GadgetSpeak Articles
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Forget about Sir Richard Branson and Sir Alan Sugar, you could be the next rising star in the UK business firmament. Offering to help you hone your skills in this respect is Industry Giant II.
This business simulation title, developed by JoWood, now forms part of the Reload series and is available from Avanquest Software Publishing as Industry Giant II Gold Edition which add the Official Expansion Pack to the standard version of the game. Whereas previously Industry Giant II was set in the period stretching from 1900 to 1980, the expansion pack now takes the player into the future and the year 2020.
This is a top quality DAB radio, it also allows you to play CDs using a lot loading drive. Various colours are available, mine was shiny black but most things can be done using the 32 key remote control.
The Tangent Cinque DAB radio is 23x21x12.5cm, as stated mine was shiny black that will normally show all the fingermarks but once in place you really only need to touch it to insert or remove CD's and as that is a slot loader not really even then. It looks magnificent with the black mirror finish. The rear has the various connections and an eight piece (67cm) rod aerial.
Are you looking for a new toaster or kettle? With so many brands out there it can be very confusing so here is a simple guide to help you choose.
"Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea." Anonymous When I suggested to my colleagues at Gadgetspeak that we should look at toasters and kettles, I didn't realise quite how much toast I would have to eat, nor how much tea would be involved!! But we do like to be thorough for you, dear reader. A piece of toast is not just a piece of toast to the British.
Having entertained children for 85 years, Nutwoods oldest resident has gone digital with his latest version.
For many the mere mention of the name Rupert Bear will bring back memories of early childhood. This cartoon strip and annual book character was a stable diet for the young with stories and adventures based in Nutwood. Now, as often happens, this popular paper-based character has re-emerged in digital format on CD-ROM with Rupert Bear Nutwood Games available from Avanquest Software Publishing Ltd.
Apple were arguably late to the MP3 market - but when they got there, they certainly made an
impact. Five generations on and the original distinctive iPod family were joined by the 'Touch',
sporting many of the same features but in a significantly different package.
click to enlarge The iPod Touch arrives in a fairly small package, sporting John Lennon on the front. Inside the box you'll find the device itself, Apples hallmark white headphones, white USB cable, a docking adaptor to allow the Touch form factor to work with the existing range of iPod accessories, a cleaning cloth and a tiny perspex stand.
This is a rather different phone with a camera in fact although it will do everything a modern mobile phone does I think a more accurate description with be camera phone as it is a 5MP camera with both auto and manual focus as well as flash.
click to enlarge This phone has a huge TFT and as soon as you use it you think why don't other phones work this way. The controls are minimal and that means the screen icons often have more than one level of action. However most actions are intuitive so you should - even without a manual - manage to find you way about. The dimensions are 10x5.5x1.5cm and it weights just under 100grams. As stated there are few buttons. The face has three answer, cancel and end.
Here I will tell you about two of the board games I was promised at the Toy Fair in January that have recently arrived. First About Time a game stated to be for 14+, second one for 8+ Cat Attack.
About Time First the 14+ claim this is I think simply because the questions are not that easy - well I did not think so anyway - and to have a chance to enjoy the game you need to be able to get a percentage correct. It is all about 'Iconic Events' and when they took place. The game is for at least two players but it states 2-20 players. You could play in teams with teams always being able to confer.
A central London location was the setting for the UK launch of Acers latest mobile product. Michael Fereday was there.
How small is small? Some would think that an atom is small enough to satisfy even the most demanding when it comes to the lack of size classification. I mention this because the Atom is the name that Intel has bestowed on its new purpose built lower power mobile processor. An Intel Atom processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB and 512KB L2 cache) sits at the heart of Acer's new Aspire One product which is described as being the company's first Internet device.
A 12MP mass market digital camera is still rare, a 5x zoom one even rarer, this offering from Kodak is both. Even with both those advantages it looks like a standard small digital camera.
This is a very dark grey unit with a silver flash and silver ring round the lens, it is 9x6.5x3.5 when switched off. The 3.5cm width doubles when on full zoom. It weights around 175grams. For a camera with potentially so many plus points to find it is powered by two 'AA' batteries is unexpected.
An on-line service to turn your digital prints into so much more - from prints and enlargements to collages and collages; from cushions and handbags, to photobooks and wall art.
photos were all filed in virtual albums on the Photobox in a the passworded account I created earlier.
click to enlarge On-line Digital Photo Printing from Photobox You know the story.
Suites continue to be a popular flavour with utility developers as can be seen with an offering from Avanquest.
