Laptops That Defied the Norms…When someone says “laptop”, the picture that comes to mind is a clamshell device with a screen panel fixed to a keyboard panel. But there are a few laptops that have put their toe out of the line. Yes. Innovation has driven the makers to create laptops that look different. They serve different purposes too. While some of them have actually come into being, some others are still in their conceptual stage. Have a look…
The Modern Power MouseAfter the ubiquitous keyboard, surely the most popular means of communicating with a personal computer is via the humble mouse? Except that, these days, your typical mouse isn’t likely to be very ‘humble’; it’s most probably busting with modern technological developments. We’ve been browsing Microsoft’s and other offerings, and handling a few of them, to check out the current state of play. The range of technology on offer is, to say the least, awesome!
Who Are You Buying From? - Who Are You Dealing With Online?Most of us have probably bought goods on the internet. Amazon is undoubtedly a popular favourite and every high street retailer now has a web presence.
But if you're looking to buy something a bit more specialised, you may have to look further afield. So how do you know if the company you are about to deal with is legitimate or not? And even if they are, how do you know if your money will be protected and the goods safely delivered?
The Great Battery Swindle – And Other Horror Stories And Cautionary TalesGiven that computers can be constructed from so many disparate parts, it's a wonder they work at all. However, as anyone who has built their own PC will know, there are still many parts that won't work together. They simply aren't compatible.
You might think that the world of batteries would be more immune to incompatibilities but that's not the case. Try this – look at the model number of your laptop's battery. Now type it into Google. You'll probably get several thousand results.
When Buyer Protection Isn't - When You Shouldn't Use PayPalIf you use PayPal to buy on eBay, you get some guarantees. We won't go into that here but rather look at purchases made via PayPal outside of eBay.
You might come across two problems with an order - the goods might not arrive, or they may not be what you ordered.
Outside of eBay, PayPal says it offers protection only for physical goods and only for goods that have not been delivered. However, that protection is suspect.
Trust Mini Card ReaderThe world is awash with card readers. They come in all shapes and sizes. The Mini Card Reader from Trust is probably one of the smallest though.
With support for MMC, Memory Stick and Secure Digital plus all the variations thereof, this device is aimed mainly at digital camera or mobile phone users where these sort of cards are most prevalent.
Trust Illuminated Keyboard Strange as it sounds, sometimes an illuminated keyboard is something I really hanker after. When working into the night, it's not always convenient to have so many lights on, especially if they're in danger of disturbing others. When you find yourself picking at the keys to the dim light of the monitor, you know you need a keyboard that glows in the dark. There's a few around but most are quite pricey. Luckily, Trust have one that's a bit more reasonably priced.
Iomega 320GB eGo external USB 2.0, Firewire 400, and Firewire 800 driveWe've looked at Iomega's eGo drives in the past and generally been impressed. This latest addition to the range to be submitted was actually the Mac Edition, but a few hours of reformatting takes care of that for PC users. Ours was a rather swish Ruby Red example, with the three different interface ports at one end, together with a bright, flashing blue, activation LED.
Intended for portable application, there's no PSU in the pack, nor a power socket, but to take care of those computers that fail to provide sufficient power to drive the eGo, the USB lead carries a second plug so that you can make use of the power from an adjacent USB socket if necessary.
e-pens Create Digital PenI often find that when working on a problem, I end up drawing lots of charts, pictures and doodling notes all over them. I've often wished these could be stored on my PC for referring to later. Well, now they can.
e-pens have released a pair of products, the e-pens 'Create' and 'Mobile Notes' . I'll be concentrating on the Create in this review.
The Create consists of a USB receiver and a wireless pen along with software to make use of it. In a nutshell, you clip the receiver to the top of a sheet of paper or picture and anything you then do with then pen is reflected on the screen of your PC.
While USB 2.0, and capable alternatives such Firewire 400 and 800, have until recently been relied upon for most peripherals connectivity and data transfer duties, the arrival (on the notebook scene in particular) of the ExpressCard has offered a new aspect to these functions because the eSATA interface, sometimes referred to as SATA-300, is so much more capable.
It achieves this capability by quadrupling the available bandwidth compared with USB 2.0. Offering single-lane data transfer rates of up to a theoretical 3 Gbps in comparison with USB 2.0’s 480Mbps and Firewire 800’s 800Mbps, the Serial ATA-300 controller interface that’s employed provides the potential for a huge leap in performance. We say ‘potential’ because that’s provided your data recording device can keep up with it. But modern hard disks, and the recent rise in availability of high performance SSD’s (Solid State Drives) of more reasonable price, have contributed to this mini-revolution.
Iomega Professional 1TB External Hard DiskIn this day and age, 1TB of external drive capacity is not that unusual, but the provision of an eSATA port is. Backing that up with a USB 2.0 port makes sense, of course, to cater for those currently without an eSATA interface but who want to look to the future, but most potential buyers of this drive will fancy their chances with the more modern interface if they have SATA II installed.
We recently covered one possibility in that regard when we reviewed the Belkin SATA II ExpressCard. But the desktop PC user, whose computer does not currently feature this interface, could also consider one of the add-on cards that work out of an available PCI Express slot, such as the Belkin SATA II RAID 2-port card, F5U197ea, which would let them use an internal SATA II drive and an external one - like this Iomega Professional - simultaneously.
Windows 7If you're a Windows user, you can't have escaped news of Window 7. It's been available for everyone to try out. However, many people don't have the time or inclination, and installing a beta OS is not everyone's idea of a day at the seaside. So here's our quick take on Microsoft's Windows 7.
It was pretty clear soon after the release of Vista that it was not the OS we hoped for and Microsoft claimed it to be. Many users are still quite happily using XP.
We recently reviewed the new release 4 of RootsMagic, a powerful genealogy database that is certified to interface with online databases such as New FamilySearch and Ancestry.com, enabling data to be transferred directly to and from RootsMagic.
Belkin Swivel HubAll PC users will have met the riddle of needing to run several USB devices out of their PC's USB hub simultaneously and feeling aggravated that the connectors and leads either obstruct each other, or stick out too far from the machine and restrict placement of the PC, on a notebook in particular.
The Swivel Hub works by providing a two-way, multi-point, adjustable connector, so that those who have, say, a printer, scanner, mass-storage device, and digital camera to connect at the same time, out of the same hub, have the means to connect them with a greater chance of avoiding overlap or interference from adjacent ports on the PC itself.
Vista's Graphics Tablet FeaturesHaving recently reviewed Wacom's Bamboo One graphics tablet, it became apparent that Vista does a good job of hiding some useful tools away from the casual user. These allow handwriting recognition, handwritten notes, 'Pen Flicks' and screen grabs. However, most people won't have these tools installed so first lets fix that.
On all versions of Vista except Home Basic (sorry guys) open the Control Panel and run the "Programs and Features" applet and then click on "Turn Windows Features on or Off".
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