Mac or PC? Desktop or Laptop? Web Video Producers Want to Know... Which Models, Features & Software You Need to Make GREAT Web Videos "This FREE video guide finally settles the debate between Macs vs. PCs and Desktops vs .Laptops When it Comes to Producing Great Web Video..."

iPod 20G Hewlett Packard. For Spare or Repairs. Facia housing case good condition some Scuff Marks.  Display believed in Good Working Condition. Hard Drive 20 GB Toshiba HDD1422P KK2004GAL believed in Good Working Condition with connection. Battery (Not original, not sure if working, but believe it’s OK, few weeks old).  Original USB connector.

Lexmark X75. Multifunction Printer. For Spare or Repairs. Well used. Some Scuff Marks.  Scanner in Good Working Condition. Printing  should function OK, if fitted with new inkjet cartridges. I have Not used for printing for some time. Mains Lead with Plug-in transformer supplied.  Original CD disk with FAX software and printer drivers.

Facit 4550 A4 Pen plotter. For sale. ONE ONLY, USED, CONDITION GOOD. United Kingdom only £55.00. Facit 4550 A4 Pen plotter No. of pens 6 in a cassette. Colors 6 to 12. Media Type A4 Paper or Transparency film. Graphic commands HP Graphic Language 7470/75. More leaflet images         More actual images

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Doug Knox A site is actually more of a site for scripts you can run on your computer. All of the scripts are designed to fix various computer problems you may be having. You'll also find information on different operating systems as well, so this is a good all around computer resource to help you solve your computer problems.

XP's Little-Known 'Rebuild' Command There's an easy fix for "Missing HAL.DLL," "Invalid Boot.Ini," and several other fatal startup errors, Fred Langa says. It usually takes a lot to stop XP in its tracks. Even in those rare cases when the operating system is badly damaged, you'll usually at least have the option of booting into the "Last Known Good" configuration, or to Safe Mode. But sometimes, especially after major hardware failures or part swaps (e.g. moving the operating system to a new hard drive), or after problems with dual- or multi-booting software, you may encounter seemingly intractable errors such as "Missing or corrupt HAL.DLL," "Invalid Boot.Ini," or "Windows could not start..." These problems can seem hard to get past. For example, the first time I got a "Cannot find \Windows\System32\hal.dll" error message, I thought I'd be clever and replace the missing file via a simple Copy command from the Recovery Console. I booted the PC, switched to the \Windows\System32 folder, and there it was: The HAL.DLL was already there. It wasn't missing at all. Why couldn't the operating system find it?

The OS Inside The OS. Fred Langa shows how a simple tweak turns Microsoft XP's low-level Recovery Console into a complete, standalone mini-operating system--in effect, an XP DOS! Operating Systems and Graphical User Interfaces. Windows Visa/XP, Linux, Apple, BeOS, etc.

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An Ancient Greek Computer The Antikythera Mechanism: In 1901 divers working off the isle of Antikythera found the remains of a clocklike mechanism 2,000 years old. The  mechanism now appears to have been a device for calculating the motions of stars and planets.

Is this the world's oldest computer? A team of scientists have unlocked the secrets of what is believed to be an ancient Greek astronomical analogue computer. The computer was centuries ahead of its time, with nothing comparable to it appearing before the 11th century. From Reuters © Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.

Need to find certified Cisco Partners in Phoenix, Arizona? You've come to the right place. We have compiled an extensive database of certified and authorized Cisco installers and dealers in your immediate and surrounding areas. You can begin your search using the form below, which will only gather just enough information to enable the Cisco Dealers in your area to get in contact with you. There is no pressure or commitment to buy - this is a free service that helps buyers contact the most appropriate (and nearest) dealer.

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Vlog It!.  SERIOUS MAGIC. Product Features:- Just place a webcam or camcorder on top of your monitor and connect it to your PC -- Vlog It! gives you an on-screen teleprompter just like the newscasters use Instantly drag and drop still pictures, video and sound clips from your camera, camcorder or cell phone Place your stills and clips next to the words you're going to say -- they'll appear on-screen Add your own personal style to Websites by adding a visual connection between you and your viewers, with TV-quality titles, graphics, transitions and effects Outputs your Vlog to Windows Media Player and RealPlayer formats, for an instant worldwide audience - Simply upload your Vlog to a standard Web server and post a link to the file, on any of the standard text-blogging site

Vlog It!. comes with a GREEN SCREEN feature so you can add any background you like. Use a green screen behind you then change this to any picture you wish.

Watch LIVE TV If you're like most PC users, you're probably feel that there's more you can do on your PC other than working. And you know what? Your 're right! In the next 2 minutes, we are going to show you the secrets to turn your PC into a Super TV that lets you experience a whole new world of live TV entertainment and news! Watch TV Anytime You Want! Imagine: Its 5 minutes away from your favorite show on TV. And you’re still stuck in front of your computer with no television nearby. Instead of bringing a TV into your office, what if you could Turn your PC into a SuperTV RIGHT NOW? Take A Quick TV Break! Are you feeling that the day is getting too long and you're falling asleep at your desk? Sneak in a quick energizer. Let us show you how to use your PC to catch a comedy just to brighten your day, update yourself with a quick news clip, or watch your favorite artist's music video at a click of a button! FACT: YOU CAN WATCH TV ON YOUR PC You don't realize it, but you can do all of the above in minutes. Sounds fantastic? Get the most out of your time and your PC now with PCShowBuzz. PCShowBuzz turns your PC into a SuperTV and gives you free, instant access to more than 1000 channels and clips. Why buy another TV and pay monthly subscription for cable when you can get all the entertainment and news you'll ever need for less than the price of 4 value meals?

Enter Your Zip Code: VAR, Value-Added Reseller for PBX, hubs, routers, switches, system dealer in your area. This is a free service that helps you contact contact the  nearest dealer.