By bundling together three software utilities, Avanquest has created Perfect Image 11 Backup & Protect Suite. The titles involved in this suite are Perfect Image 11; DiskCopy & Clean; and AutoSave 2. This collection of titles is aimed at providing the means to deal with different aspects of hard disk management.
Time to splice the main brace, raise the Jolly Roger and live the life of a pirate if you dare.
As part of the Reload White Label, : Two Treasures is available at the
(plus £2.99 shipping) Software Publishing Ltd. As the title suggests this Ascaron developed game involves pirates and all the different types of activity normally associated with this seafaring, criminal element. Tortuga bargain basement price of £4.99 from Avanquest The game, which requires both ActiveX 9.
Back in the days of 1.44MB (or less) floppy drives Iomega gave you huge storage on a cassette that was only a little larger than that 3.5inch floppy. Now with 250GB and larger USB drives does a 120GB Iomega cassette still have a place?
As always first the dimensions, the Rev120 is an external USB2 unit but it will work on USB 1.1 drives. It is 19x10x2.5cm with the USB lead and power lead inserted. The actual cassette that pushes in the front of the unit is 1cm thick and 7.5x7.5cm. Like all drives the actual and stated space differ, it is stated as 120GB but the actual available space for files is 111GB.
If you have trouble sleeping or if you simply wnat to master the powernap, Pzizz might be just what you are looking for
Pzizz $49.95 (around £25.00) available from www.pzizz.com I don't have a sleep problem, no honestly I don't. Ever since having babies I have been able to grab sleep when and where I need it - it's a gift from Mother Nature. But I do suffer from interrupted sleep thanks to my husband. When he gets particularly stressed or has an important football match the next day or is worrying about work he wakes up in the wee small hours of the morning.
A visit to a location near Londons Regent Part Zoo brought news of the latest version of Adobe Acrobat PDF creation product as Michael Fereday reports.
Several years ago, when I had fewer grey hairs and a slimmer waist line, two companies went head-to-head with products designed to create documents in digital format enabling them to be read by everybody in their original state. The eventual winner was Adobe with its Acrobat product and PDF format while the WordPerfect offering disappeared into obscurity.
This is a far better camera than it looks, yes it does use a pair of standard AA batteries and the shape and styling is far from up to date but the resolution is fine and the zoom good.
The Canon PowerShot A580 is 9x6.5x3.5cm, the last figure is maximum and only applies at the right side where the pair of 'AA' batteries are. When the lens is extended in use the total width is 6.5cm. The plastic case is a silver/grey colour with the shutter release and lens surround in chrome. Quite unusually for a small digital camera it has a viewfinder and for those who still prefer this there are not many near entry level offerings that have them.
I used to play many years ago in a snooker team local league division three and one of the team members always used to say you cant beat a good w#*$ here my opinion differs slightly, its that you cant beat a good read.
Visual Basic 2008 Even for a speed reader this tome will take a while as this Programmer's Reference by Rod Stephens is - wait for it - 1262 pages long. Although it is published in the UK by the same company that produces the Dummies series this certainly is not a book for anyone who does not know a good deal about Visual Basic. To give you what I consider is a good example the first 908 pages (covering 40 chapters) are the meat of the book.
"It aint heavy, its my Brother" could well apply to a new desktop mono laser printer from Brother.
While inkjet printers can product excellent results with regards to quality, the running costs of such a device can quickly mount up as replacement cartridges are required on a regular basis. An economic and viable alternative, especially when colour is not called for, is a desktop mono laser printer. Compact in size, a fast print speed and quality output plus high capacity toner cartridges all add to the appeal of such a device.
From the same company that recently supplied the 19inch offering for a prize draw, this is a Digital and Analogue offering that has all the possible external connectors you might want and its HD Ready and widescreen with 16:9 viewing.
Most of the modern breed of Digital TV's are more of less the same to operate. Plug in the mains lead and your aerial and then switch on. If it's new then it should offer you the chance to scan for channels, if not you need to enter the menu and maybe search a bit for the option. Some scan both Digital and Analog at the same time others like this you need to scan twice.
Adding to its already extensive range of technology products, LINDY Electronics has released the LINDY USB DVB-T Receiver.
The LINDY USB DVB-T Receiver product has been designed to enable users to receive free-to-air digital TV and radio content plus record programmes direct to a hard disk. Contained within the bubble-style packaging is a SV DVB-T 3420 USB stick coloured black and white; antenna; adapter for use with a roof-top aerial; USB extension lead; remote control; and software CD.
World War II has proved to be a fertile period of history for the developers of RTS (Real Time Strategy) games with numerous offerings being available for would-be military commanders.
