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Can you help solve mysteries steeped in the past?
Artifacts of the Past - Ancient Mysteries belongs to the Hidden Object genre of games. This title, developed by Kranx, was originally published by Big Fish Games and is now available as part of the BlackLime catalogue of titles. Profiles ca be created so that different players can participate in solving the ancient mysteries on which this game is based. You also have the usual options regarding the game's playing environment.
Time for some news about a set of headphones that promises extended play time.
I suppose it could be regarded as one of those "Big Red London Bus" moments but, in this case, it is one that has some "bells and whistles" added to it. Earlier I had checked out a set of wireless headphones that came with over 20 hours of playing time from a single charge. I felt that this was rather impressive but then I received news of another set of wireless headphones arriving in my in-box.
Acer seem reluctant to bring in new names, as I have reviewed an Aspire 5 in the past, only the bit after the ‘5’ varies here however there is doubt that this a different unit as the previous one weighed over 2kilos and this one only clocks in a tad over 1.5 kilos so what else is new on this small and light laptop?
The Acer Aspire A514-52 laptop computer measures 32x23x1.5cm and weighs 1524grams. The viewable screen is 31x17.5cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of close to 14 inches. The screen is HD 1920x1080 with the default display set at 150% but I was perfectly happy using it at 125%. The 84 key keyboard has 4cm clear behind 2.5cm clear either side and 9cm clear in front with the 10.5x6.5cm trackpad mounted 9.5cm from the left and 12.5cm from the right.
An online launch event introduced a new Xiaomi family of smartphones plus a wrist adornment.
Xiaomi has announced the arrival of its latest range of smartphones. This is the all-singing, all-dancing Mi 10T family of handsets that is made up of the standard version, Pro model and a Lite offering. As you might expect the whole family supports 5G technology. Taking on the role of the company's flagship offering, the Mi 10T Pro has been designed to take your mobile creativity and exploration experience to the next level. Featuring dimensions of 165.1 x 76.4 x 9.
Do you know someone who has everything and is therefore a nightmare to get presents for? I may have a solution especially if they work at a desk, a range of three basic items but made in high quality brass any of which would be a huge talking point. I am told that only two of the three are currently available and the third is a pre-production sample.
First the Stria Ruler – pre production – it folds out to 30cm – 12 inches – and is marked on both sides one in centimetres and the other in inches. A two centimetre area in the centre is what it pivots round. Open or closed it’s an accurate measure with the centimetres and the tenths marked as inclines to .5cm. The inches are marked in sixteenths of an inch.
Available in a choice of Standard or Collector's Edition format, Otherworld - Shades of Fall is a hidden Object game.
I have been looking at the Collector's Edition of Otherworld - Shades of Fall, a Boomzap developed game. As usual with Collector's Edition offerings, this game comes with a number of bonus items to justify its status. While features such as wallpaper, sound tracks, concept art and a Strategy Guide are available immediately; offerings to replay cut-scenes, replay mini games and an Epilogue are only available once encountered in the main game or when the game is completed.
I am used to review samples coming with a US keyboard where only a few keys are differently placed but this arrived with a German keyboard and when you use a UK keyboard overlay on it a number of keys move the most obvious is that the Y and Z are transposed but harder to fathom is where other keys have gone the most vital on initial setup of this Notebook is the ‘@’ key as try entering an email address without it, once booted you can investigate further.
The Honor MagicBook Pro measures 36.5x23.5x1cm and it weighs 1.674 kilos. The viewable screen is 35.5x20cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 16.1inches. The margin on the top and sides is only .5cm. The unit is 1920x1080 with the screen resolution defaulting to 125% but it is quite useable at 100%. It has an AMD Ryzen processor and graphics running at 3GHz. It comes with 16GB RAM.
While Lockdown has altered our normal pattern of living, this next product might help deliver a restful night of sleep.
Huawei does seem to prefer targeting the younger market with its new products such as this latest offering.
Due to be available later this month, Huawei has announced the arrival of an addition to its Huawei P smart series. This is the all-new Huawei P smart 2021 model. Aimed at meeting the smartphone needs of today's young consumer, this latest addition combines a large display, enhanced battery performance support and a smarter camera facility for capturing the range of memories so important to us.
Most recent ‘outdoor’ cameras that have crossed my desk have been battery offerings that would require you to climb up to change the battery or recharge it. They of course require only fitting, this offering from D-Link is wired so it needs to go through either a wall window or door frame to get power and to deliver its signal to you.
It is 8.5x5.5x6.5cm the last figure the depth is increased by the bracket so could be as much as 12cm. The hard wired lead that emerges from the back of the bracket is 4.2 metres long ending in a round 1cm across fitment that carries both power and signal. There is a further plug/fitment on another 3 metre length of cable that ends in a power plug so however you link it you need power within three metres of entering your home. Also in the box is a ten side fold out Quick Start Guide.