Network Integrator (VAR) Program - The Details. We are looking to partner with Value Added Resellers (VARs) who are looking for the ability to do real-time price and availability research for their clients, who are looking for one single point of contact for T1 services, and who want to be a recipient of network installation and equipment leads that we generate (both from retail marketing and business consulting). We want to specialize in service and need experienced VARs to offload our equipment leads. Our system is pretty basic: the more T1 leads you send to us, the more equipment leads we send to you!

Review: Archos 5 portable media player with DVR station Paul Lester, Personal Computer World, Friday 21 November 2008 at 11:51:00 Has Archos brought anything new to its award winning line of PMPs? The Archos 5 is the latest in an award-winning series of portable media players that many use as the yardstick against which competing devices are measured. This time around Archos has ditched the optional tactile controls alongside the display in favour of touchscreen-only operation. This allows for a large 4.8in 800x480 LCD and in fact the only controls around the exterior are an on and off switch and volume. There's a kick-stand for propping it up but strangely no stylus. This isn't too much of a problem when navigating menus, as the interface is pretty intuitive and makes it easy to browse the various features. When it comes to keyboard-specific functions, such as browsing the internet, this becomes more of a problem and we canít quite understand why there isnít something provided to offer a bit more precision. The first thing that strikes you about the Archos 5 is the truly excellent quality of the display. This carries through to movie and photo viewing, during which colours are superbly accurate with sharp lines and effective contrast that makes it a joy to view media of this type on a handheld. Audio is also improved over previous versions and is on par with the more impressive MP3 players currently doing the rounds; generally we were impressed by the degree of control available when viewing media, which includes aspect ratio, slideshow creation, playlist creation, thumbnail views for all media and more. There are also a couple of notable changes from the way Archos has presented the device to consumers over previous versions. Unfortunately the plug-in system still persists, but it has been refined so that many key features are now included by default. Format support is better out of the box, though you'll still need a plug-in for MPEG2/VOB formats with AC3 sound and for H.264 video. Web browsing is also available as standard along with internet radio and Web TV channels. As well as plug-ins, the Archos 5 can be upgraded with a range of other acc essories such as a helmet camera, Freeview tuner, GPS dock and FM receiver. We weren't lucky enough to get our hands on all of these but couldn't pass up a chance to test the most useful, the DVR station. This is a pass-through device that sits between a TV and receiver box, most critically enabling its functionality as a PVR. There have been a number of improvements here, such as the ability to download a full programme schedule relevant to your existing setup and an HDMI port for high-definition output. Unfortunately the device isn't capable of playing HD content yet, though there is an HD plug-in in the works that the official website still lists as 'coming soon'. We were a little disappointed not to see an HDMI in and out here, since you will lose signal quality by passing content through Scart to the DVR station. However, connecting the device to a TV using component or HDMI instead of composite results in far better picture quality. At this point it's possible to record programmes directly to the internal drive and even set up schedules using the programme guide, with options available to adjust recording quality. In addition to setting the Archos 5 up as a PVR, youíll also be able to make better use of its wireless facilities by browsing the web via your TV or more importantly streaming media from a computer. Unfortunately, it requires use of WMP11's UPnP media sharing which can hog your computer, but we were very impressed by the quality and responsiveness of playback. The Archos 5 is capable of just about every conceivable function you would expect from portable media player, and many that you wouldn't. However, it has jacked up the price over previous versions and despite the excellent audio and video performance and unrivalled potential, you'll have to get quite a bit of use from the range of features to consider it a worthwhile investment.   Review: Medion P7300D desktop computer Anthony Dhanendran, Computeract!ve, Thursday 20 November 2008 at 14:19:00 This desktop offers performance on a budget The Akoya P7300D desktop computer, available from Aldi shops, is something of a powerhouse. For instance, it uses an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor, which is one of the fastest you're likely to find in the shops without paying through the nose. The 'Quad' in the name indicates that it has four separate processing units (the standard processor has one, and a dual-core processor has two). That means it can do four tasks at once, which doesn't quite equate to a four-fold increase in speed but it will mean that some things, such as picture and video editing, and games, will go a lot faster than they would otherwise. The computer comes with 4GB of memory, which is again as much as you're likely to find in any current computer, and the same goes for the one-terabyte hard disk, providing storage for documents, music, video and everything else. One terabyte is equal to 1,000GB, which is more than enough for even a very large collection of music and video. In order to make the best use of all that power, the computer comes with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista, which allows the computer to properly use the resources at its disposal. The reason it's not usually found on home computers is that, historically, it has been hard to get programs and devices to work with it (the standard 32-bit version of Vista is much more widely compatible). It's true that some software and hardware still won't work with 64-bit Vista, but the number of such problems is decreasing. Most new releases will work fine, but if you are upgrading and you have old products that you want to use on the new PC, check online to make sure they'll work first. Graphics are provided by an Nvidia Geforce 9600GT graphics card with 512MB of its own memory, which will give pretty good performance in recently released games even at high detail levels. In general, performance was impressive for all tasks. There's also a TV tuner that can receive standard or Freeview broadcasts, and even satellite broadcasts if you have the appropriate kit in your house. Media Center software, which comes with Vista, allows the PC to be used as a video recorder. The graphics card has an HDMI output that allows it to be connected to newer flat-screen televisions for the best-quality picture. In addition to the DVD writer there is a memory card reader, eight USB ports, Firewire, wired and wireless network connections, serial port, plenty of sound and video connections (some hidden behind a faceplate on the front