Bringing together three titles from the Blitzkrieg series is the appropriately named Blitzkrieg II Anthology. This product consists of the Blitzkrieg II game and the subsequent offerings of Liberation and The Fall of the Reich as you take part in historic battles of the period. Using a front-end menu, you can select from the various games making up this anthology.
A small notebook with a great number of extras. If you want a full featured small notebook then providing you are not on a small budget then you should certainly give this a look.
click to enlarge The Acer Ferrari 1100-704G25Mn weights a tad over 2 kilos, it is 30x22.5x3cm and totally matt black apart from the silver Acer name and of course the yellow Ferrari logo on the lid. The screen is 26.5x16.5cm giving the diagonal 12.1 inch screen measurement. A quick tour round the unit finds two USB ports, Express Card slot and an Ethernet port on the left side. The rear has AC adapter input, VGA output and a PS/2 port.
Arriving as one of its first digital camera offerings in the UK is GEs (General Electric Co) E1235 model.
click to enlarge Like the other cameras in this initial launch batch, the E1235 is designed, manufactured and distributed by General Imaging. Promising a blend of high technology and performance, the E1235 is currently the only camera from the GE range to feature 12 megapixels achieved with an auto-focus 35-105mm lens featuring 3x optical and 4.5x digital zoom.
A look at three different Bluetooth headsets to keep you safe while driving, or to keep your hands warm in cold weather!
Following on from jzblue's Bluetooth Headset roundup , it's my turn to review three additional headsets, taking the opportunity to look at the , the and the . published recently Motorola H375 BlueTrek SenSe Motorola H680 Motorola Universal Bluetooth Headset H375 This is a small reasonably unobtrusive bluetooth headset that was not uncomfortable in use.
Few mobile phones today are simply that, and, the LG KF600 is certainly no exception. The surprise is often that they still make and receive phone calls. It has the Internet, plays MP3s and video, however annoyingly so far it refuses to do the housework.
click to enlarge For a slide phone the dimensions are not unusual at 10x5x1.5cm when closed, open the slide and nearly another 4cm is exposed. Initially this seems a little tall but that's because it has two displays. The top 4.2x3.2cm and after a .5cm blank area there is a smaller 2.5x3.2cm touchscreen area. The weight is just over 100 grams and mine was black with silver edges.
Both these clocks come from a company whose message is stuff you dont need
. but you really really want. The first an analogue clock in three books and the second a cheeky digital offering.
Book Clock A very simple outline of three books each 6.5cm wide, 20cm tall and 14.5cm deep. So the total width is 19.5cm. The dummy books are black the one on the left has Nine in silver as the title and the one on the right has Three for the title. All three have the small Karlsson as the publisher near the base. The simple clock mechanism is fitted behind the centre book. It is powered by a single 'AA' battery.
While you can receive a personal and friendly service from some traditional book sellers, the same is not always true when purchasing books online. Perhaps a new website can change this public conception.
Recently I was involved in a three-way discussion as to whether traditional books or the electronic digital variety that could be viewed on various portable devices was the chosen reading method. While one member of the group was a strong advocate of the digital format, the choice of the other two was for the more traditional format of paper books. The impetus for this discussion was the imminent launch of a new approach to online book purchasing.
This is quite a heavy camera but it is also a lot more as it also is an MP3 player and capable of displaying videos, it can also be a guide book, so far it has refused to do the washing up.
As often the cameras I get to look at are not totally new and sometimes the previous reviewer has managed to do strange things, I remember one where the colour balance was terrible with whites looking almost yellow. This one had a problem that it would only write to an SD card where it had made the DCIM folder and then only provided no other sub folders were present.
With the holiday season round the corner, Mi-Vox ihas launched the latest in audio-books - a must for the beach.
Mi-Vox from £9.99 to £24.99 www.mi-vox.com One of my favourite things to do in airports, once the bags are all checked in and you have made it through the long queue for security, is to browse in one of the book shops. With the thought of 2 weeks away from work, I usually end up with at least 4 novels. It's a real pleasure taking the time to decide on which book will keep me company on the beach while my family frolics in the sea.
Verbatim has added its own touch of colour to the LightScribe labelling technology.
Verbatim has been involved in the development of data storage technology for the best part of 40 years. During this period Verbatim has been active in various areas such as floppy discs; Magneto Optical storage media; CD and DVD formats; plus High Definition media Blu-ray and HD DVD. To this impressive list, we can add portable USB devices; flash memory cards; external hard drives; and, more recently, computer mice.
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