News: Toshiba Announces Sleek Consumer Line-up

Unveiled today by Toshiba (New Zealand) Pty Limited, the range boasts a number of new, high-performance treats, including the latest …full story

News: Kiwi IT Firm Joins Top NZ Companies on German Stock Exchange

A Kiwi company founded in a bedroom eight years ago with just $10 start-up capital has now been listed on …full story

Sony Bravia HX925 55-inch LCD TV – Review

Web-enabled televisions were all the rage at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and Sony’s latest Bravia model, which constitutes its entry into this market, has finally touched down in New Zealand.

As with most Bravia models, the HX925’s display employs LCD technology. This time around, though, a couple of additional proprietary Sony technologies have also been implemented to further improve its flagship television. Firstly, Motionflow technology effectively doubles the frame rate of any media you happen to be viewing by intelligently inserting additional stills in between each frame. This results in a crisper, clearer image, particularly with fast-moving media such as sport where the typical delay between frames can cause a motion-blur effect. And it’s all processed by Sony’s X-Reality PRO engine, which actively assesses each scene in whatever media you’re watching (be it a high-def movie or low-res YouTube video) and adjusts the colour, contrast, texture and outline settings accordingly. Simply put, the HX925 is always working behind the scenes to ensure that whatever you’re watching is set to ...full story

PlayStation Vita priced and dated

We knew Japan could expect it before the end of the year but Sony had been keeping the rest of the world in the dark in regards to the release of it’s next-generation handheld gaming device – until today.

Sony New Zealand has confirmed the PlayStation Vita will be available locally on February 23 in a wi-fi-only model at $449 and 3G/wi-fi combo for $549.

The handheld, combining touch screen, a touch pad and conventional control layout, will be running a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and quad-core Imagination Technologies PowerVR GPU.

The Vita’s main competition in the handheld gaming domain is Nintendo’s glasses-free 3D system, the 3DS, launched earlier this year.

The PlayStation device has Nintendo’s portable gaming system outgunned in terms of raw power, though the 3DS has had a significant head-start and a recent price drop from $459 down to $343 has given it a sales bump – plus it will be around for Christmas.

Sony is fairly confident it will win the battle with superior firepower delivering the best portable gaming experience available, says NZ sales and marketing director David Hine.

“Its impressive feature set is designed to provide the ultimate gaming experiences on the go,” he ...full story

Copyrights and Wrongs – Internet Law in NZ

Adrian Hatwell looks at New Zealand’s new net law and what it means for YOU.

On the first of September the controversial Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act came into effect, a law aimed at stamping out internet piracy in New Zealand.

Since a controversial version was introduced in 1999, the new law has faced intense scrutiny as it rattled through the legal system. However, with the help of mischievously applied urgency (in the name of the Christchurch earthquake, of all things) the act passed into law in April, and came into effect last month, not without a share of public outcry.

A version of the hotly debated ‘three-strikes’ approach to policing internet use, the new law aims to crack down on people illegally downloading copyrighted material over peer-to-peer networks. Under the regime, rights holders will attempt to track the IP addresses of internet users downloading protected material and report these users to their internet service provider (ISP, known as IPAPs in the Act) who will then issue a copyright notice. If you receive three of these notices within a nine-month period the rights holder can take you to ...full story

Samsung PS59D8000 3D Plasma TV – Review

2011 is shaping up to be year of the “Smart TV”, and Samsung’s PS59D8000 plasma TV is a stunning example, both in terms of looks and performance. This 59-inch Series 8 panel is a replacement for Samsung’s Series 7 plasma TVs and will be sold alongside the lower-specced Series 4, 5 and 6 panels.

In a nutshell, the PS59D8000 is a Full HD (1080P), 3D-capable, internet-enabled plasma panel. It is housed in a beautifully minimalist and slim brushed-aluminium bezel (not quite as slim as an LCD set though) with an X-shaped foot. Samsung also claims to have squeezed 59 inches of screen into the same-sized housing as a standard 58-inch plasma using their +1 plasma technology.

Possibly the most notable feature of this model, when comparing it to earlier Samsungs, is the fact that it has unrestricted web access (via a built-in wi-fi adaptor). By this I mean that you can literally open up the TV’s browser and navigate to any website you wish just as you would on a ...full story

Subscribe to Tone Magazine and be in to win a Gaming Package

If you subscribe to Tone this month you’ll go into the draw to win an awesome gaming package worth $450.

You’ll go into the draw to win the new release of: Dead Island on PC, 1 x SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse and 1 x pair SteelSeries Siberia V2 Red Full-size headset

Dead Island: A schlocky, gruesomely fun action role-playing game awaits you on Dead Island. Bring three friends.

  • Varied open-world setting
  • Strong cooperative play
  • Melee combat is grisly fun
  • Good zombie voice acting

Steel Series Xai Laser Mouse: Rather than tack on gimmicks like flashing lights and weight systems, SteelSeries has simply taken the basics of a performance mouse and honed them to perfection. Despite being ambidextrous it’s incredibly comfortable, tracking is exceptional, and the level of customisation on offer puts other mice to shame.

SteelSeries Siberia V2 Red Full-size headset: The Award-Winning Siberia v2 Headset Will Provide Gamers With Superior Audio and Voice Functionality; Optimized Features For PC.

Want to find out more ...full story

Samsung BD-D8900 3D Blu-Ray Player – Review

I love convergence, and the Samsung BD-D8900 is the absolute epitome of this technology buzzword. In one stylish unit it manages to combine a 3D Blu-ray player, Freeview decoder, PVR with 1TB HDD, media player and internet services hub.

Improving on the older Samsung BD-D8500, this new model doubles its predecessor’s storage capacity to 1TB and also adds a second audio-only HDMI output (in case you need separate HDMI feeds to your display and sound system), but is identical in all other respects. Whether this justifies the extra $400 on the price tag is up to you – I don’t personally believe it does though as the difference in price between a 500GB and 1TB is well under $100 and surely an extra HDMI connection doesn’t cost that much.

Regardless, the BD-D8900 is still an awesome machine. The 3D capabilities are the same as the latest range of Samsung 3D TVs in that they also do 2D to 3D conversion, and vice versa. You also get Samsung’s Smart Hub feature ...full story