Monthly Archives: May 2010
Canonical – Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
With each and every release, Ubuntu Linux seems to get that little bit easier and friendlier to use. To put it through its paces, we downloaded the CD image of the latest iteration, Ubuntu 10.04, burned it to a disc and booted directly from it. In the past, many Linux distros booted up as a…
T-Mobile – Pulse Mini
T-Mobile has updated its original Android-based Pulse Pay As You Go handset with a smaller, newer model, the Pulse Mini. It lacks all the features you will find on top-end Android handsets like the HTC Desire and Legend, but the core of the Android platform is still present. The Pulse Mini is small indeed at…
Actinic – Actinic v10
If you’re running a web store, chances are you’re doing so using software from Actinic, which leads the field when it comes to small business e-commerce. In which case you’ll be interested in the latest release – Actinic v10 – which adds a number of useful new features and enhancements to this already usable and…
Emporia – ELEGANCE
Emporia specialises in making mobile phone for older people. Their marketing is peppered with pictures of fairly able and fit looking silver haired types holding mobiles. Fair enough, we suppose. There are plenty of older people who find modern mobiles a challenge. Not all older people, mind you, but enough that there is probably a…
Serif – DrawPlus X4
When you think of the money a really good graphics/illustration program used to cost, it’s enough to make you wince. In fact, when you look at what Illustrator CS4 currently costs (around £550 street price) not much has changed. Programs like DrawPlus don’t compete directly with Adobe’s flagship vector graphics program, but for the money…
Asus – Crosshair IV Formula
Republic Of Gamers motherboards sit at the top of the Asus product tree, and this was amply demonstrated by the recent IT Reviews coverage of the ROG Rampage III Extreme Core i7 that weighs in at a hefty £330. It takes a few moments to figure out exactly where the Crosshair IV Formula fits into…
HP – LaserJet P1606dn
With increasing numbers of people working from home, setting up small size offices or just wanting a compact but efficient home printer to supplement everyday demands in a larger working environment, there’s never been a more urgent need for relatively inexpensive but highly efficient mono laser machines. HP’s LaserJet P1606dn fits slap bang in the…
Microsoft – Alan Wake
Hype is a terrible thing. Well, perhaps terrible is a bit strong, but while hype might do its job in getting your creation noticed, it can also work against you. We recently saw the film Paranormal Activity, for example. We’d been told by friends that it was the most frightening movie ever made, the reviews…
Corsair – Nova V128
Memory manufacturer Corsair lists five distinct lines of SSD (Solid State Drive) that use different controller chips and flash memory. The five types of SSD are the Reactor which uses a JMicron JMF612 controller, the Performance drives with a Samsung chip, and the Force range with Sandforce silicon. The final two models both use an…
Packard Bell – dot S2
The platform of choice for netbooks in the middle of 2010 is an Atom N450, with GMA3150 graphics, both from Intel. 10.1-inch screens are nearly all 1024 x 600 and battery life exceeding six hours is common. The criteria you use to select between them, therefore, needs to be something other than these hard specs…