panel). An average keyboard and wireless mouse are supplied, as is a remote control for the aforementioned Media Center. The only thing missing is a monitor – as this is a base unit, you'll need to add your own or plug it into a television. The Akoya P7300D is on sale from 27 November at Aldi shops but quantities may be limited. At £500 it is excellent value for those who are looking for more power than they'll get from the standard desktop computer. Good points Loads of power; good games performance; versatile TV tuner; loads of storage space Bad points Case is on the large side; not everyone will use all the power; no monitor Review: Dell Inspiron Mini 9 notebook computer Anthony Dhanendran, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 19 November 2008 at 15:09:00 The biggest name in notebooks goes small There has been a conspicuous absence of the biggest names in the mini-notebook market. While Asus and Acer have led the way, the only one of the household-name computer companies to dip its toe into the water has been HP, but its offering was more of a business model, costing much more than most. Now, late to the party, Toshiba and Dell have both announced their own mini-notebooks (we'll be looking at the Toshiba in a future issue). Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 is a 9in model, with very similar dimensions to the other 9in laptops around. As with similar computers there are two versions, one running Linux and one running Windows XP Home (as with similar computers the Mini 9 isn't powerful enough to run Vista). The Windows XP version we looked at included 16GB of storage as opposed to the 8GB in the Linux edition but otherwise both are the same, using the Intel Atom processor and with 1GB of memory. That makes it powerful enough to run email and web-browsing programs without trouble although, as with the others, try to run more than a handful of applications at once and everything will slow to a crawl. Needless to say, modern games are out too, but then that's not what this computer is designed for. Clearly, to get the price down, you might expect Dell to have made some design compromises, but Mini 9 shows that's not the case. It's admirably sturdy in its build quality, although it's no more bulky than any of its rivals, making it very easily portable. The keyboard is also good quality, with a width that stretches across almost the whole body, making the keys large enough to type on comfortably (they're still smaller than those on standard notebooks, though). The trackpad is likewise large. There's no CD or DVD drive, but it has three USB ports, a memory card reader and a webcam. The Mini 9 can access both wired and wireless networks as well as make Bluetooth connections, and it comes with Microsoft Works, so you can get straight to work as soon as it's out of the box. Battery life of three and a half hours was decent but not exceptional, but unless you're going to be out and about for more than three hours at a time the Mini 9 is an impressive, high-quality mini-notebook. Good points Sturdily built; good keyboard Bad points Battery life is unexceptional   Review: T-Mobile G1 phone Anthony Dhanendran, Computeract!ve, Tuesday 18 November 2008 at 17:22:00 Google moves from search to phones The T-Mobile G1 is being talked about as Google's first phone, which is not quite true. It's actually made by a Taiwanese company called HTC, which also makes Windows Mobile phones such as the Orange SPV series. The difference here is that the G1 uses Google's Android operating system, which the company hopes to make into a standard for the future, for lots of companies to use. So the G1 is really just a standard-bearer – there will be more following on using the same technology in different ways. The G1's clearest competitor is the Apple iPhone. Like that phone this one has a touch-sensitive screen, although it also has a slide-out keyboard for typing. That's good for those who don't like the iPhone's on-screen keyboard, but it's annoying to have to flip it out every time. An on-screen keypad does appear for dialling numbers, though. The screen is a touch less sensitive than the iPhone's – we often found ourselves repeatedly tapping at the same on-screen icon before the phone recognised what we wanted – which was especially a problem for web links. Otherwise it is quite impressive. It's designed to link to a Google account: give it your Google account details when setting it up, and it'll automatically synchronise contacts, email, calendar and chat settings. It can synchronise with a PC as well, but extra software is required to do so. The phone can access Google Maps and Youtube clips easily, and it also plays music loaded onto it. As with the iPhone it's possible to download extra applications, including games, and the clever Shazam tool that recognises music that's playing in a room. The G1 itself is fairly well built, although we're sceptical that the flip-out mechanism for the keyboard will last the 18 months of the contract without any problems at all. The phone's body bends slightly at the bottom to move the microphone closer to the mouth, which gives it a pleasant shape in the hand when talking. Some of the games use the phone's motion-sensing technology for control, but this hasn't been carried through to the rest of the phone – it doesn't automatically switch the display when the phone is turned on to its side, for instance. The trackball at the bottom of the unit is a very good idea, though – it allows for quick and easy control and navigation that nicely supplements the touchscreen. The camera is a disappointment. Generally, the G1 is an impressive phone, with some nice touches, such as the meter on the standby screen that shows how charged the battery is when it's mains-connected. At £40 per month it's competitively priced against the iPhone, and that includes more minutes and the same unlimited internet access. Our only real problem with the G1 was having to flip the keyboard out every time we wanted to type, and that is admittedly a matter of personal preference. Otherwise, the G1 is a surprisingly clever, well-built phone with a number of nice touches that make it a true competitor to the iPhone. Good points Good screen; excellent connectivity; synchronises perfectly with Google account Bad points Flip-out keyboard is annoying; email support can be patchy; camera very poor Review: PC Specialist Vortex Simon Crisp, Personal Computer World, Monday 17 November 2008 at 18:08:00 A powerful gaming PC driven by Intel’s new Core i7 chip Intel’s latest Core i7 CPU technology and supporting chipset architecture will bring some of the most powerful multi-core processing ever seen to the desktop space. With Hyperthreading-enabled quad-core processors supported by tri-channel memory, it’s a wake-up call to the software developers to produce multi-threaded applications that can take advantage of all the cores and bandwidth that are now available. The Vortex from Yorkshire-based company PC Specialist is the first system we have seen based on the new architecture. While you may look at the price tag and swallow hard, this is a system crammed with plenty of up-to-date hardware. First and foremost it uses the fastest processor in Intel’s new line up, the i7 965 Extreme, which has a clock speed of 3.2GHz; each of the four