Richard Sapp: Catch up: this week's most popular posts

In a week after CES the tech news has continued to come in thick and fast.

This week saw new PSP Phone pictures leak while new details of iOS 4.3 suggest that iPhones may soon get the Wi-Fi hotspot functionality that owners of Android 2.2 handsets have been enjoying.

Read on for this week's most popular stories on TechRadar?

Top five news stories

New PlayStation Phone pictures are clearest yet

The time of the PlayStation Phone must surely be nigh, given this latest round of leaks which show off hardware and software that look pretty polished.

Nabbing some hands-on time with the handset, Chinese site IT168 has taken the clearest photos we've seen of Sony Ericsson's PlayStation Phone to date ? possibly called the Xperia Play.

The handset pictured is running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), although it may not feature final-version software, but it does now seem to have Sony Ericsson's proprietary Android skin.

Can AMD's eight-core Bulldozer crush Intel?

Can AMD's upcoming Bulldozer processors possibly compete with the latest second-generation Intel Core chips, the bonkers-quick CPU otherwise known as Sandy Bridge?

Bulldozer isn't due out until later this year but we can now give you the beginnings of an answer: yes, no and maybe.

If that sounds like a non-answer, bear with us. Bulldozer promises to be the most revolutionary CPU architecture in living memory. Its design fundamentally challenges the very concept of a CPU core. Even with full architectural disclosure, estimating performance is tricky, bordering on impossible. However, intentionally or otherwise, AMD has let slip a few metrics which can help piece together a picture of performance.

iOS 4.3 to bring Personal Hotspot to all iPhones

Yesterday's Verizon iPhone launch wasn't particularly exciting for the rest of the world, but one glimmer of interest has emerged: Personal Hotspot functionality may be coming to all iPhones in the iOS 4.3 update.

The Verizon iPhone 4 allows users to make their iPhone a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to five separate devices to use to connect to the internet.

Speculation has since abounded that all iPhones will eventually get this feature, with Boy Genius Report seemingly confirming the rumour via a source who claims that it will be included in the update to iOS 4.3.

Does the Mac App Store allow commercial use?

There's been a fair amount of confusion around the web over the license of applications bought from the Mac App Store, with some people claiming that you can't use the apps for any kind of commercial purpose.

Check forums where Mac users congregate, and you'll find this repeated whenever discussing the Mac App Store. And, as often happens, some people have got very heated about this indeed, claiming that store is "useless" or "brain dead" because of it.

Blu-ray discs wave goodbye to HD analogue compatibility

Blu-ray players housing component connections have been hit by a new ruling, which sees image constraints added to Blu-ray discs in 2011.

As from the beginning of January, Blu-rays can have something called an Image Constraint Token embedded into the discs.

This is a piece of code that can restrict image quality to 540p ? a smidge better than DVD ? when played back through component cables.

Top five in-depth articles

How to build the ultimate home media network

Discs are so yesterday. They get damaged, they get lost, they won't work with all your equipment and they need a player in every room.

For a long time, moving a whole media collection onto a central server has been the dream of many. But potential problems, including the inevitable mess of cables, complex switch configuration and living with a noisy PC next to the telly, have put some people off.

Forget all that negativity. It's now possible to build a discreet, powerful system that will neither cost the Earth, nor need your family's approval for cable tethering. Best of all, you won't need to make compromises for quality.

PSP2 rumours: what you need to know

The cat's out of the bag: the much-rumoured PSP2 not only exists, but its official unveiling is a matter of weeks away.

With the PSP Phone expected to turn up at February's Mobile World Congress 2011 it's going to be a big couple of weeks for Sony, and if the PSP2 is as good as rumours suggest then it could wipe the smile off Nintendo's three-dimensional face.

So what do we know about the PSP2? Let's find out.

ARM vs Intel: the next processor war begins

It was a good CES for Intel. Sandy Bridge is out and the performance is ace. Our reviewer Jeremy Laird calls the new Core i5 a "huge leap forwards".

But it was a great CES for ARM. The Cambridge-based company didn't even need to do anything. Microsoft came to them.

Microsoft's announcement- while not a complete surprise - means we'll see next-gen tablet devices and even more efficient netbooks running undefined Windows-based operating systems on ARM-based SoC silicon as well as that of Intel and AMD.

The best Linux distros you've never heard of

Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. Before this wisdom dawned on the Linux community, Red Hat, Debian and Slackware had spawned several dozen distros. Some died a single-release death, but a lot survived and a vibrant community grew around them.

That, along with all the distros designed to meet specific needs, means there's a lot of variety in the Linux world. While community is key to a good desktop distro, it also needs thorough documentation on wikis and blogs, and ample support.

In addition to community-based channels, such as mailing lists, user forums and IRC, some distros also offer more traditional paid-for support packages.

9 reasons why you should switch to KDE 4.5

There are two kinds of Linux users in the world ? those who use Gnome and those who dislike KDE.

You can't blame them ? to call KDE releases so far a disaster would be something of an understatement ? but the tide has now turned.

Over 16,000 bug fixes and 1,700 new features later, the KDE developer unveiled KDE 4.5. The release has started popping up in many Linux distros, and it looks and feels stunning.

Here are nine reasons why it's time to log off Gnome and switch to KDE.

Reviews

Samsung Wave 723 review

With the Samsung Wave 723 we see a reprise of Samsung's proprietary Bada operating system. Coming up with your own OS is a brave move in these days when Android and the iPhone dominate.

Nokia X3 Touch and Type review

The Nokia X3 Touch and Type is not to be confused with the Nokia X3, a music-friendly handset that we reviewed early in 2010. Rather strangely, Nokia has a multiple nomenclature for its handsets these days

Zotac GeForce GT 430 review

This is a little more what we'd like to see from a passively-cooled card. The GT 430 is a far lower-spec beast than the relatively pacey Gigabyte HD 5770 Silent Cell, but it's good value

Kingston HyperX MAX 3.0 120GB review

Combined with the relatively new interface and shiny outer-skin Kingston is charging almost �200 for this 120GB hard drive. But then this flash memory-based drive has the performance to almost justify it.

Cryo Libri Iceni review

Attach legs to the Cryo Libri Iceni and it could happily be described as a small coffee table. It weighs more than most efforts from IKEA too. It's a good performer though, and good value

Also reviewed this week

AV Accessories

Purei-20 review

Desktop PCs

Chillblast Fusion Challenger review

Graphics cards

Gigabyte HD 5770 Silent Cell review

Hard Drives

OCZ IBIS HSDL 240GB SSD review

Laptops

Lenovo IdeaPad U160 review

Sony Vaio VPCS139LE/B review