Polish your Match-3 skills as you help an inquisitive fairy rescue a loyal friend.
Adding to your drawing skills are a couple of new offerings to the Wacom product catalogue.
When the subject of Wacom is broached, my thoughts immediately focus on the company's extensive family of digital pen tablets and associated products. Recently the company has added to its catalogue of offerings with a couple of new items. These are the Wacom Intuous and the Wacom One. The first of these new products is, in fact, three offerings as there are three different models of the Wacom Intuous.
This is a new phone brand – to me anyway – it comes from Nigeria and seems to be a good build quality with components to match. My initial observations note that the rear mounted cameras seem to extend by more than a normal amount from the rest of the case.
The Infinix Zero 8 measures 17x7.5x.8cm but the last figure increases to 1cm where the diamond shape area that holds its cameras protrudes. It weighs 207 grams. The viewable screen is 16x7.3cm the corner to corner measurement is 6.85 inches and the screen has 1080x2460 pixels. Going around the outside has the volume rocker and the on/off and fingerprint reader on the right side. The base has speaker, microphone, USB ‘C’ connector and 3.5cm socket for headphones.
Could you hang on for a moment while I take a restful break from working on my reviews and reports?
How are you coping with the personal restrictions that have been placed on you due to the pandemic and its related issues? Maybe, like many, you have been forced to, or made your own decision to, work from home. While you may think your routine of carrying out your work remains the same, apart from the change of location, the resulting effects can alter considerably as you start to develop symptoms such as back, neck and shoulder pain.
Although this does not have ‘Smart’ in its name it is far more than just a watch it is taking your pulse counting your steps and is the first watch I have used that tells you your blood oxygen saturation and of course it also tells you the time.
The Honor Watch ES measures 4x2.5x.6cm and weighs 33grams with the strap. You need to link it to your phone via the Huawei App and a search down the various watches finds the Honor ES. Once linked you are met with a very bright and colourful display screen with the hours in yellow below this are the minutes in white with the day and date to the minutes left. Below this are three dials the red one is heart – pulse - turquoise blue for steps walked and green for battery state.
Searching through discarded junk is not my favourite type of Hidden Object game play but you might enjoy it.
Somewhere, maybe over the rainbow or not, is a kingdom envisaged by Shaman Games. This kingdom, which is only accessible with the use of an airship, was inhabited by peaceful and happy residents. Included among the residents was Sarah, a young girl at the opening of our story, and her father, the royal mechanic. However the peaceful tranquillity of the kingdom was broken by the arrival of an invading force lead by the evil Lord Marcus.
While the pandemic may not have increased your expenditure, have you figured out how much have you spent?
According to recent research, as an average adult, I should pay out nearly £1 million during my lifetime. This expenditure does not just apply to me but to anybody who is regarded as an average adult which probably means YOU. While concentrating on the expenditure aspect, the research, as far as I can tell, has failed to address the issue of where the money required to cover these outgoings might come from.
This is a piece of software that I have used for many years, sometimes it’s a single file that I need to get back but twice now it’s been that Windows refuses to bootup and I have been happy to say in one case it was only a few hours work to get up and back to a few days previous, the other occasion took longer as I needed a new hard drive but in both cases it saved me.
The latest version states it will protect you with Active Protection for Ransomware Attacks, Malicious Files, Zoom Injection Attacks, Illicit Cryptomining and Malicious Websites and of course what it was first designed for to protect you from inadvertent delating of files and folders and allows complete reinstallation of Windows even if your PC fails to boot. All these extra protections do come with a downside in that the overall complete backup takes a little longer.
I must admit to have heard little of ViewSonic recently, that is until the company showcased some of its home/office products.
With its headquarters in Brea, California and a presence in over 100 cities around the world, ViewSonic has built up an impressive reputation for producing comprehensive hardware and software solutions. Bearing the ViewSonic brand name are products that include monitors, projectors, digital signage, ViewBoard® interactive displays and myViewBoard™ software ecosystem.
Normally I get a lot of ideas from ‘Christmas In July’ events, of course with the Pandemic there were none but one clever PR company sent links in a very large PDF file with some of the items available to review during what is normally a quiet month August and here is the first of those offerings a pair of pocket pruners that are also a multi-tool.
I am certainly not a gardener and I am sure anyone who spends hours in their garden everyday will have several pairs of secateurs of different sizes. However someone who has a few plants may think this is a great set of tools as it not just a collapsible pair of pruners but also a total of thirteen tools in the arms of the pruners. On day one I was cooking a tinned pie the sort you get from Poundland and my can opener would not go through three points on the tin lid.