cores has 256KB of L2 cache. The CPU sits in one of Asus's P6T Deluxe motherboards. Built around Intel’s new Socket 1366, the P6T uses an Intel X58/ICH10R chipset combination and provides six Dimm slots to support the new tri-band memory architecture. The Vortex comes with three 2GB modules of fast Corsair XMS3 DDR3 memory but if this isn’t enough for you the board can support up to 12GB of memory. The combination of fast processor, fast memory, very quick graphics card and hard drive gives the Vortex stunning performance, with a PCMark05 score of 12,732 sending it straight to the top of our PC performance charts. Powering the graphics is not one but two ATI HD4870 X2 graphics cards, set up in a Crossfire configuration that gives stunning graphics performance: 22,335 3DMark06 marks, 16,501 marks in the latest, more demanding, 3DMark Vantage, again the fastest we have seen. When tested with Crysis Warhammer it produced an average frame rate of 32fps, which may not sound much but that was at a 1,280x1,024 resolution with all the in-game details set to very high. PC Specialist has given the Vortex plenty of storage space, not only do you get one of Western Digital’s blisteringly fast 150GB Velociraptor drives just for the Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit OS and applications, but there’s a separate 1TB Samsung drive for your own files. For backup there’s an LG Blu-ray and DVD-RW drive, which supports Lightscribe technology. All this hardware is packed into a massive Coolermaster Cosmos case, so if you feel the need to add extra drives at a later date you have plenty of room to install them. Indeed about the only problem with the Vortex is trying to find a home for the case. The size and design of the case internals and the use of a modular power supply also helps with the very tidy build. Talking of power supply, PC Specialist has installed a 1,200W unit giving you plenty of power for all the components. Despite the amount of hardware and cooling fans in the Vortex it is pretty quiet – by no means silent but quieter than you might expect for a system like this.   Review: Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 digital camera Tom Royal, Computeract!ve, Friday 14 November 2008 at 17:17:00 High-definition and slow-motion in one unusual camera Whichever way you look at it, Casio’s EX-F1 is an odd camera. For starters, there’s the price: it costs a whopping £700. And then there’s the sales pitch. While most cameras advertise how many megapixels they have to offer, the EX-F1 proudly boasts that it can record images at up to a frankly mindboggling 1,200 frames per second (fps) – for comparison, a standard camera can do around nine fps, while television broadcasts use 30fps. Used as a standard digital camera, the EX-F1 is competent but unremarkable. It takes six-megapixel images that, although small by the standards of some cameras, are good enough for decent-sized prints. The 12x optical zoom allows the user to get close to distant subjects, but as it’s controlled electronically, not mechanically (you press buttons on the camera body rather than twisting the lens) zooming in and out takes a little longer than it does on a good digital SLR. That said, you’d be silly to spend so much on this camera and only use it for standard photos. While most cameras can shoot short video clips, the EX-F1 is amazingly versatile when it comes to moving pictures. A dial on the back allows you to quickly choose between three useful settings: high-definition video, which can be recorded in both of the common quality settings, standard 640x480 pixel movies at 30fps, and high-speed footage. Various high-speed movie modes are available, with the size of the recording shrinking as the speed increases. This means that movies shot at 300fps are usable, while those taken at the maximum 1,200fps are really too tiny. We also found that the high-speed modes only worked well when there was a lot of light. A more useful high-speed trick is to put the camera back into stills mode, at which point it can shoot still photos at 60fps. This allows you to hold the shutter down, capturing a burst of photos, then quickly flick through and choose which of those to save for posterity. All things considered, it’s hard not to be impressed by the EX-F1. The highest-speed modes might be of limited use, but it’s rare to find a camera that can grab 60 photos per second, let alone one that can also produce usable high-definition video complete with sound. If you're a still-photo purist the best bet would be to pick a digital SLR, but fans of moving pictures might find that this camera is just the ticket. Review: Dell PowerEdge R900 server Dave Bailey, vnunet.com, Friday 14 November 2008 at 11:51:00 Dell's six-core server is built for enterprise virtualisation workloads Although originally launched this February in the Philippines, Dell's R900 PowerEdge was upgraded with Intel Dunnington series six-core processors in October. The PowerEdge R900 is a rack mount 4U system, which has four processor sockets and can have a maximum of 256GB of system memory. Our system had 16Gb of 667MHz memory installed, and three 2.5in form factor serial attached SCSI (SAS) 10,000 rpm, 146GB hard drives configured as a single virtual disk SCSI device. There are drive bays for up to eight 2.5in drives, but users can specify a backplane for up to five 3.5in drives. Our R900 had a full complement of four Intel 2.66GHz Xeon E7650 series six-core processors installed, running with a 1066MHz front side bus. These 45nm, 1.9 billion transistor, Penryn-based CPUs do not have HyperThreading technology, which a quick check in the Windows task manager performance tab shows - we could see 24 processors. Firing up the system brings a sound like an aircraft taking off but, since the server will reside in a dedicated room or datacentre, ear defenders won't be needed. Our review system had Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition installed, but all editions are supported, as are Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.5, Sun Solaris 10, Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 and Windows Server 2003 R2. Virtualisation software offered with the R900 includes Hyper-V. Off-the-shelf systems come with either VMware's ESXi 3.5 or Citrix's XenServer 4.1 installed, and Dell's embedded hypervisor also supports Sun Solaris on the x86 platform. Virtualisation software supported on the R900 includes Citrix XenServer, VMware's Infrastructure 3.5 and VMware's ESXi 3.5. It was simple to enable the Hyper V Microsoft Management Console snap-in, but the R900 had to be fully patched using Windows Update before this was possible. Using Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualisation system was simple and, although its management GUI seemed fairly intuitive, Microsoft's System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, which we installed later, appeared less so. Space taken up by the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition was 24.8GB out of a total capacity of 383GB. As a comparison the 32-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 occupies a similar amount of disk space at just under 24GB. We attached the system to our itweeknet.com domain and imaged the system. After enabling the WS 2008 backup and restore feature, the