Shutter glasses literally close off the lens over the right eye when the image appropriate to the left eye is shown, and then vice versa. That little sequence is repeated thousands of time a minute, which means that there can be a visible flickering using this technique.

Fortunately, Samsung has planned to conquer the flicker by offering high refresh rates of 240Hz and an extremely low pixel response time of 4ms (though not as low as Plasma TVs are capable of).

One big reason why Samsung producing 3D panels is good news is that Samsung has been known to supply panels to other TV manufacturers. Previously, Samsung has been known to work with Sony sharing panel technology in their HDTVs, and has also provided the guts for Dell monitors. Two of the other biggest suppliers are Sharp and LG, so when these three all get 3D production in full swing we’ll see all sorts of 3D-ready TVs to go with the advent of 3D Blu-rays.

Samsung quotes research from DisplaySearch that 3D TV sales will pass the million-mark during 2010, and will be selling nearly 10 million units per year by 2012. That’s not unreasonable if we assume that most TVs produced then will have 3D abilities as standard, but as with high definition, the choice of content could take some time to catch up.

[Source: Samsung first to mass-produce 3D panels]

Intel is the bigwig when it comes to implementing new input/output tech, as when they include it on their chipsets it will be supported by the majority of computers. Unfortunately, Intel is really dragging its feet over USB 3.0. The chipmaker doesn’t plan to offer full support until 2011, leaving other manufacturers to fill the void.

Step up UK distributor Nanopoint. The company is offering USB 3.0-ready ICY BOX external hard drive caddies (meaning you bring your own actual hard disk and pop it in the case), but even more helpfully you can now pick up a USB 3.0 PCI-E card. One of these little cards will allow just about everyone with a desktop PC to add some USB 3.0 ports to the back of their machine. Obviously, opening your PC case and inserting new hardware require a little bit of tech savvy-ness, but it’s a simple install.

Once you’ve got your USB 3.0 external hard drive and ports then you can combine the two for ludicrous speed. USB 3.0 does have a few drawbacks at this stage, however. It doesn’t currently have any official driver support from Windows, though Microsoft is planning to add that at in a service pack. That support should come to Windows 7 and likely Vista, though XP is an unknown. The current Linux kernel has USB 3.0 support raring to go, but there’s no information forthcoming about Macs.

That said, however, support is built into the ICY BOX hard drive caddies for Windows 7, Vista and XP. With the hard drive enclosures and PCI-E cards both coming in at around £40, if you’re looking for seriously fast file transfers then USB finally has you covered.

[Source: Nanopoint announce USB 3.0 PCI-E card]

Keen AV gadget-watchers will probably notice that this set up will make it a kind of spiritual brother to Panasonic’s DMR-BS850. Yes, that’s right, Panasonic really did have the temerity to release a £1000 TV recorder with the letters ‘BS’ in the name, no doubt echoing the thoughts of most Curry’s patrons when it’s suggested to them.

Toshiba’s confirmation of support for Freeview HD comes as perennial early adopter Humax announces its first DVB-T2 receiver. The earliest version will have no PVR, but you’ll be able to record to a hard drive attached over the USB port. 3view just about bested Humax though, with a twin-tuner receiver including 320GB of storage and an Opera web browser.

Freeview HD broadcasts began in earnest in London and Manchester on December 3rd, but it seems those in the right area will need to be patient for some time longer. It is expected that over 50% of the UK will be able to receive the HD broadcasts by the time the World Cup begins, if you’re willing to upgrade your equipment.

Initially, Freeview HD’s offering will be limited to BBC HD, Channel 4 HD (or S4C HD for you Welsh types) and ITV HD, with Channel 5 expected to join them later. Not all programs will be in HD, but the broadcasters are beginning to take advantage of the technology for those shows that would benefit from the boost. At the BBC alone, several studios have been upgraded and 2009’s Children in Need was the first ever available in HD. Other shows to get a video bump are Strictly Come Dancing (fair enough; it’s pretty glamorous), Ready Steady Cook (well, it’ll make the food look nicer I suppose) and Eggheads (wait, what?).

Look, it doesn’t matter that Eggheads is pointless in HD. Keep your eyes on the real prize: The World Cup. In free high definition. And England have got a fairly easy group. I’m experiencing the highs already. Does this mean a horrendous low in 10 days’ time? Damn.

[Source: Toshiba Freeview HD Blu-ray recorder?]

Well, I say “squashed”, but by all accounts this card is a monster. It’s barely able to fit in even some serious enthusiast cases, extending further than the edge of a standard ATX motherboard by quite some margin (as this comparison image at Trusted Reviews shows).

Of course, the card needs plenty of space to dissipate heat when you’re fitting a frankly obscene 4.64 teraFLOPS of computing power in. For reference, just ten years ago, IBM’s ASCI Red supercomputer held the record for the world’s fastest and only managed a meagre 2.38 teraFLOPS. Back then, it cost around $1,000 per gigaFLOP (meaning $2.38 million total), so £600 isn’t all that bad.

Bit-tech.net clocked the 5970’s heat output at peak as just lower than its predecessor, the 4870X2. But then, who the hell is paying £600 for a graphics card without having liquid cooling or similar? Keep it nice and cool you can overclock it. Oh yes, there’s even more power than you think.

Dave James at TechRadar found that the 5970 “really does have a lot to give”. They managed to get the core clockspeeds from 750MHz to over 900MHz, while also increasing the memory from 1GHz to 1.2GHz. I’m not sure if I can handle thinking about performance at that level without a stiff drink. In fact, the overclocked card gave “a massive 93 per cent increase in [their] DX11 Heaven benchmark”. These dual-chip cards aren’t actually supposed to be twice as good as the single-chip versions. It’s against the laws of physics (or something).

Oh, and did I mention that you can stick two of these in your machine and CrossFire them if you’re some sort of billionaire mentalist? Considering that Bit-tech noted that this is “the first graphics card to deliver playable frame rates in Crysis at 2,560 x 1,600 with 0x AA 16x AF at High quality”, the CrossFire ability is just showing off.

The reviews all seem to come to similar conclusions. Yes, it is fastest graphics card so far. Yes, it is ridiculously large and expensive and, as Trusted Reviews point out, “if you own a single monitor then it’s simply overkill”. So, no, you probably shouldn’t really consider buying one.

But surely I’m not the only one considering abandoning food and hygiene products to be able to afford this?

[Source: ATI’s 5970 fastest pixel-pusher goes up to (DirectX) 11]