Looking back into my game playing past was certainly a thought provoking experience.
While conducting one of my infrequent tidying up operation, I came across a hard drive which I had completely forgotten about. This was an old external Seagate unit which I had used in the past to store games that I had become bored with at the time. It certainly brought back memories in a few cases while several titles failed to stir even a glimmer of remembrance.
When travelling on a very long journey these headphones could let you listen to your favourite music from start to finish.
Trust Electronics, a leading value-for-money brand for digital lifestyle accessories, has released four new affordable wireless headphones and earpad products. Given the choice of the Nika Touch wireless earphones, Primo Touch Bluetooth wireless earphones, Tones Bluetooth wireless headphones or Eaze Bluetooth wireless headphones, I opted for the latter model which, incidentally, was the most expensive unit in this quartet of products, priced at £34.99.
A substantial Tablet in that the screen is over ten inches, it runs Android 10, however as you probably know Trump had a falling out with Huawei and because of that certain features cannot be included, probably the biggest miss is the Google Store for Apps.
The Huawei Mate Pad 10.4 measures 26.5x15x.8cm and weights 453 grams. The viewable screen is 22.5x13.5cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial screen measurement of 10.4 inches. The screen resolution is 2000x1200 pixels. By default it wants to use Gestures to navigate which may seem a little daunting to those used to Home, Back and Opened Apps.
TCL, one of the world's best-selling consumer electronics brands and leading technology companies, made a number of announcements regarding new and forthcoming products at the IFA 2020 extravaganza. I have selected three of these announcements for this report.
It’s been a while since a pair of shoes or trainers has passed over my desk. Here an offering from Brooks that will support the complete foot. When I first took them from the box I thought that they looked a little small but a comparison with what was currently on my feet disproved that.
Like clothes shoe sizes do vary and I have in the past been happy and comfortable with some shoes that are sold as 9½ but others need to be 10. I loosened the laces as they arrived tightly tied and then loosened them some more and still my foot resisted and then I realised that the top edge of the trainer was rubberised for extra grip and so while the laces do have a job to perform you need to push quite hard to insert the foot but when in the trainer the foot is held very securely.
Dipping my hand into the goodie bag of past games brought forth Magicville - Art of Magic. The result of my blind search is described as a Match 3 Adventure game with more than a touch of magic.
This game brings together elements of Match 3 game play, bartering, puzzle solving and spell casting. These elements can all be required as you attempt to thwart the dastardly plans of an evil sorcerer. You d need to be aware that this is a game that I first played over five years ago and I was returning for a second look at his challenge. The game, which can be played in either Adventure or Time Trial mode involves a limited variety of challenges.
Since I last took a look at a Yubico product, the company has made some changes to its line-up including this next offering
Data is a valuable asset whether you are an individual or, more importantly, a business. The corruption, theft or illegal access of your data could cost a great deal of money and affect numerous people in many different ways. It is up to whoever owns the data, in the first place, to ensure that this valuable item is adequately protected. You can be sure that those who have attempted, and maybe succeeded, in stealing your data will protect the information they have gathered.
I rarely get a chance to see an Apple device as they do not seem interested in UK journalists. So it is nice when a telecoms company offer one for review. It looks very smart and while it uses much the same system to turn on you are met with a wall of permissions just to get to the Home screen.
The The iPhone 11 Pro Max measures 15.5x7.5x.8cm and weighs 222 grams. The viewable screen is 15x6.8cm which gives the notional imperial diagonal measurement of 6.5 inches, however there is a notch 3.5cm long digging into the top of the screen for the selfie cameras. The screen is 2688x1242 pixels at 458PPI. It comes with a 3046mAh battery, so a long day of battery life for most unless you spend it watching Apple TV+ that comes on the unit for a year.
For those wanting to don their video director's hat, Corel offers this next product.
Corel has recently added to its range of products with the release of Pinnacle Studio 24. This product is available in three different versions. You have the choice of Studio, Studio Plus and Studio Ultimate versions. My review of the product is based on the Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 24 software. When fired up for the first time, you are presented with a Welcome screen which provides links to a series of tutorials and new features that have been introduced with this version 24.
These earbuds are one of the best buds I have used, ideal for gamers, movie buffs or music fans. Certainly all three examples are improved by these buds they make the standard for those who prefer their enjoyment to be in ear. This is not just another set of earbuds.
These buds are for use on a Tablet or Notebook and also any USB ‘C’ SmartPhone that uses the port via an adapter for sound, you do not need the adapter just plug in the USB ‘C’ and hear your music, sound from your game or movie. In the box are six pairs of Gels to fit on the buds, the next to largest 15mm are fitted, however you get sizes from 10mm to 16mm and not just jumbled up in a plastic bag but fitted into the box.
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