compressed image used just under 9GB of disk space, and restoring the system to its original image was trivial. We also installed version 5.4 of Dell's browser-based server management toolkit, OpenManage Server Administrator, which we downloaded from Dell's web site, but would normally come on CD. Installation was quick and simple and we could log on locally or remotely through a browser using our domain password to manage or check various system and subsystem status. Linux, NetWare and Windows systems are also supported. With OpenManage, we could review server status and inventory information, as well as configure BIOS settings or update system firmware. As well as system diagnostics, OpenManage can be set up to alert administrators if various failures occur, for example in hardware components like system memory. An alert can be configured to appear on the admin console itself or be broadcast across firms' networks, or trigger an application to be executed. Most subsystems are covered by this alerting feature, although we couldn't see one for the network or storage subsystems. To get some idea of the processor power, we ran a standard benchmark on the R900 system. Firstly the 64-bit version of Cinebench R10 gave a CPU benchmark for rendering using one CPU of 3289. When all the four CPUs were used, the score went up to 30,916. As a check, we compared these results with data from our sister publication Personal Computer World, which benchmarked Intel's Core i7 processor. This CPU uses Intel's Nehalem which dispenses with the FSB system for data and address transfers, and uses an on-chip memory controller technology Intel has called QuickPath Interconnect which competes with AMD's HyperTransport technology. A Core i7 processor uses dual hyper-threading, giving a theoretical processor count of eight, while Dunnington has six physical processors and no hyper-threading. The Core i7 920 running at 2.66GHz recorded a Cinebench R10 score of 3079 using one processor and 13117 when all four cores were enabled. The Core i7 940 processor running at 2.93GHz gave scores of 3621 and 14,936 respectively, while the 965 Extreme model running at 3.2GHz gave a score of 3698, and with all cores enabled registered 16202. However, the best indication of performance by a system such as this designed to run enterprise virtualisation workloads, with high end databases and hefty enterprise resource planning systems, would be a benchmark designed to review its performance when running many virtual machines. Network connectivity was provided courtesy of a Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II gigabit Ethernet card. The only very minor niggle in our opinion was the lack of a network interface card (NIC) which can be 'virtualised'. With virtualisation of operating systems and storage being commonplace on server systems nowadays, virtualising elements like firewalls and NICs should help to relieve I/O contention at the network level. Although Dell has 10 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) cards supported, one of Neterion's 10GbE X3100 Series adapters installed would allow better virtual machine performance over high capacity networks. Opening up the easily accessible internals of the R900 showed a neat compartmentalisation of the subsystems. At the rear besides the NIC are serial, VGA and two USB ports, while on the front are two USB ports and another VGA port. Screen output uses an integrated ATI Radeon ES1000 with 32MB of onboard memory. Pricing for the upgraded R900 starts at £6,573 + VAT, but our system as configured would cost around $32,500, according to the online price configuration tool on Dell's website.   Review: BenQ MP522 ST projector Will Stapley, vnunet.com, Thursday 13 November 2008 at 14:16:00 A low-cost business projector with an impressive short-throw lens The price of projectors continues to tumble, and the BenQ MP522 ST is available for just under £600 if you shop around. Being chunky and weighing 2.2kg, it's not the most portable of projectors, but it does have a rather neat trick up its sleeve: the clue is the 'ST' in the name. Standing for Short Throw, this means that the projector can muster a large display even in meeting rooms with limited space. BenQ quotes a throw ratio of 0.9:1, which we found to be reasonably accurate. At a distance of 270cm, we managed a diagonal display of 250cm, or 98in in old money. Input connections consist of composite, S-Video and VGA, and there's a VGA-out socket. You can also hook up an audio source, although the 5W speaker will struggle to make itself heard in a large room. The MP522 ST's contrast ratio sits at a reasonable 1,000:1, while brightness is rated at 2,000 ANSI lumens. You'll need to pull down the blinds for the best picture quality, but we were able to see the projection clearly even in well lit rooms. We were also impressed with how quiet it is. BenQ quotes 31dB, but switch to Eco mode and this drops to 26dB, although the projection also dims a fair amount. A common problem with Digital Light Processing (DLP) models such as this is that the projection can suffer from a rainbow-style effect, where a multi-colour flash is visible when you flick your eyes from one side of the projection to the other. Some people notice it more than others, but during testing we found the MP522 ST to be one of the better models at hiding this effect. Only in high-contrast moving scenes was it occasionally visible. Also included in the package is a small, thin remote control that lets you adjust settings from afar; if you lose the remote, menus can still be accessed via the array of buttons on the projector itself. With so many options to play around with, the menu system can be a little daunting, although there's plenty of help available. There are some useful tools, such as the ability to tell the projector what colour wall you're projecting on. The MP522 ST will then adjust the colour settings accordingly. Although designed primarily for business use, if you plan to take the MP522 ST home for a bit of movie watching you'll be pleasantly surprised. It can't handle HD but, thanks to the BrilliantColour mode, it's great for watching films and playing games. It might not be the most portable option, but as a business projector the MP522 ST impresses thanks mainly to its short-throw lens and relatively low price. Review: Ricoh R10 camera Anthony Dhanendran, Computeract!ve, Friday 7 November 2008 at 16:02:00 Another long-zoom camera from Ricoh In terms of looks, Ricoh's R10 camera follows on from earlier models in the R series. It is particularly reminiscent of the recent R8, which sought to move towards a more flowing, curvy design compared with the more boxy R-series cameras that came before. It has a metal body, which gives it a sturdy feel and, although it's by no means one of the smallest digital cameras, it's relatively slim at 26mm. There's a large 3in screen on the rear of the camera, along with a row of buttons for navigating the menus. Those menus are clear and easy to use on the bright screen. Instead of having lots of modes accessible by a wheel at the top, the wheel only switches between Easy, in which everything is automatic, and Scene, in which you can use the menus to select a scene (the menus give a bit of explanation of what each mode is for, such as night shots). As with previous models the R10 has a 7x zoom lens, which gives it a good range while still being easily portable (so-called super-zoom cameras have longer zooms, but are a little bigger). As is common on recent cameras the R10 has both face detection and vibration correction. It's a 10-megapixel camera and picture quality was generally impressive. Although we found the colours perhaps a little washed out that will be down to personal taste. Generally, the R10 is easy to use and is capable of impressive pictures. The long zoom lens is a definite plus point, particularly as it doesn't greatly increase the size of the camera. True, this isn't exactly a pocket model (unless you have big pockets) but it offers a good balance between portability and features.   