Monthly Archives: August 2002
Hutchinson – History Reference Suite
CD-based reference software can seem a bit dull. For example, encyclopaedias been given away with new PCs for so long that they’re hardly even noticed any more. That’s a shame, because while the idea may not appear particularly interesting, the content of many reference CDs is fascinating, and much easier to read and access than…
Teac – Pico-1 Copystation
Usually, stand-alone CD duplicators are rather large devices, using desktop-size 5.25-inch CD-ROM and CD-RW drives with a hefty mains power adapter built in. Teac’s approach with this new duplicator is rather different. As you might expect from a company that manufactures CD-ROM and CD-RW drives for notebook PCs, Teac has come up with a duplicator…
Olympus – Camedia C-220 Zoom
Olympus has never been one to sell its wares through flashy design. The Camedia C-220 Zoom, which we’ve been playing with for a couple of months, looks much like the other digital cameras in its range, and for that matter like most of the budget digital cameras the company has sold before. Where this one…
Acclaim – Legends of Wrestling
You have to wonder where the term “wrestling” originates. Presumably it’s the verb “to wrest” something off someone else – in the case of this sport, their arm, or possibly a leg. Of course this isn’t real wrestling of the Greco-Roman variety. It’s showbiz theatre; wrestling where an elbow slam to the head misses by…
Transparent Language – Learn Italian Now
Once you reach the age of 12 or so, learning a new language becomes progressively harder. Various techniques have been employed to help make the process easier, including audio and video tapes and structured evening classes, but usually the most effective method is simply to go and live in the relevant country for a few…
Sharp – Zaurus SL-5500
The Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 is a sleek-looking PDA – or “Personal Mobile Tool” as Sharp would have it – with a decent 240×320 pixel 3.5-inch reflective TFT display, a 206MHz StrongARM processor and 64MB of memory, as well as both Compact Flash Type II and SD/Multimedia Card slots for expansion with such devices as wireless…
Western Digital – Caviar WD800JB
Before Serial ATA finally makes an appearance later this year, hard disk manufacturers are squeezing the last drop of performance and capacity out of the IDE drive format. Previously only found in its huge 100GB and 120GB drives, Western Digital has now added its massive 8GB data buffer to another drive, this time in the…
ABBYY – FineReader Professional 6.0
This OCR (optical character recognition) product comes in two versions; one for Western European languages and another which adds support for Cyrillic languages. The former, which is the one we’ve reviewed here, supports recognition of 122 languages and can process documents that incorporate multiple languages. Installation is simple enough, with the software configured to find…
Dell – Inspiron 2650
Dell has pitched the Inspiron 2650 as a mid-range system that will appeal to small businesses and home buyers. There are various versions on offer, with ex-VAT pricing starting at under £1,000, but all are based on Intel’s notebook-specific Pentium 4 Processor-M, which indicates a certain seriousness of purpose. The model reviewed here is one…
Vivendi – Warcraft III
In days past this writer was known as the “Tank” in games of Command and Conquer, due to his propensity for producing large quantities of two-tracked behemoths faster than any other player in the game (actually it was something else beginning with “T” – Ed). This vast armoured fleet would then roll over opposition bases…