Review: Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard 3000 Anthony Dhanendran, Computeract!ve, Thursday 6 November 2008 at 15:16:00 Need lots of custom keys? Try this keyboard The Digital Media Keyboard 3000 is a little daunting at first sight, simply because of the sheer number of keys on the keyboard. In addition to the usual letters, numbers and so on, including a numeric keypad, there are no fewer than 34 customisable keys. It's a slim and light keyboard and as such, the keys are a little shallow. That makes it slightly unsuitable for those who wish to do large amounts of typing. It's not enormously uncomfortable, but there are deeper keyboards out there, and designs that will better suit committed typists. The supplied software is used to control the functions of the keyboard, and both it and the hardware installed without a problem. In a nice touch, the front sides of the keys feature small text explaining what they do if pressed in conjunction with other keys. That's useful if you often find yourself stuck for a keyboard shortcut. The custom keys can be mapped using several preset configurations, or users are free to set their own, which can be used for specific applications as well. Although there are the usual media control keys (playback, and so on) that appear on many keyboards, we're not sure how much that distinguishes this as a 'media' keyboard. Still, if you ever find yourself thinking: "I wish I had a key for that", this is the answer. Available for as little as £20 online, the Digital Media Keyboard 3000 may not be the best choice for those who spend hours a day typing away. But for more general users, as well as gamers, it's an excellent good-value choice. Review: Apple MacBook Pro Will Stapley, vnunet.com, Thursday 6 November 2008 at 09:45:00 The high-end portable Mac gets a major update, but is it suitable as a PC replacement for business users? Creating stylish, design-led notebooks is something Apple has always been good at, and the new MacBook Pro is no different. However, being more expensive than rival traditional Windows-based laptops, Apple has always struggled to penetrate the mainstream corporate market. The new range of MacBook Pros (15in and 17in models are available) might not look much different from the previous line-up, but don’t be fooled: this is a major update. Apple has totally reengineered the chassis, with these new models starting life as a single block of recyclable aluminium - what Apple calls a 'unibody'. This not only makes it look good, according to Apple, but reduces the chances of hardware failure. Measuring less than 1in thick, it’s just a shade thinner than its predecessor and won't take up too much space when travelling. And at 2.49kg, it’s also relatively light compared to other 15in notebooks. All ports are located down the left side of the notebook, while a slot-loading DVD/CD writer sits on the right. Open up the 15.4in screen and you’ll instantly notice the new keyboard, with each key rising up through the aluminium chassis through its own individual slot. With such well-spaced keys, typing is an effortless task and, thanks to the backlight, even possible in poorly lit environments. The large trackpad ditches the usual separate mouse button - instead, the whole trackpad acts as a button. It’s something that takes a bit of getting used to, but thanks to the support for multi-touch gestures (for example, swiping four fingers in a downward vertical motion lets you switch applications) it’s something we enjoyed using. Interestingly, Apple has ditched the dual-link DVI port of previous MacBook Pros and instead gone with a new Mini Displayport socket. It's a move that will incur the wrath of those looking to hook up large displays with resolutions of up to 2,560 x 1,600, since additional adapters will have to be purchased from Apple. Worse still, if you want to power both DVI and VGA displays, you'll need to purchase two separate Mini Displayport adapters and, at £20 and £69 for the VGA and dual-link DVI adapters respectively, you’re paying a lot extra for functionality that came as standard with the previous model. Those planning to use the MacBook Pro for off-site presentations will now also have the added hassle of having to remember the adapter in order to hook the notebook up to a projector. Other ports include a single Firewire 800 and two USB2 ports and Gigabit Lan, along with the excellent Magsafe power port. Unlike standard power sockets that can be ruined by someone tripping on the cable, the Magsafe adapter is held in place by a magnet so, if the power cable is snagged, it will detach from the notebook without sending it tumbling or causing damage to the power socket. Our review model is the more powerful of the two 15in versions and features a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of Ram, 320GB hard drive and an 512MB Nvidia 9600M GT graphics card; there’s also a secondary graphics chip, which we’ll cover in a moment. The hard drive included as standard with this 2.53GHz 15in MacBook Pro is a 320GB Sata model running at 5,400rpm. You can upgrade to a faster 7,200rpm version for £35, while those constantly on the move might be tempted by the 128GB solid-state drive (SSD) option which, with no moving parts, is far more robust. However, the SSD will set you back an additional £350. IT administrators will delight in the MacBook Pro’s newfound ease-of-service. Thanks to the removable battery, models that perform poorly away from the mains can easily and quickly be fitted with a new one without having to send the laptop back to Apple. The hard drive can also be removed by undoing a few screws. As far as security goes, there's no fingerprint scanner, as found on many other corporate laptops, but when locked up via the Kensington slot, both the battery and hard drive will also be secured, which is a nice touch. Meanwhile, those businesses with an eye on green computing will be pleased to hear that the display is free from both mercury and arsenic. The packaging it’s shipped in has also been reduced compared to previous models. The 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor is more than powerful enough for office tasks, but in terms of performance it's the graphics setup that's of most interest. Not only is the Nvidia Geforce 9600M GT the fastest graphics chip to be housed in a MacBook Pro, but it's part of a hybrid graphics setup. During graphics-intensive tasks the MacBook Pro will use the 9600M GT, but when you're running relatively basic tasks, such as office applications, you can switch to the integrated graphics chip - in this case an Nvidia Geforce 9400M. The idea behind this is that you get the raw graphics power when you need it, but at other times the MacBook Pro will be able to conserve its battery life by stepping down to the far less powerful integrated graphics. However, a big drawback is that you need to manually switch between the 'better battery life' and 'higher performance' modes and then log out and back in again. There's no denying the quality of the 15in widescreen 1,440 x 900 resolution display; whether watching DVDs or scrolling through spreadsheets it looks stunning, with bright, crisp colours and sharp text. However, although use under office lighting shouldn't cause any problems, the extra-glossy coating means it’s a magnet for reflections, especially if you take it outside. The previous MacBook Pro came with a matte screen as standard and offered the glossy coating as an optional extra, and we suspect many business users will be disappointed that this choice has now been taken away from them. Apple does, however, still offer the non-glossy option if you’re prepared to up your budget and go for the 17in MacBook Pro. Wireless connectivity is bang up-to-date thanks to Apple's inclusion of a dual-mode adapter that can operate in 802.11n mode both on the usual 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum. With many wireless corporate networks jostling for space on the cramped 2.4GHz spectrum, being able to switch to 5GHz without having to buy an adapter is a real bonus - you will, of course, need to make sure all your wireless routers are also able to operate using 802.11n on 5GHz. As expected, Gigabit Lan is the wired alternative. Battery life is never going to be great given the large screen, but the fact that it’s LED backlit does reduce power consumption. During standard use with Wi-Fi turned on and the screen at full brightness, we managed just over three hours’ use; turn off Wi-Fi and dim the screen and you can expect to get closer to Apple’s four and a half hour battery life claim. When playing back a DVD using the internal drive, battery life dropped to just under two hours. Given the impressive design touches, it's no great surprise that the MacBook Pro is priced above more mainstream corporate laptops from the likes of Lenovo and Dell that, with similar a specification, are around £200 cheaper. If you plan to roll MacBook Pros out to an entire workforce, this price difference will soon become a major stumbling block. Ultimately, at £1,749 you are paying quite a premium for the stylish, high-quality design of this MacBook Pro. Money can be saved by opting for the slightly slower 2.4GHz model at £1,399, but with the standard MacBook much cheaper at just £949 for the basic model, we suspect most businesses will prefer to go down the non-Pro route when kitting out large numbers of staff.   Review: Clickfree Hard Drive backup device Simon Williams, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 5 November 2008 at 12:15:00 No-hassle backup for multiple PCs Clickfree is a complete backup product, designed to back up all the important files on a user's computer. It requires no intervention, apart from plugging in the device at the start of the process and then disconnecting it at the end. The Clickfree idea is a simple one – instead of supplying the software to make the copy, the company has put the backup software on the disk that will be used for the process, and made it run automatically. The software also selects and saves all of the most common files that users require: Word Excel and Powerpoint documents, all common photo formats, and MP3 and WMA for audio. These are just examples – a lot more types are covered as standard. It so happens that, having used Clickfree on several PCs in our office, we suffered a hard disk failure on one of them – a relatively old disk was left clicking away as dead hard disks do. We were very impressed, then, to find that we were able to replace the disk and restore everything from the backup made by the Clickfree product. Restoring was very nearly as simple as backing up, though you have to select the set of files you want to restore and the disk you want to copy them back to. The can be adjusted backup to work with the folders and formats the user wants to back up (so if you use Family Tree maker and want it to backup the FTW files you can add this format to the list). For most people, though, everything can be left on the default settings, and in that case the backup really is click-free. The 2.5in disk in the black and chrome case was as quick as most, but in any case backup can continue in the background while the user is doing other things. The disk can be used to archive up to 10 PCs and when it's reconnected to a computer it's seen before, it is clever enough to update the archive with only newly created files. Clickfree also sells DVDs with the same auto-running software on them. Pop one of these in your computer and it backs up office, photo or audio files, and prices are competitive. The only thing to watch out for is to make sure that the Clickfree product you buy (it's available in a 160GB version too) is big enough to store all your files. Although it costs a fair bit more than a similar disk without software, the ease of use makes Clickfree an excellent product. Review: Apple Macbook 2.4GHz notebook computer Tom Royal, Computeract!ve, Tuesday 4 November 2008 at 16:45:00 The new Macbook combines style with substance When Apple was planning its latest press conference many expected it to launch a new, low-cost notebook computer to compete with mini-notebooks such as the Asus Eee. Instead it announced three Macbook models: a white plastic one at £719, and two aluminium models at £949 and £1,149. The one we're looking at is the most expensive version, which has a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of memory. The two new aluminium models may be expensive, but at least they look the part. The main body of the case is created from one chunk of metal, with a neatly designed hatch concealing the battery and hard disk – it's just a shame that the hinge is made from a distracting black plastic. Both models have a 13in widescreen display with a glossy coating that looks great but is also prone to annoying reflections. Under the screen is the black keyboard and a huge touchpad. The £1,149 Macbook has a snazzy illuminated keyboard, but this is missing from the £949 model. The keys are large but very shallow, so like many recent Apple keyboards they're not so comfortable for typing long documents. It's also annoying that, despite plenty of room, the enter key is so narrow. There are no obvious buttons at the bottom of the enormous, smooth touchpad – instead the pad itself clicks pleasantly when pushed. The ports on the case are disappointing, though. Mac fans will wonder why there's no Firewire socket, while most users will want more than two USB ports. You'll need a £20 adapter to connect most displays. The Macbook comes, unsurprisingly, with Apple's own Mac OSX operating system rather than Windows. It's easy to use, and includes a whole package of software for managing photos, making DVDs and so on. Both aluminium Macbooks have a more powerful graphics chip than previous models, so 3D games run better. Overall, it's impossible not to be impressed by the Macbook. The design is great, and Mac OSX is as easy to use as ever. On the other hand, it's also impossible to ignore the poor choice of sockets, shallow keyboard and slightly high price. For many people the plastic £719 model will be a better bet, but this is still a classy, if flawed, alternative to a powerful Windows notebook.   Review: Zoom H2 Handy Recorder audio recording device Simon Williams, Computeract!ve, Friday 31 October 2008 at 10:00:00 Broadcast-quality recording for less than £150 Following on from the tape cassette and the Minidisc, sound recording enthusiasts and professionals now tend to use digital audio recorders that record on memory cards. Most of these start at £300, however, and climb steeply in price from there. The Zoom H2 Handy Recorder costs less than £130 but still offers a lot of scope. It is about the size and shape of a classic 1950s-style microphone and comes complete with a stand, microphone stand adapter, wind muffler, 512MB SD memory card and a mains adapter (it runs on two AA batteries for up to four hours of recording). It can also screw directly onto a camera tripod. The screen is backlit, but we could have done with it being bigger and less crowded with icons. Although it’s reasonably clear, a colour display would be much easier to see. The membrane controls are also a little difficult to use and would benefit from a dedicated stop button (the user has to press the Record button to start monitoring and set the sound levels, press it again to start recording and a third time to stop). One of the key features of the H2 that separates it from its competitors is its four microphones. Behind the heavy-duty grilles at the top of the device are a pair of stereo microphones pointing forwards and another pair pointing backwards. Not just that, but the front pair are angled at 90 degrees, which is ideal for recording an interviewee or a single performer, while the back pair is set at 120 degrees, suitable for a group or ensemble. Both pairs can be used together for simple four-channel recording, giving an approximation of surround sound. This mode might be useful for recording a meeting or a jam session, where it would be placed in the middle of the group to capture all the sounds. The H2's audio quality is excellent -– its Wav and MP3 recordings are much better than those made using a typical portable media player and are, in some cases, of broadcast quality. We know of at least one community radio station that uses the H2 and its bigger sibling, the H4, for all its non-studio recordings. Anyone interested in high-quality sound recording should give the feature-packed H2 a listen. Review: Fluke Networks OptiView III Integrated Network Analyzer Dave Bailey, vnunet.com, Thursday 30 October 2008 at 15:34:00 INA 5.3 upgrade addresses IPv6, 802.11n and VoIP infrastructure Upgraded in October with version 5.3 software, Fluke Networks' OptiView Series III Integrated Network Analyzer (INA) now has capabilities to troubleshoot IPv6 deployments and any security problems arising from those rollouts. The INA unit can also detect rogue 802.11n devices and smooth firms’ deployments of 802.11n wireless LANs (WLANs). Fluke Networks has also added an option to collect data from wireless infrastructures for further analysis, although in this release the feature is limited to Cisco kit only. Fluke Networks' OptiView software runs under Windows XP Professional, and the INA we used had a 1.1GHz Pentium M processor, which was showing its age. Once we had connected the device to our test network, it soon catalogued what network infrastructure it could see, and with a few taps on the INA's touchscreen, we could isolate and check connectivity from desktops, printers, routers and switches, and most other network-connected devices. IPv6 is now a tab on the main OptiView menu, and one click is all it takes for network administrators to see instantly which devices are using IPv6. Drilling down into the discovered wired network infrastructure we could pick out systems running IPv4 network stacks, IPv6 network stacks or both. We picked up six systems running IPv6, all of them Apple desktops. Freshly installed and patched up-to-date Windows Vista operating systems have both IPv4 and IPv6 stacks enabled by default, so anybody connecting to firms’ domains will be automatically putting out IPv6 traffic over the network. The security risk to firms would be if IPv6 was tunnelling through the network inside IPv4 packets, using protocols 6to4 or Teredo. We couldn't pick up any Teredo tunnels or any IPv6-enabled applications, which might ring alarm bells for network administrators since these are ways in for hackers, allowing them to bypass IPv4 network address translation (NAT) systems. New with this version is the ability to pick up Cisco enterprise WLANs, including wireless controllers, lightweight and standalone access points, and wireless clients. Fluke has also enhanced its VoIP discovery feature to include Nortel, Avaya and Mitel. The discovery uses Link Layer Discovery Protocol-Media Endpoint Discover (LLPD-MED), a protocol that Fluke said would garner support from other larger VoIP infrastructure vendors. The option to track and troubleshoot 802.11n devices is a welcome addition. The wireless analysis option on the INA is neat and easy to use. Systems flagged red had no encryption running, while those coded yellow were running Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). Systems coded green were running Wi-Fi protected access (WPA) or WPA version 2 (WPA-2). We picked up 34 access points (APs) from our office location, and of those that had some form of wireless security enabled, the vast majority were running with WEP, with WPA and WPA-2 further down the pecking order. There were some APs with no security enabled, but these were usually guest access or BT Openzone hotspots. We did pick up some 802.11n clients, and we found it easy to drill down to check connectivity and monitor channels and traffic. Because of 802.11n's wireless characteristics, network administrators can expect to do a lot of channel monitoring, checking signal-to-noise ratios and other parameters having a direct bearing on interference. Packet capture and decode was also simple, and the INA has a 480MB capture buffer for such traffic, although not one of the APs we picked up, mainly 802.11g, had a utilisation level of over two per cent. Fluke also provides a directional antenna specifically for finding rogue APs. Network administrators should be able to find even the most carefully hidden APs after a few hours trying out the system. Fluke also provides an optional external Li-ion battery that clips onto the back of the INA, giving an extra four hours troubleshooting time. Remote device login with secure shell (SSH) support has also been added. In conclusion, the upgrade makes sense if firms have Cisco WLAN infrastructure, have IP telephony running over their networks from Avaya, Mitel or Nortel, or are rolling out IPv6. Whether firms will think an extra £6,613 + VAT is worthwhile is another matter. Fluke Networks is regularly chastised for the high cost of its kit; adding three options with an average cost of more than £2,000 per option is unlikely to silence these critics.

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